So when I first purchased my 2015 RZR 900 Trail I was very pleased with the ride quality. It was my first RZR but I had been in various other years of RZR trail models and knew how bad the suspension was. On top of that, watching all the cookie cutter "name brand" reviews I was lead to believe that this was going to be the best a 50" model could ever have for ride quality. The machine felt comfortable and "dialed" at low speeds and over average terrain except for…it didn’t. :rolleyes:

So then what adjustments can be made by the user? Preload. That means that all other suspension considerations including compression and rebound must be set from the factory. Now this isn’t a bad thing and can often be a good thing. If the shocks don’t have knobs to fiddle with then end users can’t ruin things by messing with them. If the manufacturer knows what someone is intending on doing with their system they can fine tune the parameters and "lock them in" so that you get dead simple setup that works. With RZR’s this doesn’t work though. One guy gets a RZR 50" and drives it in the desert, someone else drives theirs on trails careful to avoid every rock…then there are people like me…I do it all and with gusto! If I am taking my RZR rock crawling then I am not going to pussyfoot around. If I want to trail ride then I am going to find the trails less traveled. When there is a long dirt road top speed will be reached no matter the cost. So then….what is Polaris to do. Well they can offer adjustable suspension (XP) or they can do their best to make a suspension that is middle of the road that won’t be great at anything but won’t offend anyone (50"). This is what the stock 50" suspension is; a compromise on all fronts to appeal to anyone riding the thing at least a little. So what you end up with is a suspension package that works OK most of the time and then, when you upset it, it punches you in the ass to remind you that it is displeased with your actions and that you should stop what you are doing. Because of my driving style this meant that I was getting spanked…a lot!

This is where Bandit comes in. They offer a shock package that’s not only better than stock its….night and day! That term (night and day) comes up a lot when comparing things so it is worth taking a moment to consider what that means. For something to be a "night and day" difference that means that the changes experienced need to be so profound that they are polar opposites…north and south…left and right…republi-uh…never mind not going there! The point is that for the night and day cliche to be true in this case you would need to effectively say; before, the RZR had no suspension…and now it does. And I am pleased to report that my RZR now has suspension! Bandit has nailed it with their use of aluminum body shocks that sport not only dual rate springs and preload adjustment but also a compression adjustment knob to dial in the type of riding you do. On top of this they added a anti bottoming ring that all but prevents harsh bottom out and moved the majority of the weight to the top immobile part of the shock to help keep unsprung weight down. All this equates into an amazing ride that is not only more adjustable than stock but also more everything than stock! More rock crawling articulation, more small bump compliance, more comfort…more bling!

Now as you can tell by now I could keep going into…forever on these but rather than do that I figured I would share some of my personal findings going from stock to Bandit shocks listed out for a better read:

On open dirt roads I drive like I stole it and drifting turns is my nirvana. The stock suspension was not bad here but where the Bandits helped was with the much improved dual rate springs that keep the RZR level so well that I was able to remove my front sway bar completely and still have less body roll than with the stock setup.

Rock crawling I was now running no front sway bar so my articulation was increased substantially and getting tossed back and forth was all but gone. (rock crawling with front and rear sway bars is for the birds!) Because of the added adjustability of the preload you can adjust the suspension to around 50% sag so you wheels can travel down just as much as they do up to help keep those wheels on the ground.

Slow trail riding is improved noticeably in the comfort because of the suppleness of the dual rate springs and much better valving. When you find bumps hills or off camber sections the shocks respond quickly and don’t miss a beat.

Fast trail riding my domain and where the bandits start to really shine. So to put it frankly I have trials that I did on my stock RZR at 10 mph and hated because they were too rough and felt like I was breaking my machine; now fun was had… With the Bandit shocks I was doing over 30 on the same trials and I am not joking when I say I could NOT feel most of the bumps; they were GONE. When taking a bigger hit it didn’t feel like something was breaking, it felt much, much softer and gave confidence that the shocks were doing their job. This increased my average of 40 miles for a day of riding to 50-60 and wanted more!

There are many things I could talk about on the suspension but really this should give you the overall picture as far as the increase in riding quality and it is worth pointing out that there is nothing the stock suspension can do that is even remotely as good as the bandits. So here is the thing; if the 900 suspension is much better than any of the previous years (and it is), and the bandits are "night and day" from the stock shocks it begs the question how much better are the bandits than the previous RZR trail’s stock shocks? Just some food for thought.

So some considerations before I wrap this up. The shocks came 3 days after ordering them and were well packaged and very sexy to look at. The install was quite painless and is as simple as lifting the machine off the ground and talking some bolts out. The shocks currently don’t come with any spanner wrenches but the stock one fits the rings but can be a tight fit when trying to make large adjustments in the frame. My shocks came with the compression at about 8 clicks from full open (no compression damping) with about 40% sag. I adjusted mine to 3 clicks of compression from full open with 20% sag in the front and 4 clicks of compression with 25% sag in the rear. The shocks need to be rebuilt from time to time to maintain that amazing feeling. For some this could be every few months but for a non abusive rider this is likely to be a yearly affair. Now let’s get one thing straight here. Those sealed shocks you get from the factory….they can’t really be rebuilt but that does not mean they shouldn’t be! As a matter of fact those stock shocks will probably need to be replaced before the Bandits recommended service interval. Rebuilding/ replacing shocks is the only way to keep anything with suspension running the way it is supposed to. You have noticed that your car’s ride has been a bit more bouncy than normal recently haven’t you….wonder what that could be…:ride:

So to wrap it all up the Bandit suspension is a must have upgrade for anyone looking to get more out of their RZR. The price is right and the quality is great. If you want to ride harder or just want to ride in comfort these shocks will not only fit the bill they will STEAL the show (cheezie sorry). If anyone has any questions feel free to post a response and I will do my best to answer your questions.

TLDR (too long didn’t read): Guy blows his evening writing a review trying to be witty, has bad grammar. and speling. Review sum up: Bandit shocks are a good upgrade and worth the money.

So when I first purchased my 2015 RZR 900 Trail I was very pleased with the ride quality. It was my first RZR but I had been in various other years of RZR trail models and knew how bad the suspension was. On top of that, watching all the cookie cutter "name brand" reviews I was lead to believe that this was going to be the best a 50" model could ever have for ride quality. The machine felt comfortable and "dialed" at low speeds and over average terrain except for…it didn’t. :rolleyes:

So then what adjustments can be made by the user? Preload. That means that all other suspension considerations including compression and rebound must be set from the factory. Now this isn’t a bad thing and can often be a good thing. If the shocks don’t have knobs to fiddle with then end users can’t ruin things by messing with them. If the manufacturer knows what someone is intending on doing with their system they can fine tune the parameters and "lock them in" so that you get dead simple setup that works. With RZR’s this doesn’t work though. One guy gets a RZR 50" and drives it in the desert, someone else drives theirs on trails careful to avoid every rock…then there are people like me…I do it all and with gusto! If I am taking my RZR rock crawling then I am not going to pussyfoot around. If I want to trail ride then I am going to find the trails less traveled. When there is a long dirt road top speed will be reached no matter the cost. So then….what is Polaris to do. Well they can offer adjustable suspension (XP) or they can do their best to make a suspension that is middle of the road that won’t be great at anything but won’t offend anyone (50"). This is what the stock 50" suspension is; a compromise on all fronts to appeal to anyone riding the thing at least a little. So what you end up with is a suspension package that works OK most of the time and then, when you upset it, it punches you in the ass to remind you that it is displeased with your actions and that you should stop what you are doing. Because of my driving style this meant that I was getting spanked…a lot!

This is where Bandit comes in. They offer a shock package that’s not only better than stock its….night and day! That term (night and day) comes up a lot when comparing things so it is worth taking a moment to consider what that means. For something to be a "night and day" difference that means that the changes experienced need to be so profound that they are polar opposites…north and south…left and right…republi-uh…never mind not going there! The point is that for the night and day cliche to be true in this case you would need to effectively say; before, the RZR had no suspension…and now it does. And I am pleased to report that my RZR now has suspension! Bandit has nailed it with their use of aluminum body shocks that sport not only dual rate springs and preload adjustment but also a compression adjustment knob to dial in the type of riding you do. On top of this they added a anti bottoming ring that all but prevents harsh bottom out and moved the majority of the weight to the top immobile part of the shock to help keep unsprung weight down. All this equates into an amazing ride that is not only more adjustable than stock but also more everything than stock! More rock crawling articulation, more small bump compliance, more comfort…more bling!

Now as you can tell by now I could keep going into…forever on these but rather than do that I figured I would share some of my personal findings going from stock to Bandit shocks listed out for a better read:

On open dirt roads I drive like I stole it and drifting turns is my nirvana. The stock suspension was not bad here but where the Bandits helped was with the much improved dual rate springs that keep the RZR level so well that I was able to remove my front sway bar completely and still have less body roll than with the stock setup.

Rock crawling I was now running no front sway bar so my articulation was increased substantially and getting tossed back and forth was all but gone. (rock crawling with front and rear sway bars is for the birds!) Because of the added adjustability of the preload you can adjust the suspension to around 50% sag so you wheels can travel down just as much as they do up to help keep those wheels on the ground.

Slow trail riding is improved noticeably in the comfort because of the suppleness of the dual rate springs and much better valving. When you find bumps hills or off camber sections the shocks respond quickly and don’t miss a beat.

Fast trail riding my domain and where the bandits start to really shine. So to put it frankly I have trials that I did on my stock RZR at 10 mph and hated because they were too rough and felt like I was breaking my machine; now fun was had… With the Bandit shocks I was doing over 30 on the same trials and I am not joking when I say I could NOT feel most of the bumps; they were GONE. When taking a bigger hit it didn’t feel like something was breaking, it felt much, much softer and gave confidence that the shocks were doing their job. This increased my average of 40 miles for a day of riding to 50-60 and wanted more!

There are many things I could talk about on the suspension but really this should give you the overall picture as far as the increase in riding quality and it is worth pointing out that there is nothing the stock suspension can do that is even remotely as good as the bandits. So here is the thing; if the 900 suspension is much better than any of the previous years (and it is), and the bandits are "night and day" from the stock shocks it begs the question how much better are the bandits than the previous RZR trail’s stock shocks? Just some food for thought.

So some considerations before I wrap this up. The shocks came 3 days after ordering them and were well packaged and very sexy to look at. The install was quite painless and is as simple as lifting the machine off the ground and talking some bolts out. The shocks currently don’t come with any spanner wrenches but the stock one fits the rings but can be a tight fit when trying to make large adjustments in the frame. My shocks came with the compression at about 8 clicks from full open (no compression damping) with about 40% sag. I adjusted mine to 3 clicks of compression from full open with 20% sag in the front and 4 clicks of compression with 25% sag in the rear. The shocks need to be rebuilt from time to time to maintain that amazing feeling. For some this could be every few months but for a non abusive rider this is likely to be a yearly affair. Now let’s get one thing straight here. Those sealed shocks you get from the factory….they can’t really be rebuilt but that does not mean they shouldn’t be! As a matter of fact those stock shocks will probably need to be replaced before the Bandits recommended service interval. Rebuilding/ replacing shocks is the only way to keep anything with suspension running the way it is supposed to. You have noticed that your car’s ride has been a bit more bouncy than normal recently haven’t you….wonder what that could be…:ride:

So to wrap it all up the Bandit suspension is a must have upgrade for anyone looking to get more out of their RZR. The price is right and the quality is great. If you want to ride harder or just want to ride in comfort these shocks will not only fit the bill they will STEAL the show (cheezie sorry). If anyone has any questions feel free to post a response and I will do my best to answer your questions.

TLDR (too long didn’t read): Guy blows his evening writing a review trying to be witty, has bad grammar. and speling. Review sum up: Bandit shocks are a good upgrade and worth the money.