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By: Jason Giacchino
Augusty 2010 - Off The Pegs
Big Thrills on a Big
Bore 700
Honda 700XX |
If there were one class of ATV displacement I
am guilty of neglecting for no good reason
whatsoever, it would have to be the 700cc sport
quads. I mean the fact these monsters even
exist at all is a testament to the gradual
change of the public opinion on what should be
possible on an off-road vehicle. There was
a time in the not-so-distant past when
displacements of 90, 125, and 175cc were staples
of the off-road arena while bigger bore mills
were designated the domain of street bikes.
My experience on the modern open-classer has
been fairly limited, and by that I mean a brief
spin on the Yamaha Raptor 700 (back when it was
a 660) and a couple of days spent back in 2008
with Honda’s then brand-new 700XX for purpose of
testing. My conclusion after each
experience came out pretty similarly:
Torque off the charts, yard-destroying
wheel-spin always on tap, transmission not
required due to breadth of each gear and though
way more top speed than is practical for the
east-coast trails I frequent, boy, would these
things be a blast in the desert!
So, you could imagine my reaction when a buddy
of mine called to say that he picked up a 2009
Honda 700XX that had been outfitted with a
big-bore kit and planned a mid-week test up in
an abandoned quarry in Canada. I started
packing my gear before we got off the phone.
If, like me, you find yourself wondering who in
the world finds logic in making a 700 even
bigger, rest assured I haven’t the slightest
idea. I understand the guy who had the
work done on this particular 700XX was planning
on getting into the dune drag racing and
hill-climbing scene and threw a few grand into
pushing the displacement from 686cc stock to
727cc (turning what Honda calls a 700 into a
more-realistically calculated 730) before having
to relocate due to the economic downturn.
Other mods included a Stage 3 Cam, Dynojet Power
Commander V to readjust the fuel mapping and a
freer flowing FMF Q4 muffler & Powerbomb header.
Essentially, even if he had used a Honda 90X as
a starting point, this thing would have been
pretty ripping quick; a 700 was borderline mind
blowing.
We arrived to the sandy abandoned pits shortly
after midday on what was the hottest day of the
week of what will surely be labeled the hottest
week of the year. The humidity, as I
recall, was nearly unbearable and this was when
we were still in the air-conditioned truck.
Stepping out into the early afternoon sun was a
lesson in excess: Which, now that I think about
it, would become a theme for the day.
The pits themselves were surprisingly adequate
for a test of this nature with wide powdery
bowls separated by steep sandy climbs and many
miles of loose white-sand whoops.
The 700XX fired up after a few cranks of the
electric starter with an exhaust note that
managed to combine the unlikely crispness of a
stock EFI-equipped motor with a throaty bark
that could get even a veteran rider to start to
doubt his skills. The first few runs were
precautionary in nature with each of us
marveling at the quad’s ability to throw a
massive roost and rolling sand cloud by simply
breathing on the throttle. After a few
sessions of giving the quad the respect it
deserves, we pitted for water and a top off on
the fuel situation, it was time to put it
through the gears as it were (a task that would
prove easier said than done).
If the stock 700 seems a bit excessive in its
power delivery, hold on tight because the 730
manages to dwarf it in nearly every conceivable
unit of measure. From idle the machine
manages to explode with forward momentum that
simply doesn’t stop building until you click it
up to the next gear for a repeat of the same
experience, only with the ground blurring past
even faster. This isn’t the same “wow I’m
really clipping” sensation of speed common of a
modern 450 when flogged, this is more of the
explosive torque that pulls your helmet
rearward, cramps up the insides of your elbows,
and manages to unearth and overturn rocks that
haven’t seen the light of day since
Tyrannosaurus Rex hunted here.
Chalk it up to the cam; this is one of few big
bores I’ve ridden that wasn’t violent down low
but flat in the upper RPMs. The breadth of
the stock power band is definitely retained just
“bigger” everywhere.
The independent rear suspension seemed almost
custom tuned for this application, as single
shock/ swing arm models would most certainly
have squatted heavily under this type of torquey
acceleration until wheel spin finally reached a
point where forward momentum was inevitable.
The IRS however was stout enough to allow for
some wheelies amidst the noise, dust and chaos
that separated one wall of the giant sand bowl
from another. And in instances where one
of us (okay, me) underestimated the speed at
which he was approaching said wall, the 730
sprinted up the near-vertical ascents without
demanding such time and momentum killing
annoyances as say a downshift or even a little
harder push on the throttle.
We burned a couple tanks of fuel and managed to
cover little more than a half-mile’s worth of
terrain by the time growling stomachs and a
setting sun prevailed. See, it turns out
that with this type of explosive giggle-inducing
power, excitement can be found in doing such
mundane things as say, blasting around a sand
pit for hours. The only questions that
remain to be answered are what kind of excuse
can I come up with to get this thing alone and
how far is the nearest desert?
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