Sonic Sway Bar

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trailin'me

Discussion Starter · Nov 25, 2008

700xx front/rear anti rollbars

http://www.sonicoffroad.com/Anti Roll Systems.html

im wondering if these work with aftermarket a-arms? anyway .... found these as im always looking for stuff for this 700xx.

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Dave01

· #2 · Nov 25, 2008

I was looking at the same ones. Adding the wheel spacers has helped a lot, but I still miss the feeling of sliding with a straight axle quad.

My lower back loves the independent suspension though.

trailin'me

Discussion Starter · #3 · Nov 25, 2008

yeah ..thats what im wondering.... what effect does the bar have on suspension. the design doesnt seem to interfere with the actual suspension itself .... and the issue of pushing seems like it could be solved with stiffer slow rebound on the rear ..which would require a 4way adjustable rear shock ..and reading through the website with these bars ... my quad flies around corners on a tt track the way it stands ... proper tires is 90% of the battle...

anyway ..just my 2 cents ... i did send an inquiry to the manufacturer ...and also asked them if they would be willing to make/manufacture some rear a-arm that are 2" out and 1-2" back .. so we will see what happens.

scuzz

· #4 · Nov 25, 2008

I believe that a front sway bar would make it ride worse. If anything I would get a stiffer rear swaybar. (if it were available)

Now this is just my $.02 and I'm be far no suspension person, but I do know that the front end needs to be able to work for trail riding. Adding a sway bar in the front would make technical trails nightmarish.

trailin'me

Discussion Starter · #5 · Nov 27, 2008

i spoke with sonic ... they will indeed make long-travel rear a-arms. they are looking for someone to donate a 700xx for about a month or so ... located in Pennsylvania close to New Jersey.

I spoke some with the owner about the anti-roll bars ..and says once you use them you will never turn back ..and the 700xx will NO LONGER PUSH in slow corners ..and you DO NOT lose anything in the suspension ..only some of the sloppiness.

anyway ..thats what they say ... and im debating on donating my quad for a month so he can create some rear a-arms ... curious to know if anyone is interested in purchasing a set.... seems he will make 6 sets to begin with.

Dave01

· #6 · Nov 27, 2008

Not too bad of a price if it helps with the handling. I might be interested in buying a set of them.

OzLinc

· #7 · Nov 28, 2008 (Edited)

OK.....so I'm gunna weigh in to the whole pushing/swaybar debate.......

Pushing.....Understeer, is a result of one of two things, either too much traction in the rear or not enough traction in the front. With the 700XX I think the rear traction is overpowering the front. Honda know this and I suspect that is why the stock rear tires are narrower than the norm; to reduce rear traction.

I would expect a front swaybar would help with understeer but I also think this would adversely effect the front suspension in off road conditions. Probably great on a TT track as you are on a relatively smooth surface and you dont use all of the front ends suspension travel.

SRA quads are best off road without a front swaybar.......this is standard with most (all) off road racing vehicles; buggies, Trophy Truck etc:.....

We all know a wider front end gives all sorts of advantages including more traction in the front. Thing is, we usually make the back wider also. This is just made worse by using aftermarket tires that are wider and better than stock giving more traction in the rear.

In short, make the front end wider; more traction in the front. Make the rear end wider; more traction in the rear and that brings us back to the same problem of understeer again.

So what is the answer? As stated the issue is too much traction in the rear or not enough in the front. Front end turn-in traction can be greatly effected by castor. Castor is the angle of the steering pivot........the angle between the upper and lower ball joints on the front end of your quad.

If you could adjust castor and tip the front end forward a bit (top ball joint) this would result in greater traction in the first part of turning in to a corner. You can do this with alot of LT aftermarket front ends. Greater turn-in traction will result in the back end sliding a little easier during first part of a corner......power will keep it sliding.

At the same time I would not be surpprised if running a wider front end without spacers in the rear had the effect of increasing front end traction without effecting the rear......."trailin me" could test this for us he would just have to swap his trick rear OMF's back to stock or run no spacers and report results.

I think wider rear a-arms will make understeer worse (the suspension would be awesome) without doing something to greatly increase traction in the front.

Linc

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trailin'me

Discussion Starter · #8 · Nov 28, 2008

well ... december 7th a bunch of my friends and I are going to St. Joe state park in Missouri ... otherwise known as flat river... ill try out both scenarios ...

i may go ahead and purchase a set of anti-roll bars for the front to see for myself. He says the things are hilited in next months quad magazine (or some other atv magazine).

gus700

· #9 · Dec 10, 2008

Just my $.02.

You have to unload the inside rear tire. The only way to do that is stiffer rear sway bar like (scuzz said). With an SRA quad when you turn, weight is transferred to the out side front wheel. The weight is forced to transfer that way because of the SRA. You can really see it in supermoto on the steet. Every time those guys turn the inside rear wheel is always about 6" off the pavement. You can plainly see in all of the video ever taken of the XX that the inside "front" wheel of the XX is the wheel that leaves the ground in turns......not the inside rear. This means the weight is being transferred the the outside rear with little or no additional weight on the one steer tire still on the ground and little or no unloading of the inside rear tire. Even if not turning hard enough to lift any wheel completely of the ground there is still loading and unloading to some degree of these tires.

Like scuzz I'm no expert but this makes the most sense to me.

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scuzz

· #10 · Dec 10, 2008

Awe thanks Gus!

TRX700RR

· #11 · Jan 2, 2009

So! Results gentlemen??

scuzz

· #12 · Jan 2, 2009

I think they're in the "you can try before you buy phase"

trailin'me

Discussion Starter · #13 · Jan 2, 2009

ive been tossing the idea around still. To be honest ... im kinda feeling my neighbors (and competitors) ... fellow riders pain with the bad bad economy.

Im fortunate enough not to be effected by it, but not everyone is so lucky. I have a hard time upgrading equipment at a cost that is more than what some folks i know are spending on something as essential and basic as a car....

these are rough times ... and the money i had set aside for my "project atv" has been partially spent on friends xmas's ... neighbors house notes... and donations to the local food pantry... of course all anonymously because i would never intrude on a family's pride.

Desert289

· #14 · Feb 17, 2009

My name is Jonathan and I race Pro ATV in the Desert out of Phoenix, AZ. I have been working with Andy over at Sonic Development for a few months now. I have had some time on my 700XX with the sway bar and without. I was ver skeptical on the performance of this new race bike for me. I built it and spent quite of time getting it to perform well in the desert. After putting the Sonic Sway Bar on my 700XX it changed it so much for the better. I went out riding with a friend of mine the other day. He was on his FULL race TRX450 and he said that he was unable to out corner, out MPH, or anything. He said everytime I took off I "checked out, you were just gone" he said " I can't believe how fast that thing is"! He did express his concern that I would not like the bike right after I bought it but now he is thinking of building one. He better if he expects to keep up! hehe
Take some time and call Andy if you do not have this sway bar yet. It makes the bike a ton of fun to ride. I am also putting his rear A-Arms on within the next few weeks and will let everyone know what I think of em'. This product is absolutely INCREDIBLE! Thank you Andy for putting out such an AWESOME sway bar and making that quad absolutely a BLAST to ride.
I will be posting picture of the quad as soon as the rear A-Arms are installed. I can't wait!

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vfm2010

· #15 · Feb 17, 2009

Thanks Jonathan, its good to hear some more input on the Sonic sway bars. How about the front tires pushing at low speeds before and after swaybars? When you get the swing arms, fill us in on all the details. We really appreciate everything Andy is doing to better this machine. I hope to get the sway bars for mine this summer!

Dave01

· #16 · Feb 17, 2009

vfm2010 said:
Thanks Jonathan, its good to hear some more input on the Sonic sway bars. How about the front tires pushing at low speeds before and after swaybars? When you get the swing arms, fill us in on all the details. We really appreciate everything Andy is doing to better this machine. I hope to get the sway bars for mine this summer!

The front end pushing is all but gone. It turns REAL nice now and still handles the whoops and rocks great.

xx-rated

· #17 · Feb 19, 2009

Do you have both front and rear sets, or just the rear?

Dave01

· #18 · Feb 19, 2009

xx-rated said:
Do you have both front and rear sets, or just the rear?

I just have the rear one. The front one is my next months project.

BiFfMaN

· #19 · Feb 27, 2009

Just ordered my rear sway this week :rock:

xx-rated

· #20 · Feb 28, 2009

If you had to choose between the sway bar or a steering stabilizer, which one would you buy? I ride on rocky, rutted trails, and your hands and arms/shoulders take a beating.

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