I just sold my Solid Foreman 450ES. Can't deside on a Foreman 500 S / ES or jump up to the Rincon. I'm not sold on the Rubi. too many things to go wrong. (D1-D2-ESP-Auto.) So, I'm down to the 500 and rincon. Any info on making my choice will be helpful. I know that Rincom will have a smooth ride over the 500 but, if the 500 is smoother than the 450 I had. I feel I should be happy.
Then again, some of my friends say " get the biggest honda makes. " * rincon*
I'm a loyal Honda person. I've had a 300 4x4, 350FM rancher and a 450ES. please reply on some input on my new purchase. I trail ride in CNY and also do a bit of plowing snow in the winter time. I'm sure the rincon can move snow. BUT - how long will it hold up is my ? for myself. The 450ES just beat the hell out of me on the trails but, was one plowing machine.
Any thoughts????????
Thankx

 

You really should get over to RinconRiders.com. You can get tons of info and see what everyone does with theirs. There are some guys on there with some high mileage Rincons and a lot of them are in Canada and do some serious snow plowing.
I dont think you would be unhappy with either quad.

 

Foremandan - Was wondering why you keep your 450 around? If you only had one machine what would it be? Would it be the rincon?

 

My dad rides it for deer hunting. There is no other machine currently made that I would trade my Rincon for. It suits my riding perfectly! There are times that I would not mind having more engine braking. It would be an awesome feature if they could come up with one that you could turn on and off!
That is not to say that I wouldn't mind having a few more. There is or was a guy on the Windrock site that has a 05 Foreman 4x4 ES for sale and will take $4100 for it. If I had the money it would be sitting next to my Rincon.

 

So what you know about the 500's, You feel that it's a good solid bike like the former 450?
I'm just confused on what to get?
Foreman 500 or the Rincon.
Your thoughs?

 

I know a guy that has a 05 500. He moved up from a 300. Big improvement in ride. He loves his. I know when I still rode the 450 and we were in Tellico, there was a guy with the new 500. He had his wife on the back of his and we could not keep up with him. I watched him going over bumps with ease and I had to slow down so I wouldn't get beat to death. I think the 500 is a big improvement over the 450. Better seat, more power, better ride, better looks, front discs, dual oil coolers, etc.

 

Though I'm no atv expert, I have a 500 Foreman, and the guy I ride with most frequently has a Rincon.

I ride mainly rougher trails, occasionally mud, and occasionally really steep technical stuff.

In switching between the two machines, the Rincon has more bottom end torque, and it has a much smoother ride and is easier to ride faster over rough roots, rocks and what not.

To me, my machine feels more planted when sliding around. The Rincon isn't bad, but I do feel the need to lean my body just a bit more on fast sweepers to feel stable.

On steep decents, my Foreman will hold 1-2 MPH in 1st, where the Rincon would be going like 7 or 8 (both without using brakes). Basically, I think the Rincon's 1st gear engine braking is somewhere between 2nd and 3rd on my bike. Though it bugs me, my buddy is perfectly happy with his, and is just used to using the brakes in those situations.

My friend's Rincon has been trouble free, and I think that most Rincon's that get their service done on time have been great.

Bottom line: The two big differences in the machines you are looking at are the Rincon's smoother riding IRS (with both more ground clearance, and more body roll), and the Foreman's much lower 1st gear.

I think you will be happy with either. If I were to buy another machine right now, it would probably be the Rincon (or maybe the Outlander 800).

Jeff

 

I have to agree with Jeffin. The Foreman 500 is a sweet quad. It was a major improvement over the 450. I'm with you my 450ES beat the fillings out of my teeth. It was a tank. It rode like one. The 500 does ride better, but the Rincon rides even better. Both are great quads. I have a 05 Rincon. The 06s are even better. Its just going to depend on your riding style. I like the more sporty, smoother riding quad myself. So I got the Rincon. I couldn't be happier with it. This is going to be a tough choice. If your going to do more work with it then the Foreman will be the better choice. Although as dirtslinger stated go to rinconrider.com and just look around and see how many people use theirs to plow snow.

 

I wouldn't call myself a Honda loyalist, except for all of my XR/XL 350/600s I've preferred Yamahas. I was ready to buy the Forman 500 for the simplicity, experience, and reputation (had reliability/design issues with another brand), but my wife wanted to be able to ride it (even though she doesn't ride much) and I couldn't shift with a winter boot (I wanted the foot shift too). So when they had an 04 Rubicon for $500 less than the 05 Foreman, I decided to make it easy on myself. 2 years later and I have had zero issues with the tranny and can appreciate the Hondamatic for what it is (which is whatever I want). You see (some) people say they wish they had a Rincon with the Rubicon tranny (which also has the modes you are shying away from on the Rubi), and there's a reason why (for some people), and low range is nice too. I wouldn't worry about the sophistication and complexitly of the transmission, it's no more complicated than the Rincon's - just different and there's a sub tranny. I have not ridden the newer frame Rubicon, but I have ridden a Rincon and I was impressed with the ride and it had enough torque to make 3 gears viable. My experience was not much different than JeffinTD's.

I would honestly be happy with either of the 3, one of each would be better. However, I'll be up in the Adirondacks this weekend and would gladly swap rides with the Rincon on the trail.