When it came time to ride, I picked a quad and setting
on it felt great. The layout felt very neutral, the
tank area is very narrow which makes moving around
very easy. The controls were in just the right places.
I'm pretty picky about the way my controls are positioned
and the bend of bars but the Outlaw 525 felt spot
on. The new hydraulic clutch has a super easy pull
and is very smooth (all quads should come with one
of these). As soon as I hit the starter button the
motor came to life and didn't even need to be choked
in the lower 50 degree weather.
First thing I did was to take it to a long straight
away and noticed immediately that this is a very
quick racing ATV. I'd say it’s in the top
5 of the quickest quads I have ever rode, the
quickest stock quad for sure! The power band came
on early and did not stop pulling all the way
to the top. Very crisp and responsive!
|
In
an effort to reduce weight, Polaris removed
the rear shock reservoirs and apparently stiffened
up the rear springs, which causes the Outlaw
525 to ride rougher than the Outlaw 500 and
it has a tendency to kick through rough terrain
at high speed. With shock adjustment or replacement
this issue could easily be fixed, and it was
the only major drawback to the Outlaw 525. |
After a few minutes riding around the camp, we would
all gather to take an one hour guided trail ride into
the mountains. First off we went down a 3 mile wash
full of whoops, I noticed right off that this ATV
will stay on top of the whoops if you keep it pinned.
Even if the whoops were uneven the IRS would keep
tracking straight unlike a solid axle quad. I did
however notice that if I slowed down and allowed the
quad to fall into the whoops the rear end would tend
to swap some. I believe this is due to the rear shocks
being a bit under sprung and under dampened. The shocks
are preload and compression adjustable but we did
not have tools to play with the settings. I believe
this can be cured with some adjustments. I did get
a chance to ride the 500 through the same section
and the Fox shocks did not swap at all, if they can
get the rear Arvin Ryde FX Shocks to work as good
as the Fox shocks it will be much better.
The transmission shifted smoothly and had good gear
spacing. I did notice that the shifter was too long
even with my size 11 boot. Polaris told me that it
was the shifter from the motorcycle and would be shorter
on the production units. We did not have a radar gun,
but I do believe that I was in the mid 70's mph on
one short straight away. Did I say this quad was fast?
