Im thinking about buying a new outlander and im wondering if the single lever braking is good or bad. Ive herd that the front brakes have a little too much stopping power compared to the back. And does that somewhat cheap looking plastic have any breaks or cracks in it. Does it hold up!

 

I have had my Outlander for about a month now and have about 215 miles on it so far. Most of those miles have been put on in some pretty intense situations. Mountain riding on rocky trails (145 miles at Windrock) and trail riding in the snow (60 miles at Wayne Natl. For.). I don't think the brakes are biased too much to the front. One nice thing with the Outy brakes compared to say the Polaris, is the rear foot brake is actually usable. You can lock up the rears with ease if you need to. My only real complaint with the brakes is they get noisy when they get wet. I actually don't use the brakes all that much. The engine braking usually takes care of slowing me down in anything but panic stops. It will crawl down a hill at a snails pace if you want it to. The plastic seems pretty tough to me. I have smacked into a few rocks with it already without any breaks. It is definitely thicker than the plastic used on most atvs. I am very pleased with my machine. I really needed a 4X4 but I didn't want a machine that wasn't sporty. This thing will take jumps like crazy, handles well, and is pretty darn fast for a 400. I am pretty confident, when riding with other 4X4s, that I can go anywhere any other atv can go. I was a little hesitant when I bought it because of hearing a few people complaining about this or that but I kept coming back to the fact that it was winning most of the shootouts. They all said it was the fastest, best handling, and most comfortable and that was what I wanted. I wouldn't have any other atv.

 

The only complaint I have about the plastic is it scratches easy, it is very durable almost indestructable. The brakes work great but do make a squawk when wet. The group I ride with had all types of machines, now there are 8 proud Outlander owners. No machine is perfect but this one comes the closest for the type of riding I do.

 

Yeah, the guys I ride with went from being skeptical to wanting to try my machine pretty quick.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I also wanted to ask about the battery and cylunoid. It sticks right out out and i dont know if it would get wet and not work. That could be a prob if that happens. Thanks

 

A lot of macines put their batteries back there. I don't think it is an issue.

 

I only got to ride the new outlander for 15 minutes before hiding it from the wife and son, til christmas. But...I was real pleased with the decision. What a cush ride! the brakes are great. Does the lever activate front and rear? That's funny, all my research and didn't know that. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img] I was a bit disappointed in the acceleration dept. but i spend most of my time on the 'dale and my backup quad's no slouch either. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]
I snagged the rear/bottom of the front fender on my trailer and it bent a looong way with no visible damage. It is very soft/flexible and does scratch easy though. I can't wait to get some more time on her!

 

Ryanstones - Yeah, I could see where coming from a Cannondale and a V force it could seem a little weak in the acceleration department! I went the opposite direction, I had a 330 Trail Boss as my principal ride (economics, not my first choice). The Outlander feels like a beast to me! What I really like is the way the CVT responds. I am used to the lag on the Polaris tranny, give it gas and wait. With this machine, when you hit the gas it goes, no waiting. While it may not be as fast as your other rides, wait until you get it in some really rough stuff. I had mine on a trail that was covered with all sizes of rocks. I realised that I wasn't getting pounded and the faster I went the smoother it felt. I turned around to see where my riding buddies were and they were like 1/4 - 1/2 mile back. The IRS let me go WAY faster even though one of the machines was a KFX650. I also found I could jump off-camber stuff. Instead of throwing me sideways the side that hits first just soaks up the hit.

 

I think it works great. Just yesterday going down a hill I noticed that the rear locked up a little quick but I was going down a real, real steep hill and had very little weight on the rear end.