motorcyclebloggers.com

It all happened on the beginning of May 2006, in the French Alps. 

The setting was the currently off-season ski resort of Meribel. 

The event? The launch of the 2007 Can-Am ATV range. 

What do I mean by Can-Am?
Well, this is an unexpected move from BRP, which owns Bombardier ATVs. 

BRP decided to change the ATV range name from Bombardier, to the former Motocross motorcycle branch it used to own.
The change is of course geared towards the US market, since Can-Am is a legend there, and also sounds quite US friendly (Canada-America is the most widely accepted interpretation of the brand name).
 
Beyond a “mere” change of a name, Can-Am had more aces up its sleeve, during the launch.
In Meribel, it presented a brand new mouth-watering sport-ATV, taking the Outlander 800 platform to the limit.
Just a quick notice, to remind you that the V-2 equipped Outlander 800 ATV is the most powerful ATV in the world right now. 

The new ATV, or ETV (Extreme Terrain Vehicle) by Can-Am will be known as the Renegade 800. 

Yes, they all choose funny names for their quads. 

Funny, and certainly aggressive. 

Raptor, Outlander, Grizzly, Kodiak, Banshee, Outlaw, Brute Force, and now the new monster, Renegade 
Using the same SST chassis and the 800cc V-2 engine of the biggest Outlander, it sports an overtly aggressive design, which makes it look like a Yamaha YFZ 450 on steroids. 

We are talking about the absolute hybrid between a utility ATV and a sport Quad!
The Renegade might look angry, but at 270kg it doesn’t sound like it will be seeing much MX action… 

It will certainly appeal to people who want to do seriously fast trail riding, and want absolute power in sporty clothing.   

On the presentation Can-Am unveiled the Renegade for static photos, and also showed us a video with the monster in action, but unfortunately they didn’t have a working ATV for us to ride. According to the Canadian company, the new ATV will be ready for release on the coming January.
 
Can-Am also screened a sneak video preview of their first (real) sport Quad that is scheduled for release in 2007.
It will be a 450cc sport quad, ready to race in the US GNCC (MX championship) to compete with the best (Suzuki LT-R 450, Yamaha YFZ 450, Honda TRX 450).
Can-Am has quite a lot of catching up to do; They must present something remarkable if they really want to be competitive, since the Japanese have reached a level that is really hard to reach. 
 
I had the chance to ride the complete range (Outlander 400, 650 and 800, DS 250 and Rally 200), though the organization was quite basic, since there was only one photographer (Serge Potier) for SIXTY journalists, and there were no expert groups, with the event geared towards absolute safety (that means I had big rows with the Can Am staff, since they didn’t allow me to try any extreme action shots)…
 
A serious concern for Can Am should be the performance of their small cc range. 

The smaller Can Am quads rate quite poorly when compared to the Japanese or Taiwanese quads. 
The Rally 200 is very old, underpowered and offers poor handling and bad brakes. It does the job, but only just, and I feel it is already past its retirement age.
The DS 250 is more contemporary but it still lacks power (even compared to the much cheaper Kymco KXR 250 that is an excellent all-round beginner’s treat). 
 
I had no chance to ride the Dakar winner DS 650, but I interviewed the Dakar winners (Antoine Morel and Juan Manuel Gonzalez, also known as Pedrega) which both wished they would get the Renegade 800 for the 2007 Dakar rally, although that seems almost impossible, since the Renegade is still undergoing testing. They said they loved the new Can Am ATV, but would like to fit the DS 650 front suspension system to it, for desert racing.