king' s outdoor world - Index

king' s outdoor world - Best of 2007 Feb-March 2008 - Index

There is no question that there
has been a huge explosion in
the side-by-side ATV market.
There are many different makes and
models of side-by-sides available
from many different manufacturers.
The jokes about these being glorifi ed
golf carts have slowly faded as the
performance of these machines
has increased dramatically. The
introduction of the Yamaha Rhino
660 a few years ago really hijacked
the market with its ability to not
only work, but to play…and play
hard. Yamaha rolled in some of
the features found on their popular
Grizzly ATV and made the Rhino
well-equipped to handle rough
terrain both on and off the farm - not
to mention the tricked-out versions
people were kicking out on the West
coast. As the competition started to
close in, I felt it was defi nitely time
for Yamaha to kick-start another
chapter in the Rhino adventure.
Once again, by piggybacking off the
success and technology found on the
new Grizzly 700 FI ATV, Yamaha
has added and improved upon some
features that make this more than just
a bump in the engine department.
Increasing the motor a
bit on the Rhino was a given and,
nowadays, any new utility ATV
should come with fuel injection.
Hence, the Rhino 700 FI had no
surprises so far. With the new motor
and added performance and benefi ts
of the fuel injection, it was time to
look deeper at what else was new.
Of course, with the added power
from the engine, strength was added
to the motor, tranny, and other
areas to handle the extra strain. At
fi rst glance, you quickly notice the
addition of some custom fi t doors on
each side of the ATV. These doors
were added to provide additional
safety by keeping feet and knees
inside the machine. They are also
to block water, mud, branches and
brush. At fi rst, I wasn’t impressed
and wasn’t quite sure what the
deal was with the doors. I was
anxious to see how they affected
the overall ride. To continue with
The new Yamaha Rhino 700 FI comes equiped with plenty
of additions and improvements. The disc brakes and quality
engine braking make descents like this a snap.
the safety theme, Yamaha also added
a hold bar and handle grip next to the
passenger seat to aid in giving a secure
and safe ride for the passenger. From
what I understand, Yamaha is willing
to provide the doors and hold bar to
previous Rhino owners at no charge
to extend these safety features to all.
Other added features are the improved
parking brake lever, cup holders, higher
air intake location, relocation of the
air fi lter, enhanced steering wheel,
expanded diagnostics feature on the
digital instrument panel, improved
engine and exhaust mounts for a quieter
experience. The fi nal new feature I
will mention is the dual rear-wheel disc
brakes and a separate single-disc brake
for the parking brake. Obviously, there
were a lot of new features to test out.
I headed off to Knoxville, Tennessee to
see if this new Rhino was going to have
enough to keep it ahead of the class.
I hit the foot brake and turned
off the key. I was sitting at the base of
a hill and I was pondering what I would
soon encounter at the top. In front of
me was a nice sandstone ledge that had
a two-foot shelf just to give me a little
excitement before reaching the safety of
the top of the hill. Nice, let’s see what
this thing can do! I fi red the motor back
up and, being a little cautious, I shifted
into low gear and pushed the button
into four-wheel drive. Then, just for
insurance, I fl icked the switch and
engaged full-wheel differential lock.
“Might as well,” I thought. “You
can never be too prepared.” Hitting
the foot pedal, I laid on the gas.
Now I was cruising up the hill with
plenty of torque and realizing that I
probably didn’t need to gear down
to low. I was soon approaching the
steep part. This is usually the time
that, if you’re on a normal ATV, you
would be wondering if you could get
enough momentum to get over the
lip, but not popping the front tires
up and over. Realizing I had a long
wheelbase under me and a full roll
cage over me, I decided to not be
a wimp and try and go around it. I
lost most of my momentum when I
approached the ledge. Hitting with
my front tires with a slight angle, I
hit some gas to get them over pretty
easy. As the back tires hit and
socked into the ledge, I pushed the
gas with some controllable torque
and, the next thing I knew, all four
tires where clawing me up and over
without a whimper. “That was it?” I
thought to myself as I glanced back
at the hill I just conquered. “That
was too easy; I needed to try that
February/March 75