Went down to the Kawi dealership to test ride my first quad. Never been on an quad or dirt bike before so of course I picked the Prairie 700 to ride first That thing was awesome. The torque on that baby.....and surprisingly easy to hop on for the first time and get going. I was nervous before hitting the throttle but not afterwards. Was a very stable secure ride. Felt like buying it right then and there except for two things. First, the salesman hoped on it and did a wheelie then a few cookies and the quad died on him. He tried to start it up again and got nothing but a plume of white smoke from the exhaust. Tech said something about oil in the air filter? something like that. The other problem was I found it a little difficult to keep a constant speed at around 4-5 miles per hour. I plan on using it to mow my 5 acres. Does this get easier after break in?

Other than those two things it was one heck of a test ride. I loved it. Are these common Prairie problems? I hope not.
Oh, test rode a Honda 500 rancher manual as well. Kinda zippy but no comparison. The Rancher I would outgrow in a year. I can't ever forsee needing more than the 700 though. Wow.

 

Sounds good , they have a low gear so to mow or pull heavy loads use that and it should be fine , I know when you clean the filters on quads most of the time your suppose to put oil in it , but I would say go and get it , have fun and good luck !

 

There is no Rancher 500, but I wish there was!

 

Oh yeah your right. Maybe the Rubicon? Or Foreman possibly? It was a 500 manual.

I had the Prairie in low gear while testing its ability to maintain a slow steady speed. It just didn't want to do it as well as the Honda (settled in at around 6-7mph vs. the Honda 3-5 mph).

mmmm wonder if they make a mower that can handle being towed at 20mph [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] I'd hate to pass on the Prairie just because it doesn't go slow enough but mowing/towing is how I can justify the purchase.

Guess I'll try a King Quad and another Prairie to see if it does any better.

 

My buddy has the Prarie. Only thing I don't like (besides the belt drive) is that the downhill wheel tends to really dive on offcambers and the like, and the machine feels like it is going to tip over. They went mussey for a plush ride. But it is a tradeoff.

 

 

I have been using a Prairie 650 for three years now with a 25 gallon sprayer on the back. It works just as well
as any other machine I have had between 5th and 6th mph. It just takes a little practice. You will have no problem with keeping the speed constant. Just takes a little time to get use to like all new toys.................. It has
great power and you will like the V-Twin for what you are doing.
Bigjohn