Just bought my new rincon broke her in, then took her to wellsville yesterday. I went with two buddies of mine one has a brute force and the a grizz. I will be onest with you I had the best bike. The grizz ended up throwing a half shaft and the brute force (the most powerful of the 3) did not climb the hills like the rincon. I ride all day in ESP and ESP IS THE SHIZZY. I was able to wind out gears and get maximun torque for climbing mountains/hills were as the grizz and BF are totally auto and were you can not fine tune gear selection. As far as excelleration the grizz and bf is faster off the line but not by much. As far as mud honda is so stupid for picking non-directional tires in the front. Once I get new treads mud wont be a problem, both the grizz and bf has more ground clearance. The belt on the grizz got wet when we were playing in some mud/ice/water. In the trails the bf was horrible. It is just to big. The grizz being the smallest was probably better than my rincon due to smaller wheel base and more top end. And thanx to my gpscape we actually found our way back before running out of gas.

 

What about the lack of engine braking below 8 mph??? How did that effect the ride on descents? (I rode a V-Force and Prarie 700, and they do the same thing.)

When I descend a steep technical hill, I just put it in low and it crawls down on its own using engine braking. I can't imagine the lack of control there would be if I had to descend a hill in neutral, using only the brakes.

 

You are right it does lack an engine brake. Going down a hill in auto is safer than esp on the rincon but does not compare to the ebc on the prairie or grizz. But then again honda is finally using disc brakes.