I was wondering who was at the Jamboree this weekend? I went to test the 2002 Cats. They only had a 375 4x4 demo for testing. Also rode the Sukuki Eiger and Vinson. I LOVED the Eiger. It was super peppy, very light, stable, sounded great, looked good and roosted like nobody's buisiness![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]

I thought the jamboree was very cool and it was the most quads i have ever seen in one place at a time ever! There were hundreds! I can't wait to have my Cat 500 for next years!!!! WOO HOO!!

I have yet to test a 500.. i guess i will have to go to Johnson's to get my hands on one![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

NeWf

 

Hi NeWF
I was wondering if I would see any posts about the Jamboree. Sounds like you liked the Eiger, but are still set on the Cat. I'm on vacation this week, so I plan do make a couple of visits to some of the dealers. I want to visit the one in Blockhouse and get back to Johnsons, hopefully I'll get a chance to ride one. My plan is to have a 500 ACT manual by the end of the month. Hope all goes well.
Jeepermitty

 

You are lucky in that you get your 'Cat this month! I have to wait all winter! It will be hard, but at least it will eventually come!

Yeah I really liked the Eiger, but I guess I was more surprised at it more than anything. I said "what the heck, I will take it for a spin" and the thing totally took me off guard! Maybe that was because I am so used to Honda's less than thrilling ride and didn't give the suzukis the benefit of the doubt. They seemed just regular and plain stat for stat.

The 375 was very good too, but it is what I had expected so I wasn't so taken with it right off. The suspension is GREAT!!! I can't really get a feel for the engine though, since it was an auto and I want a 5 speed. But it seemed like it was revving higher than normal. The Eiger has the same engine and I drove the auto one too, but the Eiger's felt like it was geared higher and had more zing. The cat felt a little high (the seat), but I think it felt that way to me since I am used to hondas. It was nothing big, I will adjust and after all it does have killer ground clearance. As for handling.. I didn't get a chance to run the cat in the same places i did the Eiger so I couldn't compare or test it well. I only had the cat on flat ground for the most part (except for a few mounds to test the suspension and one steep hill) whereas I had the Eiger over many steep loose sand hills, mud, deeper water, and rough bumps. One thing I did notice about the Cat was that it was so quiet when it was idling! You could barely feel it or hear it, but once you started moving that was a different story. Everything worked good like brakes etc.

I will probably dodge out to johnson's some time to test the 500s too. I wish he had some more space though so that you could really see what it can do. Anyway, enjoy your holidays.... mine are over today.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img] and be sure to tell me what you thought of the 500!

NeWf

 

P.S. if you get the Halifax Herald or MailStar they have a couple pictures of teh mud event. I would have been in one of the ones the buddy took.. but of course he doesn't put that one in and instead he puts the pictures he took when he was standing right in front of me!

 

Yes, I got the Mail Star today. The caption said something about the mud being too deep, I see buddy was riding a Polaris. I got a chuckle out of your mention of "the Buddy" taking the pictures. It really shows your roots, guess we use buddy like some folks use dude, only you can't insult someone calling them buddy. Looks like tomorrow might be the day for a round trip to Blockhouse and then cross county to Johnson's. I'm pretty well settled on Johnson's, but I would feel a lot better if he would come down a hundred or two. I'll let you know how I make out.
Jeepersmitty

 

hehe yeah. I guess I am guilty of a Maritime accent, what can I say?

I just wanted to add something about that caption. If you saw that particular event and then read the caption, it becomes readily apparent the buddy who wrote it was a non-atver. Example 1: "water filled ditch" what it really was was a soup of mud that was sticky and deep at the bottom. Example 2: "..but had to quit when he found water that was too deep for his machine." What really happened was that he was the fist guy to make it that far, (I think he won the 500+ event) even against Praries and such. He made it to the end where the hill was to get out, but the hill was so eaten up that it was almost vertical and there is no way he could have made it out. So in truth he made it all the way across and then stopped. Anyway that just stuck out in my mind when I read it because the caption made out that quads are usless in water up to the tops of the tires. But all in all I am very glad someone was there to get some pictures to put in the paper!

NeWf

 

Sorry, I was on my brother's computer and didn't realize I was not signed on as myself. I couldn't change it until now because my connection went down.

NeWf