Hello All,

I am new to your forum and in need of some suggestions from some of the experienced members here. Having never had the opprotunity or time to own and ride an ATV, i have finally purchased and moved from the city to a very remote piece of wooded property in central PA 10 acres adjacent to state forest land with lots of ATV trails. So now i am seeing a need and have the time to actually ride and enjoy an ATV. This would be used for working around the property and of course ejoying the many trails around me. So having never owned one i am looking for suggestions on what would be a good purchase, what should i be looking for, shuold i be looking for a specific size, etc... any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

First off, you are probably looking at a 4wd utility, and not a 2wd sport quad. I am a big critic of overall utility design! All the manufacturers seem to be racing to see who can make the hugest, heaviest, big bore machines. I mean some of these are the size of a small truck and weight 800 pounds.

A lot of the riders here in the forum are "enthusiasts" who will of course want the latest, greatest "feature" loaded machine, so in some ways a beginner can get very bad advice here by getting talked into more machine than they need! Just watch!

So, I personally like the mid size machines (~400cc). These are the superb trail quads! They are also big enough and powerfull enough to do light to medium work, but yet you aren't stuck on a clumsy tank when you hit the trail. I also restrict my purchases to good old fashioned time proven reliable autoclutch manual transmissions, and pass up all the automatics (most autos are belt drive CVT's, except the Hondas). For me, that happily narrows it down to just a very small number of machines.

I just purchased a new fuel injected/water cooled Honda Rancher 420, and it is a way better machine than I had ever ever hoped for! (I also have an old Rancher 350 that has served me flawlessly for 8 years now.) The ride is very sporty, it is fast and powerfull, handling is quick and agile yet it is very stable, and the suspension is great for everything but busting big desert whoops (I have sport quads for that anyway). It is also available in an ES version that has electronic shifting, if you don't want to shift with your foot. This is one superb little machine, and the best value for your money that you will find anywhere!

http://powersports.honda.com/atvs/ut...elId=TRX420FM7

If I had to do more serious work, I would pick the Honda Foreman 500. While this machine can be used as a part time trail quad, it is pretty much a pure utility with a much less sporty ride.

http://powersports.honda.com/atvs/ut...elId=TRX500FM7

 

Well the rancher is the number one selling atv out there. So you can't go wrong with that. But my biggest suggestion is ride a couple of different quads and then decide what you want ot do.

If you are going to pleasure ride and go slow in the woods and do some light duty stuff, Anything under 500cc wil lbe fine, and i think the honda rancher is probably the best of the best. You can choose between all kinds of versions of the rancher, electric shift, manual shift, etc...

But on the other hand if you happen to suffer from what many of us on here have, "heavy thumb" syndrome. Then get a something that will keep you smiling everyday, a big bore machine. Test drive at least one machine that is 650 CC or higher. I would reccomend a kawasaki brute force 650i, King quad 700, or the Honda Rincon.