I am interested in getting an ATV for hunting & general trail riding (nothing too extreme). I weigh about 200 lbs. & want something that can carry me & another adult rider. Is the recon strong enough or should I be looking at the 300/350 class atvs? I would appreciate advice from those of you that have recons.

 

Recon owner and it would be straining with what you have written and then lets say you add another 150 pound rider that puts you up to 350 pounds.

You say Recon so that means Honda have you looked at the Rancher?

 

I think the Recon would pull the weight. I would be concerned that the added weight would affect the handling. If you do buy the Recon, I'd drive very slow with the extra person on the back. (Especially around corners.) I am going to suggest a larger quad.

The handling of a larger quad will also be affected by the extra weight. Just not as much.

 

My Rancher is a great bike, reliable, easy to operate, etc. But.....talk about underpowered. Put it in sand, third gear is the highest gear you can use, and believe me...you have to rap it out or it will bog down. Put my wife on back while riding a trail...feels very underpowered. Not too mention the seat is not very long, so I had to sit high on the seat, while she had to partly sit on the battery box/rack. Not very comfy for both of us. I weigh 175 lbs., she is probably about 160...(three kids, poor girl). In my opinion, the Rancher is lacking in power, but very predictable handling, good brakes, stiff ride, reliable engine. Good for younger riders. JMHO.

The Recon or the Rancher will pull you both around, no question. But, like Coyotechaser said, handling will be seriously affected.

 

With 2 people on board the Recon, the seat is to small, front end gets light and going up much of a hill you get that weird feeling that if you hit a bump incorrectly you might flip over.

 

The little Recons claim to fame is that it is light and agile. You load it down with a bunch of weight, and suddenly it is none of those things anymore, plus underpowered! I would definitely suggest a bigger machine.

 

Bigblue, I looked at the recon just like you when I started looking at quads. I wanted it for the wife and I to take camping and to trail ride. I am 180lbs and she is 130lbs. We both decided the recon was too small, wouldn't offer the rack capacity, and
wouldn't have enough power to pull us and gear.

We bought a new Rancher 4x4 a few weeks ago. We have only ridden once so far. I found it to have more than enough power to pull both of us and we had no problem getting up to 30mph or so on level ground or slight inclines. We did not attempt any steep hills together. However, neither of us had any problem going up steep hils at 5mph or less. I have been amazed w/the 4x4. You can literally creep up a hill w/o loosing traction - it was dry.

Imo, with my limited seat time, the rancher has enough power to get the job done. The 4x4 model is geared very low and provides plenty of torque. We do weigh a little less than you and the wife so there would be a slight difference.

As for the 2 people on the quad, it is a little bit tight with both of us on it but not enough to make riding unenjoyable. You can trail ride with 2 but obviously, steep hills and inclines are best left to one rider.

We did consider the foreman before buying the rancher. We decided against it for several reasons. We didn't like the seating position even though it offered more room. We also felt it was way more on the utility side than the sporty side. We felt like it would be too big and powerful for her to ride alone. Lastly, we plan to buy another rancher or possibly a recon in the future.

In the end, I would rule the recon out unless it is only temporary until you buy another.

 

I would also suggest looking at an es because sometimes the extra set of feet can get in the way of shifting and breaking, as for power the recon has enough power for most places and 1st gear is low enough for most creeping, as for size they are small but that is good for getting girls to hug up close to you. LOL

 

I had a recon for 5 years, and it was a tight fit for my wife and me. I weigh 210 and she weighs 130. It was also difficult to shift when she was with me because her feet were always getting in the way. I now have a 450 ES, and we can both ride comfortably. Also much more power. I fabricated a backrest for her also.

 

dont let the little recon fool you ive had 4 400lb persons on it including me i weigh 196 and i also had three of them 400lb fools sitting on top a sofa we found on the rear rack belive it or not but its true and yes i let the tire fressure down to 2 lbs and it was stock when i did it its a powerful little atv but we had the rancher and if you can afford it get the rancher 4x4 its a beast