We bought 4 cheap midsize quads to see which one is Better - Top Quad 3 Episode 1

[Music] welcome everyone to Indiana it's the home of vast farmlands steel mills and the nd500 and it's the perfect place to take our favorite mid-sized sport quads that we all loved and cherished as a kid and compare them side by side to see who had the fastest four-wheeler on the block now in these days it may be hard to come by manufacturers that make brand new sport quads back in the day from the mid 90s all the way up until about 2010 there were quite a few manufacturers making mid-size sport quads that were perfect for kids who had outgrown their 90cc but not quite ready for a 400 or a 450. now yes here at top quad we're all adults and we're a little bit too big for these machines but they've got more than enough power to Lug us around and we thought it would be fun to relive some childhood memories and possibly create new ones that we were never able to make in the first place we set up a series of five challenges and games and variations that you and your friends may have played when you were kids when it comes to Recreational Sports it's not always about Syria statistics but more about having a good time with your buddies and that's just what we plan to do let's take a look at the machines [Music] now we've got four vastly different but very similar machines we got the Trailblazer here we've got the Lakota we've got the 300EX we've got the Blaster these are all mid-sized machines I wanted to have an automatic machine a semi-automatic machine manual that's a four stroke and then a fully manual two-stroke so they're all mid-sized machines but they all have something a little different and I think that's going to be really neat to compare because they're all going to have their pros and cons or maybe one of them is just going to be way better I don't know what what do you guys think I'm still team Honda on this one because this just doesn't it's pretty it has a pull star you have a so does the Lakota we can go to the Lakota next if you'd like Jacob says as soon as you see a machine with a pull start you can just write it off immediately that's not the primer it's it's a backup starter I mean it has a like a regular start on it's not like that's but it's not a line B well I have a plan B here it doesn't bother me I could care less if they pull starters on them but it's kind of like a chick with a back tattoo it gives you a certain opinion of somebody what kind of opinion what's up I'm Mike Sabo I'm really excited about the midsize quads is this I'm Mike Sabo and this is top quad 3. this is one of the machines that I haven't had a chance to ride really at all it could it's it could be fierce these guys are telling me it's pretty fast and we got it dialed in today and nobody's run it now that we've dialed it in so it could be even faster but uh the suspension feels like it's just like not good yeah she's got her problems we got we got the Honda syndrome going on here you know a little floppiness but I don't know I'm team Honda I'm Jesse Brewer welcome to top quad 3. that's pretty good what's it what's the deal with the uh this like rental jet ski thing up here that's my favorite part I got that's fairly I think what it really is is the the 300 is so fast they had to create some drag to help you keep the front end down we do have the Blaster down here as well by far the smallest machine and I think the size and weight of these machines is going to play a huge Factor too so these are all mid-sized quads you know by like I guess definition but they're all really totally different the biggest thing with the Blaster is like when you look at it it really looks like a kid Squad especially compared to the cooler inch we got to put them next to each other and do like a side by side comparison you can't even when you get on this thing you literally have to stand this wide you cannot it's a very it's a very bulky machine so not only is it an automatic it's larger but I think for for leaning it really it holds you I don't know it yeah it's really it's gonna be one of those things where we're just gonna have to find out yeah I will say out of the lineup I would say this is the easiest one to drag around you drive it all day comfy yeah super comfy first win the first win for Comfort goes to the cool ranch 250. I do have one concern though and that's all this empty space like there's just nothing up here the front end's gonna be so light I don't know how I'm gonna like it on hill climbs any any jumping any I mean your your front end is so light and the turns isn't going to push really hard I mean I'm most excited about this four-wheeler even if we think it's a dog and we don't really like it I'm still stoked about it I agree I've been thinking about that I think I told you on the phone too this one specifically I don't even care if it's the worst performing I just want to see how it Stacks up I'm really interested I think it's got a victory in the cars it might get last it might get last on every other one but I think it's got one I think I know the exact one that you're talking about hi I'm Jacob Brewery yeah meatballs arguably I would say the most well-rounded machine is going to be the Lakota I really wanted to do the semi-clutch because I'm just interested to see like the advantages of one or the other because there's definitely something to be said for a semi-clutch I mean people do you know recluse clutches and cross-country racing and stuff but then you're losing the ability to pop your clutch and you lose a lot of control with that but just overall I feel like this machine is so it's like stable across the board like if you're playing ATV off-road Fury with the bars yeah this one would just be like even across the board the other ones are all over the place you know they may be faster or have better braking or whatever it is this one's just like a solid go-to and it's like specialty move is Rev bombing in second gear I'm at a loss with even picking one of these at all as far as like this one is for sure a standout the Blaster is awesome but it's tiny this thing is super Stout it's an awesome wheeler and you don't see these when you go places either so super limited experience and the major downfall that I feel is the trans because you don't have a lot of control with operating it hey everybody I'm Pete Egger all right hi I'm Pete I think it's really going to come down to each event as far as like which one's Gonna Stand Out I don't think it's going to be just a clear-cut this one is the winner this one is the best yeah I agree I think we've got a lot of different theories here I say we all hop on these things and get a little bit seat time and see what they feel like all right the machines are locked in now to avoid any confusion you may have noticed that we gave these machines nicknames the Yamaha Blaster is the original crispy chicken sandwich the 300EX is the meatball Kawasaki Lakota is the blueberry milkshake and the Polaris Trailblazer is the Cool Ranch all of these machines have comparable specs across the board every machine is mostly stock at least to the best of our knowledge we fitted each machine with brand new Kenda tires and every machine here has an aftermarket exhaust with the option of an intake and modified air box lid the Blaster will have no air box lid the 300EX has a modified lid the Trailblazer will also have no lid the Lakota is the only machine that has no modifications to the intake we did weigh these machines after filling them up with fluids the Blaster came in at 334 pounds by far the lightest the Honda 300EX 397 pounds then the Kawasaki Lakota 468 pounds and the heaviest machine of the bunch is the Trailblazer at 487 pounds damn all right let's go to the field and see all these things dry right Jacob Jacob put it away huh a lot for real though really I don't know I think it was like are you serious [Music] all right guys we're getting warmed up we're gonna do a little run around on the Cool Ranch 250. it's a Polaris 250 Trailblazer automatic through it in high gear boys news these straightaways are gonna kind of kill it I really hope I do not draw the Trailblazer it's really large sounds like a dying goat and has a pull start this one's actually cool because it's too smoke and it's a belt drive everyone hates it because it sounds like a leaf blower I'm not totally against this thing it may have a chance this this is one of those where it builds speed and you don't realize it until you're there I feel pretty confident with this but I kind of like it I want to ride that you want to search I'm still looking for a shifter and [Music] [Music] [Music] whoa um foreign [Music] if we can get the SC1 off of this seat if you can make it so that you don't slip you can you can do really good on all those Corners it started like pulling me over this is so slippery dude this honestly might get first because it's so easy and you can literally almost full throttle it the whole time and you fit on it and I think it has a safety thing too do you guys hear in the air yeah it has like a shutoff or something this is so weird there's nothing here it's a fake clutch right here my feet are so far apart and I'm really not feeling the automatic so the Trailblazer is going to the bottom it's weird it's very weird this is slippery like I can't find this break ever so I just use this one but it grabs the front too and then you're like let's see what you think of the C I like it are you slipping yeah but I got a lot more meat I probably I probably wiped all the SC1 off with my ass so much more room on this thing oh I see the blog he's talking about now oh this thing's not bad it's very comfortable to ride the automatic on the Trailblazer is super odd because you're like waiting to do your next input as a rider whereas like even if you're just going on a straight line another quad so you're listening to your RPMs you're feeling the machine you gotta up shift Trailblazer you just wait it could be six seconds and then we're gonna do the next move the other machines you're actively riding so the automatic trans is nice in certain situations but it's less Rider involved and I like everybody else had kind of written off the Trailblazer I saw Pete ride the Blazer around and it was just not impressive I think it's gonna get last all right man this thing has a learning curve it's so interesting and I didn't have to work that hard this is the easiest one to ride without a doubt Trailblazer Dark Horse Polaris Trailblazer 250. arguably the most odd vehicle of our Bunch it's frame geometry and footprint is that of the size of a full-size ATV so at least for us adults we'll probably feel most at home on this machine they were made from 1990 all the way up until 2006 and they've got a 244 CC air cooled two-stroke engine but what's weird about the Trailblazer is that it's mated to a CVT automatic transmission on most sport quads this size you'll find a semi-auto or a manual transmission this one is definitely odd the Trailblazer requires the least amount of router input pretty much just the thumb throttle the brake and go after reviewing a lot of comments up to this series this is definitely viewed as the underdog however I think the size factor is going to play a large part we also noticed that out of these machines it has by far the most plush suspension and it's actually pretty easy to handle the wheelbase is pretty wide it's gonna need it though because all of the Riders notice that out of these machines it had the least amount of power and worst throttle response the automatic transmission may be easy to use but it takes a lot of control away from the rider and that could definitely slow things down if you're thinking about picking one of these up they're very inexpensive you can pick them up even now for a thousand dollars or less in decent shape and they're very easy to maintain as well they've even got an oil injection system for the two-stroke engine that's pretty bulletproof as long as you keep it clean if you're looking for a mild machine to add to your collection one that anyone can ride but you can still have fun with a Trailblazer 250 might be for you the question is how will it stack up against these other machines in our series of challenges [Music] I mean hands down there's only one of them that says top quad on it the lakota's got to be the best the Lakota is sick you know we got to ride that already really hard that's one of the machines that I got ready out of all of them it's the most well-rounded when you hit the throttle you know what you're going to get when you hate the brakes you know what you're going to get very consistent machine the auto clutch on the Lakota is really I don't want to say it's weird but it is mainly because I don't ride machines with that it's very convenient at times but then I feel like I'm out of my Norm all right foreign [Music] I like it I feel I feel like my fat ass is going to bend the Plastics down though [Music] that didn't sound healthy nice the Lakota is a unit [Music] the most common because I have the most seat time on it I got broads out a lot no matter what gear yeah yeah and it's it's super predictable power too realize every time I shift I've been doing this the Kawasaki Lakota 300 290 CC's a four-stroke Fury well not exactly the Lakota has a pretty mellow engine it's a single overhead cam air-cooled engine it's very low Tech but it's known for its reliability it's mated to a five-speed semi-automatic clutch which means all you need to do is move the shift lever with your foot there is no clutch action and you don't have to worry about stalling out many people have never seen the Kawasaki Lakota or they get it confused with its very similar brother the Kawasaki Mojave without getting into details aside from looks the Mojave is actually quite different with an entirely different power plant but that's for another video the Kawasaki is a decent size and all the Riders notice that the suspension is pretty well rounded in fact the entire machine is pretty well-rounded the main complaint we all had is that it feels very utility oriented and when you start to do any type of body positioning you tend to just not fit Kawasaki originally released the Lakota in 1995 and it was originally released with racks truly this was a hybrid Bridging the Gap between Sport and utility ATVs the 2000 Lakota in this series does still have the hookups for racks so if you do get racks on a later model Lakota they can easily be upfitted to have them the last year of production for the Lakota was 2003 and this is another machine that you can score relatively cheap we picked up the one in this video for eighteen hundred dollars and it was in phenomenal condition but I've seen these things listed on Facebook Marketplace as low as 500 bucks in running condition the Lakota really is a solid machine but it doesn't have any one feature that seems to stand out amongst the rest so it's going to be interesting to see how it Stacks up we'll get right back to the machines but first I want to take a break to thank you for making it this far into the video I also like to thank the companies that helped to make top quad possible thank you to petehanger.com for parts rocket Robin Racing for suspension zoom zoom for parts drw performance for skid plates and case savers Rocky Mountain ATV for parts and we'd like to give a special thank you to Kenda for supplying tires for every one of these machines and the tires are sweet my least favorite thing about tires is when they bite the power slide when they don't want them to and that hasn't happened once definitely solid tires and they look cool I've always liked the tread patterns on them plus they put colored logos on the side of their tires which is a big deal most companies don't do that I'd also like to give a special thank you to Todd at 725 designs you'll notice that all of these machines have custom graphics on them I made the designs sent them to Todd and he printed them out making for an easy Professional installation the quality is Top Notch and if you can't design your own Graphics that's no problem Todd can do it for you check them out on Instagram at 725 designs make sure to let them know that I sent you all the links to sponsor websites will be listed in the description below if you're enjoying the video so far liking sharing commenting and subscribing all help out a ton we love making these videos but it's a ton of work and together the creators Drive thousands of miles and work hundreds of hours to make this content for the off-road Community if you're looking for a way to support and help us please consider subscribing to my friends YouTube channels heathagger 700R Raptor life Brewer off-road and of course my YouTube channel Tyrese from 700R Raptor life wasn't able to make this year's show but he did help out by supplying the meatball you can also show your support by picking up some official top quad merch with your favorite machine on it links will be in the description below let's get back to the machines [Music] dude look how womped out the front suspension is you can see the tires all the time going yeah yeah that front left we might lose that so after watching my rip around Bales and his front tire do this the posture of the Machine Shake like it's on a boat I'm excited to see how long it takes me to fall off of this I'll tell you what I was giving that thing to beans going over the jump every single time every time you go up you can hear like the slack coming out of everything it's loose is fast I'm going Honda 300EX [Music] [Music] I'm Honda gut so that's my thing they're just reliable if it's smoking it's got oil if it's leaking it's got oil I have a another Honda that does the same damn thing what do you think of 300. um definitely sketchy I honestly feel like I'm riding the hardest on it but I think I'm going the slowest some of these Corners I can go from second down into first or down into neutral on accident like with the top of my foot or something kind of weird I think because there's like no Nerfs no heel guards or something you're like floating really weird the high shifter that's probably not helping it huh yeah the front left tire too looks like it's going to fall off when he's riding because the suspension's just gone it's just it's like do it it's doing some wonky stuff [Music] yo this thing's dangerous my knee almost went under here I guess like I don't know I'm just gonna take some getting used to I do not feel confident I feel like my feet are gonna slip off and like uh just everything even like that like doing this it feels like there's no plastics oh crap I've been bold people yeah I mean I like meatballs I think the meatball is gonna come out better than everyone thinks everyone hates it it does smell like a waste oil heater when you're behind it meatballs can be slippery I guess and you know they pop out every once in a while and so are the foot pegs I think the meatballs are okay this machine's been ridden laughs I'm not saying it's clapped it's been used it's lived a hard life I think all these guys are complaining a little bit too much about the meatball it's just a clapped out quad we all got them I don't like it [Music] like everybody's gonna feel even like on the um just do it trying to get around the hay bale I'm afraid to full commit I think I gotta ride it slow and then warm up to it a little bit I just feel it feels dangerous yeah I'm not going that fast you'll be fine you'll be fine it's fine foreign the Honda TRX 300EX the 300EX belongs to a live sport quads offered by Honda starting with the TRX 90 all the way up to the 400 EX it was first offered in 1993 and remained mostly unchanged until 2007. in 2008 Honda updated the design of the Honda as well as changing the name to the TRX 300X however the 300X was very short-lived with the last model year being 2009. the 300dx is a super simple machine it's run by a 282 CC air-cooled four-stroke engine it makes decent power and it's got a 5-speed manual transmission with reverse they run great they're known for being reliable and you can keep up with people on bigger quads like the 400EX and we did our best to keep the machines at a fairly even Baseline however of the four machines here this is the one that could probably use the most maintenance it's definitely got its share of cosmetic defects but the biggest detriment to its performance was definitely in the front end and specifically with the suspension 300dx wasn't exactly known for its suspension even when they were brand new however this one is definitely whomped out it's something that every Rider notice and pair that with the worn out foot pegs and the 300 is definitely coming in at a disadvantage now on a positive note for the 300EX we did notice that it has an abnormal amount of power while we don't have another 300 EX here to compare to it seems to have a substantial amount of power over the other machines we have a 400EX here to compare to and it was pretty damn close if I had to place a bet I would guess that this has an aftermarket cam in it but we didn't tear down the top end look so your guess is as good as ours these are just things to keep in mind as you're watching the competition again we want to have a baseline of mostly stock machines however when you're buying used sometimes you're rolling the dice and you never really know what you're going to get well the power of the 300EX overcome what it's lacking in suspension well I guess we'll find out [Music] faster [Music] it's really tiny [Music] this is a sick machine my problem is if I can ride it it's literally like smaller than me and I've tried to kind of maneuver around on it and I'm getting wedged in places to where I just can't move so I might get stuck on this thing if you're riding the Blaster really hard I think that could potentially be the fastest quad in all the advantage you just have to ride it just right the Blaster I think is just going to be like a workout foreign [Music] it's way faster until I saw the blaster in person I was really thinking the Blaster but then I realized it's as small as like a full-on youth Squad the Blaster is cool because you can actually pick different lines because it's so tiny I'm really feeling the Blaster it's got a lot of power out of the hole I think we'll be able to spin it around the Bales the best and it is definitely the nicest machine we have you did better than I thought you would so I mean the gears are short on that I heard them grab fourth like it was like one two three four you gotta I feel like you gotta wind them out though yeah I did an early shift in third one time and it kind of bugged on me I was like dang it but it's just getting used to it I think it's crappy it's really peppy I think the corners it's gonna suffer though dude I don't know if you get some warm up I think you can make it do what it wants but it's definitely harder it's a lot more work for sure that's what I was saying to Pete I was like that's the only machine at least so far from whatever in but you gotta you gotta ride this machine oh yeah you got to know what like you got to ride the hell out of it yeah yeah for sure it's a lot of fun the Yamaha Blaster classic two-stroke power it has a 195 CC air-cooled two-stroke engine made it to a six-speed manual transmission these things have been around forever in fact Yamaha released them in 1988 and they were made all the way up until 2006. from 1988 until 2002 it had almost no changes when in 2003 Yamaha updated the Plastics handlebars and added hydraulic brakes as the drum brakes on the older models were known for poor performance and the back brake almost never works on any used one of these that you come across the Blaster is a Fairly reliable machine if it's left in its stock format and they were known for having crazy colors over the years in the comments that I read leading up to the competition this is definitely the favored machine that most people think is going to win and it's easy to see why after riding it these things are an absolute blast to ride and as long as you keep it in the Power Band they're pretty damn quick there's tons of these out there and so many people have either had a friend with one of these or they had one themselves when they were a kid the Blaster is very small light and Nimble and the aftermarket selection for them is huge out of the box the Blaster is a mild machine they can easily be modified to put down some serious power this one is all stock with the addition of an FMF exhaust and a removed air box lid now if you guys follow my channel this was a complete restoration so this machine is practically brand new if you want to see this thing being built there's an entire playlist where you can watch this machine being restored and customized the Blaster is definitely quick but we all notice that it's significantly smaller in size than all of the other machines and none of us fit on it in fact our knees were bumping up against the front fenders constantly it also requires the most rider feedback in order to make it fast if you don't have this thing in the Power Band it's really not that quick so it's going to be a constant game of Shifting and making sure the engines in the right RPM in order to make this thing competitive if you can do that though this machine should be a force to be reckoned with it'll be interesting to see how it Stacks up what are you guys think you NFC time on them 100 I feel pretty good on them I'm 90 90 any final thoughts before we go into this first competition did any of you guys have like a major change in of opinion now that you've read them around kind of being that as like a sketchy roller coaster that's kind of fun it's like oh we might die but it's pretty cool it's like like the old wooden one just destroyed afterwards but it was still fun uh excited to see everybody's reactions on the Trailblazer and it even has surprised me I think putting the new belt on it really helped it you know get up and go so I think it's gonna do better than I thought the 300X anybody's game the Blaster is so small and then we've tore this up a bit so you end up two Wheeling sometimes and you don't expect it it's a crap shoot I'm excited uh I was definitely team Honda and for me my second choice was a Lakota like I definitely wanted one of those two quads I kind of don't want either of those quads I'll saddle for the Lakota before the 300EX but cool ranch is looking better and better every day to go along with the theme man the Cool Ranch is going to be our Cinderella Story I think so even like the Lakota though I feel the most comfortable in the Lakota we're talking this course too I think this is like a heavily uh using a lot of body language on this course so we were saying like you don't have to shift so you can all you have to focus on with that quad is your body position and throttle pretty much it and breaks but I mean even that's easy you have one option basically the back brake really doesn't work so I don't know man and we're gonna get into the first competition we're doing the Monster Jam this is a huge step up in top five three we've got a freaking sweet core set up here we've got that the straw balance we've got everything this is awesome just gotta we gotta jump in the middle we've got two symmetrical courses but opposite both Riders we're gonna go in head to head at the same time you go down the course do your side we cross and then you do the opposite side so everybody has the same amount of course that they're running and it's going to have a photo finish with the jump in the middle it's going to be an awesome awesome course now not only are these awesome courses but we're throwing a Twist in and we are not bound to any one of these machines so each Rider is going to pick from a helmet we've got keys on a lanyard nobody knows what they're picking and that's the machine that you're gonna ride each round one of us will pick one lanyard so we'll know that that one is eliminated and the remaining three Riders will all pull at the same time so I'm gonna start it off oh man no meatballs no meatballs no meatballs [Laughter] fourth place and fourth place you're so optimistic I love you man the blast oh dude you guys all got lucky [Laughter] this is dude what the [Laughter] I was really looking at those lanyards too I was like there's that'd be the one not the lowest I should have known Ace Wrap damn on the next episode I just wanted more power I could see it I'm just pegged should I started up that way this time for the next top quad series we're gonna have a minimum price requirement for certain models like we're gonna look at the 300X market and say all right good ones are 1800 and up not a thousand I know that I called the Cool Ranch the Cinderella story but she could stay in the tower lost the seat so that'll suck on your butt if you sit on it quieter Rider what do you think after seeing that time Steve those numbers are very different the numbers I had seen today what's the weather look like out there Holly it's Wednesday it is a lovely day no it's not it's not a lovely day players kind of do this that's what the meatball does when you launch and the front end gets light the tires are just going like this whole front end is like a noodle I think Trailblazer can reel some people in here see how bad I lose this time oh dude [Music] I mean it wasn't an absolute bloodbath what was that like 10 lengths gotta cool them balls off he wishes he had meatballs oh he got some blueberries

Channel: Michael Sabo

Views: 216,972

Keywords: top quad, quad fun, quad riding, quad challenge, atv fun, atv challenge, atv racing, atv competition, atv shootout, head to head, top quad challenge, michael sabo top quad, top gear, top quad episode 1, top quad season 3, top quad first episode, quad warz, pete hager, brewer offroad, racing, fun ideas, yamaha blaster, kawasaki lakota, honda 300ex, polaris trailblazer, We bought 4 cheap midsize quads to see which one is Better, top quad 3, Top Quad 3 Episode 1

Id: XMQLqRrOuyY

Length: 32min 47sec (1967 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 23 2023