This review has been thrown together and is still under construction…

I bought my Talon at Northern Tool & Equipment on 7/9/2005. Its regular price was $1999.99. I caught it on sale for $1899.99. Also, I’ll let you in on a little secret ; if you apply for a Northern Tool credit card and use it for the purchase they will knock off another $100 and give you 6 months no interest. So I wound up getting it for $1799.99 + tax.

Out of the crate and assembly was a breeze although a friend to help “man handle” things makes it go a lot better. Assembly took my brother and me less than an hour. I followed the break-in procedure for about 2 seconds and have been riding the $hit out of it since and have had no mechanical problems. I now have approximately 20 hours and 200 miles on the buggy. The only thing that seems to be fading fast is the factory 19” tires whose tread is now about half gone.

I’ve only had a few problems and they happened within the first couple hours of riding: bent axle (I believe it came from the factory that way), park brake cable broke at the adjusting thread, the reverse cable also broke at the adjusting thread, and the guts in the muffler came loose and rattled like crazy. I straightened the axle, replaced the park brake cable ($12.95 + S&H from Carter), repaired the reverse cable and added reinforcement to keep it from breaking again and just tolerated the muffler noise for a while .

Bone stock the Talon will run nearly 40 mph as advertised (on pavement) but hill climbing left much to be desired .

First aftermarket item I installed was a cheap Schwinn bicycle speedometer from Wal-Mart for less than 10 bucks.

Next, I dropped the original 14 gram rollers to 9 gram (Thanks Stu) and added a 5/16” shim to the torque spring in the CVT. This helped climbing tremendously and did not hurt the top speed much if any at all. If you tear into your CVT then be prepared for the "Nuts From devilville". Mine, like so many others were nearly imposible to remove. I broke the variator fan in the process of the upgrade and had to replace that (Thanks again Stu).

Now that climbing was so much better I decided it was time to start actually wearing the seat belts. I then discovered that the factory belts were very, very uncomfortable. They do not have adjustment in the middle so once they are cinched down to fit, the buckle and shoulder straps are way off center of my body. I replaced the belts with a pair of 5-way RJS racing harnesses. Overkill I’m sure but much more comfortable and secure. Carter should take heed here; if they are extremely uncomfortable then people probably won’t wear them.

Next, I installed a ’05 Twister “performance” muffler from Reliablegokarts.com (very good people to deal with). It was a direct bolt-on with no modifications. It was a deeper and somewhat quieter sound, but no noticeable performance gain. I will be “gutting” this muffler soon. This muffler can easily be disassembled and modified, unlike the original Carter muffler which is completely welded together.

Next, I made an extension for my exhaust pipe to move it about 2” further away from the CVT. This mod dropped my average CVT temp about 30 degrees. Hopefully this will increase belt and clutch life and help prevent slipping after long hard rides in hot weather.

Then I changed the original axle sprocket from 32 to 39 teeth. The sprocket I got from Carter. I just ordered one for a 2004 Talon DLX. It too was a direct bolt-on with no mods except for the chain (Carter will not provide you with this information...Thanks to Talonman for sharing sprocket measurments with me). This also helped climbing tremendously. I have not checked to see how much flat pavement top speed I lost, but on the trail I actually gained about 2 mph top speed.

In the near future I plan to install taller tires on both the front and rear. I purchased rear hubs and 10” wheels for a Talon DLX to accommodate the larger tires. These bolt right on as well with no mods (more info that Carter will not help you with). If you decide to do this, contact me first and I will share my measurements with you just to be sure things are going to fit (I was told by Carter that the GX came with 3 different axles ). By the way, don’t forget the lugs and holders for the center caps like I did. When I upgrade to the larger tires I will probably be seeking even lower gearing. I imagine that I will have to fabricate a hub and use an ATV or motorcycle sprocket, but I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.

I am also planning other upgrades such as: tachometer, better speedometer, Uni air filter, performance clutch, larger main jet in the carburetor, cam, and possibly milling the head for more power. Stay tuned, I will be updating this review as things change with my buggy.

Overall, I am not disappointed in my Talon, BUT, if I knew then what I know now (thanks to all the guys @ Buggynews.com) I would have bought something different. Something with a factory speedo, better seats, better seatbelts, bigger/better wheels and tires, and some one like Stu or the other dealers here that are more than happy to provide information, help with upgrades and warranty issues, and actively participates here at Buggynews (unlike any Carter dealers that I know of).

My buggy and my personal buggy knowledge is coming along pretty good and I owe it all to the guys here at Buggynews: Steve, Stu, Kammak, Kell, Talonman, Jabo, Firemedicntx, TwisterMania and way too many more to mention. Thanks to all...

My biggest regret is that I found the buggy before I found Buggynews.com.

UPDATE 10/30/05:

Removed torque spring shim and milled head .030". This greatly improved throttle response. Lots more grunt launching from a stand still. Cut 1 full second off of a 200 yard uphill climb. More info in these threads:

http://www.buggynews.com/viewtopic.php? ... ght=#20846

http://www.buggynews.com/viewtopic.php? ... ght=#20844

Also did a major rework on the rear brakes. From the factory the caliper was positioned so that only about 3/4 of the pads were contacting the rotor. It was also not sitting parallel to the rotor so the pads were wearing at an angle. I did some serious cuting, grinding, and welding on the mount and bracket of the caliper to reposition it. It is now using the full surface area of the pads and is parallel to the rotor. Stoping power was greatly improved. It will actually slide the tires now .

Great review!

But you need to know, you owe us nothing. Everyone that takes place here makes it what it is, and you are doing you part as well!

Thanks!

-Steve

You should probably put a 127.5 jet in i think it will help you alot. Im thinking maybe my local motorcycle shop /atv shop will have larger jetting if not ill order from stu.

The way that muffler is now, he won't be able to utilize the larger jet, and will be rich. But if he opens it up, the bigger main jet will give me the power. Just opening it up without the larger main jet would make it lean and could overheat the engine... so they go hand in hand at all times.


-Steve

I enjoyed reading your review jtsuttle.

For one thing, I didn't know the GX150IIR's stock gearing was a 32 tooth axle sprocket. I would have guessed it would be a 31 like Blade's, or a 16 39 like mine, only having the new transmission gears in the GY6 for more speed? I further liked your comment on how when changing over from 32 to 39 tooth axle gear, that 'This also helped climbing tremendously'. I have never driven a 150cc buggy that was geared to do 40mph, so I don't actually have first hand experience between feeling the difference. I figured it probably was quite noticible.

Another comment was 'I have not checked to see how much flat pavement top speed I lost, but on the trail I actually gained about 2 mph top speed'. Now you have me wondering on average, out of the 150cc buggies that can hit 40mph on pavement, what is the max attainable speed that they can hit on the trail? We don't do much road racing here in Ohio with out 150cc buggies.

Thanks for posting, you made me feel even better about the mountain goat geared buggies!

Nice! Everytime I read one of these it inspires me to do one on my Sahara, then something comie up. It takes my 2 fingers a while to type.

jtsuttle- I think you have made a good choice of buggy. You can customize it they way you want, and in the end you will probably have better performance than the next buggy, as you have one of the lightest 150s available... Not a bad thing!


Did this buggy come with an oil cooler unit??


-Steve

No oil cooler on mine although I think that the DLX may have it. It is shown in the service manual.

Thanks for clearing that up. So I guess it's a myth that it comes on all the twisters.


Do you have plugs in your engine where the lines go or is it missing all together? I think someone said they have plugs inserted in the oil line mount area.

If that's the case the cooler is now listed on www.reliablegokarts.com parts site for about $80 delivered. Just need oil line mount bolts and 4 washers listed there also.


I'm going to be getting one of these for my Xterro which now has oil line ports due switching part of the crank case.


-Steve

I haven't noticed any plugs although I am not sure where to look. If you can describe the location to me or send a pic of the location I'll be glad to take a look.