My son is thinking of buying a Renegade 500. I don't know much about them other than reading reviews and riding one at a test drive/show event. What do you all like or dislike about it? We ride rough trails with lots of rocks, deep waterholes, clay and soil mudholes. Thanks for any input. I really liked the power when I test drove it.

 

I have rode the 800 Ren and oh boy what a machine! The V-twin power is very addictive for sure. I am willing to bet the 500 is probably just as fun with a little bit of a more tamable engine.

 

I have the 800 and it is a great machine. My biggest complaint was the shocks/springs. For really rough trails, springs are too firm (harsh riding) and shocks are too soft (bottoms on hard jumps). Aftermarket shocks fixed that. It's my favorite machine.

Your son may be young enough not to need this upgraded.

I would do the frame mod as soon as you get the machine.

 

Congrats Moose on the new machine!

 

He's 18 and 6'2" so I'll do some adjusting to the springs to see if I can tune it to him.

When you say frame mod do you mean skid plates and which skids would you recommend and made by who? ot sure what he has in his budget. He did sell his ATP and he had some money in the bank. So, he will only have to pay back about 1K.

He got a red one. The dealer called me and told me not to tell him. He would have liked the yellow okay, but our first quad was red and he liked it lots. He really got a big grin when they showed it to him for the first time. I got tired of pulling him out of mudholes all the time so we sold it the old Kawasaki Lakota and got the ATP. It was pretty good but he's always wanted something sportier. So it's in the garage and we're going to register it in the next week or so. I'll post pics when I get a clear day and time.

 

The power on the 500s is unreal. I've test ridden both the 800 and 500 in test ride type conditions (boring) and I was flabbergasted to see the number 500 on the side of it when I hopped off. Thought it was an 800 the whole time.

We have an 05 Outlander 400 XT which is similar with ~6000 hard miles on it, no skids and we haven't had any problems. The SST frame is terrific for sliding over logs and stuff.

Only complaints on the Outlander are the hard to shift tranny (better on the 500 and ups) and a noisy/loud belt.

Other than that the only problem we've had is a blown rear u-joint and thermostat.

I'll be looking forward to the pics!

 

The hard to shift tranny trouble can be fixed with 2 new bearings in the 1 way bearing in the clutch. Go to vxb.com order 2 6808rs bearings and install them in the one way bearing. You will be amazed how easy it will shift.

 

Hey, thanks for that. How hard is the install?

 

Pull the cover off, remove the belt, remove the clutch bolt, take outer part of clutch off, you will see the 1 way bearing assembly. Jently remove the assembly be careful there are 2 spring loaded pins under it, you can put your fingers over them one on each side of the shaft. When you get the assembly out there is a small wire type keeper holding the bearings one on each side remove them install the 2 new bearings, put new isoflex grease and put it back together. The first one took me 1 1/2 hours the next one took 45 minutes.
You can get the isoflex grease from Lubesales at precisionspindle.com Topasin b52
203 597 8806

 

I would recommend doing the frame mod - trust me. One hit the wrong way and the hollow sst frame will bend, twist, or even snap. There is a wealth of information online from people who have used square steel tubing, UHMV plastic, or the aluminum chassis spine. I have used the tubing on one quad and the UHMV on another. Personally I think the tubing was the more bulletproof of the two.

Other than that, upgrade your tires to Maxxis Zillas. You will be thrilled with the results!