If you're going to race off-road, a steering stabilizer is a must; if you're going to purchase one, you might as well get the best. Precision's new Pro Series is arguably the best stabilizer on the market and the most popular on the GNCC circuit. The Precision stabilizer offers a significant stiffness in the first 15 degrees of bar turn, and then gets easier after that. You don't want or need to fight the stabilizer when you're crossed up in a turn. The center stiffness and side stiffness are both independently adjustable. The main difference between the Precision and others is that it has virtually no fading when the unit gets hot. Many stabilizers get significantly easier as the unit heats up from use, which means they really aren't working.
In the past, the Outlaws had some issues with the front wheel bearings. Teixeira didn't want to risk a DNF, so it just went with the best hubs on the market, the Hardkors. The Hardkor hubs are machined from billet aluminum and anodized in cosmetically correct colors, and have tapered bearings. Galfer Wave rotors were chosen for their superior braking. The Wave rotors offer significantly more stopping power over round rotors, and with the extra horsepower driving this quad, it's a good idea to get it to stop on a dime with minimal input from the levers.
Ride Results
Luckily for us, Teixeira allowed us to have a couple of days to rip on this quad in Southern California's high desert. The motor work gave the Outlaw a significant boost in steam. Power was very smooth and tractable, even to the point of not portraying that feeling of going fast. That is until you line up against another quad to actually see how fast it is. Part of the reason it doesn't feel blistering fast is caused by the independent suspension. With this suspension, chain torque is eliminated. You experience chain torque when the countershaft sprocket is trying to pull the rear sprocket up to itself, which causes your quad to wheelie. You could look at the lack of chain torque as both a positive and a negative depending on how you ride. For climbing gnarly hills especially in muddy GNCC conditions, you can climb better with the front end glued down basically offering improved control. On the downside, it's difficult to float the front end over whoops or a fallen tree by just cracking the throttle to wheelie over. With this element gone, riding whoops requires you to be precise with speed to make sure the front wheels touch the tops of the whoops to skip along. Go too fast and bounce the front too far and you could end up sinking the front tires. With that said, the Fox Shox do a great job at covering up those mistakes.
In stock trim the Outlaw portrays a good bit of body roll in certain circumstances. Now with the Teixeira A-arms and Fox Shox installed, that horrific body roll is literally diminished. The Outlaw stays flat in the corners, allowing you to really huck it in with virtually no tipping sensation. Overall the Outlaw as setup was a very comfortable ride. The seat is still on the iffy side and the footpeg position is too far back, but there was not much Teixeira could do about those issues. The Outlaw by nature is a large quad, which is great for those larger riders. At the end of the day, we were pretty stoked on how this ride turned out. ATVR
Parts: Teixeira Tech's Polaris Outlaw 540
Teixeira Tech:
www.teixeiratech.com
209/833-9160
Polaris '09 Outlaw A-arms (MX, WORCS) with needle bearing upgrade: $985;
adjustable anti-vibe clamps: $100;
steering stem (stock core used): $150
CT Racing:
www.ctracing.com
562/945-2453
Sonic Series pipe: $534.95;
port head, five-angle radius valve job (assembled head included): $600
Fox Racing Shox:
www.foxracingshox.com
619/768-1800
Float X Evol DSC shocks, front: $1495,
Podium X shocks, rear: $1195