I thought I would post a few things about the Rubicon. I used to own a 450ES and during a ride last weekend I made a few mental notes. As we went riding I decided to use the ESP and shift manually. I was fun to do this for a change, but I did notice when I began to ride faster, it was easier to put it back into D1 and just let the machine shift for me. I am not saying that I could ride faster in D1, but as I get older I realize that my reaction times as not as they once were. I could just concentrate on driving fast through the woods without having to think about what gear I was in. Also I noticed more this time riding, that the Ruby's 1st gear is higher than the 450ES was. In the tight areas I hardly ever had to down shift to 1st gear with the 450ES and the Ruby required a 1st gear downshift to come out of the tighter turns briskly. The suspension was plusher on the Ruby. This machine can rock through the woods for sure. I am sure there are going to be faster sport-utes coming soon, (650 Prairie, 700 Sportsman, New Grizzly and so on) but this machine really works well!

 

I'll second that...I really like the ESP when you want to cruise downhill without engine braking.

 

There is already faster utility quads here right now, such as th SP 500,Grizzly and 400 Xplorer let alone what's comming down the road.

 

After pidling with ESP on my Ruby, I went back to D1 and stayed there for several rides. Recently, I've been riding some in D2 and it seems better for flat land. If I had to choose between the two modes, I would keep D1 because of the great engine breaking but ain't it nice to have so many trany choices? Also, I've found that my Ruby runs better and the gearshift works smoother since I've got past the break-in.