After my recent, glowing evaluation of Yamaha’s Raptor 125 some skeptics wrote me asking how honest my opinions of this ATV actually were. Was I just sucking up to an advertiser? What about all the other four-wheelers in this class?
It got me thinking. So I did what every discerning ATVer would do in this situation, I GOOGLED it. I started my experiment by typing in “Best 125cc ATV” into the GOOGLE search box.
I figured that for sure I’d find at least a handful of reports on the new Raptor. Wrongo. In fact the first recommended web page was a link to… wait for it… an off-shore ATV website that’s out of business! Does anyone get the irony here?
It seems to me that the Chinese ATV industry is more focused on getting its websites near the top of GOOGLE rankings than actually producing top quality ATVs in this class.
The first GOOGLE page is filled with links directing you to sites where you’ll apparently find the best 125cc ATV. Funny thing is, we’ve tested a bundle of the ATVs listed on these offshore websites and none of them deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as the Yamaha Raptor 125.
Furthermore, many of the 125cc ATVs found on these sites are of poor quality. Truthfully, I wouldn’t consider putting Justin Bieber on one of these things, let alone my own child. How’s that for honesty?
Take the following advice with a grain of salt:
If you can’t pronounce the name – it’s likely crap!
If you can buy it for under a grand – it’s likely crap!
If the seller won’t accept American cash – it’s likely crap!
If you can drive the living daylights out of it for 6 hours at a time – it’s likely a Yamaha Raptor 125!
