I tell ya, these Ranchers are tough little bikes. That being said, they ride like a straight truck. I ride in rocky terrain and by the end of the day my eyeballs are so rattled I can't even see straight. The 512 shock I put on the rear didn't change the ride at all, but it did raise the rear up about 1/2 inch.

I remember my old 300 riding so smooth, I wish I kept that bike. Even the old Kawi Bayou 185 rode better.

Oh well, at least I haven't had a single motor problem yet.

 

I too have a Rancher with a 512 shock on the rear. Like you said, not much difference. I bought my son a Yamaha Bruin and it has a very plush ride compared to the Honda. I now ride that when he isn't riding. The Rancher is built like a tank. It's an 06 with over 1200 miles on it and I never had one problem with it at all, not even a hard start, but it is bruising on a long ride.

 

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img] Sissy's [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img]

As I limp away from every ride [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

One long day's ride on my first ATV would have you wanting to get back in the saddle of your Rancher for the return trip home ! My first ATV was a 86' Honda TRX 350 FM fulltime 4x4 with the heavy straight axle front end , it was built like a tankwith the ride of a sherman tank as well ; after a long ride there were many aches and pain's that took you a week to recover from ! I know this doesn't make your Rancher's ride smoother , but if you had to ride one of the old 350's you would think you were riding in a caddy compared to those old one's ! There's one thing i did to the old foreman 350 that gave me a better ride in the pant's , i added 2 inches of foam to the seat and new leather over the seat to make for a smoother ride ; this really helped a lot with the ride ! Merry Christmas to everyone on the forums.! .............williebee

 

But, who knows what the new 07 Ranchers will be like..........

My buddy still rides his old 300, and I think the Rancher rides and handles way better.

Keep in mind that the Rancher is an entry level 4X4. In reality, most folks only trail ride their Ranchers, and don't really use them for "work". But, Honda in its wisdom insists on giving us work quad suspension that will handle the weight if anybody ever decides to load down the racks (I can imagine that the lawyers insisted on this). It would be nice if the socks were adjustable, so the rider could fine tune the ride for their personal needs.

I have to say that in the really rough stuff, my Rancher outshines all my buddies huge cushy sprung 600, 700, and 800 monster utes. The Rancher is low and stable, and while they are fearing for their lives in off-cambers on their top heavy tanks, the little Rancher just scoots along making it look so easy.

 

Thanks for the heads-up on that.

I wonder what the 07's will be like?

All of the honda utility machines have always been bulletproof as long as I can remember. I'll give them that. But I've always thought they all lagged behind the other brands in suspension. I figured that from the suspension travel numbers. I didn't thing it would affect ride quality that much though.

 

Just a thought!!! You can put 2 or 3 bag's of corn the back rack and cruise. Very smooth ride!!!

 

Yeah, loaded down it does ride a little better. I do feel better when I remember what I paid when I cruise with the big bores. It's funny ya know...we all manage to get to the same area on the tight trails at the same time. And they always "convince" me to try a gnarly section first. Hmmm....

 

Well, I was wondering about the 2007's.... So I had a look at the specs and according to that there is a tad more suspension travel. Not that it's such an amount that it should make a major difference.... but more-so that it indicates CHANGE.

I wonder if they have gone to a better suspension package?

 

There won't be a 350 rancher next year 2007 they are going to a 420 fuel inj. for high alt. water cooled and more... goodbye 350 Rancher. Glad I got an 06 before they were gone.