It was an honor to be a part of this bucket list experience. Was equally an honor to meet Casey, the Yamaha crew, and the other journalists. I've binge-watched tons of vehicles doing the Rubicon since and what's so impressive about the RMAX is that 8 of those units were bone stock RMAX2's with only skid plates, front bash plate, and rock sliders. STOCK suspension, including preload, STOCK tires, and only 2 PSI lower than normal tire pressure, and STOCK clutching. VERY FEW SxS can do the Rubicon in stock form, without winching, which NONE of the 12 RMAXes had to use and many of them only went halfway, not all the way to Observation Point like our pack of Wolverines. What's more impressive is the lack of carnage. Only 2 bent tie rods during the gauntlet. Equally as impressive was that the RMAX4 went everywhere the RMAX2 went and I had the pleasure of driving one of the 2 RMAX4's there. The only additional upgrades the RMAX4's received were 30" tires on bead lock rims.
Awesome area. I would be bummed about missing that trip too. Yamaha obviously puts on a top shelf event. Yosemite not far away also. Great trip on our BMW K16 motorcycles.
I think Yamaha has a winner on their hands with the Wolverine Rmax…. The four seater, though, needs a better thought out rear seat like the Kawasaki Teryx. If they had fixed seats with decent legroom and a storage area out the rear I’d be all over the 4 seater…. Having kids in the back and little room for packing supplies just doesn’t work for me.
We actually don't currently use helmet to helmet communicators. Sometimes we'll use walkies when we're filming and need to communicate between the cameraman and rider, but most times we just unleash a booming dad voice to signal the "all clear".
Yamaha RMAX-1000 2 seats 💺 it’s very nice 👍 look great and I liked but 4 seats 💺 it’s kinda cheating worthless useless :( Who design with 4 seats 💺 must be a lonely no kids only dog 🐩 or a cat 🐈 :( let’s just say you get for passenger where are you going to put a water 💦 cooler food 🥘? I guess they were thinking something else not supposed to think when they design :(
Looks like Yamaha did a good job with this machine. I really like the front end styling. It's aggressive, but not too busy. The Rubicon is definitely the place to test a side-by-side's metal. Just wish there were a way to compare the other major brands there... 🤔 Honda, Can-Am, and Polaris, I'm lookin at you. 🤨 The Lester's are only a phone call away. Let's make this thing happen.
DTTV....If you've never done Drummond Island....maybe Casey would be interested in doing another on location remote video. Like the Rubicon....Drummond offers a Jeep badge achievement and is also huge among Jeep and Offroad enthusiasts. I've done the Drummond experience in both SXS's and on Quads.....and it is everything the technical trail junky dreams about. Great episode by the way. Always great to see different places around this beautiful continent to experience on or in the seat of an ATV/UTV. Casey did a fantastic job on this one.
I wish Yamaha made a 50" wide utv. I need one that fits in a full 8' truck bed as I pull a travel trailer for hunting/camping. I had a rzr but it constantly failed me and I will not buy another canam product. I have an '07 rhino 450 and it's been great, but having to rejet everytime I ride in the mtns is a pain. Please Yamaha make a 50" trail sxs. It doesn't have to be fast, 60 mph is about as fast as most people need for general trail riding anyway.
Great video! Close enough to call it my back yard at just under 40 miles away. The funny thing about you calling it a Jeep trail is that the first Jeeps probably weren’t much bigger than the RMAX. Now a lot of them are running tons and 40” tires barely having to pick a line 🤣
Just make sure local dealer has replacement cv joint boots in stock. 26 miles up and down a gravel road, then a bath with a soft brush and a garden wand. Torn cv boot...yamaha better up their game. Noisy as heck....
Man, I wish I could have done that! Looking hard at the rmax, but how do I make the decision between a 4 seater and 2 seater? Lol Due to my 2 kids and wife, which don't especially like to go and rarely ever go with me, the 4 seater may be the way to go. But I'm afraid it won't do as good in most areas, longer, heavier, less suspension travel, and no dump bed. Just can't help but think the two-seater would be more usable with a dump bed and lots more fun.
