Hey Guys,
I'v ben looking for a new bike because i bought an 05 Arctic Cat 500 and its not what i though. Now im lookig around and iv found a 2008 Renegade 500 for 6000$. Is that a good deal for it? Its got 4400 km. Id like to put a winch and plow on it. Is this bike reliable or not? Does it have alot of problems? I want to get the right bike so i need your oppinions!!
Thanks guy!!
Tyler

 

My son has a Renegade 500 that he bought new in 2005. It's pretty peppy for a 500. Goes into the 60s speed-wise. He's only put maybe 1100 miles on it but it's been excellent as far as reliability goes. No issues and the trails here in New England are pretty rough. The frames on Can-Ams were a little on the weak side in my mind. It's a thin wall steel box about the size of a 2x4. On both his and mine we modded the frames. In his case we got a plastic insert to strengthen the frame. In my case, since I couldn't find anyone selling the frame mod, I put 3-aluminum square end beams in that were 1-1/4" wide. Snug fit and if that didn't toughen things up nothing will. Some don't worry about it but I had read enough posts that I thought it would be a good idea. One thing I noticed about the Renegade 500 is that it gets very good gas mileage. When he bought his I had a Sportsman X2 500 made by Polaris. Under the same conditions riding he got 32 mpg, while I got 24 mpg.

I don't know of anyone plowing with a Renegade and I haven't seen any on the trails with a winch so I can't vouch for how it would do or if you can do it.

 

i actually live about 5 mins away from the american border. i live in new brunswick witch streches fro the south-west part right up to the northern maine. the trails around here are rocks! around here were know as "the lakeland" but people who have lived around here call it the "the rocklands". its all granite! my cat handled the rough terrain well if it wasnt broke down!! i have a few buddies that have 08 and 09 outlander 800's and they run hard and they havent had to put a belt on there bikes yet. one guy swamped his 3 times and if you hopped on it you couldnt tell he did anything to it other that cosmetic damage. all my buddies are always saying they want a can am because as new england is very much like here in N.B. there ALOT of mud, swamps and ALOT of snow. iv zoned in on either the renegade or a brute force because alot of guys are running them and they seem to have good luck but it seems anything i touch dosn't have any luck. its either broken down or blown up!!

 

mileage seems kinda high for $6k- hell- you can pick up a 2012 rene 500 new, with zero miles and a complementary 2.5 yr extended warranty on top of the 6 month factory warranty when financing for $2k more!!!!

IMO- I wouldn't pay more than $5k for it - and that's a gift to the seller. to be brutally honest- I wouldn't even entertain purchasing any can-am with over 2700 miles on it. I've owned about a dozen can-am renegade & outlander atv's and I've prolly looked at over 3 dozen just shopping around and, every high mileage can-am (2000+) has been a POS. seems like you either find can-am's in mint condition with low mileage, or beat to **** with high mileage - IME anyways...

 

I meant to say my son bought his in 2009, not 2005.

I hesitate to say if I think that is a good deal or not simply because it may be a decent deal in Canada but it wouldn't be a good purchase price-wise down here in the States.