Well fellows sounds like it is going to be a heck of a nice bike and I can't wait to see the comparisons the various magazines and riders do I just have one question from Rooster's post which was:

>Did I read this right: "Right away we also >noticed that the suspension works great at both >low and high speeds and with large or small >obstacles. It is certainly on par, if not better >than, the king of 4x4 suspension, the Polaris >Sportsman 500."

So how do you compare a solid axle with a an IRS suspension no matter what you do to it you are still going to have one end going up when the other end goes down...true there is things you can do to a solid axle suspension to soften it up but with that comes soft handling or poor handling if softened up to much...just seems to me that comparing a solid axle to IRS would be like comparing the ride of a 57 corvette to a 2000 model vet...there is no comparison...this is not a badgering post either fellows I just would like to know what Honda has done that is so special that you could even think of comparing the ride quality to an IRS...It is just hard to believe that the ride could compare to the IRS ride of the Sportsman. And yes there is complications that come with having an IRS such as maintenance, more parts that can break, solid axle has more stable handling or at least it does till you get used to the IRS with me so what has been done to the rear of the Honda that is so different or did I miss something in the article.

 

Good point. The only difference I see (over my Rancher) is 2 shocks versus 1. Will that make a big difference, I don't know.

A big bore shoot out has to be in the works.

 

I guess you could write DirtWheels and ask them. Since they wrote the summary of the evaluation, only they can know why they came to that conclusion. It would be interesting to see what their reply is to that query.

 

Atving, I really don't think the Ruby's suspension will be better than the Sportsman's. Whenever they test a machine by itself, they have nothing to compare it to head to head. The shootout will bring out the advantages and disadvantages in every machine. I do know this though judging from the Rubicon test: it WILL have better suspension than the 450 Honda's. The 450's rear suspension is too stiff, doesn't have enough travel, and rebound damping is too slow. They did improve the travel on the Ruby, so by the way the article sounded, they probably softened the shocks up also. They said the front suspension was one of the best on any 4x4 made. They even said it was great at jumping. And the seat is softer and cushier than the old Foremans. What isn't better than the Foreman 450's? Nothing!

 

The point is you know the the Wolverine is faster and everyone else known the Wolverine is faster but a DirtWheel's shoot out does not know it's faster.

 

Glad I didn't turn this into a p#ssing battle that was some good answers fellows, I am kinda excited myself to see one of these on the trails if it ever makes it to the showroom hopefully they will be out in the next few weeks, hopefully that will be a plus for the honda at least with the softer ride in the rear end...did I say that...later guys back to work...