Your Results May Vary

It is interesting and fascinating to watch the posts on various topics within the forum. Each one of the over 13,000 members has a different perspective and frame of reference regarding the various threads. Their experiences can be real, imagined, first hand, second hand or deduced.

Let's take durability issues. Some folks will swear the Polaris products are the most unreliable ATVs in the world and a virtual money pit. Why? Because they heard from somebody who knows somebody who said they were. Or, the competitive dealer says they are.

Any quad no matter what it is requires maintenance. Some more preventive maintenance than others. Some ATV's have grease fittings, some do not. Some have bushings, which are designed to wear out without lubrication. Somewhere along the line somebody will wind up replacing those bushings if a quad is to have a longer serviceable life. Some machines require frequent oil changes because they are driven in deep water or very dusty conditions; the same goes for air filters.

The use of an ATV is so diverse that one person's frame of reference can be totally different than another's.

Let's take Swamp Riding Vs Trail riding for instance. If for instance a quad is driven in standing water, mud and varying thicknesses of gumbo, it is not unusual for that driver to replace disc brake pads on a fairly regular basis. Some pads will wear out in as little as 3 tanks of gas if the riding has been through viscous mud. Mud riders will also wear out u-joints at a higher than normal rate. Mud riders love to install monster tires on their quads and the tires are becoming larger and more aggressive each year. These oversized tires place torsion stresses upon a drive train that the average trail rider will never be exposed to. As tire traction increases stress occurs that the trail rider is never exposed to.

Deep water running may cause muddy water to enter the crankcase, counter-balancers, starter housings, and differentials. Again, something that the average trail rider will never expose his machine to. Mud running is also a higher load upon the entire drivetrain, which further enhances wear. Etc. etct. etc.

So when somebody says they went through a set of brake pads in a weekend you can believe it.
When a trail rider says I have never replaced the brakes we can believe him also.
When the owner of a mud running Xplorer says that his chain and sprockets wore out in 2000 miles we can believe him. When the owner of a logging road rider says his chain lasted over 3500 miles he is also believable.

I guess what I am getting to is a concern for some posters (with tunnel vision) who say, "I never had any of that stuff happen to my quad", therefore my quad must be better than yours. Let's face it. Some ATV's do not have hour meters, or speedometers. Some people do not know how much they have used their quads. Some of these quads are never driven in any mud or water over the floorboards, they have never seen a mud hole let alone a deep puddle, and they are driven down logging roads or in the desert. Some of our brothers out ther only put around the deer camp, out to their hunting posts, or the ice shanty in the winter and occasionally motor down county roads. Some people only go down to the mailbox and do not have trailer ***** on the back of their machines.

Do quads break? Sure they do. And severe service is most likely the cause not what brand it is. So please don't compare your brand x which has never seen severe service with brand y or another brand x which has never had it easy.

 

i agree 110 %..the problem really is that alot of people out here think no matter what you have theirs is better

 

Very well said, Thor. I have done maintenance on my Polari and am a still a die hard Polaris fan. While I know that the other manufacurer's make some great bikes, I choose Polaris. The maintenance I have had to do was understandable due to my use of the machines. They are built very tough and I use them accordingly. The mud, mountain trails, stream crossing, and glacier silt in Alaska is not easy on atvs. But preventive maintenance is a must.

 

Great Post!! and so true. nothing more needs ot be said

 

Thor
Has Tree Farmer been tutoring you? (he he he) thats a compliment to both of you honestly. A very good post. Totally agreeable.

98 Scrambler 500

 

Good post! I have to admit you fellas have opened my eyes. When I first found this forum a few weeks ago I couldn't believe the stories about how fast brakes, chains, etc wear out, but after seeing some of the pictures you guys had links to, I am surprised that your atvs last as long as they do. Where I am we do some pretty aggressive trail riding, but NOTHING like the mud-bogging I have seen. Don't know if I would even try going through some of the places some people go regularly.
The durability thing is all subjective, too. I know a guy with 3 atvs. He bought his Honda new. Since it is his 'new' ride he not only babies it, he is almost afraid to drive it in mud (and it is a 4x4). I don't mean deep mud, I mean it rained & he has to check cows, so he takes one of the others. Never sits outside, either. He has a Yamaha he bought used with about half a million miles on it, and bearings are going out. Cam bearings were the latest. Lastly, he got a Polaris that had been wrecked, but ran. It was so cheap he couldn't pass it up. The battery was cracked & all the acid leaked out. After pull-starting it for 2 months, he got a new battery & the regulator was fried (go figure). Both front A-arms were bent when he got it & he found what the clunk in the rear end was. One of the eyes on the front of the rear swingarm is broken! I never heard of that one before. Both front & one rear wheel had been straightened with a hammer & both racks were bent. Now talk to the guy & it is like Honda's don't give any trouble at all (anyway not in the first 2 years of ownership), Yamaha puts bad bearings in their atvs, and a Polaris will fall apart right in front of your eyes. Of course, this is one of those guys who is way too smart to EVER buy a machine with a pre-existing condition. The Honda is 'worth' spending the extra for Honda oil & frequent changes, but for the other 2 he just uses shatever is cheap and changes it when it is black because it won't make any difference anyway. Also he greases them religiously (every Christmas) so it Has to be that brand X is superior, Y is wouse & Z just sucks. It all matters what you start with and how you take care of it.
Sorry for rambling so long, it just gets under my skin when people say my (whatever) isn't as good as my other one was/is but don't treat them anywhere near the same.
Farmr

 

Good post.I have had my Trail Blazer for almost a year now and have had zero problems(except that friggin' steering bushing)and I ride the crap out of it.My wifes Trail Boss is 18 months old and it has already had major engine problems, BUT Polaris as well as my local dealer, that I cannot say enough about their customer service, stood behind it. Did I mention that the Boss was six months out of warrenty? If either of these bikes are ridden preventative maintainence is performed when they return to my garage.So I agree alot of the reliability issues depend on the rider owner.

 

Very true post Thor!

15-20 years ago I, and all my riding buddies had Hondas along with a Kawasaki or two (Had never even heard of Polaris back then). We rode 'em hard through everything every weekend. Sunday nights were spent making lists of all the stuff that we had broke or worn out that weekend so we could order the parts and get 'em all running by the next weekend. When the next weekend came it was the same process again, thrash 'em, bash 'em, crash 'em, make a list of parts, order them, fix 'em on Thursday and/or Friday nights and then repeat. It was a blast at the time!
Now that we are all older and have a few more responsibilities and mouths to feed our riding style has changed. Oh, it's still fun to blast through the mud and up a few hills but it's usually a lot less agressive than it used to be. It's amazing how much better the equipment holds up than it used too ! I know, they build 'em better than they used to, but riding style and terrain have much to do with how well things last. I still ride with some guys that are wide open all the time, they're usually the ones that we get to tow back to the truck.
Your results WILL vary!

 

So awesome, So true! Thought this needed to be brought back from 9-22-2000