I have sold my Rubicon and now I am looking at the 650+ ATVs.
I did a comparison of the Griz and the Rincon. I am a Honda fan and was really disappointed with the results of the excel doc that I made. The Griz has some features that the Rincon doesn't. Although the Rincon has a cool new tranny, the Griz has that locking front diff. Then Dirt wheels did an article that REALLY depressed me, Rincon was last and it almost seemed like they were ripping on it.
Anyone out there that has ridden both? Whats the power like on both. Not that I wanna do wheelies, but can they both do them? That was the one thing I was disappointed with on my Rubi. Loved the tranny but the power just wasnt there.
I mainly do trail riding with some trailblazing (log jumping, hehe), and a little mudding, so Independant suspension is important. The Prairie looks impressive but I like the bumpy ride, just not the pain that the straight axle has. (like the Rubicon)

So what are your thoughts?

 

You should really be looking at the Prairie. I know that it doesn't have IRS, but if you can find a dealer that sells both then put them side by side and pay attention to the details such as the undercarriage protection, the bolts on the fenders, the placement of the coolant reservoir etc... Kawasaki did a great job on these items. By the way, I don't own a Prairie.

 

The Griz has low gear, locking front differential (HUGE ADVANTAGE) and disc brakes. The Griz hands down between the two.

 

If you're thinking about the big quad review where the rincon didn't do all that well, I read that and the article itself was pretty lame. No actual figures (except a few from the manufacturers), just a lot of subjective 'this one did better' without saying how much better. The most reliable information I got from that article is that a few guys went out with five big quads and some beer and had a good time. So I wouldn't base a decision only on what they said. Go try one for yourself.

Of the two, I've only ridden the grizz - pretty nice, plenty of power - but it's a little heavy to be pulling wheelies. Maybe you could make it do one, but it wouldn't be happy about it.

 

I own a 03 Grizzly and it has enough power to pull wheelies quite easily. I don't have never ridden a rincon. I ride with others and the IRS and locking diff are a very nice advantage. Take one for a test drive!

Rich

 

Thanks guys for the replys.
Living in the city, I would have to go out a ways to find a dealer that would let me test ride one. I do have a friend who has a Griz, but he as tweeked it already so it wouldnt be a fair test.
So unless Cat does an official press release about their new 600+, the Griz so far looks like a winner.

 

why dont you get the prairie, the prairie does not have a rough ride and irs is not that big of a deel. if your going to ride in the woods than the prairei would be the best cause of its toque curve.

 

P650 isn't rough................for a straight axel. The DS with its foot of rear travel still isn't as smooth as IRS, i don't know what it's going to take to get that through to some people.

The Grizz is a very nice machine, and i think all the bugs have been worked out of them. If you get one get a blue one, chrome rims, and 589's, wow that was the best looking quad i ever saw!!

The Rincon's front diff is very good, it's not the conventional limited slip, it sends power to the wheel with the most traction. The power is close, if you read the drag times they're within one hundreth of a second apart (all of them) The Rincon also won the handling section, and has the smoothest ride. Also the grizz is like my Kodiak, narrow, this creates some handling problems, but big tires and spaces (or wide off-set wheels) will cure that.

 

Dang, everytime I do more research on the two I get more confused and can't decide.
My friend has told me about some of the problems that the Griz has had and that has put some doubt in the Griz.
The Rincons handling and hondas service reputation are the biggies for me, but the Griz's locking front dif and power are the biggies for it.
When I had my Rubicon I didnt do much mudding but that might have been because I just got tired of getting stuck more often the everyone else. A stock Rubicon just isnt a great mudder. Maybe if I had the front locking dif I might mud more, but when I had my Rubi it wasnt that much fun for me.

Any problems with the Rincon that anyone knows of?

RINCON: You said "The Rincon's front diff is very good, it's not the conventional limited slip" Is this different from the Rubicon?

prairievenom: Its just a personal preference. I prefer the independent suspensions. A straight axel is just not what I'm looking for, even if its pretty good. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

There is a Motorcycle show this weekend. Im going tomorrow, Take a look at both of them and maybe get some help deciding there.

Thanks guys.

 

Steve, come on down the road to Savage, and take my stocker 660 out for a spin. It will be a no brainer. Mine is an 03. I have another take on the new Honda tranny, as I rebuild auto tranny's for a living. How do I say this.....nothing bad, I'm just not convinced. I work on a lot of Honda and Acura auto trannys. I hope it's the greatest quad every, but don't want to be the first to find out it's not.