My buddy just bought a Kawasaki Prairie 650 and we just returned from a morning of hard riding. Which one is better? That's a hard question because it depends on what you value in an ATV.

To put it simply would you prefer to have gobs of torque that will easily bring the front tires up in high gear or do you want to be able to stay seated when flying over moguls at 30mph.

The main difference is that my Polaris has an extremely plush ride. When riding his prairie I was jostled alot and had to work harder to keep the front end where I wanted it. Riding this wheeler seems like more work.

My Polaris 600 won't come close to doing a wheelie in high gear. In fact I can blip my throttle wide open and the bike only slightly rolls maybe an inch. In low gear it has the grunt his 650 has but the rear tires would spin.

Overall both wheelers climbed hills, decended steep hills and handled a very rough trail at speed very well. There were no performance problems with either bike and keeping up with the 650 at speed was no problem.

Other differences.

Polaris = Taller better ground clearance but the kawi had plenty.
Kawi = Gas tank on the side, nice for filling with a can. Not sure if this is any problem in other ways.
Polaris = By far the better tires.
Polaris = Semi digital gauges. Kawi = Very nice all digital gauges.

My polaris cost $600.00 less but a 700 sportsman is the same price as his prairie.

In case you were wondering I figured i'd post this.

John

 

Good info.

 

Do you notice vibration in the bars of your 600? I am considering one this Spring. Do you recomend the machine?

 

I've never noticed any vibration at all. Its a very smooth machine. In fact despite the way that the clutch has to rev up before the wheeler moves it puts power down in a very smooth way. Its a heavy machine so it doesn't seem to jump well but if you want a wheeler that will go fast, be comfortable and go through anything its a good choice. If you want something you can flick around and drag race it may not be the best. I'm glad I bought mine.

John

 

Nice, unbiased summary. Wish I could read more reviews like that.

 

If your interested here's a link to some pics of my wheeler and my friend's PR650. Unfortunately I don't have any of mine doing anything but posing. The camera ran out of batteries....

ATV Riding 1-5-2002 Elk River, Minnesota

 

Hello John,

glad you like your machine. Take the factory spring settings in the back up two notches. You will be amazed. You shouldn't have any problems doing wheelies. My buddy did that to his 700, and says it's like a new machine. So we did that to all our Sportsmans, and the Trail Boss. I kid you not, BIG DIFFERENCE!

Scott

 

Thanks for the advice. That makes sense as both machines have LOTS of power when rolling or climbing hills. The problem with mine is that there is a 1 second lag while the engine revs before the wheels roll. This may cure this. Thanks again.

John

 

This might sound like a stupid question but are the spring settings on the suspension or clutch?

 

They are suspension adjustments. At the bottom of the spring, or right below it actually. That is where you adjust it. Easiest to do with a spanner wrench. My Scrambler had one in the tool kit. Take it up two clicks.

Scott