I want to start off by saying I'm 100% Kawie Green through and through.........now that being said.....GOD I love this HONDA!!! As you can see below I have a KFX 440 that's pretty much race ready with all that money in it I hate to bash it around in the woods.....Kawasaki really didn't offer anything that interested me in my price range neither did Yamaha.....Suzuki did but they wanted to be butt wholes and not give me any financing........Honda did........so I bought a 2004 Honda Rancher 350ES from the Motorcycle Factory in Woodbridge, VA. This is the second bike I've bought through them and they have always killed everyone else's prices. My first chance to ride the Rancher was after dark this evening (I enjoy night riding anyways) it seems to be pretty peppy handles really well much better than my friends Arctic Cat 400. My only regret for going out for the first ride in the dark was not being formilar with the controls........I had the gears down packed (lol how hard could that be on a ES model right) but a couple of times I needed to use reverse and I couldn't remember how the dealer told me to engage it I tried many times LOL and couldn't get it to work so I just hopped off and pulled it backwards......after I got back and read the manual.......I went back outside and started the bike up just to see if it would go into reverse.......Dang it did!! I feel so stupid now LOL. Ok well I'm sorry for the long post but it's a pretty big story when a guy that's owned 3 kawasaki's switches over to Big Red!.........Oh by the way my Rancher is Yellow!

 

Congrats on the new ATV. One of the things I like about the Rancher ES is that you never have to take your hands off the grips. If you come to rough or steep terrain, you don't have to stop and shift to low. And you don't have to let go to put it in reverse either. Sometimes it's a little different, but I like it.

Happy riding.

 

Congratulations on your purchase!!!

 

Congrats! I just bought my first ATV last night also - It's the Rancher AT - I haven't rode it yet - will do that tomorrow hopefully. I have a question about the tire pressure on ATV's - I know read the manual - but are they normally low poundage? I could push in on the tires fairly easy. Like I said this is my first ATV. I think I'm going to like it!!

 

Yes ATV tires are made to be run on very low air pressure normally between 4-5lbs this allows them to roll over sharp objects with out being punctured. Plus gives more traction too.

 

We run 4 psi in the front and 3 1/2 in the rear. 4 psi in the front seems to help the steering, feels like there is less "push".

 

Congrats on your new purchase, I hope you get many years of fun and many miles of smiles !![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

welcome to the honda forum, congrats on the new quad.

 

The rancher ES is an awesome quad. My friend has one and thats the quad i learned on. Now, everytime I go riding with him, we usually switch quads for a good portion of the ride. He likes riding with a clutch, and even though a lot of people rag on the ES, after riding on a sport clutch quad, it's pretty fun and relaxing to just cruise along using just your fingers. I have a feeling your gonna have a lot of fun on that quad.

 

By the way, did you get the 2x4 or the 4x4?