what is ur opinion on the best utility bike in the 250-500cc range and why?

 

That depends on what your looking to do with it.....trail riding.....work....hunting/camping, and also what features are you looking for and how much do you want to spend. Fill in the blanks and Im sure people will be more then happy to give their opinions[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

For me, I use the utilities almost exclusively for rough, rocky trails (exploring old mines, etc.) in my local mountains, the eastern Sierra, and Inyos. Lots of lower speed technical riding, but also some faster fire roads in the valleys and on the approaches. Mud is nonexistent, but if you want snow, there can be plenty of that.

So, I tend to go for the smaller, lighter, more agile machines, with a low center of gravity. I want something that can handle rock crawling, but yet does OK on a fire road. And, I insist on a manual clutch (no atuomatics for me!), so I picked the Rancher 350!

Lots of my friends have bigger machines that are more comfortable and fast on the fire roads, but they just seem to have to work way to hard when we hit the tough technical stuff. (And, if I want to go fast and comfortable on a fire road, I have a bunch of sport bikes for that.)

 

I loved my 01 Rancher FE and so did my aunt, she bought one for use on her ranch. I almost bought a vinson 500, and my friend's eiger is a very good machine. There are so many good choices in this field, that its hard to pick just one. The 250cc class machines arent up to par with the 400 and 500 class machines. The rancher 350 does a great job with the 400's for only having 329ccs.

Just ride as many as you can, and sit on the ones you cant. That will help you figure out what you are comfortable on, then go from there. Use is very important too. The honda foreman/rubicon, polaris sportsmans, and Arctic cats are great work machines. The vinson is quick and sporty with lots of power. The list goes on.

 

Sportsman 500 HO

they have a great combination of a smooth, comfortable ride and power