Once upon a time, sporty ATVs roamed the backwoods. They howled and yowled, they slang dirt and mud, and they sent so many people to the hospital, there was practically a Sport ATV ward in every ER. They were righteous fun for the criminally insane.
But then, in what feels like an instant, they were wiped from the Earth's surface, with all-but Yamaha remaining. The last of the species.
CFMoto, however, seems like it wants to help revive the category, working its own Jurassic Park-esque cloning program that'll give sporty ATVs another shot at glory. At least, that's what it appears to be based on this recently filed patent RideApart found.
Let's take a look.
The patent, dated June 27th of this year, is labeled as a "Straddle-Type Vehicle" and shows the rough dimensions of an ATV. However, unlike most ATVs on sale today, as well as CFMoto's other ATVs, this isn't any ordinary utility vehicle. In fact, it looks nothing like CFMoto's other offerings at all, nor anything recently released from the likes of Can-Am, Kawasaki, Polaris, Suzuki and Honda.
What it looks like is the Yamaha Raptor or an old-school Banshee.
The basic layout as detailed in the patent is an ATV without any body cladding. There's an exposed frame, brush guards on the handlebars, exposed suspension, a single seat, and four wheels. And that's about it. What's interesting, however, is how exposed the front end of the ATV is, with the radiator up front and out there for everyone to see.
Now, that sort of design hasn't been seen for a while now, as radiators tend to need to be protected from the elements and dirt and gravel roosts, so I have a feeling that we aren't seeing the full picture here. I think body cladding is coming. However, based on the footprint of the patent sketches, I do still think we're looking at a sport ATV.
There isn't much else to the patent aside from the pictures, other than CFMoto states its a single-cylinder engine that's powering the quad. But again, if CFMoto can pull this off, it'd be helping Yamaha keep the sport ATV species alive for years to come.
Fingers crossed.
