I have got a 2016 Rubicon deluexe and a 2011 rincon and one has got to go. Cant make up my mind as far as which one though. It would be a done deal if the Rubicon had more speed but stock I can barely beat my brothers 05 rancher 350! And I weight 80lbs less than he does. The rincon does laps around all of my buddies as long as I dont have too big of tires on it. Rubicon loves bigger tires which is a plus, diff lock is nice and tows better too but it's hard to deal with the engine slapping redline at 46 mph when the rincon shows me 60+ all the time. I do mostly trail riding but I need to do work when I need to. Help me out guys. Future thanks for any input!

 

Largely depends on what you want a bike for. If you need it to work the Rincon is useless, note Honda put it in the "leisure" category alongside the 90 not the "utility" category. Why do you need more than 50mph? That isn't what off road Quads are about, the ability to travel on all terrains and do work is all, except for those fast desert trails and racing.

 

I didnt realize Honda had put in a leisure class but I can see why. They still advertise it with all their other utility models so I assumed it was also. It's not that I need to go fast but I cruise a lot and the Rubicon seems to like 25mph while the rincon with the automotive transmission seems to cruise at any speed. Going to my hunting property 3 miles down the road seems to take forever on the Rubicon. The Rubicon does really everything I want it to except go fast.

 

It's too bad the Rincon didn't have the 5 speed transmission that other Honda models have. I found the Rincon to have really lousy engine braking and not much of a top end. (My riding buddies are on 700-1000 cc machines that we can open up on winter trails.) If I had to choose between the two I'd go with the Rubicon. I'd hate winter rides though. Have been on 500 class machines out in the snow on legal trails and the snow just saps the quads top speeds. Quickly left behind the 700+ machines.

 

If Honda had the 700 paired with the 5 speed and diff lock, there would be no competition. I feel like if they did put a 5 speed they would gear it to make it slower and more for work less for play like they do the other models. I dont get much snow here in Georgia but it's pretty neat to hear the 500's are top dog in one more category

 

I messed up there. It should have said, ...quickly left behind by the 700+ class machines. Sorry about that.

If the Rincon had a 5 speed transmission you could have both low end, and a higher speed top end. Just have to put the right gear set in. So, for work, and technical trails that require engine braking like going down a hill with big rocks you could have a granny 1st gear. 5th could be for top speed runs. It's honestly rare to find the right conditions for opening things up. My top speed runs on my machines have been either on valley floor road type trails in Utah where you can see for miles and it's smooth, or on trails groomed for snowmobiles in the wintertime on old railbeds. Previous Can-Am Outlander Max XT-P 650 got up to 68 mph and maybe had a couple more mph it could hit. The Outlander Max Limited 1000r I have now is scary. I got that up over 70 with ease. Not willing yet to find the top speed. Other than the rare trail conditions that let you open it up, most or our riding averages out between 10 and 15 mph.