Hello to everyone, let me first introduce myself. My name is Scott and I am new to this board and completely new to atvs. I have never owned an atv but have ridden several on numerous occasions. I consider myself a novice at best but would like to purchase a new atv next spring. I have so many questions and any advice would be greatly appreciated. My wife and I will be using the atv for recreational purposes so I don't know if I should go the sport route or the utility route. After looking at several sport bikes online, it seems it may be very tough to fit two people on one. Admittly, this bike would never be used for racing, but I am a fan of speed and handling. The atv will be used on trails and may see some mud, but no sand or anything in that nature. My first question is, should I go utility or sport. My second question is what brand. I am a car nut and my car side tends to lean me towards honda for their known reliablity and engineering. Although, I am totally up for looking at any brand. So far the 400 ex is catching my fancy though. Unforantely, money is some what of a concern and I do not want to go over 5 grand, so I have also looked into the used option. I am a little sketchy of that though considering many atvs have been run hard from the get go and may cause premature failure. Hey, any advice you could give a newcomer would help out a lot.
thanks again-scott

 

a used 400ex sounds perfect for you

 

Yeah, it looks that the 400ex is probably the best choice for me. I just don't want to leave any other brands out, considering I do not know very much about atvs.
-scott

 

Scott,
Welcome to the ATV world. I am sure you will enjoy the sport. I think some of the few things you need to ask yourself is where will you be riding it. What type of terrain you will spend most of your time on. And of course what type of riding do you prefer. The place and type of riding may govern the type of bike. Especially when you decide on 2-Wheel vs 4 wheel drive. And although no ATV manufacturers recommend 2 person riding(a few exceptions) the Utilities generaly have bigger seats. If you enjoy the sport like I am sure you will, I suspect you will be getting two machines sooner or later. Kind of like riding a horse. Two people riding on one horse is not as much fun as two on two horses.
Read the rags and the boards and you'll eventually make the right decision.

 

Thanks for the advice dormrat, I still have time to decide and research on atvs. My wife will not be riding with me all the time, and I am a big fan of speed and handling( I auto-x my car on weekends) so I would imagine I will end up with a sport bike. Thanks again.
-scott

 

Clean, used 400ex's can be found for $3,500 and up...and they're fairly bullet-proof...don't count them out...even if they were ridden hard. You say you're into speed and handling, and don't want to go over $5,000. Look at Suzuki and Kawasaki dealers at the new 400cc...see if they'll get you out the door at $5,000 or so. This shouldn't be hard. Dealers all over are selling new 2003 Honda 400ex's for $4,699...so the Suzukis and Kawasakis shouldn't be too hard to get around $5,000.

 

Two people on a quad is not a good idea. I see a lot of people do it and I am guilty of it myself.

When I do have another person on back it will be on the utility quad ( big seat ) usually on a flat or nice steady trail.

When you start doing the hard stuff like hills or at angles its hard to adjust for the added riders weight and there movement. If I question any part of the trail I will tell the passenger to get off. I just want to make it back home in one piece and unhurt. When quads flip for some reason they like to come back and land/beat on you and I guess its because you beat on them all the time.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

You should be able to find a nice used 400EX. One quick thing is to look at the chain adjustment. If its all the way out well there's a set of sprockets and a new chain expense. Check the brake pads. Look at the oil condition and the appearance of the person who you are buying it from. If there garage looks like a Mack truck just went through it I would pass. Pick and choose carefully, you don't want someone else's problem.

New, Go into a Honda dealer on the worst day, pouring rain or couple inches of snow on the ground and you might get a good deal, Might!!!! They have to make money or they wouldn't be there.

Chet
VP Knowsalot Facility

 

I went to a honda and yamaha dealer today, and my first reaction is, motorcycle dealers are not like car dealers. At a car dealership, they come running to you, while at the motorcycle dealer my wife and I had to go hunting for them. It seems no one wanted to help. I looked at the honda 400 and 300ex, I also looked at the yamaha warrior and the wolverine. My wife seems to be a little scared of the full manual clutch (her parents atv that she use to ride was an auto-clutch) and she favored the wolverine out of all the bikes. I prefered the 400 ex but was quoted a price of $5,600. It seems I may have to haggle a little bit when I decide to make my final purchase. Thanks everyone for the advice. -Scott

 

Ponm,

I can see why your wife likes the auto clutch. I even like it.

My wife always takes our Honda Recon when she goes out riding around on the property. Its a smaller quad and fits her size perfect.

Some of the local dealers know me so when I am looking around they don't bother me and they know I will go to them if I am buying.

Chet

 

I am responding because I just got a new quad I had a Warrior, it is a good machine but you will probably grow out of it quickly and the 400ex and the Z 400 handle way better and a lot more power. I got a new Z in Bartlesville, OK they want $5000.00 for the Z and $4900.00 for the ex and that is for the 03. I know that is about four or five hundred miles from you but I live in Oklahoma City and probably like where you are everyone wants list so I had to drive about 150 miles myself. There number is 1-800-750-5357 Good Luck Paul