What has happened to all the racing ATVs?

Maybe all the money is in the SXS market?

That is how it was for awhile in the mid to late 90's.

Nobody was making  new ones. Finding a used Honda 250 good shape, you were looking at $6k - $10k.

I knew one pro atv guy that went down to the local dealer and bought a new engine, piece by piece.

Then the 4 strokes came out. Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, canam and more. 

You couldn't give a 250 2 stroke away.

Now resale on 400/450 race machines it out of sight and the local scene has pretty much died.

The money these parents spend on these supermini conversion quads is hard to comprehend. 

The great recession of 2008 is what happened to that scene. From a statistical standpoint, the buyers of that category were mostly blue-collar workers, and the downturn and layoffs killed their chances of financing quads. The sport ATV category was the one hit the hardest, and manufacturers had excess inventory for years. They stopped developing new models and the buyers have never come back in enough numbers for the companies to re-issue the old models.

Also, as said above, the SxS market is far more lucrative. Many of those old sport ATV people are driving around in shiny new RZRs now.

Pretty much what everyone here said.  Most sport quads died out during The Great Recession.  Yamaha is pretty much the only one that pushed forward.  It'll take something as revolutionary as the release of the 400EX to get this segment up and going.

With interest rates and inflation what they are, I am honestly surprised that some guys aren't dropping SXS for quads again.

The other half to this is that utility quads are LIGHTYEARS better than what they used to be.  The big bore Polaris and CanAms deliver absurd power and capability.  4x4 XC racing is continuing to grow in popularity.  Even Yamaha may be getting in on the big bore bandwagon (Yamaha Preparing Parallel-Twin ATV | UTV Driver).

FWIW, I was looking for another sport quad in 2021.  Wanted a Raptor or a 450.  Dealers had a waiting list for both.  At the suggestion of a friend, I ended up with a Sportsman 1000.  It's not a sport quad in the dunes, but for trail riding the thing is an absolute beast.  A ton of power, ample grip in all conditions, rides like a Cadillac but is still comfortable with being thrown around.

Funny timing that a post like this would pop up during Pride Month.

I talked to a pro quad Mx guy and it’s insane how much you have to do to a bone stock YFZ450 to actually make it “race ready”. 

Realistically, you're probably better off building a hybrid these days.  Pick the 450 of your choice and find someone like Walsh who will make a frame to suit.  A YFZ is like $12k OTD and you have to change a ton of part on it, reinforce the frame, etc.  A Walsh frame kit is $10k.

To put this into perspective from when I wanted a Raptor or trail riding and maybe a hare scramble.  MSRP was $11k.  Houser front arms were $1200.  It was about that to have the stock shocks converted to triple rate and revalved.  $1500 for beadlocks and tires.  Dura Blue axle and bearing carrier around $1500.  Figure $1000 or so for things like controls, nerf bars, etc.  All in it was going to run just south of $20k for strictly bolt-ons.  That's a lot of coin.  A YFZ would be similar.  This also doesn't include things like bracing the frame the costs associated with that.

FWIW, a CanAm 1000 XXC MSRP is $16k and it would likely walk all over the aforementioned Raptor in everything but the dunes.  You could show up at a local XC race with a stock one and a competent rider could at least finish, if not be relatively competitive.  I couldn't say the same for a stockish Raptor or YFZ.  That I described above is almost the absolute minimum build you'd want for that sort of abuse.

Don't they typically break/wear out more shit than a dirt bike too?

After sponsoring the Root River Mountain Dew Honda ATV team I started hitting some of the races and while the numbers of competitors is smaller its like family. Because ATV’s use 2 gates there are only 20 in the races.

$20k for each ATV wasn’t out of the question. They bought a new TRX450R and pretty much took the motor and replaced the rest of it. Then they started putting the CRF450R and CRF250R motors into them.

Root River Racing team owner Rich Gillette’s family had created Mountain Dew so he was able to bring Mountain Dew in as the ATV MX series sponsor. The team was huge with 2 rig toters and roughly 10 racers and run like no team I had ever seen before with quite a few full time employees and what ever they needed they could do and do it 100% top notch.

When I say family that was how they operated . Everyone pulled into the same area with travel trailers and motorhomes and the team race rig had a huge hospital back up generator that they pulled out the side of the truck that everyone was able to plug into for power for the entire weekend. They even cooked huge family meals. 

Sadly Rich abruptly came down with cancer and passed away and that ended the team. 

Rod Mickelson the team manager ended up moving to Salisbury NC and was part of the Phoenix Racing Honda teams ATV MX and GNCC teams when they first started. Rod brought me in with the Phoenix team from the very beginning . 

https://www.atvriders.com/articles/ama-atv-motocross-2014-root-river-ra…

Cost was just too high. I came in right in 2008 and watched the numbers drop every year. 

My Last YFZ build, which would be considered extremely mild at an ATVA National, cost me well over 20k

Walsh A-Arms, Swingarm, Linkage, Steering Stem, Subframe and caster bracket

Elka Stage 5 LT suspension

Vortex ECU, RP Exhaust and intake, GYTR Cams, light head work and a hi comp piston. . 

Not to mention all the little things, wheels, tires, nerfs, bumpers, bars, levers handguards etc. 

If KTM had continued their ATV project they had a real shot at being dominant. Those things worked so damn well out of the box, They just weren't around long enough to get the aftermarket following. We beat a lot of very, very expensive machines from other MFGs with close to stock 450SXs

Yeah that's one of my favourite pics, Sky Shot at Unadilla. 

KTM made their ATVs in NA in 08 and 09 only. In 08 they released the 450 and 525XC using the older SOHC engine, they were built to be woods racers and trail monsters. In 09 the released the 450 and 505SX alongside the XCs with the DOHC engine. More HP, wider, better suspension and nerf bars from the factory. They even came with a hood that would cover the headlight

Always wanted one of these in the garage. Probably would never ride it, but were so damn cool. 

I think what happened is all the ATV riders of the 90’s and 2000’s were unable to procreate due to being in relationships with people of the same gender. This made it impossible for them to pass their hobby onto children. 

Lollllll

🤣🤣🤣🤣

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