[Springbank]

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Just finished up a 2 day event with Yamaha on the Rubicon Trail, piloting an RMAX4 along with 11 other units and spending the week with some very awesome company. Just some teaser shots of what's to follow. You will be amazed as I was what a stock RMAX is capable of with only skids and rock sliders added for protection and the RMAX4's given 30" tires. Sway bars still hooked up and the only damage were some scrapes and 2 bent tie rods (for the whole group). I'm going to put to rest concerns of CV axles as I was in full diff lock for at least a 3rd of the ride through some of nastiest terrain I've ever ridden. Posting this from the airport, be home soon.

I'll follow up with my monologue later as I've rewritten it 3 times and FB or God doesn't want me to do it right now and it was deleted so I'll just show you the quick-edit version of my ride in the Yamaha RMAX 1000 on the Rubicon Trail. Stay tuned for the following video as this one doesn't cover half of the awesome sections of the Rubicon.

This is why FB deleted my written monologue. I can't thank Yamaha Outdoors enough:

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr7nQeA4kRY&fbclid=IwAR158WVN7SKaZ7GYJT5e0y6iJLNnr_yCvbMxmXdOzpaJqrccTTjZ4naJuGA&h=AT1ORpLCPt8OZXb7Q0_o17Wmxw2TlQqs3hU2rRMPW4PnB5e2qbZWiCW_mpIVXyiQX7AtTVhIwEvqvGXAhy2R4xcTEHPWeAFfk02SWt34hnBoM8cLYC1b_w_PsW9mVNrJ0g

How squeaky is the suspension?

 

[MassiveOverkill]

How squeaky is the suspension?

It's going to be squeaky as these are brand new units. You can hear the shock bushings squeak as they haven't worn in yet.

 

[therebel19]

Budro, on the tire size. I can see the extra rubber acting as a cushion to help but only if you have the right sidewall. I see some guys out there running rubber bands around there wheels and wonder why it rides rough and brakes horrible.

Enough said on that as it could be a completely separate thread.

 

[Budro2]

Budro, on the tire size. I can see the extra rubber acting as a cushion to help but only if you have the right sidewall. I see some guys out there running rubber bands around there wheels and wonder why it rides rough and brakes horrible.

Enough said on that as it could be a completely separate thread.

Yeah, my side wall is great. 8.5 psi in front 9 in rear. Rides excellent, tires flex into rock edges and bite but don’t compress to the rim. DOT rated but also very sticky!

 

[MassiveOverkill]

Rubicon Trail Romeo glamour shots. Thanks to Joe for the awesome footage. Joe and Dave (the photographer), along with much of the other magazine/freelance journalists got a real workout running back and forth getting footage along with the Yamaha team who also did a lot of walking for spotting us. Bill and I had it pretty easy.

Joseph Agustin

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[DirtRoadWarrior]

Awesome video. Thanks for sharing.

BTW. What tires are those? They seem very capable.

 

[MassiveOverkill]

Awesome video. Thanks for sharing.

BTW. What tires are those? They seem very capable.

I'll link you once ShopYamaha.com is back up and running.

 

[DirtRoadWarrior]

I'll link you once ShopYamaha.com is back up and running.

I am familiar with ShopYamaha's website. Hoping they are updating the Accessories for the Rmax. 🤞
Keep 'em comin'!

 

[Budro2]

That’s my kind of trail….. damn nice driving Romeo. They did some excellent camera angles too!

 

[MassiveOverkill]

1.75 hours of awesomeness. Play it at 8X speed if you want. You just can't condense the Epicness of the Rubicon into a 5 minute video. This is the cab camera. I thought about doing PIP but it's just too hard to synchronize the footage and it's also a little distracting The wheel well footage video is even longer

 

[DirtRoadWarrior]

You "earned" one of these.

Rubicon 4X4 Badges
Thanks for the ride-a-long.

 

[MassiveOverkill]

A little shorter video leaving camp and heading back out of The Rubicon

 

[Desertdweller67]

A little shorter video leaving camp and heading back out of The Rubicon

Sorry to keep ringing the bell, but Wow! Thank you. Yes your are worthy of chronicaling this event for all of us. I am sure I can speak for all of us in that we all have learned from your efforts.

 

[DirtRoadWarrior]

One foot on the brake and one (lead foot) on the gas...

BTW. Can we see what your skid plate looks like today?

 

[therebel19]

Curious about Rubicon. What are the temps like in June/July and are there dedicated SXS trails or do you have to share with off road vehicles? Reason I ask is I've been to a few off road parks that let jeeps and similar vehicles go down the the same trails as SXSs at it gets sketchy on not getting hit or ran over by some of these machines. The senry is beautiful and it would be nice to take take the family there someday without having to worry about getting ran over.

 

[MassiveOverkill]

One foot on the brake and one (lead foot) on the gas...

BTW. Can we see what your skid plate looks like today?

Remember, these were Yamaha brand new units and not my personal vehicle, but they held up very good. There were no gouges that I could see and mostly just scrapes. Most of the time we weren't scraping the skids but bottoming out on them where we went over a rock and came down hard enough that the suspension couldn't soak up the hit due to the rock being too larger. Now our rock sliders got a better workout on the tight stuff, and I'm now glad I have them on my personal RMAX4 as I've experienced how they can save your body work cosmetically (as well as the built-in rail).

Curious about Rubicon. What are the temps like in June/July and are there dedicated SXS trails or do you have to share with off road vehicles? Reason I ask is I've been to a few off road parks that let jeeps and similar vehicles go down the the same trails as SXSs at it gets sketchy on not getting hit or ran over by some of these machines. The senry is beautiful and it would be nice to take take the family there someday without having to worry about getting ran over.

The days before where the Yamaha crew did some pre-running it was warm. The day the PR event occurred the weather was perfect. Cooler in the 50's in the AM and didn't get past the 70's by afternoon. The following morning temps dropped down into the 30's overnight, but I wasn't freezing with the camping gear provided (my first time camping btw). You definitely want to check the weather forecast before you go as I could see rain making an already difficult trail even moreso.

There are no dedicated SxS routes. There are multiple routes and you can go from either end (we went in from Loon Lake) but keep in mind this is Jeep/Forerunner..........non SxS territory. Nothing by law mind you, just culture so if you do go out there, act like you're imposing on their playground because really you are. We blew through the trail in hours where it takes them days.

Another interesting note looking at other's footage: You can tell who's ridden other brands of vehicles as they gas it way more than I did. Other than our SAR vehicles, I've only driven Yamaha and know you can go as slow as you want and rarely need to gas it when resistance is met. That's my theory anyway, but maybe they were just trying to have fun. Although it wasn't my personal vehicle, I drove like it was. I knew I wasn't going to break anything but there's also the lingering thought that these may be resold (I have no evidence of that). Maybe that's a contributing factor to why I can go 11K miles on a rig that looks brand new when I sell it. There was also sort of a contest of who could come out with the least amount of scratches and some awarded me with that honor.

You'll see I take turns wide like I'm driving one of the 4 seater limos when possible. This is habit from having to drive our Commander Max XT's and now our Viking 6 for SAR.

 

[MassiveOverkill]

Rear chase footage. Enjoy the scenery and the perspective of the front suspension working on the RMAX4. I had to edit a lot of this out unfortunately so it's only an hour (I'm sure many are grateful) , but you all should have a pretty good idea if you've been patient enough to watch my other Rubicon vids to the end.

 

[MassiveOverkill]

Last of my personal footage. Longest video out of the series, but the best one to appreciate the magnitude and perspective of the obstacles we had to traverse on the Rubicon Trail

 

[dburt]

Pictures from the trip:

Sure is some nice scenery along the way!

 

[MassiveOverkill]

2021 Yamaha Wolverine RMAX 1000 vs. the Rubicon Trail, Part 1

Armed with nothing but accessory skid plates and rock sliders, we take a box-stock Yamaha Wolverine RMAX 1000 across the Rubicon Trail.

www.utvdriver.com