The 2009 Polaris Press Launch took all of us in the off road media by surprise. First they showed us one all-new and one majorly-upgraded side-x-side, then major news from the Sportsman Utility ATV family. By the time Polaris came to show us the Outlaw sport offerings, we were pretty sure there couldn’t be anything newer than maybe a color change or some new graphics. How big is Polaris’s R&D budget anyway? But for the fourth time in an hour, the folks from Minnesota surprised us with a host of updates and an entirely new look to the Outlaw line of sport ATVs.
Polaris has really stepped up its race team in recent years, signing top riders like Doug Eichner, Daryl Rath, Brock Lyons and Dana Creech. Undoubtedly these factory riders have played a big part in the changes to the '09 Outlaws. According to Polaris, the racers were telling them they wanted the seat height as low as possible. So on the 450MXR, the shock body itself has been cut-down, effectively lowering the seat height - even if only a fraction
Aesthetically the new Outlaws are completely different than before. The bodywork has been completely redesigned to be narrower and lower at the front. The old two headlight design with large front fenders that has been around since the Predator days, is replaced with a much cleaner-looking single headlight bodywork. The bodywork is race-inspired with more compact fenders and a slimmer seat. One of our complaints with the old Outlaw and Predator was how flimsy the front fenders were - they would flap like wings when you went over bumps so we are not sad to see the plastics replaced for 09. The new single headlight design is much lower than the previous design, placing the headlight just in front of the shocks. This saves weight and makes the quad "look" lighter.
