Racing The Redline Riot

Doogie

• December 31 2008
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Racing The Redline Riot

By Lance Schwartz

Photos by Mike Calabro & Redline

In order to stay in touch with the newest happenings in the industry, I spend a lot of time perusing the Internet in search of ideas to spark a new storyline. That very method is how I discovered a little company in Minnesota called Redline. For the past few years, Redline has been building their single seat Revolt that at first glance resembles the popular Honda Pilot from back in the day. It was around that time that I stumbled upon a prototype two-seater product that Redline dubbed the TS750 (which later became known as “The Riot”). From the pictures I found on the web, I knew we had to do a story on this machine. Better yet, to make the story legit, I knew we needed to race it!

When I called Redline sales manager Dave Wittmer and explained to him that I wanted his crew to haul a twenty thousand dollar Riot from their home base in Minnesota to central Iowa for me to race in the three-hour long Heartland Challenge, there was some momentary silence, followed by what I believe to be crickets chirping in the background. When Dave actually realized I was serious, he somehow convinced the suits at Redline that this experience would be a valuable learning tool for everyone involved. How he managed to talk them into it, I have no idea. But, as they say, the rest is history!

Engine:
Powering the Riot is a 749cc, liquid-cooled parallel twin cylinder engine built by Weber Motors. With its SOHC four-valve, four-stroke powerplant sporting an 11.5:1 compression ratio and an 85mm x 66mm bore and stroke, the mighty twin is good for seventy-two horsepower! Impressive durability is achieved by utilizing a forged crankshaft, balance shaft, and pistons living inside a Nicasil plated monoblock. Sitting low and in between the two occupants, a massive 8.5-gallon center mounted fuel tank supplies the fuel-injected Weber with enough range to spend hours tearing up the dunes, track, or woods!

Transmission:
A Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) with Redline’s own proprietary gearbox, with simple F, N, and R gear selection puts the power to the ground. The CVT resembles something found in a snowmobile. Oddly, the clutches are exposed, which apparently helps keep the primary and secondary clutches and the drive belt running cool. This open clutch design ultimately helps lengthen the lifespan of the belt. However, if ridden in muddy terrain, bolting on the clutch cover is a must. The transmission transfers power to the wheels through standard Gorilla axles, which are incredibly durable. Absent on the Redline Riot is the four-wheel drive featured on most competing machines.

Suspension:
The suspension department is where all of the magic happens. The Riot is super-wide at sixty-eight inches. Up front, double A-arms deliver eighteen inches of travel. Out back, the rear end resembles something typically found on a trophy truck, with the long travel arms delivering sixteen and a half inches of travel. The Riot comes standard with Fox air shocks, but optional Elka Race Series or Elka Elite Series shocks are available as a factory option.

Tires, Wheels, and Brakes:
The Redline rolls on 26×8x12 Carlisle rubber up front and 26×10x12 tires out back. As a factory option, the Riot can be had with sick aluminum OMF Beadlocks and GBC After Burn radial tires. Handling braking duties on the front end are dual Wilwood disc brakes, while a single HB Performance disc handles stopping power out back.

Ergonomics/Fit and Finish:
A quick-release steering wheel makes squeezing in and out of the Riot a breeze. Standard five-point harnesses and wrist-straps help keep the occupants safe in the event of a rollover. The cockpit looks and feels like a racecar, with everything easily accessible and well within reach. Molded body panels give the Riot an aggressive look, but they do little to keep the tires from flinging mud directly into the cockpit.

Pre-Race Walk Around:
When the Redline guys rolled the sixty-eight inch wide Redline out the back door of their gooseneck trailer on that snowy twenty-degree day last November, the “rubber-necking” immediately began. Nobody dared walk by the Riot without first spending a few seconds staring and asking questions to figure out what the hell that crazy looking UTV was. The Redline Riot was certainly an immediate hit with the crowd and myself alike!

The Riot can be had directly from the factory with long-travel Elka shocks, Gorilla axles, OMF beadlock wheels, PIAA lights, side nets, GBC After Burn tires, and enough machismo to make Rambo shudder in fear. Since our goal was to make our first trip behind the wheel a race, we opted to have all of the “go-fast goodies” added. The only other addition I made to our machine was a set of Tireballs, to help keep us rolling in the event that I tore up one of the GBC tires. With only a walk around, a seat belt fitting session, and a quick trip up and down the straightaway, I was off to the starting line.

Race Time:
We rolled the Redline to the line and sat patiently awaiting our dead-engine start. As the starter dropped the flag, I pushed the start button and brought the Weber four-stroke to life. As I pinned the throttle, the RPM’s screamed, the clutch grabbed the drive belt, and within the first hundred feet, I had blown past all of the competition. By the end of the roughly quarter mile straightaway, I was probably a good fifteen to twenty lengths ahead of second place. We then began picking our way through the first woods section, which we were told would be a minimum of eighty inches wide.

It took me about thirty seconds to realize we were going to have lots of problems negotiating the tight woods because many spots were much narrower than the eighty inches we were promised. I missed a poorly marked turn coming out of the woods and quickly gave the lead away. As soon as the new leader passed me, he tagged a tree. Due to the excellent brakes and gnawing traction of the gnarly GBC After Burns, I was able to slow down enough to avoid tagging him. But, in getting himself unstuck and despite me screaming obscenities, the new leader proceeded to slam into the front of our Redline Riot two different times. At first, we thought we escaped unscathed. But, we later found that the jolt was enough to bend some of the steering linkage in the front end, which would prove to further complicate the rest of the race.

The Redline has great straight-line speed. In fact, I guarantee it will smoke any other UTV on the market. In the wide open sections and high-speed turns, like most prospective owners would experience in the dunes, a flick of the wheel and a blip of the throttle made the Redline turn with authority. However, at sixty-eight inches wide, running it through the tight woods was a real challenge. Not only is the Riot wide, it has a large turning radius and the front end tends to push at slower speeds.

When I wasn’t trying to find an alternate route around a trail too tight to fit the Riot, I was struggling to get traction on the muddy, hilly, off-camber terrain. Four-wheel drive would have solved a lot of our problems. However, I saw many four-wheel drive RZR’s and Rhino’s stuck in areas where I negotiated the track in two wheel drive. Even though we lacked front drive wheels, I was still pretty impressed where we were able to take this two-wheel drive monster with a good line and a heavy foot!

The greatest part of racing the Riot had to be launching it off jumps. I’ve spent my share of time behind the wheel of both stock UTV’s as well as high-dollar converted long-travel UTV’s. I can honestly say that none of them hold a candle to the Riot when it comes to jumping. No matter how hard I landed, the Riot triumphantly sucked up every single landing, including the occasional horrible sideways touchdowns I thought were going to send us rolling into the weeds. That feeling was absolutely intoxicating! I also never bottomed the suspension, even after we had acquired several hundred pounds of mud stuck to every square inch of our ride. I would absolutely love to be able to run the Riot again on a dry track with traction and even larger jumps, just so I can feel the full capabilities of the suspension.

As the race went on, our steering problems began to make the Riot undriveable. Redline chose to build the Riot with heim joints on the end of the tie rods. The open design of a heim joint allows mud to very easily infiltrate and strangle the joints range of movement. The combination of frozen heim joints and a bent front end made steering the Riot nearly impossible. So, when the left tie rod finally surrendered and broke, I was actually thankful. My arms were so tired from wrestling the jacked up steering system that I wouldn’t have been able to make another lap anyway.

Final Thoughts:
If having a long-travel UTV is part of your wish list, you have to take a serious look at the Redline Riot. If you consider what it would cost to add long travel suspension, heavy-duty axles, beadlock wheels, a heavier cage with a five-point harness, and beef up the engine to increase the horsepower on a stock Rhino, RZR, or Teryx, you’d be way ahead of the game buying a Riot with all the “go-fast goodies” available directly from the factory. At a price point of roughly twenty grand, the Riot is a truckload of money. But, when you consider what you actually get for the money, the Redline Riot becomes a more attractive possibility for those that desire the most badass long-travel UTV money can buy.

Specs:
Engine
Type: Weber Motors 749cc, liquid-cooled, 4-cycle, parallel twin cylinder, SOHC, 72hp
Bore/Stroke: 85mm x 66mm
Compression Ratio: 11.5:1
Fuel System: Port Injected EFI
Lubrication: Dry Sump
Ignition: Walbro Electronic Engine Management System (EMS)

Drivetrain
Drive System: Two-wheel shaft, rear wheel drive
Transmission: CVT w/ Redline Proprietary F/N/R gearbox
Final Drive: Shaft

Suspension
Front Suspension: Double A-arm; 10 in. Fox Air shocks w/18 in. of true travel; Optional: 10 in. Elka or Elka Elite coil over shocks

Rear Suspension: Swing arm; 10 in. Fox Air shocks w/16.5 in. of true travel; Optional: 10 in. Elka or Elka Elite coil over shocks

Brakes
Front: Dual Wilwood Discs
Rear: Single HB Performance Disc

Tires
Front: 26×8x12 radial
Rear: 26×10x12 radial

Dimensions
Length/Width/Height (in): 115 in / 68 in / 66 in
Wheelbase (in): 84 in
Ground Clearance Front: 18 in
Ground Clearance Rear: 14 in
Dry Weight: 1078lbs
Cargo Box: 2.8 cu ft

Base Price: $17,499