Hey guys, I'm hoping that you's can help me. Right now here in Canada the foreman line up you can get 1400$ worth of extras free. I am stuck between getting a 2004 foreman s or ES. We have a 2001 TRX350FE and have had a fare amount of trouble with the electric shift, we loved it when it worked right. Before we got the 350 we had a Honda 300 4x4 foot shift and it was bullet proof, never had any troubles with it at all, lol seems like for ever since I have used a foot shift now though. It has made me thing twice about getting another ES. What I have been wondering is, has Honda got there electric shift bullet proof yet? If you have a foreman S or ES, could you let me know what troubles you have had and how many miles/km you have on it.

 

Anytime, an offroad vehicle is burdened with more electronics, and motors...its less dependable.
I know the s model is dead reliable, and the es portion of the es model isnt perfect yet. Nothing major has happened to mine, but now and then, the display goes --, and its stuck in whatever gear, its in, until you shut it off and go key back on. And on really cold days, it will take awhile for it to shift, to second gear from first. I think once it warms up, it fine.
If it were only me, who rode it, I would have had the s model, but the es is much easier for my wife and kids to drive, so thats what I ended up with.
I have about 1500 miles on my foreman now, and have only done the maintance stuff...no repairs. Id ride it anywhere, and not worry about it leaving me stranded.

 

I love riding my Foreman S model..I too was afraid of trouble with an ES model, although most people never have any trouble out of them from what I understand..The only complaint I had with the Foreman was that it was so slow..Nowhere near the power of my rancher 350 that I owned before it..After installiing a performance kit with pipe, I believe I have the best ride out there..IT amazes me where it will go and now has plenty of power..The Foreman is a great machine in my opinion, and everything I have read about them is that they are bullet proof. I sure hope so.

 

I picked up the S version about 5 months ago.

I love it I like manually shifting thru the gears. It feels a little more like an old school foretrax.

I opted for less bells and whistles for simplicity. My main reason was reliability.

Good luck with your purchase.

 

Thanks to every one who has posted so far! We will most likely be getting the ES because of its convenience. I have a question about the S modle, when you shift and hold the shifter down and will it say inbetween gears and act kinda like a neutral so that you can ease you down shift in?
Steve

 

On all auto clutch machines, not only hondas, when the shifter is moved, either up or down, it accomplishes two things. Disconnects the clutch, and shifts gears. When you release the shifter, it engages the clutch.
You can use the shifter to hold the clutch disengaged, give it a rev, and release, to get smoother downshifts. Its not a nuetral..there is a gear selected, its just a disengaged clutch, that allows the motor to rev and the wheels to not be driven.
It wont hurt a thing.

 

We have had no trouble with our Foreman ES.
Only have about 800 miles, but no problems so far.
My wife also likes the convenience..
Just wish the gears weren't quite so close together, but overall a tree climbing machine.

Good Luck

 

Don't you get all the extra gauges w/ the ES model? I know that's how it is with the Rancher...that right there is worth the few $100 more IMO.

 

I too had an 01 FE rancher but I never had any issues whatsoever with my ES, even after repeated abuses and water/mud submergences of the atv.

 

See my comments about the highly flawed ES system in this post:

http://forums.atvconnection.com/mess...did/435011.cfm