Just sharing a bit of philosophy here, to see if there are others who share my point of view:

We are sport bike riders at heart, and actually not very fond of the whole utility genera. We don't ride utes the way most folks ride them. To us they are simply "go anywhere sport bikes" that extend our riding range into more extreme terrain. A NECESSARY EVIL if you will, for riding in the mountains when the rocks get to big or the streams get to deep. So, the goal is to want to keep things as small, light, and simple as possible!

I even favor the 2wd's because they are lighter than the 4wd's (a 2wd Rancher is a surprizingly capable machine!), but sometimes you just can't get by without 4wd, so we will be getting another 4wd Rancher soon. I haven't had time for the project yet, but my next goal is to strip the racks off my utes to make them each a hefty 50 pounds lighter.

I had great hopes that the new Wolverine would be my dream bike, but I fear it falls short of even the old Wolverine.

 

No, I have both sport and utility and spend most of my time on the Utility for various different reasons, mostly comfort, convenient and terrain. My buddy rides a Raptor 350 and I feel like I'm on a kids quad, it has enough power and is quick but just doesn't feel right for me.

I haven't done any dune riding yet but I am positive my preference would be my DS, I've also found a few old rock quarries that the DS is fun as hell to ride. My buddy and I were up at Stonyford in the Mendicino Mts, he was on the Outlander and I was on the DS, there were some trails I simply had to stop where he was just crawling striaght up them, definate advantage to the 4 WD.

You are doing yourself an injustice choosing a Rancher over an Outlander IMO.

 

I bought an 06 grizzly 3 weeks ago. For days that i feel like climing everything and doing some deep mudding. On the days i feel like just beating the crap out of a bike and digging trails up i ride my 2000 blaster with 240 kit. Im 300 pounds and that little blaster tears up trails and hills with me on it like i wasnt even riding it.

 

I feel the same way. Our family is a family of riders. And it seems that the numbers are split even on what we ride. not by age or anything like that. My dad rides a raptor, and my uncle, a Predator. But on the trail one day my dad wanted to go down this specific branch of the trail. It was very wet, and my sportsman was the only quad to make it. there were other utes, they had to winch out. I'm not trying to start a brand war, their riders just couldnt shift their weight as well as I did. But the sport machines had to go aorund to a different trail 2 miles away to get to the same spot. If I ride hard, I can keep up.It's not a metter of skill, it's a matter of choice.

 

A utility can take you more places and it's more comfortable...but sometimes I do wish I could hit some of the jumps I see without feeling like I'm breaking something.

 

I certainly have never felt like any ute (even the best IRS ones) are the least bit "comfortable" compared to a sport bike. Where I ride, bashing huge desert whoops at 70 mph on a huge heavy ute would be suicide (its suicidal on a sport bike).

I had hopes for the (old) Wolverine concept of a true hybrid sport/ute, but none of the manufacturers have taken the ball and run with it (Yamaha may have even dropped the ball). Basically, a sport bike with selectable 4wd just in case one gets into trouble out there on the trail, but with absolutely none of the "farm work tractor" heritage that utilities show.

The only answer the way things now stand, is to have two sets of bikes because there isn't any one machine that will do it all, and do it all well.

 

I know you what you mean about the sport/ute thing, I was looking for one when I was buying but couldn't find anything that met the criteria. I wanted something that was fun to trail ride, jump, etc but taht I could also plow my driveway with. The only thing that was close was the Scrambler, but it was too damn heavy.

Something like a Raptor 700 with selectable 4WD would be ideal. I doubt it will ever happen but who knows.

 

I guess I really dont get the point. So you want to ride through the nasty trails but you want to be able to do it on a sport quad? I thought you really liked your rancher, now you're telling us you arent even fond of it? That it's actually evil? Or is this just another post for you to express your dissapointment with the fact that no one has added 4wd to your 450R yet?

Personally I say either go buy a scrambler/wolverine or pick your trails better. Believe it or not there arent that many people who need 4wd on their sport quad, many dont even need it on their utility. So my guess is that it's not on the top of the list of things to do, except for maybe polaris replacing their scrambler but they've got plenty of other fish to fry as well.

 

Your reading my mind!

I got a King Quad because I felt it was the sportiest quad you could get with 4x4 and alot of power (Scamblers need not apply). I love it and it serves my needs but if a 4x4 450R or YFZ ever came out I would be the first in line to trade it in. I even thought about making one before I bought the KQ but quickley reentered the real world.

Where I ride 4x4 is required and not even because of mud--I hate the stuff, too much work to clean, too hard on componets. I need 4x4 for monster downed trees, boulders (not rocks, boulders), and $hit your pants hill climbs and decents (need the 4x4 so have front wheel engine braking).

 

IMO the prairie, while needing attention with the front suspension, is a better choice for the aggressive rider than any IRS machine I've been on.