Hey Kickstart, welcome to the forum. Nice user name by the way.

I use my ATVs for pretty much the same purposes that you do, mainly, exploring southern Utah, but with a little time spent on the Paiute Trail as well. I have found that there are more important factors that contribute to sidehill stability than whether the ATV has IRS or a solid rear axle. Some of the worst ATVs I've ridden for sidehill stability have been the Kawasaki Prairie 650 and 700s, which have solid rear axles. But they are also narrow, have wallowy too soft front suspension, and too high of a center of gravity. In general, the Jap ATVs are a little wose for sidehill stability, meaning the Grizzly, Brute Force, and King Quad. Honda's don't fit this category though, the Rincon and Foreman are exceptionally stable on sidehills. The Can Am ATVs are also very stable on sidehills, and in fact, the very best ATV I've ever ridden for super technical hard core terrain is a Renegade 800. If any ATV on earth is going to make it though the tough stuff, that one will do it. But it doesn't have racks ... An Outlander is good, but not as good as the Renegade. It weighs something like 40 pounds more, and at least part of that weight is up high on the ATV (racks). Arctic Cat ATVs are last on my list, they can be very capable, but they don't have a swaybar on either end. To prevent body roll you need to stiffen up the shock preload to the point where ride quality is terrible. If you set the shocks so the ride quality is good, the handling is terrible. I also haven't mentioned Polaris, simply because I don't have as much experience with them. I've owned a couple of them, but they were in 2000 and 2001, they were unreliable, and they were not that great at technically difficult terrain because of their weight, and their lack of four wheel engine braking. The new ones have fixed the four wheel engine braking issue though.

Anyway, good luck with your choice. Let us know what you decide on.

 

Thank you DesertViper! Very informative and helpful.

On a sidenote, since you ride Southern Utah, have you ridden or know anybody who has ridden the Paria River corridor lately or know the status of the trail? I know there's been a lot of legal bullpucky going on about it recently. I'd hate to get off US-89 and head over to Kodachrome basin only to find road closure signs on the trail and then have to backtrack out and around into Kanab.

 

Sorry, haven't ridden the Paria River trail in several years Kickstart. Have you asked that question over on the ATVUtah.com forum? Lots of experts over there that should be able to help you out.

 

No, I haven't. I didn't even know that forum existed. I will give 'er a try! Thanks!