At first I thought that I was going to get a Foreman 450 S, but my dad has a 400 AC and a friend has a 350 Rancher. His rancher has 25" TSL's on it, lift kit, and spacers. There is a creek that we ride a lot and I can take my dads stock Cat up it no prob, but the rancher gets stuck 2 or 3 times. This is what made my look at the 500AC manual shift over the 450S, I think that a lot of it has to do with the suspension set on on the AC compaired to that of the foreman. And I always knew that the 500 was a good bike but I had set my mind on a 450S.

But it wasnt untill reviewing all of the differances that are between the 2 bikes that I relized all of the advantages of haveing the cat over the foreman. For example the AC is Liquid cooled where as the Foreman is oil cooled. The AC has more ground clearance, better suspension, and it has more tourque than the griz so I know that it has more than the 450.

Now to my questions. The tourque, it has more than a giz so I know that it has a lot but how does the power come on? Is it a quick release of power, or does it come on slower like the 400? And does the 500 have enough power to run a 27" tire (589 M/T) in high range durring normal riding conditions and with out a pipe? I will eventualy get a pipe depending on how much money I have left over. And do you have to put it in low to go through thick mud? Or would it be more wise to go with a 400AC and put the extra money that I will save in to a peformance kit? Any suggestions would be of help. Thank you.

Phillip

 

I love to see guys really evaluate their purchases and not just buy something because it has "true" this or "most reliable" that. I have a 400 and a 500 cat. You won't have to wonder where the torque is with either of these quads. The 500 can pull anything I've straped to it including a cow we had stuck a few weekends ago. That was a ton of "dead" weight. I know a bunch of guys on here have 26" and 27" tires on their cats and love them. They also are stock in the engine/exhaust department so that speaks for itself. I can feel the difference between the 400 and the 500 and it is mainly in how quickly the power is availabe. The 400 is very strong but the 500 is a bit more powerful at every speed. It feels and acts snappier when on the throttle. It will out accelerate the 400 but only by a small margin. Is the 400 a slug? No way! It runs the same top speed as my 500 and and actually feels a bit lighter and agile to me. I'm 280 lbs so I shouldn't use words like agile because I don't know a damn thing about being agile. The 2" narrower front tires really give it(400) some easy steering at slower speeds compared to the 500 with its 10" wide fronts. I haven't had a chance to try it yet but alot of the guys here say the more mud oriented tires turn easier than the 489's on our stock quads. Maybe someone will mention that. I pull 1st, 2nd, and 3rd (all in High range)in the mud very often with my 500 in 4wd. I do prefer low range in the mud becuase there is less RPM drop after a shift so momentum stays going(Newton's law thing).I hope this helps some if not go check out my home page and see our cats in action.
http://lonestar.texas.net/~eeyore/atvhomepage.html

Dakota R/T

 

The 500 has bottom right off idle. It has SOOOOOO much more power than the 400. Ride your dads 400 before you go test ride a 500. You will see.

I hear the 450 has like 22 ft lbs of torque vs the Ac500's 31 ft lbs.

About the tires. The 500 will pull them with not even know thing they are there. I have (had)27x12x12 Tri-Claws on ITP steel wheels and I would ride around all the time in high range with this set up. So the 589s will be NO problem at all. Only thing you will need is spring spacers to stiffen up the suspension, or a High Lifter lift kit. Both of these suspension mods will bring the body roll to an almost halt.

I think you should realy go for the 500 over the 450 and 400. They are both a far cry from the 500.

 

phil
i will tell you, they are great bikes. when i went shopping, like you, i weighed everything. found the ac's to be the most for the money.
i must say though, for the difference in price between the 2, you get way more in the 500(especially the 2w/4w). my 'ol lady pushed me to the auto, but what can i say? no regrets here.
one thing. i believe mudcat says the 9x27(589) rub the front shocks without a lift. i don't know about the 9x26....it could be that cowboy's spacer trick would cure that.....ask him, he might know.go here and seehttp://forums.atvconnection.com/thre...B=1&Tid=244450

 

I have 27" 589's on my 500( 9 inch on front and 11 inch on back).They are mounted on the stock rims.The only place I have noticed any rubbing is on the heat shield on the tailpipe(no rubbing at all on the front shocks).It just barely knocks the dirt of the shield - nothing serious.These are the older 589's though;I understand the m/t's are taller but it looks like I could fit a 28" tire without a problem.I ride with mostly honda people(3 450's,1 400 and several 300's).They gave me alot of grief when I first bought it;but after pushing most of them through some mud holes and having them see how the rear semi irs works they had to admit it was "ok".I agree with the people above,unless your really strapped for cash I would spend the little bit extra for the 500;but I think you'd still be happy with the 400.It does take a while to get used to the shifter but now with about 140 hard miles I'm starting to like it.

 

I just recently got a chance to go out riding with a AC500. After having watched how well it worked, my guess is that the main reason the AC makes it where the Honda couldn't is because the front differential on the AC is very effective. It can spin one wheel at times, but alittle more gas hooks up both wheels and gets you were you want to go.

Rick

 

Thank you for your ideas. Now I just have to wait untill my other bike sells. I hope it does soon because I have been without a bike for about a week now and the weather is just starting to warm up to the point that we want to ride a lot more.

It sounds to me like the 500 is exactly what I want, it has more then enough power, the right suspension set up, and the right ground clearance. I am glad that I just didnt run out and buy a 450S, because I knnow that the AC is a lot better bike. Thanks again.

Phillip