Introducing the Can-Am DS450

By John Pellan
Test Riders Jackie Meadows and Jeremy Schell

It was a month ago when we took 11-Time National Champion, Jackie Meadows to I-81 Speedway in Greenville, TN to ride Can-Am’s 2007 Line Up, which included their new DS450. Jackie, anxious as a little kid on Christmas morning, would have his way with each of Can-Am’s models, but getting the DS450-scoop was our main mission.

Ride tests make up a big portion of ATV Scene and we feel it’s important to maintain our unbiased say-it-like-it-is impression of each and every ATV we test, so choosing the right test rider would be critical, especially when it came to this particular mind-boggling high-tech race-worthy performer. Legendary Jackie Meadows has a lifetime of ATV knowledge under his belt, he’s pretty much retired from ATV racing, has no commitments to anyone in the ATV industry and remains in excellent shape. All this adds up to the ideal test rider. With Jackie by our side, we were more than prepared to get the low down on this interesting new machine.

Can-Am 101
Before we dissect the new DS450 and tell you what we think of it, you younger readers need a short Can-Am history lesson. Racing has been key for Bombardier’s Can-Am division since it started making high performance off road motorcycles back in the early 70’s Today Can-Am recognized that the ATV industry can yield much higher returns than dirt bike motorcycle production. They have no plans to build dirt bikes, instead Can-Am will concentrate on staking their claim in the high performance ATV scene.

DS450 101
BRP Can-Am CEO Jose’ Boisjoli must have frustrated a lot of employees with his DS450 objectives. He asked his team to produce the lightest, best handling and fastest 450 on the market. That’s a pretty big demand considering the fact that there are several very well built 450s available these days.

The finished product tips the scales respectfully. At a dry weight of 345 pounds (156 kg), no 450 on the market weighs less. What’s more, in an effort to make sure they’re new 450 behaved itself properly at pro level race pace, Can-Am hired accomplished racers to supply good feedback from the mission’s day one, including champions Jeremy Schell and Josh Frederick.

It hasn’t been easy keeping a lid on this new incredible high performance quad for an entire month, but somehow we pulled it off. You’ve been teased for a month now. We won’t torture you any further, so let’s get started and take an in depth look at the high-performance quad that Can-Am has been fine-tuning for the last four years.

Rotax Baby
OK so now that you know your Can-Am 101 and the DS450 mission, it’s finally time to get down and dirty and know all about the new DS450, let’s break it down…

We’ll start with the completely new Rotax® 4-TEC® 450cc engine. It’s a 449cc Electronic Fuel Injected engine that Can-Am says is by far the most powerful in its class. After riding the machine, we would have to agree. The mighty new Rotax powerplant comes from what Rotax learned with their V990 “Mille” engine that powers the Aprilia‡ RSV 1000 R motorcycle. The DS450 engine uses the same Mille top-end technology with a bottom-end, crankcase, clutch and tranny specifically-designed for the rigors of off-road ATVing.

The engine is a free-flow design – with the largest piston bore, intake valves and throttle body in the 450 market. From the looks of this beefy stocker, it appears that it might take to modification well — meaning the DS may have the potential to be converted into an “airplane”, (as the late big Jack Meadows might say) quite easily. A sophisticated EFI system with a superfast micro-controller optimizes performance at every rpm, compensating for both temperature and altitude. All this equates to quick and precise throttle response.

ALTEC™ Aluminum Chassis.

This may be the most innovative and comprehensive portion of the new DS450, or any component on any ATV currently available for that matter. The frame is made from Aerospace-grade aluminum and configured in a dual-pyramidal design. Strength comes from computer-optimized design rather than heavier or added materials. The pyramidal structure has been proven on BRP’s Ski-Doo® REV™ and REV-XP™ snowmobiles.What’s incredible is you wont find any welds on the frame. Can-Am uses ultra-modern locking-bolts instead of traditional welds to hold the frame members together. In the end Can-Am reaps some big rewards here. The DS frame is exceptionally strong and lightweight – 13% lighter than the best-in-class competitor to be exact.

Jackie says, “It’s the closest thing to a race ready quad off the show room that I’ve ever seen.”

R-type front suspension.
With the lowest unsprung weight in its class, this radical design delivers razor-sharp handling, amazing damping, and confident tracking. Aluminum knuckles with short aluminum spindles, extended-length forged aluminum upper and lower A-arms, aggressive attack angle and reduced-kickback geometry all combine to give the rider confidence while hammering through rough terrain at speed.

Front shocks come with KYB HPG aluminum-bodied piggyback reservoirs and they’re compression and rebound adjustable. The shocks also feature threaded pre-load adjustment and measure 9.5-inches of travel.

The front suspension and handling are superb, by far the best in the business. The machine goes exactly where you point it in razor-sharp precise fashion. All in all handling is absolutely superior to any off-the-showroom-floor machine we’ve ridden!

R-type rear suspension.
Again Can-Am strived to complete their lightweight mission. The rear is dramatically lightweight – the lightest in its class. The fully adjustable rear KYB HPG shock measures in at 10.2 inches of travel. The swingarm is cast-aluminum. The axle is an industry-first hollow Chromoly 4140 unit that Jeremy Schell claims will not bend, but we’re skeptical on this one. Like many component on this innovative machine, we’ll have to wait and see how durable these items end up being as time progresses. Aluminum hubs and a rising-rate shock linkage round out the rear of the machine.

Race-worthy Braking by Wilwood™
The DS450 features one radical front brake design to say the least. Can-Am’s system features an inverted dual-piston caliper – mounted on the inside area of the disc – completely opposite of any quad on the market. This enables placement of the ball-joints and kingpin axis deep inside the wheel for reduced scrub and steering kickback, as well as self correcting behavior under hard braking. Finally both the front and rear rotors’ wave shape is computer-designed for exceptional cooling.

Racer-developed Race-worthy ergonomics.
Can-Am’s Jeremy Schell plans to race this machine at the ITP QuadCross Series soon. If you haven’t noticed by now the narrow frame design also features a smooth transitional surfaces all around. This will DS450 riders slip over obstacles in low clearance situations.

The DS 450 comes stock with custom made ITP Holeshot SR tires. Aluminum rims with rolled edges round off the tire and wheel package on all four corners. Detachable headlights and interchangeable front fenders are a nice feature for you pure racer types. Wide foot pegs with kickups and deep heel guards, among other racer-friendly features round out the race savvy package.

We mounted a helmet cam on Jeremy Schell’s helmet and got some pretty good footage while the two national champions battled it out on a pair of DS450s.

Here Jackie aggressively carves a turn TT style. Jackie says this may be the ultimate TT machine. We’ll have to wait and see.

Overall Impression
The new DS450 has got to be Can-Am’s most innovative product in company history, maybe even a top three BRP product. As for our overall impression: we’ll let our test rider, Jackie Meadows take it from here…

ATV Scene: Okay Jackie you’ve been sworn to secrecy on this thing for a month now. Here’s your chance to finally tell someone about the new DS450.
Meadows: Finally! Yeah I’ll say it like this. It’s the best high performance quad that’s ever been made and the closest thing to a race ready quad off the show room that I’ve ever seen.

 

ATV Scene: How do you think a feather-weight all-aluminum quad will hold up?
Meadows:We’ll have to wait and see how durable it is, but I think the company will hold up really well.

ATV Scene: What do you mean?
Meadows:They obviously care to go fast and race. And to me it looks like they’re really serious about their mission of dominating the ATV race scene. You know, when I was a kid I remember how cool the Can-Am brand was. It seemed like they did things different than everyone else. It’s really cool to see they have the same outside the box way of doing things thirty years later, but what I’m most impressed with is their exclusive commitment to the ATV industry, and especially ATV racing. When it comes to racing, most of the other manufacturers rely on their two-wheeled segment to market their products. Can-Am is going the complete opposite direction and doesn’t even care to build a dirt bike. It’s 100% focused on ATVs and from the looks of things I would say 80% of their attention will be turned to ATV racing.

ATV Scene: Let’s break down your impression of the DS450 a little more. You seem to really like this quad. What do you like most about it?
Meadows: I would say the way it handles. It turns really sharp and sticks to the track well. It’s so light you can put the quad anywhere you want. It’s a combination of everything they’ve done including the narrow frame rails which really make it handle awesome. I was blown away after riding it. They really did their homework.

ATV Scene: How about the suspension?
Meadows: I snuck out on a section of the track that we weren’t supposed to be on. It was a pretty hard core section of whoops. I’m sorry about that, but I couldn’t help it. After landing jumps with ease I had to see how it went through the whoops. It’s simply second to none! In fact I think it’s very comparable to aftermarket suspension found on any of the top race quads.

ATV Scene: How does it stop?
Meadows: I do a lot of passing by braking really late, but with that I’m extra hard on brakes than the typical rider. The front and rear brakes are on par or better than anything I’ve ever used. That’s pretty impressive for a stock machine.

ATV Scene:How about the all-too-important engine?
Meadows:Rotax engines have always been pretty bad ass. This thing absolutely screams! I promise you, there’s no way any other stock bike can run like this one. I love how the power comes on smooth out of the corners, and from mid to top end this thing really screams. I’ll tell you what, I’ve been practicing on a Honda 450R with an HRC kit and pipe and it doesn’t compare to the stock Can-Am, especially on the mid to top end. I’m really impressed with the power.
The Rest of the Can-Am 2007 Line Up
For the rest of Can-Am’s ’07 quads check out our video located below. Jackie rode the entire line up. We even humiliated him a little and had him ride on the back of an Outlander Max. It’s priceless video to say the least.

 

DS 450 EFI Specifications

Type: 449cc, single-cylinder, DOHC 4-valve, liquid-cooled
Bore & Stroke: 97 x 60,8mm
Carburation / EFI: EFI w/46mm Throttle Body, 16 bit CPU w/ 32 MHz clock speed
Starting System: Electric
Transmission: 5-speed manual
Drive train: Chain driven/solid axle
Frame: ALTEC dual-pyramidal aluminum
Front suspension: type/ Travel R-Type Double A-arm, forged aluminum / Kayaba HPG Aluminum piggy-back with adjustment for compression, rebound and spring preload / 9.5″
Rear suspension type/ Travel R-Type swingarm, cast aluminum
/ Kayaba HPG Aluminum piggyback with adjustment for compression, rebound and spring preload/ 10.5″
Front brake: Dual 182mm wave type discs with inverted twin-piston calipers
Rear brake: 198mm wave type rotor with single piston caliper
Tires / Front: ITP Holeshot SR 21 x 7R-10 in 533 x 178R x 254 mm
Tires / Rear: ITP Holeshot SR 20 x 10R-9 in 508 x 254R x 229 mm
Wheels: Aluminum Polished L x W x H (in) 72.4 x 46 x 41.9 in L x W x H (mm) 1,839 x 1,168 x 1,064 mm
Wheelbase: 50 in (1,267 mm)
Seat height: 33 in (831 mm)
Dry weight: 345 lbs (156 kg)
Ground clearence: 9 in under frame / 5 in under rear axle
Fuel capacity 3 US gal. (11.5L)
Instrumentation: Low fuel, check engine, neutral
Lighting: Dual removable headlights
Colors Available: Yellow
More on this ATV here: can-amds450.com

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