XC Predators

[wvbball27]

anyone on here still racing predators in the woods? our local dealer has some pretty sweet deals on leftover preds. ive been looking and looking and all i can find is outlaws. anyone care to post some pics of their race preds? im particularly interested in your suspension setups the most. i cant seem to find any XC a-arms? anyone have any ideas? will outlaw arms fit?

also how reliable are these things in the woods? ive heard they tend to fit bigger riders better. the dealer has some 06 preds and outlaws and an 03 with a pure polaris exhaust and nerfs. im not really wanting to looka t the 06 outlaws because they were all 500's and only made them 1 year. i know the 03 had a tranny problem and im not sure if this one has the update or not. im going to see if they have one with the fox shocks on them and after 05 they came with reverse right?

anyone who has raced these in the woods, how did you like them?

thanks guys

[exracer416]

if the previous owner of mine hadnt screwed the valvetrain up on mine id be racing mine,i think it feels prety good im 6ft 2 and i like it just needs some work.

[bchessel]

ive got a 04 troy lee (tighter gears then regular pred) i believe you can go down a tooth on the 03 pred to make it more torque for tight trails , im 6'1" and love it .. ive ridin all 450s except can-am and suzuki ltr. and i feel the most comfy on the pred. as for the woods its wonderful . with the razr on the front it turns on a dime , once you get used to the the throttle you can take corners like your on rails or pop the gas and drift with the front end floating. the fox that comes on them work well from wide open across ruts and roots to 5' jump 3rd gear - 30' long flat landings that feel like 2' hops . and im not sure how many times the fox has saved me from awkward landing that most other quads would of lost it . and i have to say that it IS the toughest atv i have ever had , and i can punish atv's . i rolled a 3 day old top heavy raptor doing a slow turn around slide and bent the handle bars and clutch lever broke the reverse switch and knocked the headlight off ... "just junk" when you ride the pred they build your confidence and become very predictable . on the other machines they felt like dirt bikes , small, and confined, feel cheap, and the handle bars feel low. sure you can buy after market parts to raise the bars and make them wider to help the bigger guys but the pred comes that way .and im not to sure about the outlaws but i believe they went the same way. ive shopped around for a new atv but ended up sticking with mine. i just dident like the new ones and the fact i put 3g's in the motor lol (its mean) hope this helps some , good luck

[katch26]

They didn't change the gear ratios on the tl til 05....04s has the standard tranny

[bchessel]

my mistake ... they redesigned it because of the problems aswell as a few other changes,
hey Katch , i noticed you run elka. .i was concedering getting a set . how long did you ride the stock before you added the elka. and how much of a diferance did it make?
ive gone to a 15 tooth JT high carbon in the front and 19" holeshots to try to make the extra power useable
the stock 14 tooth started poping teeth after 6 month .
just woundering what you run with your BBK . the stock sprockets on mine made 1st usless and 2nd hit rev lmt in a snap .. hell i could ease the clutch out in 3rd at idle and pull away with out stall. now it revs through the gears good great power curve but still breaks the tires loose on the street or lifts the front if your on it too hard in 4th i clocked it with my bike at 79mph steady ... it floated to 80 but that dosent count i think i had a tail wind lol

[craldad63]

I have a '03 pred w/bonestock motor gt thunder revalved and cut fox shocks and it was bullet proof. My '06 pred. has a bone stock motor except for a lightend flywheel, and it's been bullet proof. They only downfall on predators is the amount of maint. on the steering setup they have, (eg. bearings in the steering need replaced to often where as honda, yamaha, don't have this stupid setup). Other than that, I love both of mine.

[katch26]

I like the elkas I really bought them because it was a smoking deal. I think I paid $500 shipped for elka elites that had just been rebuilt. I like the way they ride but Ive heard mostly negative regarding how elka valves them. On my bike I run stock 14/38 and Id really like to go up to a 15 front. Seems like your running in circles though, you raised the front sprocket size which would stretch the legs but it kind of resets itself with smaller tires. We run a lot of tight woods so top speed isnt really a concern for me but the tld has the close ratio gears and could use a little spacing out.

[bchessel]

i went with the 15 after i got the smaller tires because it had way to much low end and i assumed the same as you (resetting it ) but its not the case .. it really stretched the gears out i was almost thinking about going back to a 14 and changing the back . now 2nd almost feels like 3rd use to . before the change i had stock sprockets and 20" tires (stock hondas) no traction , tops out at 75mph and hitting the rev limit every gear . after i put the 19"holeshot mx top speed 60mph and beatin the revs to death ... i liked the look of the tires and the great grip and wanted to keep them so i changed to the 15 tooth and now im up to 80mph. now im not a top speed guy but it seems irtersting how much differance little changes make , and it took alittle to get used to but i like it .. plenty of torqe in the tight stuff and longer between shifts, plus i got to try to hit the rev limit. somthing intresting stated happining aswell ... it seems to have a powerband lol like a 2 stroke .. it pulls hard through the gears but as the revs build it hits a spot where it just rockets .. example > shifting through gears in a drag race on asphalt, as the revs get towards the high end it breaks the tires loose in all gears ... hauling *** but spinning them . and we all know how unstable preds are at high speed now add spinning tires at 65 . these things are such a beast