Project Machines

-- Born on the bayou -- Travis Heltz has been reading Dirt Wheels and riding quads down in southern Louisiana for many years. His first quad was a 1993 Yamaha Blaster and then he moved up to a 1996 Yamaha Banshee. From there he graduated to a newer 1999 Banshee and then a 2011 Raptor 700R SE. So, for this year Travis bought a new 2019 Raptor 700R and then he decided to do something he always wanted to. His previous quads had all remained mostly stock, but for his new Raptor he went to work tricking it out with …

-- Testing Honda's Jackson Racing Turbo kit -- By the staff of Dirt Wheels Elsewhere in this issue is Honda’s surprising announcement of year 2020 products, including two Talon four-seater models, and updated Pioneer 1000 and 4x4 quads that are significantly changed. Two additional announcements from Big Red concerned a 2020 racing effort in the Pro UTV Turbo class for Best in the Desert and SCORE off-road races. Honda has a long history of racing efforts that promote new sport products, so the fact that the company…

-- High-performance swamp monster -- In the world of high-performance 4x4 quads there are two models that stand at the top of the pecking order. One is the Scrambler made by Polaris, and the other is the Renegade made by Can-Am. The one we'll focus on here is the Can-Am version.  It is the Renegade X mr 1000 of 2018. Dalton Battenfield turned it into an extreme machine with the help of S3 Power Sports. The list of parts include a S3 Power Sports 6 inch lift kit, Fox shocks, RCV axles, XMR series rear…

-- In the land down under -- Bradley Bamber is a Dirt Wheels reader in Australia. In that country most people live either on the east coast (Sidney) or the west coast (Perth). Bradley does his riding on the western side which has plenty of sand dunes along the coast. Here is the 1986 Honda ATC250R that Bradley rides. The first thing you'll notice is that it's not red. Instead, he gave it a different look with a blue frame along with blue plastic. He also enhanced the custom appearance by polishing and chroming various…

-- Part Honda, part Suzuki -- Dirt Wheels magazine has the best readers. They have the most passion for ATVs and UTVs. This is proven by the machines they build. Take for example this quad here owned by Donald Lovell. We'll let him tell you about it... Hey Dirt Wheels, Here is the quad I built. It is a 2007 Suzuki LT-R450, but I took out the engine and put in a built  engine from a  2005 Honda CRF450. ENGINE SPECS: '05 CRF 450, Hot Rod 3mm stroker crank, Mayhem ported head, +2+1 Kibble white valves, DCR cam,  …

-- 2-stroke vs. 4-stroke blast from the past -- Dune season is right around the corner. We know you’re itching for cooler weather so you can migrate back into the desert. Now is the time to polish that chrome, freshen that engine and get out your flags. To go along with this theme, we thought we would take our next old-versus-new quads out to the sand to see how they work. As with our last two-stroke versus four-stroke feature in the April 2011 issue, Duncan Racing prepared two beautiful samples of Suzuki’s finest ATV…

-- A letter from a Dirt Wheels reader -- Hi Dirt Wheels,     I'm Robby from Germany and I would like to present my modified Banshee. I bought it in 2013,  my first Banshee, after I sold my old 2006 Raptor 700. The Banshee was in a stock condition, but was not well maintained. At first I rebuilt the chassis and the plastic (they were painted very bad). At the next step I revised the wiring harness. In the end i could fill a 10 liter bucket with electrical garbage. The other improvements I did from time to time.  This is…

-- Improving Can-Am's 4-seater UTV --  By the staff of Dirt Wheels Some people have a customized UTV because they feel stuck with it. That isn’t the case with Andy Anaya and his well-setup Can-Am Maverick Max X rs. Andy is the sales manager at Chaparral Motorsports, so he has access to great deals on any brand imaginable, and he has driven every machine made. In spite of literally being the kid in the UTV candy store, he spends family time in this customized and personalized 2014 Can-Am that he bought new. Anaya is a…

-- Built to beat Baja -- By the staff of Dirt Wheels We are fortunate enough to find ourselves around some of the most epic ATV builds in the business, and this Baja Yamaha YFZ450R is one for our record books. Pro-Am WORCS racer Ricardo Gonzalez wanted to switch gears and race the wilds of Baja Mexico with his team. They needed a machine built to handle a ton of abuse and last for hundreds of miles in the many different conditions that the course throws at the team. His long-time mechanic Kevin Avina was put to the…

-- Raiding the fast parts shelves with an employee discount -- By the staff of Dirt Wheels Let’s say that you work at an aftermarket company that makes excellent and very cool products. Imagine that the company is Assault Industries. Further suppose that you just bought a Polaris RZR Turbo S. Tom Cavish faced this exact scenario, and he needed to make decisions about his RZR Turbo S build. The Turbo S is no bargain-basement ride. It comes with 15-inch wheels, ITP Coyote 32-inch tires, four-point harnesses and an…

-- The latest version of the famous two-stroke three-wheeler -- Ever since Honda dropped their ATC250R after 1986, people have wondered how one would look today if it suddenly returned to the line up. Well, that has not happened yet, but what we have here is probably the closest thing to a 2020 ATC250R that Honda would build. It has an aluminum frame, inverted front forks and a 2-stroke engine with a power-valve, raising and lowering the exhaust port to make a broader power band. So, how did this modern ATC250R come…

-- Drifting from the dirt onto the pavement --     Jeremy Othelet is a Dirt Wheels reader who lives in Margut, France. In his country ATVs can be made street legal with the proper equipment. As you can see here Jeremy has turn signals, mirrors and a license plate on his quad.     His Yamaha Raptor 700 is a good quad to make street legal, because it has enough power to cruise along at speeds above 70 mph. To improve the power Jeremy added a performance exhaust and intake system, fuel controller and hotter cam shaft.…