Machines

-- A fast sand dune machine -- It's kind of like a dirt bike, but it's also like an ATV too. The fat tires allow it to carve across the sand better than skinny tires. If you've ever ridden a normal dirt bike at the dunes you had to deal with the front tire cutting in deep in the turns and the rear tire spinning wildly trying to find traction. This Fat Cat 650 is an effective solution to that problem. Although the Fat Cat 650 is a custom build, its concept was based on the original Honda Fat Cat 200 that was available…

-- The fastest 3-wheeler -- What was the fastest 3-wheeler? That distinction has to be the Tiger 500. So, you say you never heard of the Tiger 3-wheeler brand? Well, that's understandable. It wasn't a very large company, but you could buy machines from them between the years of 1983 and 1986. The company was founded by Peter Wood, so the story goes, and the Tiger factory was in Minnesota. The company made their own frames and plastic, and they installed 2-stroke engines from Rotax. The Tiger 500 had the big air-cooled…

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-- Havoc reigns, revised quads and more Wildcat XX power --  By the staff of Dirt Wheels When Textron Specialized Vehicles acquired Arctic Cat, both brands benefited. Arctic Cat’s quad and UTV lines got an injection of interest, backing and engineering capability, and Textron picked up an instant dealer network and a full, competitive line of machines. In the last year the combined brand has released the Wildcat XX as the first real project that melded the talents of both companies. We also saw the release of the…

-- 2-stroke power to break the sand barrier -- By the staff of Dirt Wheels, photos by Pat Carrigan CT Racing’s 400cc Banshee kits have been a popular kit for years. CTR originally marketed a 370cc, long-rod kit for the Banshee, but after the 4mm stroker cranks proved dependable, it discontinued the 370cc kit and replaced it with the 400cc kit. They are basically identical kits, but the 400cc kit has a longer stroke. The cylinder bore sizes are the same. The added 4mm of stroke works amazingly on the Banshee. It adds…

-- It just keeps getting better -- By the staff of Dirt Wheels Can-Am consistently pushes the envelope with their ATV and UTV lines. We thought they provided enough great upgrades on the Outlander and Renegade ATV lines to keep us four-wheeler riders enthused for 2019 models. They even introduced the impressive new 60-inch-wide Maverick Sport model that is based on the Maverick Trail. Can-Am couldn’t stop there for the year. No, instead they had a late introduction of models that includes the all-new four-seat…

We not only got a first look at both Talon models, but we were able to take each out for a ride in the California desert in order to give our readers some insight. They were worth the wait.

-- Not everyone needs a Talon -- Honda's all-new high-performance Talon R and X have been getting all the attention when they were introduced recently, but Honda has other UTVs in their 2019 line up as well. You can check them out below .  Right now Honda's South Carolina plant is celebrating 20 years of ATV and UTV production. We have been to the facility, and it is quite impressive, and no doubt it plays a role in the well-deserved Honda reputation for quad and UTV reliability. PIONEER 1000 The impressive…

2019 Honda Talon For decades, Honda has set the standard for sport-oriented dirt bikes with its CR and CRF lineups, and more recently the Pioneer family has introduced unmatched capability to the multipurpose side-by-side category. Now, Honda’s all-new, highly anticipated Talon marries the two worlds, bringing a new level of off-road excitement, precision and quality to Sport side-by-side driving. Drawing on countless hours of performance development in both two- and four-wheel design and racing, as well as automotive and…

-- What you need if your UTV has bigger tires -- Recently, we have come across a number of UTVs that were fitted with oversized tires, and in most of those cases we found that performance suffered. We are all for the cool look and added ground clearance that big tires supply, but not if we lose performance and driveability. The solution is to have the CVT clutching modified to work with the larger tires. The photos and text here will show how we installed GBoost clutch kits in 2017 Polaris UTVs; one was a Turbo and the…

-- Looking back at 2018 & ahead to 2019 -- Production of 3-Wheelers ceased in 1987 due to safety concerns as 4-Wheelers took over the market.  Most Major race series then moved away from 3-Wheelers around that same time period.  In 2014 the New East Extreme Dirt Track Series allowed 3-Wheelers back into the regular program as exhibition classes and they quickly grew over night.  At one of the series largest Events in 2018 at Pine Lake Raceway one can easily find more than 100 of these 3-wheeler machines from the 80’s…