A buddy of mine is thinking of trading his 00 sp 500 for a 99 Big Bear with about 300 miles plus boot. The sp was just too big and high for the woods and steep mountains. The BB is a green one w/some camo. Is there anything pro or con about this bike. I've heard it's a pretty solid quad, and hey, it's a YAMAHA.

2000 kodiak/beige
2000 warn winch
Escavators x 4
alum rear skid plate

 

I have a (99) Big Bear 350 with the dual range transmission with 900 km on it and I have worked and played it fairly hard and it seems to be standing up well. Its not a great full out play bike but it does do most things very well.It has had a bit of valve train noise since new and I just set the valve lash this weekend but it really didn't make a differance, so I guess thats the way they are ,good luck with your choice!!

 

i have 98 big bear lift kit 26 inch swampers warn winch cv joint protectors back up light locked front end several goodies. this is an extremely tough bike and keeps up with anything else u can buy, i wasnt aware the 99s had a dual range tranny first i heard of it

 

I have a 99 BB and find it a great machine. I too haven't heard of this year with a dual range transmition. I did notice that they come with two different headlight setups. One with dual rectangular lights and the other with dual round units, much like the Grizzly.

 

My friend has a '99 BB 4x2..his doesn't have dual range...maybe because it's the 4x2.
His is light brown with the rectangular lights in the middle(wich I think look better than the lights on the outside) it also has a 2000lb. Warn winch.
He has only had 1 problem with it...the paint chips off on the racks...so he cut black hose to fit around each piece on the racks.

 

Just to let you know my 99 Big Bear SE (special edition) came from the factory with a warn 2000lb. winch, labelled Yamaha , Dual range transmission and it also has two round headlights. The SE also included a full length skid plate and a larger quieter exhaust,one other thing is that the dealer wrote it up and sold it to me as a 1999, but when I went to title it ,it turned out to be a 2000 model, keep in mind this is in Canada.

 

We oun a 2000 Camo Big Bear and we like it. The only trouble that we have out of it is the fenders cracking. It is a defect in the plastic when the camo print is applied, it makes the plastic weak. Yamaha sent us green fenders until the problem was resolved and then they replaced the camo fenders with new ones. We got to keep the green ones also. Our dealer did not know about the problem but when we called Yamaha they confirmed the problem as being nation wide. I do not know if the 99's are bad or not.