Well, I bought my first ATV today (I bought a used Polaris Predator 90 for my son yesterday!). Its a green '06 AC 500. I did a lot of research before I purchased. It seems to me that AC owners are the happiest overall with their machines, willingly acknowledge and concede the machine's limitations, and revel in its strengths without a lot of brand bashing. That says a lot to me. This machine will likely last until I am too old to care about riding them anymore and it had all the features I want/need (and then some). I couldn't care less about top speed, I need low end grunt. The "tippiness" doesn't concern me because I will rarely exceed 30 mph with the thing and it can largely be cured by adding the sway bar. My uses will be ranch work in west Texas and a yearly (hopefully) elk hunt in Utah.

I have read back 20+ pages in this forum and I like what I see. I'll pop in occasionally to ask stupid questions. If y'all are nice to me, I'll bring the beer!

 

Congrats on your new 500. I think pretty much all the major ATV manufacturers have dependable machines. I also think that for work and sane trail riding speeds, AC is hard to beat. Dad's 99 300 has been used and abused and in all this time it's only been serviced 3 times. No problems at all. Good choice sir.
JD

 

Welcome to the forum. If you add a sway bar (or correctly called an "anti-sway bar") you will lose the suspension travel that makes the cats so sure footed across rough ground. The body lean just isn't a big issue once you learn that it's not gonna roll over, just leans a bit. The only stupid question is the one you didn't ask and get answered.

 

Thanks for the welcome. The vast majority of my time on the machine will be doing chores (hauling/dragging) and hunting. I heal too slowly to 'race' anymore. The dealer I bought from sells farm equipment too. He said most of the ones they sell, they never see again. I know how much abuse farmers/ranchers can put equipment through, so either these things are bulletproof, the owners are going elsewhere for service (next closest dealer is I think 75 miles away) or they throw them away when the machines break (unlikely in the extreme). There were some in the shop, so I guess I'll take what he said with a shaker of salt.

 

Congrats on your purchases, if you love yours half as much as I love mine, you should be set for a long time.

 

Welcome and enjoy your Cat, and i learned about the "tippiness". Its not any tippier than the other guys! It just feels like it, like Bear said, once you get used to it leaning, and not tipping over, it wont bother you.

 

Welcome! Glad to have you here, if you have any questions feel free to ask! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]