a co-worker has a yamaha BB 400. he says its a excellent atv for deep mudding. i have a rinny with no problems to date.

dc

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: dcc

a co-worker has a yamaha BB 400. he says its a excellent atv for deep mudding. i have a rinny with no problems to date.



dc</end quote></div>

Not bashin the BB400 its a great lil quad i know cuz i have one. My father in law got it stuck in a big snow and mud drift and had to get out my brute and go in there after it to tow it back out.

 

I'm now also in the market and looking at essentially the same quads. I could also use some advice. Here is what I think I've learned.
Feel free to dispute my statements as I only think these things are true.


Sportsman has the most comfortable ride and is the heaviest. Has descent factory tires, and has good front storage. V-twin equals good.
Some say not as reliable as other brands, others say they are. JMO good looking quad. Standard warranty 6 months.

Grizz has power steering which apparently is hard to give up once you have it. Not great factory tires and can feel tippy. Although it sounds
like new tires can solve both issues. Single cylinder not as good as V-twin(why, I don't know. is it vibration, is it noise?) Also very reliable.
JMO great looking quad. Standard warranty 6 months.

Brute Force very powerful. Don't hear much about it feeling tippy, but should since it is an inch less wide and the seat height about the same as the Grizz. Maybe it's the crappy tires on the Grizz. Lowest ground clearance. V-twin again. JMO very good looking quad. Standard warranty 12 months.

King Quad also heavy. Lower seat height and wider than both the Grizz and Brute, so less tippy? Handling at higher speeds a little iffy. Single cylinder.
Ground clearance good. JMO okay looking quad. Standard warranty 12 months.

I've only ridden the Sportsman 800 and it rode great. Liked having the front storage. Legs got hot from the heat pouring out of the quad though.

More to add? Am I accurate?

 

I also fell in love with the utility quads, bought a sportsman 800 for me and a 700 x2 for the wife. Love them both. But, having ridden sport quads for so long, couldn't live without one, so bought another predator. However, after looking more closely at the RENEGADE 800, I would have considered that instead of two. You didn't mention the renegade as an option, but I think if you are making the transition from sport to utility, it would behoove you to take a close look. I wish I did!

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Kermudgeon

I'm now also in the market and looking at essentially the same quads. I could also use some advice. Here is what I think I've learned.

Feel free to dispute my statements as I only think these things are true.





Sportsman has the most comfortable ride and is the heaviest. Has descent factory tires, and has good front storage. V-twin equals good.

Some say not as reliable as other brands, others say they are. JMO good looking quad. Standard warranty 6 months.



Grizz has power steering which apparently is hard to give up once you have it. Not great factory tires and can feel tippy. Although it sounds

like new tires can solve both issues. Single cylinder not as good as V-twin(why, I don't know. is it vibration, is it noise?) Also very reliable.

JMO great looking quad. Standard warranty 6 months.



Brute Force very powerful. Don't hear much about it feeling tippy, but should since it is an inch less wide and the seat height about the same as the Grizz. Maybe it's the crappy tires on the Grizz. Lowest ground clearance. V-twin again. JMO very good looking quad. Standard warranty 12 months.



King Quad also heavy. Lower seat height and wider than both the Grizz and Brute, so less tippy? Handling at higher speeds a little iffy. Single cylinder.

Ground clearance good. JMO okay looking quad. Standard warranty 12 months.



I've only ridden the Sportsman 800 and it rode great. Liked having the front storage. Legs got hot from the heat pouring out of the quad though.



More to add? Am I accurate?</end quote></div>



Sportsman 800 is NOT a vtwin, its a parallel twin. Both cylinders side-by-side. The whole single vs twin, personal prefference. Twins generally make more power, and are smoother. However when you need to rebuild them, much more expensive, also for ppl who play in mud/water, easier to get water in the engine compared to a single. Vtwins also have a deeper sound/rumble, which is generally more pleasing to the ear. The Sportsman twins have a unique sound, some ppl like, some pp don't. I personally think they sound like they run at a high rpm, not the nicest sound but unique anyways.

Brute Forces generally were considered a tippy poor handling machine as well. Due to very poor stock tires and width/height/steering. The 2008's are better as far as handling/steering.

King Quad is not any heavier than the Grizz/Brute, within a couple pounds anyways which is pointless to argue. If you refer to Suzuki's 2009 specs, its listed as CURB weight, which is weight full of fluids, NOT dry weight. So it weighs the same as it always did. Honda also lists curb weight instead of dry weight. Which makes ppl think the new 700xx is so heavy, when in reality it is not quite as bad as ppl think.

-Krait

 

I had exactley the same problem as you some months ago and came onto this forum asking the same sort of question.
If it helps, I finally settled on a BF 750i and am VERY pleased. I put Mud Lites Xtra on as EVERYONE moaned about the tyres.
It is very powerful and handles well. I had a Honda Rincon 680 before and had to keep it in 4wd virtually all the time to get around my fields, the BF is almost always kept in 2wd and handles far better. I guess a good degree of that is the Mud Lites but nevertheless it is far superior to the Honda.
I specifically wanted something with some power and the BF fits the bill perfectly.
I was slightly concerned about some people saying belt drive quads can slip when wet but I can say from personal experience that my BF has no issues there. I went through water that was so deep I had to stand on the seat and, even then, my feet were underwater. Not quite sure how it didnt stall as the exhaust was also underwater for a good 5 mins but I made it. Stupid of me really as it was a flooded woodland path next to a river and at one point I was bobbing up and down and the bike was at about 45 degrees with the handlebars right up. I would have turned around had I had the traction to do so and was getting concerned that I might end up bobbing into the river next to me. Thankfully, I didnt and I think it was the huge tread on the tyres that was acting like paddles and propelling forward because there was def some times I was floating. I wouldnt do it again, but it proves that not all belt drives slip.

 

Kawi's also have pretty good stock snorkels, up towards the handlebars I believe. My buddies Twin Peaks 700(Kawi Prairie 700) did fine in fairly deep water with no slippage issues.

In reality, most ppl who experience belt slippage or problems with belts are those who put BIG mud tires on, or go in deep water/mud regularily. And when I say deep I mean DEEP. Even tho the Kawi belt system is generally regarded as one of the weaker types, it functions perfectly fine under normal usage for most ppl. My buddies Twin Peaks had 27" mudlites, he didn't abuse the quad but certainly didn't baby it either, never had ANY problems with belts.

-Krait

 

Krait,

Thank you for the response and straightening me out on the Vtwin thing.
I also hadn't heard the tippy and tire issue with the BF before, only for
the Grizz. It's good to know since I'm also considering the BF.

As I said I don't really know I just think I know. Seems like the best way to
find out might be posting here and having knowledgeable people correct you.

 

No worries. Both the Grizz and Brute were said to be tippy, but good tires generally do wonders. If thats not enough, wheel spacers or offset rims help more. Another thing is body english. Some ppl just sit there and drive like a car. But sometimes you gotta shift your weight around, lean over, etc.

Personally, go for whichever you feel most comfortable on, you like the most, etc. Most big brands are decent quality, hard to go wrong nowadays. And ask whatever you need to, thats what these forums are for.

-Krait

 

The thing is I'm looking for both myself and my wife. It seems ridiculous to buy two new quads and you have to spend another grand plus for new tires.
If a quad is decent with stock tires but better with aftermarket tires, that's one thing. But if it's not even decent with the stock tires, like tippy or
whatever, then I don't know if I should consider it. I want to go at least a couple seasons without having to empty my bank account again. Of course,
I'm getting old and I'm cheap.