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By: Jason Giacchino
Email: offthepegs @ atvsource.com
October 2008 - Off The Pegs
And the Bar is Raised
Again for 2009
It is generally acknowledged that in the
business of racing, sitting idle is very much
like accepting defeat. Taking this logic
literally makes sense, as the on-track
participant who doesn’t bother to kick his
machine out of neutral is quite unlikely to
succeed, but the true beauty of the saying
refers to what goes on behind the scenes long
before race day actually approaches. Innovation
is the key to a successful race campaign, and
nowhere is this point more clearly illustrated
than what we see taking place on the OEM level
of late.
For too long has the ATV
industry sat idle while most powersports (even
those supported by the same company making the
quads) flourished with updates, innovations, and
factory-inspired, trickle-down technologies. I
won’t reiterate the circus of lawsuits and
compromises that initiated this despicable trend
here, but it is fairly common knowledge that for
over a decade the OEMs wouldn’t touch ATV racing
with the proverbial ten-foot pole. Racers were
forced to take matters into their own hands and
as such had a thriving aftermarket with which to
select components in the process of building
what were essentially custom machines that
resembled stock equipment only in the sticker
across the gas tank.
While it would be a
bit of an exaggeration to say that the
manufacturers have thundered back onto the
scene, we have been witness to a steady
reclamation to stock ATV racing from the
manufacturers since around the turn of the
century (thanks in no small part to the
four-stroke revolution).
Just last
season I spent many columns expressing my sheer
joy of the options suddenly available to quad
racers right off showroom floors. Not only did
we have a performance 450cc entry from each of
the big four Japanese contenders (a feat never
before duplicated, even in ATV’s former
three-wheeler glory days) but even players such
as America’s Polaris, Canada’s Can-Am, Korea’s
Hyosung and Austria’s KTM threw a hat into the
ring. I, like many others at the time, was
thoroughly convinced that things couldn’t
possibly get better for performance ATV
enthusiasts ; and yet with the 2009 model year
just about to roll out, it would appear as
though the OEMs have managed to raise the bar
once again.
As my column space is
limited, I will not bore you with every single
model tweak or redesign as there are literally
dozens worth mentioning (such as Suzuki fuel
injecting the LTZ400 and styling it to be a near
clone to the LTR450 or the newly
increased-performance designed Polaris Outlaws)
but I will, however, take a moment to list some
of the models that have racers chomping at the
bit with anticipation:
KTM's 450SX
Can-Am's DS450 MX
Yamaha's YFZ450R |
KTM:
With
barely a full model year under its belt, the two
KTM XC race quads are receiving a host of
valuable updates but the big news is that KTM
wasn’t satisfied with equipment that was almost
MX ready with a few simple mods. This season the
KTM stable has been doubled (to four models now
rather than two) with the addition of two SX
badged race models (450 and 505cc) designed
specifically for the rigors of motocross/
supercross competition. Anyone familiar with the
Austrian manufacturer’s devotion to racing and
attention to equipment detail will undoubtedly
be grateful for their recent decision to focus
their efforts in our direction.
Can-Am:
The Canadian OEM (formerly known as Bombardier)
proved its sincerity a little over a year ago
when it pulled the plug on its well-regarded
DS650 and replaced it with a race- oriented
model that was absolutely loaded with
innovations never before seen on a stock ATV.
And while the general consensus was that the
DS450 was a definite winner, Can-Am didn’t pause
a moment to rest on their laurels. This year
they’ve unleashed two more specialized
variations of the DS platform: The
DS450X mx and
DS450X xc. As the names suggest, the mx caters
to motocross/ supercross racing out of the box
stock (much like KTM’s SX line) while the xc
contains a spec sheet that reads like a cross
country competitor’s dream.
Yamaha:
Like KTM, Yamaha realized that their YFZ450
could be made, with a few tweaks and mods, into
a worthy track weapon but didn’t stop there.
Rather than simply perform a few tricks and
upgrades to their existing platform, Yamaha
literally started with a blank slate and whipped
up a whole new 450cc entry in the
YFZ450R. Fuel
injection, Kashima coated suspension parts,
revised geometry, and a hybrid aluminum/ steel
frame design highlights the goodies of this new
model.
Some say we aren’t to expect
having our cake and being able to eat it too,
but here’s where things get really interesting.
All three of the models listed above have done
to ATVs what our two-wheeled cousins have
enjoyed for years (in annual revamps and updates
to keep the edge over the competition); but
better still, they haven’t even replaced the
existing models! For 2009 the standard DS450,
YFZ450, and KTM XCs will share the line with
their newly revamped brothers. This is
significant because it gives racers even more
choices at the OEM level and offers up
performance at multiple price points.
As
much as I would like to go on record and
proclaim that this era marks the epitome of the
performance ATV class, it doesn’t take a betting
man to wager that the rest of the OEMs won’t sit
back and let the competition outclass them.
Expect to witness continued annual renovation
and innovation with each new model year. I don’t
know about you, but I am stoked to say goodbye
to the days when the only updates the sport ATVs
received each year came in the form of “bold new
graphics.”
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