If sales are the motivating factor in any manufacturers decision to build a new model, we’ve gotta think the market will be going to more high performance off-road side by sides soon – these things are selling like creamsicles in Hawaii.

Who would be the most likely candidate to offer a Wildcat or XP 900 clone? When would it be expected to happen?

These are good questions and here’s an educated guess. We think the most likely company to jump in next would be Can-Am.

Can-Am has an incredibly powerful array of V-twin engines from 500ccs to 1000 and are really motivated by performance dominance.

It makes sense the company would offer a new Wildcat or XP900-beater with the top-of-the-line 1000 mill, but the 800 is also a super-potent engine with great performance potential in this type of vehicle.

What would it look like? We’re guessing very similar to the competition with the engine mounted to the rear of the chassis, ultra-long-travel desert forerunner style back end and stretched-out double A-arms up front.

Who else? We don’t think Yamaha is interested in this market since it’s been barraged with lawsuits and doesn’t seem to want to re-invest in the SxS market beyond the current Rhino.

Kawasaki makes a lot of sense, though. The Teryx is a great starting point, has the necessary power, a good dealer network and, with an all-new buggy-style platform, could penetrate into the current hi-perf market nicely.

Roll the dice. We’re pretty sure something new is coming and it may be as soon as this fall.

Stay tuned!

There’s a lot of pride taken in owning your own ATV or side-x-side.

The look of it in the garage, the sound of its throaty exhaust, the way the hairs on your neck stand up as you imagine opening up the throttle at your favorite riding spot.

As owners and riders, one thing we need to keep in mind is that there are people in this world who are just waiting for you to let your guard down so they can take your ride and make it their own.

I recently overheard a conversation about a young man’s side-x-side that had been stolen while camping at a popular off-road event.

Unfortunately his brand new Yamaha Rhino had attracted the attention of a thief and shortly after nightfall, his ride was hitting the trails without him.

When asked by the police officer where he’d parked, the young man replied, “Well in front of my camper of course because that’s where I always park it here and nobody ever messes with our camp.”

With a curious look on his face, the officer asked where he’d left the keys for the Rhino and the young man replied, “Well, in it of course! I’ve been coming here for years and no one has ever stolen anything from our camp.” Wow, amazing right?!

This young guy was very fortunate that weekend and actually recovered his Rhino only a few hours after it was reported stolen. Apparently a couple young kids were caught driving it around not far off from the owner’s campsite. Again, this guy got lucky.

Here’s the deal folks: Just because you think it couldn’t happen to you doesn’t mean it won’t. If you want to keep your off-road rig safe, make it difficult for thieves to steal it. In most cases, if its to tough to take, they’ll move on without it.

Talk about a one-two punch to the jaw! Eighteen months ago, Polaris rocked our world when it upgraded the RZR line-up to the new XP 900 chassis.

It took us off guard and surprised us because up until that time we honestly thought the RZR 800 S was pretty much the epitome of what a high performance SxS could be.

When we drove the new 900 we were completely blown away by how much better in stock form it handled, rode the gnarliest bumps and delivered jaw-dropping power from its repositioned, high output EFI powerplant.

Our opinion then: This is one super-serious piece of off-road equipment and it won’t be matched anytime soon.

Out of the blue, last summer, Arctic Cat dropped the new Wildcat into the marketplace. We didn’t get to ride it the first time we saw it, but a month or so later we did.

That experience was extremely revealing! The handling was spot-on, the suspension was incredible, maybe even a bit deeper and plusher than the RZR.

We rode the Wildcat through ginormous bumps and couldn’t bottom it, couldn’t get it to hunt off its line – the thing behaved incredibly straight and true through some of the worst off-road junk we could find to ride it over.

Its EFI V-twin was and is a formidable engine lacking nothing in power and torque. We were super-impressed; still are.

One thing we really like and respect about the Wildcat is Arctic Cat didn’t pattern it after the XP900.

Remember, based on the Wildcat’s introduction, the Cat engineers had already been working on this off-roader for about two years before the 900 was available.

This means the tekkies had seen the success of the original RZR platform and from the outset had decided to take things up a notch further.

We think it’s pretty amazing both companies had decided this category needed a vehicle with incredibly long travel suspension and nimble, improved handling along the lines of an off-road racer.

Frankly, it’s almost impossible to diss either one.

WINNER: Yamaha YFZ450

Here’s the deal. Yamaha offers nine (count ’em) Pure Sport ATV models.

That’s more than anyone else and as many models as all the other manufacturers offer in this segment combined.

As a result of this incredible Pure Sport dominance both in racing and in sales, Yamaha is able to perform interesting component shuffling offering exceptional value to its legion of pure sport customers.

Offered only in the USA is the newly introduced “base” carbureted YFZ450 and it rings the bell so hard no pure sport shopper can overlook this value packed full-featured ride.

Understand this: The BIC isn’t going only to the YFZ450 super value carbed base edition, it goes to the complete YFZ line-up.

These long-travel, superbly engineered, race-ready rides are stunning examples of how far the pure sport class has come in the past decade.

This ride further exemplifies the equity Yamaha has with the younger demographic predisposed to performance riding.

I guess what we’re saying is this: If you’re shopping pure sport, you’re shopping Yamaha.

RUNNERS UP

Can-Am DS 450

Can-Am gets the runner up nod here based on attention to detail. Not only is the basic DS 450 a potent and capable pure sport ride for buyers looking for a sand lot rooster, it is rivaled only by KTM in offering true race-ready 450 class ATVs.

If you opt for either the MX or XC 450 variants you can pretty much unload a brand new one right onto the starting gate at most sanctioned events.

Everything needed to win is on the DS when you roll it out of the showroom.

That’s serious. That’s value.

Honda TRX 450

More than a few readers scream every year about the race potential of this largely-unchanged-for-5-years ride.

We agree there’s no other pure sport in the market with as many available aftermarket accessories and performance upgrades in the retail mail order marketplace.

You can literally build your own version of the 450 Honda however you will pay for this privilege.

The essentials are all there though. Great chassis design and precise handling with a fully tunable tough-as-nails engine.

As a photographer I have several secluded spots where I can get top-notch shots of these fine machines we love to ride.

Most of these places are within an hour or so of my home and there’s one in particular that has the most diverse terrain out of all of them, which I use for creek crossings, hill climbs and corner shots.

The trees seem to be green year round and the rocky creek bottoms always looked so natural, its great for capturing rustic and dramatic backdrops in my images.

A few weeks back I set out to get a project finished up and thought I’d head up to this particular location to knock this shoot right out.

I loaded up all of my gear and as always, grabbed a few trash bags as well. Lately I’d been seeing garbage lying around the “parking spot” and didn’t want to lose my right to work or play there. Being a responsible rider, I figured I’d just clean up what I could to keep us all out of trouble.

As I pulled onto the side road just off the highway I noticed a large truck parked in front of a newly installed gate crossing the entrance to where I usually park. I pulled to the side, hopped out of my truck and approached the driver to find out just what was up.

Turned out the truck belonged to the owner of property and I recognized his face immediately. He’d always been real easy going and let us ride on his property for the past few years without so much as a hint of opposition.

Sadly, he shook my hand and with a sigh and told me he finally had to close the property off completely because irresponsible users had been leaving so much trash around and destroying the property each time they rode there.

Here’s the deal folks, if you don’t take care of the ride areas you have and respect the land and the owners letting you ride there, we’ll all lose our riding privileges.

This is our responsibility as off-road enthusiast and its up to each individual to get on board. Don’t screw it up for everyone else because of your own selfishness.