Riding stories

THanx blue
Well, as some of you know I bought me a brand spanking new Grizzly in Red. Wow, does that quad look awesome in person. I had been thinking about buying a 4x4 Ute for a while because flying through the woods at 50mph with my YFZ isn’t always the ticket.
So, when I was out riding my YFZ at a local riding spot and some Guys and Gals having fun mudding their Utes through some bog I made the decision to get one. The choice was easily made after some research and the Grizzly came home with me Monday before last. The misses actually bought it for me as an early B-Day present and warned me not to go nuts upgrading this thing like I had the YFZ. I sincerely (at the time) nodded my head, as I was not paying attention to the road because I was constantly looking in my mirror to see the awesome looking front end of my Grizz looking back at me. I had to take it easy because the Grizz’s grill guard sticks out so far and I didn’t want it to bust out my rear window.
The week crept by as I had to many projects at work to take off a few days and play with my new toy. The Saturday came and the weather was a perfect 70 with a light breeze and I headed out to my friends house with the Grizz loaded in the back. I noticed that the Grizz turns a lot of heads and I couldn’t feel more proud.

I arrived at my friend’s house a little after 12 and I unloaded the Grizz. We stood around and ooohed and ahhhed while pointing out cool stuff about the Grizz. My friend rolled his YFZ out of the garage and we headed into the woods after a brief warm up.

Let me say that the first mistake I made was that I was trying to ride this 600 lbs beast like it was my YFZ. I just couldn’t wrestle it around the turns like I was used to and constantly tried to break the rear end loose to make a sharp turn. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed at first. We stopped somewhere and I discussed this with my friend. He pointed out that I shouldn’t try to ride it like my YFZ but like the Ute that it was. So we remounted our steeds and headed back onto the trail this time riding it like I was suppose to. Let me tell ya, I was grinning ear to ear when I was just cruising through the woods and occasionally crawled up some steep hill in 4by mode. It was one of the coolest things I had ever done. I was just in awe at the power this thing had down low and the easy at which it walked up the hills. My friend mentioned to me later how he was afraid I was going to tip back when I was crawling up these steep hills but I told him the quad felt rock solid. As we where getting hungry we started to head home. On the way home I saw this little trail that that traversed a side of a steep hill and I decided to ride my Grizz up there and see how stable it is off-camber. Well, as I was riding across the side of this hill the Grizz started tipping downhill and I had to make a big decision right there. Dump the quad and let it roll down hill for about 40 yards or save it. I made the (dumb) decision to save it and steered the Grizz downhill and rode it out. I was cutting through brush and hopped over logs and finally made it down the hill were I had to take a breather and calm my nerves. Although I was happy I saved the quad I couldn’t believe how stupid I was in trying to save a 600lbs plus quad. Now I am a pretty big guy (6’4” and 280 lbs) and am pretty strong but I would’ve been crushed if the Grizz ‘d rolled on top of me.
I will do my very best to never be in that situation again which I could’ve easily have avoided by not being so cocky and assume that I could handle a steep of camber like that.

We resumed our way back after I calmed down and arrived back home without further incident. I learned a lot from that trip and am a safer rider for it now.
My final verdict is that I am very happy with the Grizzly and when I am not racing my YFZ I will be more than content to ride my Grizz around and plow through mud and do some hill/rock climbing.

To Be Continued....

I also made the transition from sport quad ('00 banshee) to a 4x4 'ute('03 rincon) and it is a hard one to make, indeed. To add to this, the rincon is alot more stable in off camber situations than the grizz, (but the grizz's ground clearence is the culprit, and well worth it) so I can imagine it was tough for you. I like to play on boulders, logs, ditches, etc. all the low speed (crawling) stuff that makes it want to tip. I did soften my suspension and set the mud lites to about 2.5 psi and this helps alot, man the grizzly will will go over anything! The way I ride and obsticles I like to tackle are the reasons that made me switch to the grizz from the 'con in the first place. The front diff lock, low range, and almost 2 more inches of ground clearence really make a difference. I sold my 'con to a buddy whom I always ride with, so I really get to analyze the two machines head to head. I am constantly waiting for him when he gets hung up on a diagonally fallen tree branch in a creek when the only front tire spinning is the one in the air! He has titan 589's so it holds it's own in the mud until my ruts get too deep.
On thing you will learn, and probably already know from riding a sport quad is that body language makes all the difference. When traversing a side hill, if you can approach it with the right side of the bike on the high side, it's cake, you can stand with both feet on the right side floorboard and literally dangle your body weight off the right side of the bike, hanging with your right hand on the grip, operating the throttle/ front brake, and your left hand hanging on to the rear rack. Of course I recommend this only at very low speed, and not on a hill that is simply unreasonable to traverse. Hills on the opposite side (left side high) are more tricky, 'cause you have to reach all the way across the bike to operate the throttle, but, you can still make quite a difference by standing with both feet on the high side. Try this once, it works for me and I'm 6 foot 200 lbs. you should be able to make the bike want to roll UP the hill! lol. My solid rear axle buddies (kodiak, arctic cat, polaris scrambler) laugh at me 'cause I need to do this, but, I get the last laugh when I need to pull them off of logs, rocks, and out of the mud! Be careful and have fun! Later, Clint.

A couple of tips for you guys...

First... tighten the preload on your shocks. I'm running 3 out of 5 up front and 4 out of 5 in back (5 being stiffest). That makes a big difference in stability. The Grizzly's shocks leave a bit to be desired, but I've heard that the 04 shocks have different valving than the 02-03s, and it helps a bit. I run Works Performance shocks on my Grizzly, and they're amazing. Highly recommended.

Second... lose the rear swaybar. That helps a LOT in off-camber situations because it allows the rear end to articulate. My Grizzly felt a lot more stable off-camber without the swaybar. And only a slight handling loss is felt at speed without it.

Another way to ride in technical situations is one leg up. That's standing with one leg bent at the knee on top of the seat. This is really handy when climbing rocks that put the quad very off-camber. I learned to do this from riding my snowmobile, because you're constantly moving on it. I've also been known to ride with both feet on the same running board if needed.

Rob