If you would pay $5200 for the bear, $5400 for the rancher, $6500 for the foreman they you are getting screwed. I just saw where someone might buy a new rubicon for $5300 or a foreman 450ES for $4700. If you pay msrp then they must have seen you coming cause your a sucker. A bigbear is low geared like a foreman but it is wat more top heavy, my friend rolled a bear and then took his brothers foreman up to exact same place on a hillside and it was nowhere close to rolling, the bear, rancher, and 450 all have about the same ground clearance too . I have rode the rancher, 450, and bear but i have had a lot more time on the honda's, the bear sounds like its about to blow a 30 mph but mone of these bikes will win a race. My buddies eiger is impressive for a 400cc bike, you should look at it before you pick one of these, they are powerful and are a fulsized bike with a bit more GC I think, it's a very fun bike too.

 

I paid 6000 for my foreman. Also you think a 400 belt drivin eiger is better than a foreman. No i am yet to see a eiger on the trails but i have seen grizzlys that my quad hangs with well until the grizzly starts hittin upper 60s. I ride with a rubi with minor mods and i wreck it. I ride with a big bear that is about to get a pipe and jets kn and some tires but stock i out mudded it. Hondas best quad made is the foreman 450 like it or not. And if you seen a new 2003 foreman for 4700 i just find that hard to belive.

 

My friend you are in luck i own both a rancher and a big bear. the big bear is a great quad but it sets up a little high and it flips easy if your not an experienced rider. Its better in the mud than my rancher but it doesnt handle as well it only goes through mud faster thah the rancherand im talkin deep mud too but out in the wide open or on harry trails i prefer the rancher. the rancher is just as fast if not fasteron wide open territory handles better and to me is more fun to ride but the 450 foreman is slow stout but slow and is more of a work hoarse i road my cousin 450 for a weekend and i bought a rancher for my first honda. imgivin the big bear to my wife.

00 honda rancher
01 yamaha big bear

 

I agree with a lot of your points, overall in most aspects i like Honda more than Yamaha, but i think for what this guy is doing he would be happier with the clearance. How big the engine is has nothing to do with climbing hills, obviously you haven't been riding for very long or at least not much terrain. I can get a little Honda 125 to the top of hills just fine. For hill climbing it's all about balance, any machine above 100ccs has enough power to climb up hills steeper than anything you would want to climb. Anyaways, my big point with you is, obviously you've gotten so obsessed with being loyal to a certain brand you've started comming up with total bs. I copy and pasted what is below from the Honda and Yamaha websites for the '04 Big Bear 400 4x4 and Honda Foreman ES...

Big Bear: Ground Clearance 9.7”
Foreman: Ground Clearance 7.7 inches

When comparing a Honda and Yamaha of the same class, whoever says the Honda has more stock clearance has absolutely no experience with ATVs. Hondas are notorious for very limited ground clearance and suspension, that's why lift kits sell more for them so you can put bigger tires on them. The Big Bear is nice how it has clearance under the fenders for about 28s, but if you have the money for a lift kit, i personally believe a Honda will turn bigger tires better stock than a Big Bear...by the way...what do you mean by mud protection? if you're talking about the cauling keeping you from getting sprayed, that's very untrue seeing as it has so much it can get caught on things easily sometimes. Also, its pretty ridiculous to decide which machine you want over the mudflaps, hell you can go buy/make custom ones for like 50 bucks or less.

 

Have you ever tried climbing hills without brakes? that is some scary shi t...I wouldn't recommend it unless you can tell the guy behind you you're expecting him to stop you when you loose traction.

 

Before you buy call here. Romney cycle 304-822-3933 They are in Romney west Virginia. They sell Kaw., Suzuki, and Yamaha. They are about $700 cheaper than anyone in Pa. No set up fees either. If you want a Honda call 304-257-4420. They are cheap. I just called about a 4x4 Rancher, they sell them for $4300. Where can you find a deal like that here?

 

Out here in southern california, I bought both my big bear and rancher es 4x4's for 3999! A suzuki eiger 5sp 4x4 can also be had at the same price. BTW, the if you can get a suzuki eiger, I think it is the best quad of the bunch!

 

Have you considered the Wolverine? its light and fast. You can get the Warn 424 select for it if you want 2WD. It will cost about $250. I've never Actually raced a Big Bear or a Rancher, but I'm sure it would beat both. It is fast for a 4x4.

 

yea, right
whas this hill perchance about a 89 degree slope?
i do believe its almost impossible for a big bear to not climb a hill unless its got slicks for tires in the middle of winter with 13 ft of water on the trail in a rainstorm on the 4th of july (are you getting my drift)

 

its not really the fact that he's saying he's seen a hill a big bear didn't have power to climb, its that he's saying he's seen a hill that any machine didn't have power to climb. If he said he saw a hill that a wolverine or a foreman or a eiger or anything with 4x4 couldn't climb because it didn't have enough power, it would be the same as him saying the big bear couldn't. just the fact that he thinks theres a quad out there that is geared that high is hillarious, especially if he thinks the big bear is geared too high of all machines. haha, maybe he was trying to climb the hill in 4th...