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| The
LTR450 features 10.6" of Front Suspension
Travel with Comp, Reb & Preload Adjusment |
After two days of riding, we felt the stock suspension
could handle a lot more then we were throwing
at them. Sure enough, a 100 foot triple was tackled
and the landings were soaked up with ease. The
drawback we did find was in the high banked berms.
The steering seemed to fight our rider right in
the center of the berm, but not so much that it
was a huge issue, but noticeable.
A quick check of the front end settings found
a Toe setting slightly off and it was quickly
adjusted and the issue was much better. I asked
our rider why he seemed to be doing bigger jumps
and how his obvious speed on the track had really
improved; his response was “confidence”.
The LTR was a solid platform and our rider had
adapted quickly to how it handled and was now
riding at a much higher level then he had on
any other stock ATV we have had.
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| The
fuel injected 450cc engine provides plenty
of power in stock trim, but with a little
fuel injection re-mapping and / or the
addition of the Yoshimura "Cherry
Bomb", the LTR450 will really come
to life |
So far, we were completely satisfied with the
way our LTR450 was handling, but the rider suggested
a touch more power would be helpful, especially
in the low end of the power curve. A “Cherry
Bomb” from Suzuki was installed and attention
was next focused on the gearing.
A switch to a 12 tooth front sprocket brought
the LTR450 to life down low and seemed to keep
us in the sweet spot on the track. With the
initial set up complete, the break in period
done and our rider confident in how the LTR
responded, we could now take it out on the trails
and see how well it did.
A portion of the trail riding was done prior
to the MX track but in a very mild manner just
to get a feel for the LTR450 in the woods. Bone
stock, reports back from our rider was not positive
initially as the width was a factor along with
no low end grunt.
Since our initial ride and subsequent break
in period and time on the MX track, we headed
back to the trails to see how the suspension,
gearing and Cherry Bomb would affect how he
felt. Handling had improved and the extra grunt
provided by the other changes had our rider
clipping along the trails at a rapid pace.
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|
While
the Suzuki LTR450 was specific designed
to the motocross track, it still performs
extremely well in the woods as long at
the trails are wide enough for its 49"
width and lower ground clearance with
the stock 18" rear tires, but for
the most part, all the trails we rode
on provided plenty of clearance and the
Quad Racer was right at home in the woods
& with just a few mods, the LTR450
may be actually one of the fastest woods
ATVs available as Chris
Borich proved by winning an amazing
10 Pro races to secure his first GNCC
Pro ATV Championship this year |
