So I bought a Honda Talon...

[Badchoices03]

I posted a while back about looking for a RZR XP4 and @LargeOrangeFont even offered up his super clean machine which I probably would have jumped on if the logistics made more sense to me. Anyway, because of my budget I went looking at a few 2015-2017 units and they just weren't up to my liking for one reason or another.....so fast foward to late last week, the wife and I went to our local dealer just to look around and came across a 2021 Honda Talon X4 for about $3k more then we were actually looking to spend...wife was in love with the look, I am intrigued by the transmission with paddle shift...car had 300 miles on it and was still under factory Honda Warranty as well as the transferrable 4 year extended warranty....so it came home with us, well technically it got delivered to us the next day...lol

It came with a few extras:

Method Wheels with 32" BF Goodrich MT's
4 Pro Armor 4 point harnesses
Pro Armor light bar
Baja Designs light pods
Dual 5150 Led Whips with Bluetooth control
Rugged Dual Air Pumper (although I will have to buy hoses and helmets)
Super ATV Extended bed enclosure
Super ATV Side mirrors and review mirror (I am probably taking the side mirrors off, I dont like how they look)
"Supposedly" has the suspension dialed from Shock Therapy, but I don't see anything different from stock and haven't taken it out yet

I know I will lack some power and suspension from an XP4, but I think once I add a cage (I really do hate the stock cage), it will work well for my family.

 

[rivermobster]

And it's not a rubber band car!

Congratulations!!!

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

I posted a while back about looking for a RZR XP4 and @LargeOrangeFont even offered up his super clean machine which I probably would have jumped of if the logistics made more sense to me. Anyway, because of my budget I went looking at a few 2015-2017 units and they just weren't up to my liking for one reason or another.....so fast foward to late last week, the wife and I went to our local dealer just to look around and came across a 2021 Honda Talon X4 for about $3k more then we were actually looking to spend...wife was in love with the look, I am intrigued by the transmission with paddle shift...car had 300 miles on it and was still under factory Honda Warranty as well as the transferrable 4 year extended warranty....so it came home with us, well technically it got delivered to us the next day...lol

It came with a few extras:

Method Wheels with 32" BF Goodrich MT's
4 Pro Armor 4 point harnesses
Pro Armor light bar
Baja Designs light pods
Dual 5150 Led Whips with Bluetooth control
Rugged Dual Air Pumper (although I will have to buy hoses and helmets)
Super ATV Extended bed enclosure
"Supposedly" has the suspension dialed from Shock Therapy, but I don't see anything different from stock and haven't taken it out yet

I know I will lack some power and suspension from an XP4, but I think once I add a cage (I really do hate the stock cage), it will work well for my family.


View attachment 1152555

Nice car. That should work out well for ya.

 

[outboard_256]

Looks good

 

[ArizonaKevin]

I posted a while back about looking for a RZR XP4 and @LargeOrangeFont even offered up his super clean machine which I probably would have jumped on if the logistics made more sense to me. Anyway, because of my budget I went looking at a few 2015-2017 units and they just weren't up to my liking for one reason or another.....so fast foward to late last week, the wife and I went to our local dealer just to look around and came across a 2021 Honda Talon X4 for about $3k more then we were actually looking to spend...wife was in love with the look, I am intrigued by the transmission with paddle shift...car had 300 miles on it and was still under factory Honda Warranty as well as the transferrable 4 year extended warranty....so it came home with us, well technically it got delivered to us the next day...lol

It came with a few extras:

Method Wheels with 32" BF Goodrich MT's
4 Pro Armor 4 point harnesses
Pro Armor light bar
Baja Designs light pods
Dual 5150 Led Whips with Bluetooth control
Rugged Dual Air Pumper (although I will have to buy hoses and helmets)
Super ATV Extended bed enclosure
Super ATV Side mirrors and review mirror (I am probably taking the side mirrors off, I dont like how they look)
"Supposedly" has the suspension dialed from Shock Therapy, but I don't see anything different from stock and haven't taken it out yet

I know I will lack some power and suspension from an XP4, but I think once I add a cage (I really do hate the stock cage), it will work well for my family.


View attachment 1152555

Looks like a great buy for your family!

Shock therapy is pretty particular that any shock they touch gets their sticker on the reservoir and I'm pretty sure all of their springs are silver if that helps you out!

 

[Gelcoater]

I posted a while back about looking for a RZR XP4 and @LargeOrangeFont even offered up his super clean machine which I probably would have jumped on if the logistics made more sense to me. Anyway, because of my budget I went looking at a few 2015-2017 units and they just weren't up to my liking for one reason or another.....so fast foward to late last week, the wife and I went to our local dealer just to look around and came across a 2021 Honda Talon X4 for about $3k more then we were actually looking to spend...wife was in love with the look, I am intrigued by the transmission with paddle shift...car had 300 miles on it and was still under factory Honda Warranty as well as the transferrable 4 year extended warranty....so it came home with us, well technically it got delivered to us the next day...lol

It came with a few extras:

Method Wheels with 32" BF Goodrich MT's
4 Pro Armor 4 point harnesses
Pro Armor light bar
Baja Designs light pods
Dual 5150 Led Whips with Bluetooth control
Rugged Dual Air Pumper (although I will have to buy hoses and helmets)
Super ATV Extended bed enclosure
Super ATV Side mirrors and review mirror (I am probably taking the side mirrors off, I dont like how they look)
"Supposedly" has the suspension dialed from Shock Therapy, but I don't see anything different from stock and haven't taken it out yet

I know I will lack some power and suspension from an XP4, but I think once I add a cage (I really do hate the stock cage), it will work well for my family.


View attachment 1152555

Congrats!
Please keep posting updates here.
I’m very curious about real world takes in the Honda car.
I’m a quad guy, and been around the block and am stuck in my ways.
All these glorified golf carts these days.
Been skeptical but watching the progression.
The whole with age comes a cage aspect is becoming a little more clear

 

[Dunerking]

X2 on the Shock Therapy stickers as our Wildcat XX has the Shock Therapy Gold treatment. And it has their stickers on it

 

[rivermobster]

Congrats!
Please keep posting updates here.
I’m very curious about real world takes in the Honda car.
I’m a quad guy, and been around the block and am stuck in my ways.
All these glorified golf carts these days.
Been skeptical but watching the progression.
The whole with age comes a cage aspect is becoming a little more clear

X2

 

[Badchoices03]

Congrats!
Please keep posting updates here.
I’m very curious about real world takes in the Honda car.
I’m a quad guy, and been around the block and am stuck in my ways.
All these glorified golf carts these days.
Been skeptical but watching the progression.
The whole with age comes a cage aspect is becoming a little more clear

I honestly never gave the Talon a chance, didn't do any research on them at all prior to buying it because it wasn't even on my radar...salesguy let me drive it in circles around the building, and from a stand still it would spin the 32" tires when you punched it, so that was fun...I was at the dealer furiously searching the internet for reviews...but the car was super clean, the price was right and having the warranties made sense to me so I kind of pulled the trigger on whim...we will see what happens when I start using it.

 

[Badchoices03]

X2 on the Shock Therapy stickers as our Wildcat XX has the Shock Therapy Gold treatment. And it has their stickers on it

Yeah thats why I said "supposedly" because there are no signs of any suspension work...the sales guy even said that it was the guy that traded it in that told them it was done...he actually told me that he would give that guy a call to see if he had any paperwork from Shock Therapy and let me know...I am not counting on it though.

 

[Badchoices03]

Update....because like mentioned above this was a spur of the moment deal and I didn't do my typical research on the car....turns out that its about 4" too tall in the back to fit in my trailer...so my "want" for a cage just turned into a "need" for a cage...I know, stock tires, ratchet strap the suspension, etc will get the car in the trailer, but where is the fun in that??

So now getting some estimates on cages...so far the best pricing and lead-time is coming from a place called First 2 Engage in Riverside....has anyone heard of them?

FIRST 2 ENGAGE RACING (@first2engageracing) • Instagram photos and videos

3,980 Followers, 396 Following, 455 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from FIRST 2 ENGAGE RACING (@first2engageracing)

www.instagram.com

Because its a "newer" car and not as poplar as the norm, nobody seems to have bolt on cages, so I will have to get one built, which is cool because I will be able to get something I like but looking to do something like this.

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

Update....because like mentioned above this was a spur of the moment deal and I didn't do my typical research on the car....turns out that its about 4" too tall in the back to fit in my trailer...so my "want" for a cage just turned into a "need" for a cage...I know, stock tires, ratchet strap the suspension, etc will get the car in the trailer, but where is the fun in that??

So now getting some estimates on cages...so far the best pricing and lead-time is coming from a place called First 2 Engage in Riverside....has anyone heard of them?

FIRST 2 ENGAGE RACING (@first2engageracing) • Instagram photos and videos

3,980 Followers, 396 Following, 455 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from FIRST 2 ENGAGE RACING (@first2engageracing)

www.instagram.com

Because its a "newer" car and not as poplar as the norm, nobody seems to have bolt on cages, so I will have to get one built, which is cool because I will be able to get something I like but looking to do something like this.

View attachment 1154630

A cage makes those cars look 1000X better.

 

[Badchoices03]

A cage makes those cars look 1000X better.

Agreed 100%....thats my biggest dislike so far, so I am not really complaining that I HAVE to get a cage now....I still have not taken it out to dirt yet, but drove it around the neighborhood and banging through the gears is quite fun....

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

Agreed 100%....thats my biggest dislike so far, so I am not really complaining that I HAVE to get a cage now....I still have not taken it out to dirt yet, but drove it around the neighborhood and banging through the gears is quite fun....

The stock cage on those is literally tin. It will be a lot safer for you and the fam as well.

 

[Havaduner]

Update....because like mentioned above this was a spur of the moment deal and I didn't do my typical research on the car....turns out that its about 4" too tall in the back to fit in my trailer...so my "want" for a cage just turned into a "need" for a cage...I know, stock tires, ratchet strap the suspension, etc will get the car in the trailer, but where is the fun in that??

So now getting some estimates on cages...so far the best pricing and lead-time is coming from a place called First 2 Engage in Riverside....has anyone heard of them?

FIRST 2 ENGAGE RACING (@first2engageracing) • Instagram photos and videos

3,980 Followers, 396 Following, 455 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from FIRST 2 ENGAGE RACING (@first2engageracing)

www.instagram.com

Because its a "newer" car and not as poplar as the norm, nobody seems to have bolt on cages, so I will have to get one built, which is cool because I will be able to get something I like but looking to do something like this.

View attachment 1154630

Nice looking cage! Another shop you might want to check out is DesertWorks in Montclair. Scott has built a couple cages for me with "changes" Been super happy with what he has done for me. 909-626-8899. They should be at the Sand Show this weekend if you're going.

 

[DLC]

plan on going to the Sand Show up in Costa Mesa you’ll get anything ya need, a must have is a radio and intercom!
it’s a MUST see show

Sand Sports Super Show - Sand Sports Super Show

www.sandsportssupershow.com

congrats on the new car!

I posted a while back about looking for a RZR XP4 and @LargeOrangeFont even offered up his super clean machine which I probably would have jumped on if the logistics made more sense to me. Anyway, because of my budget I went looking at a few 2015-2017 units and they just weren't up to my liking for one reason or another.....so fast foward to late last week, the wife and I went to our local dealer just to look around and came across a 2021 Honda Talon X4 for about $3k more then we were actually looking to spend...wife was in love with the look, I am intrigued by the transmission with paddle shift...car had 300 miles on it and was still under factory Honda Warranty as well as the transferrable 4 year extended warranty....so it came home with us, well technically it got delivered to us the next day...lol


It came with a few extras:

Method Wheels with 32" BF Goodrich MT's
4 Pro Armor 4 point harnesses
Pro Armor light bar
Baja Designs light pods
Dual 5150 Led Whips with Bluetooth control
Rugged Dual Air Pumper (although I will have to buy hoses and helmets)
Super ATV Extended bed enclosure
Super ATV Side mirrors and review mirror (I am probably taking the side mirrors off, I dont like how they look)
"Supposedly" has the suspension dialed from Shock Therapy, but I don't see anything different from stock and haven't taken it out yet

I know I will lack some power and suspension from an XP4, but I think once I add a cage (I really do hate the stock cage), it will work well for my family.


View attachment 1152555

 

[DLC]

Most of the big local So cal manufacturers will be at the show.

great idea to go see em and talk to them, they might be able to use your car as a template…

 

[Badchoices03]

Yup, going to the show on Friday

 

[pixrthis]

we got a Talon last year and love it, cage and shocks are in the works. It’s perfect for what we do.

 

[Badchoices03]

View attachment 1154844 we got a Talon last year and love it, cage and shocks are in the works. It’s perfect for what we do.

Nice looking Talon....where you located? It seems the further east you go, the more popular the Talon is....here in SoCal I am willing to bet I might be one of only a handful out in there in the normal riding areas...

 

[Bpracing1127]

Nice looking Talon....where you located? It seems the further east you go, the more popular the Talon is....here in SoCal I am willing to bet I might be one of only a handful out in there in the normal riding areas...

Never seen one in the wild.

 

[Badchoices03]

So finally nailed down a cage builder...I talked to a lot of places that all were within a doable driving distance from me....went to the sandshow and talked to everyone there....some places weren't interested in doing a cage for a talon because making the same rzr cage day in and day out is more lucrative then anything custom....talked to Scott at Desertworks as mentioned above, without even looking at the car he said I was looking at $5k - $6 for a cage and he was swamped and couldn't even give me a real leadtime...that First2Engage place I mentioned up above, led me on through text for a while, but kept asking questions and not giving a price then ghosted me....

Was looking around on a Talon forum and found a guy in Bakersfield that seems to have done a few cages for Talons and everyone seemed to have good things to say about the quality...so I hit him up....talked through text and then on the phone...I felt pretty comfortable with it, so I gave him a deposit and he says it will be done in about 4 weeks.

Cage will be similar to this one he built, I am tweaking it a little in the back bumper area, it will have the V intrusion bars rather than just the single one this cage has, will have the spare tire mount with hydraulic lift struts, tabs for lights whips etc, and will be powdercoated the highlighter yellow to match the trim on my Talon. Also might have him incorporate the factory window nets into the design, not sure about that yet though.

 

[BIGRED9158]

@Badchoices03 did you talk to toys for big boys fab in riverside

 

[Badchoices03]

@Badchoices03 did you talk to toys for big boys fab in riverside

Talked to them at the Sandshow, they mostly just blew me off, seemed like their booth at the show was more about partying then talking to potential customers...

 

[BIGRED9158]

Talked to them at the Sandshow, they mostly just blew me off, seemed like their booth at the show was more about partying then talking to potential customers...

Damn I am really disappointed to hear that are you going to install the cage yourself or send the car out?

 

[Badchoices03]

Damn I am really disappointed to hear that are you going to install the cage yourself or send the car out?

I was really surprised how many cage "manufactures" showed little or no interest in building a cage for a Talon...I guess its not cool enough for them....the guy from Desertworks was actually really cool and talked to me for a quite a bit, but in the end his pricing was sky high and he didnt seem like he had the time to do it anytime soon and I kind of need it done right away.

This guy is going to build this cage is about 3 hours from me, so instead of me going in, he said we can Facetime during the build process to go over design tweaks and whatnot....once the cage is done, I will trailer my car there and he will remove the old cage and install the new one in a few hours so that I can take it home the same day.

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

Good news, glad you found someone to do it. That will look really good.

 

[DLC]

that car works great with some weight out back, friend has one and it works great once they got it all dialed in.

View attachment 1154844 we got a Talon last year and love it, cage and shocks are in the works. It’s perfect for what we do.

 

[Badchoices03]

Man I don't know how the speed buyers do it....I just barely put my deposit on the cage a week ago...guy said it would be able 4 weeks and its taking everything I have to not bug him for an update...lol...

 

[Badchoices03]

Finally getting somewhere

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

Finally getting somewhere

View attachment 1164774

That is looking nice.

 

[Badchoices03]

Finally done and I’m pretty stoked how it turned out

 

[Roaddawg]

Damn that turned out nice

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

Finally done and I’m pretty stoked how it turned out
View attachment 1169500 View attachment 1169501 View attachment 1169502

Super nice!!

 

[pixrthis]

Nice looking Talon....where you located? It seems the further east you go, the more popular the Talon is....here in SoCal I am willing to bet I might be one of only a handful out in there in the normal riding areas...

We’re in Santa Clarita and enjoy the desert between Jawbone to Rustler’s Roost and Cal City to Randsburg. We’ve put over 300 miles on it in less than a year, when you buy one you realize that there are a lot more Talons out there than you think. We have no regrets on the purchase yet.

 

[pixrthis]

Finally done and I’m pretty stoked how it turned out
View attachment 1169500 View attachment 1169501 View attachment 1169502

That turned out bitchen. Did it fix your trailer height problem?

 

[Deckin Around]

Looks great with that cage, it sits tall. I love Hondas dirtbikes but like others have said I didn't give the Talon a chance knowing it was 70+hp and 8-10" of suspension travel down to the can-am (this was a few years ago). My BIL is renting one private party for Thanksgiving and making a decision if that's what he wants. I'm excited to drive it just for the paddle shift and I think for the riding he does it will be great.

 

[Badchoices03]

We’re in Santa Clarita and enjoy the desert between Jawbone to Rustler’s Roost and Cal City to Randsburg. We’ve put over 300 miles on it in less than a year, when you buy one you realize that there are a lot more Talons out there than you think. We have no regrets on the purchase yet.

I have been a Honda guy my whole life, from my start on 3 wheelers, to my first ever dirtbike a 1980 XR80, my CBR900RR, even raced ricer Honda Civic's....so I have been eyeballing the Talon since it came out, and have been looking for them out in the wild where we ride...and to be honest I have seen 2 in the wild last season....

 

[Badchoices03]

That turned out bitchen. Did it fix your trailer height problem?

Haven't loaded it in the trailer yet, but by my measurements, I have about 1.5" to spare...we will find out this weekend when I start getting things ready for Thanksgiving weekend.

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

I have been a Honda guy my whole life, from my start on 3 wheelers, to my first ever dirtbike a 1980 XR80, my CBR900RR, even raced ricer Honda Civic's....so I have been eyeballing the Talon since it came out, and have been looking for them out in the wild where we ride...and to be honest I have seen 2 in the wild last season....

I have read that they like/need weight in the back, so the spare tire and tools in the bed should help the ride.

 

[Badchoices03]

Looks great with that cage, it sits tall. I love Hondas dirtbikes but like others have said I didn't give the Talon a chance knowing it was 70+hp and 8-10" of suspension travel down to the can-am (this was a few years ago). My BIL is renting one private party for Thanksgiving and making a decision if that's what he wants. I'm excited to drive it just for the paddle shift and I think for the riding he does it will be great.

Yeah, like I mentioned above, I wasn't originally sold on the Talon, infact to be 100% honest I absolutely hated the stock cage, so much so that I wasn't even excited about buying it, but the new cage totally changed the look and now I have a whole list of things I want to do to it...this Thanksgiving weekend will be my first time out with it, and we usually do some decent rides out in Ocotillo, so we will see how it goes...I am looking forward to the paddle shifting and launch control for shits and giggles...lol

 

[Badchoices03]

I have read that they like/need weight in the back, so the spare tire and tools in the bed should help the ride.

Yeah, you will see on the cage pics that I had them build a spare tire rack on the back, but I am waiting for them to send the hydraulic shocks to put the spare on, they were on back order and that shit is heavy to lift without them.

 

[Badchoices03]

Did a couple of things this weekend:

Changed the lens on the Baja Designs pod lights to yellow:

Then I mounted the tablet:

Then I made a poor man’s storage system for under the spare tire mount:

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

Did a couple of things this weekend:

Changed the lens on the Baja Designs pod lights to yellow:

View attachment 1174009

Then I mounted the tablet:

View attachment 1174010 View attachment 1174011

Then I made a poor man’s storage system for under the spare tire mount:

View attachment 1174012 View attachment 1174013

Awesome!! That storage came out sweet and the tablet looks great.

 

[Badchoices03]

Fk this car, fk the Fox shocks, fk Honda…

 

[Badchoices03]

Actual footage from my first trip this weekend

 

[riverroyal]

Ha.

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

Fk this car, fk the Fox shocks, fk Honda…

Sounds like a good story.

 

[Badchoices03]

Sounds like a good story.

No real story, the outburst was more about the whiskey I was drinking while putting everything away yesterday....LOL....but for real, I was pretty dissatisfied with the ride of the car...I knew it wasn't going to ride as good a a rzr/canam and was ok with that....but holy shit....after playing with some tire pressure, adjusting the tender springs, and messing with the clickers on the shocks themselves...I was able to get the ride dialed in for most trails...did good on washboard and chatter bumps. and handled good on big berms....but the big whoops, and there are lots of them in Ocotillo, it sucked BAD...literally felt like that video of the jeeps i posted above...my old "long travel" rhino felt better through them...

 

[ArizonaKevin]

No real story, the outburst was more about the whiskey I was drinking while putting everything away yesterday....LOL....but for real, I was pretty dissatisfied with the ride of the car...I knew it wasn't going to ride as good a a rzr/canam and was ok with that....but holy shit....after playing with some tire pressure, adjusting the tender springs, and messing with the clickers on the shocks themselves...I was able to get the ride dialed in for most trails...did good on washboard and chatter bumps. and handled good on big berms....but the big whoops, and there are lots of them in Ocotillo, it sucked BAD...literally felt like that video of the jeeps i posted above...my old "long travel" rhino felt better through them...

This video offers a pretty good explanation as to why you are feeling what you are feeling. Get as much weight as possible to the rear of the car and that should help.