For me, I must congratulate Kawasaki for not stopping its improvements at the addition of EFI. In the past, I've endured my own frustrations with the suspension and handling of the Brute Force as well as its funky twitchiness in the handlebar. For this year, the engineers have made simple but much-needed improvements to the suspension. Both the front and rear shocks on the Brute Force use dual-rate springs. The soft initial spring rate handles the rough terrains at lower speeds, followed by a firmer second spring rate that comes into play as the springs are compressed farther to handle higher speeds. What's new this year is the Brute's improved suspension valving. I'll get into the suspension performance later in the story, but let me just tell you now, it's much improved from years past.
As you might've guessed, Kawasaki didn't halt at suspension. A new seat urethane that improves rider comfort has been added this year. Green also included slick new polished-aluminum wheels, a sealed storage compartment, beefier CV boots, aluminum footpegs and a factory-installed conduit for the later addition of a winch. All of these improvements indeed equal a much more desirable Brute Force for 2008.
Experiencing Ocala On The Brute ForceAs mentioned earlier, I was a bit baffled by the thought of ripping through the deep whooped-out trails in Ocala OHV aboard the Brute Force 750i. Well, that was until I ripped through the deep whoops and experienced the newly valved shocks. You'd think that motor performance with the new EFI system would be the first words out of my mouth, but the newly valved suspension is what impressed me most. Usually I read and hear about power first from most riders and many media outlets, but I'm here to say suspension and handling are by far the first and most important areas on any ATV. What good is a strong, monstrous motor if the suspension won't allow you to stay in control of your ATV at high speeds? With that said, we surprisingly powered through the sandy whoops with great confidence. Sure, there were those occasional rear-end swaps that can make any of us clench our cheeks a bit too tight, but slightly giving back a little throttle brought everything under control again. I sometimes experienced the usual dreadful kicking and bucking of the rear suspension, but to be honest, it was very mild. For the most part, I steered in the direction I wanted to go, hammered down on the throttle and comfortably blasted through the whoops with a great deal of ease.
Cornering felt precise and accurate even when rough palmetto roots littered the turns. You didn't want to be bucked off or blowing corners on these trails because huge, mossy trees would be eagerly awaiting your arrival with an abrupt thud. Off-cambers could get the Brute a little tipsy as it sits a bit high. With a powerful motor working in conjunction with nicely dialed-in rear shocks, breaking loose to drift fast corners was thoughtless and absolutely thrilling. I'm here to tell you that I was absolutely shocked by the improved handling characteristics of the '08 Brute Force. In years past, I wasn't the biggest fan of this machine's handling characteristics. The confidence gained by the Brute's revised suspension settings allowed me to actually enjoy a day of blasting through the 100-plus miles of sandy whooped-out trails throughout Ocala OHV.