Concept to reality...

Very cool to see a glimpse of what went into the ACE. I like the way the original cage looks. But From seeing where they started to where they ended, I think that the tipped in cage is better compromise for really tight trail riding. Not all of us have the wide open spaces of the Midwest and Southwest. Here in the woods of New England, we have these things called "tree's" Get on some tight and twisty trail in an off chamber situation and a top wide cage has lots of potential to get hung up on a tree.

Also think about easy ingress and egress. If you have a lower profile cage you would have to worry about smacking your head when you get in and out of the machine. The factory profile makes it so that never becomes an issue.

Thanks 4Nines for posting the pics. Those are all good points on why they changed it and I'm sure there's a dozen more, I just prefer the look of the original design. I imagine there will be several aftermarket cages to choose from as soon as the aftermarket gets their hands on them. I also think a set of LED headlights would be cool. I wonder if any of Polaris's current LED offerings would fit?

4Nines said:

If you have a lower profile cage you would have to worry about smacking your head when you get in and out of the machine. The factory profile makes it so that never becomes an issue.

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Yep. That would only have to happen to most people just once and then it would be no sale for many.

The tough part is they have to make these machines for everyone. Once you get an ACE you can modify the cage to fit you perfectly

I think the first cages are cool and I like the way they descend to the rear end. But since the seat is in the center of ACE once people started climbing in " to the center " they probably started bumping their melons and D'OH!

After the pain subsided, a light bulb went on and they wisely narrowed the top.

I knew it would be just a matter of time before these surfaced...

I agree the concept cage looks cool but I'm sure it was a cost thing trying to keep retail price down.. great find…

Idahopilgrim said:

I agree the concept cage looks cool but I'm sure it was a cost thing trying to keep retail price down.. great find…

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In fact I doubt the stamped cross bracing in the concept would have been strong enough structurally to pass even preliminary rollover testing. Though I agree it looks cool!

I am glad they did not end up extending the roll cage all of the way down the rear.
My 2010 RZR S had a rear section like that. Fortunately, it was removable (8 bolts), and doesn't look bad removed.
Later models have a cage that looks a lot like mine with the rear bars removed.
Oh, and I've had a rollover with the rear bars removed, and my cage held up fine.

Anyway, I removed the rear bars because they made it difficult to access stuff in my trunk box.
I like the wide open trunk area on the later RZR models, and the ACE.

Great job! Wonderful to get to witness the design concept to reality! It didn't drastically change, but the end result is really cool!