There’s an old adage that goes, “If it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it,” and in Yamaha’s case that is a saying the company has been able to stand by when it comes to the mighty Raptor 700. If you’ve been locked in a closet or can’t remember its roots, this machine derived from the original Raptor 660, which was in production from 2001 through 2005, and took the big-bore sport ATV community by storm. In 2006 is when the Raptor received a complete overhaul in the way of its trick hybrid two-piece steel/aluminum frame with aluminum subframe and monster 686cc engine. As the 660 people loved the machine and with the full overhaul that it received even more fans fell in love with the powerful beast, it became the best-selling sport ATV on the market today.

When we decided to dedicate this issue of ATV Rider to the adventure crowd, I couldn’t resist a full-on ear-to-ear, tooth-sparkling smile. Not only were we to combine ATVing with my other favorite things in life—camping, hunting and fishing—but I was also called upon to build the perfect adventure machine to do them. Starting with Yamaha’s Grizzly 700 Limited Edition EPS-equipped 4x4, I ordered up and installed the bare and not-so-bare essentials to take on the ultimate adventure. This do-it-all ATV and I were then loaded up and dropped off at the lower Big Pine, California, trailhead at the Sierra Nevada mountain range. With the Sierra’s most spectacular backdrops—the peaks of Muir Crest, which culminate at 14,495-foot Mount Whitney off in the distance—I fired up the Griz and used the Garmin Montana 650t GPS as a guide from 3,000 feet in the desert to well above 12,000 feet in the mountains; this is where the adventure began. Here’s what I used, how it was installed it and how it performed along the way.

From the July/August 2012 issue of ATV Rider Magazine.

From the July/August 2012 issue of ATV Rider Magazine.

From the May/June 2012 issue of ATV Rider Magazine.

From the May/June 2012 issue of ATV Rider Magazine.

From the May/June 2012 issue of ATV Rider Magazine.

Full 2013 Lineup Includes New Camouflage Design and New 30th Anniversary Models Celebrating Suzuki Being "First on 4-Wheels"

A Reliable UTV Your Whole Family Will Enjoy
ATV riding is my passion. I love rolling out of bed, loading up a quad—sport or 4x4—and laying down some fresh tracks. It’s even better when your best buddies can join in on the adventure. To me, this is why the sport of UTVing has grown so rapidly over the past few years. Despite hearing many negative remarks from the diehard ATV enthusiasts, these two- and now four-person off-road vehicles are here to stay. Trust me guys and gals, I am and will forever remain an ATV-first enthusiast, but these UTVs allow you to tackle the gnarly with your good bud on board, or just enjoy a day on the trails with your wife. I took our Yamaha Rhino hunting last month and had an absolute blast! It was much more comfortable than riding on an ATV in the early morning cold, and we were able to toss our game in the back and drive it straight to the butcher (can’t beat Utah’s ATV road regulations).

At the offices of ATVR we come across more machines than you could throw a stick at. Everyone has a quad they want featured in the pages of a magazine, but it’s pretty rare that we ever get asked what we want to see built. Well, last year as I walked the floor of the Indy Dealer Expo, I stopped by the Streamline Brakes booth and sat down with owner Paul Rivera and discussed a Lonestar Racing YFZ chassis that he had on display with his latest and greatest product. “What kind of engine would you like to see in a custom-built quad?” Really? I was being asked how I wanted something custom to be built? As I thought about it, I realized the 450 sport market was pretty strong with Yamaha, Honda and Kawasaki still selling their heavy hitters, but the midsize sport market was lacking. Sure, Yamaha has a winner with the Raptor 250, but even that machine has its limits for some riders who aren’t quite ready for a full-blown 450.

If you were to look up the word renegade in the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, the definition reads: “a deserter from one faith, cause or allegiance or an individual who rejects lawful or conventional behavior.” When Can-Am released the Renegade line of sport-utility ATVs, it picked exactly the right name for the machine since it is like no other utility machine on the market. Over the years the Canadian ATV manufacturer has continued to make the quad better, but for 2012 the Renegade was taken to an entirely new level. If you picked up the September/October issue, you would have seen that we had a very limited time to test Can-Am’s new lineup of ATVs, and with the Renegade 1000 X xc we had no time at all, which is why we requested that one be sent to our home office in Southern California.

From the September/October 2011 issue of ATV Rider Magazine

From the September/October 2011 issue of ATV Rider Magazine

From the July/August issue of ATV Rider Magazine.

From the July/August issue of ATV Rider Magazine

Anytime I’ve been in the market to purchase any type of off-road machine, the main features I look for are great handling and superior power. So I can imagine the glee of anyone looking to buy a side-by-side right now. In the last couple of years there have been huge advances in the SxS market as companies top one another in engine displacement in order to claim their machine makes the most power as well as in suspension design for the ultimate in handling. One company at the front of this battle has been Polaris with the release of its RZR S, which was the first SxS to come from a factory with a long-travel sport suspension package. Combined with the already proven 800cc H.O. engine from the standard Ranger RZR, this became the hot ticket if you wanted the best machine for wide-open performance.

Looking for adventure is what sets most side-by-side enthusiasts in motion. Some love to test the limits of their vehicles, while others simply want to get out and enjoy what Mother Nature has to offer. With this in mind, the idea of building (or you could even say creating) the Extreme Adventure Machine was born, and the Arctic Cat Prowler XTZ 1000 provided the right platform for the job. It has everything you need to survive really brutal terrain and do it in style. As we pondered the thought of being out in the middle of nowhere with no way to get help, depending only on what we packed, it inspired us to dig for products that would be tough enough to get us out. Along the way, we also wanted to ensure that the driver and passenger felt safe and secure in the ride.

In every form of racing certain machines set themselves apart from the rest of their class, and we recently came across one particular Polaris RZR 4 which does just that. As the western regional sales manager for Polaris, Matt Parks had the opportunity to test the RZR 4 in the vast desert of Southern California before many people were able to get their hands on one. It was during these testing trips that Matt realized how smooth and controllable it was while going at high speeds through the rough desert terrain. After that day in the desert, the wheels in Matt's head started spinning and the blood of a desert racer took over as he pondered how competitive this machine would be in the UTV class of the Best In The Desert racing series. With past racing experience and success aboard the Ranger XP and RZR, Matt was determined to make the ultimate desert-racing side-by-side anyone has ever seen.

For the past several years, the Yamaha Grizzly 700 with Electronic Power Steering has been a frontrunner in the big-bore utility game. With precise handling, crisp acceleration and the reputation for excellent build quality and reliability, the mighty Grizz seemed like the perfect canvas to begin another ATV Rider project. Our goal was to capitalize on the Grizzly's many strengths and elevate its true capability by taking this machine to the next level. In the planning phase, our goal was to build the Swiss Army Knife of quads and deliver a proverbial "wolf in sheep's clothing." Imagine GNCC cross-country handling and performance paired with exceptional creature comforts and utilitarianism to give this machine the capability to traverse any backwoods obstacle, while doing so in a stealthy, unobtrusive manner.

In the days of old, people were able to purchase machines that their kids could learn how to ride on and eventually modify for more performance as their skills had progressed. The Suzuki LT-80 was one of the most popular in this category as it had the longest production run from 1988 through 2005. As the evolving four-stroke machines eventually took over the large-displacement market, this of course trickled down and the LT-80 was discontinued and replaced by the LT-Z90. With only a 10cc increase in displacement and conversion to a four-stroke engine, the LT-Z90 certainly lacks in the power department from its predecessor. A large part of this power deficit stems from many Americans' lack of taking responsibility when something happens, which starts a witch hunt ending with an ATV company burned at the stake. Essentially, the thought process is the less power the machine makes, the less likely something bad is going to happen.

Every day I can look into the ATVR email inbox or go to the forums on www.atvrideronline.com and find someone who is having problems with their discount ATV. By "discount ATV" I mean the ones advertised at your major chain auto parts stores and club warehouse stores or even sold off of a trailer on a street corner near you. Sure, these machines seem like a steal, but in the long run they turn into a major headache because of their poor quality and lack of product support once you leave wherever you purchased them from. The only "warranties" people get with these seem to be "50/50," meaning 50 feet or 50 seconds from purchase and that is it. Machines like these are what turn people off from the sport of ATV riding because they now have a bad taste in their mouths about the quality of ATVs.

When doing our build stories I often wonder what exactly goes through the minds of people who are willing to drop in excess of $10,000 for a new quad and then immediately begin to tear it down to the frame in order to add on $10,000 in aftermarket parts. The answer I got from Georgia native and GNCC Utility Open racer Shad Laurich was short and without hesitation, "To win!" Wow, that is dedication! I'm not going to act as if I've not done the very same thing myself, so I've got a little input from my own perspective. Building and creating what your mind considers is the Ultimate ATV brings with it a sense of satisfaction, and when you reach that goal, you get to experience what I consider to be the ultimate satisfaction, for a while anyway.

Josh Starrett's Open Mod class Polaris RZR was purpose built for winning at the highest level of UTV cross-country racing. There aren't too many people who can drive a side-by-side between trees faster than Kentucky's Starrett; having already won a championship in the GNCC Lites Modified class (2008), he's moved to the Open Mod class in 2010 with hopes of proving that he just might be the best UTV racer on the East Coast.

The off-road power sports industry has many new faces and many more new and exciting off-road vehicles for the free at heart. The road to 2011 hasn't been paved with gold for everyone, but a select few seem to have hit the fleeting masses with unforgettable products. A few years back the off-road world was turned upside down with the development and release of the Polaris RZR. The RZR was to be the first true race, sport, purpose-built adventure UTV. This vehicle made it possible for race fans, or just the true adventurer, to conquer their dreams of off-road freedom whether on the tightest trail or at the local race track.