a photo
Year of issue
| Engine
| Power
| Weight
| Estimated price $ 10, 000
… Suddenly a bright four-legged beast flies right at me in a controlled drift. After another second, she, having beautifully swayed to the front, freezes only twenty centimeters from my feet and, raising two small headlights to the sky, as if she were asking: “Well, what are we driving?”
I swallowed a lump, exhaled, stepped aside … I figured speed before stopping, stopping distance, asphalt temperature. I looked at the driver. I told him: “Are you shell-shocked? He could easily screw me up!”
He laughs, takes off his glasses, helmet, gloves and holds out his hand to me. I recognized him - an old friend and experienced athlete Andryukha, he has been tinkering with a variety of motorcycles for ten years, but he drives ATVs especially well. Under it, the Suzuki LT-Z400 Quadsport is a model that was introduced to the general public in 2001, and after another three years in America, it was called the best sports and entertainment ATV.
“I was frightened in vain,” says a friend, “this“beast”has excellent handling, the brakes are super! You know, I didn't even have to redo them. Yes, and why “tune” the system if the car already decently slows down. You can check everything yourself.”He handed over the keys - he pulled them out of the ignition according to the old driver’s habit.
Quickly changing clothes, I sit behind the wheel. Due to the fact that the engine is compact and narrowly tailored chassis, landing in the saddle is just cowboy (you do not feel the comfort that you experience on utilitarian machines). At the same time, unlike racing quadrics like Yamaha Banshee or Raptor, sitting on the LT is more convenient - there is no feeling that you are hanging above the front wheels. Vibration from the engine? Where to get from her! After all, the engine from the sports enduro DR-Z400E, albeit equipped with a balancer shaft. But personally, mechanical noises annoy me more - they are forever registered in the “dry” crankcase of this engine. The clutch with a mechanical drive is simply brilliant: it’s light, the lever travel is small, the gears are switched with a small stroke and “like clockwork” Л Okay, I turn on the first one and slip off the rear drive wheels.
Starting off in this way on the LT is easier and more enjoyable, because its engine (however, like any other single-cylinder) does not like idling. This is normal: the car is aimed at an advanced user and not at all those who are just mastering the “topic”: power 40 hp for 168 kg of dry weight. This is the same in terms of power supply (power-to-weight ratio) as a powerful rally car.
Although, I must admit, thanks to the 4-valve cylinder head and a modified carburetor (the diameter of the diffuser was increased by 1 mm compared to last year's model) it’s easy to move to LT easily.
Left-right - the car just obeys the steering wheel, and with a sharp opening of gas the front yoke lifts up to the sky. The gear shift mechanism works so organized that at any speed there is no need to touch the clutch lever - I squeeze it only when I fly up to the next turn and switch “down”, but only in order to brake the engine …
Squeezed, two short peregazovki - and after another second an acceleration wave rolls over me. The forced motor changes its speed quickly, its torque is enough to keep the LT in a controlled drift. If you clearly see the trajectory, freely hold the steering wheel and correctly “play” with gas, you get a lot of pleasure from the control. In the corners of the suspension, dangerous lateral rolls will not develop, and yet this ATV needs compacted, not too broken ground, and then the tires easily “work” on sliding. But for 40 horsepower snow obviously a bit too much.
I hang to the left side, go around the upper turning point and again “open” the gas. Switching to the third, fourth … A small discharge of gas with a simultaneous shift to the left edge, “lick” the high-speed right and again accelerate with a shift to fifth, highest gear. The front inner wheel does not come off the road for a second. Power from low revs to the moment of switching increases linearly, without surprises. And only at the very “tops” there is a feeling that power is not enough in other situations … Perhaps it seems to me that because the day before I went to the Yamaha YFZ-450, the main competitor of this Suzuki, and the LT motor gives out peak power to somewhat lower revs. At the same time, the LT engine is much more flexible and “forgives” the driver many mistakes.