I have a friend who has two big monster utes. One a huge 700 pound Polaris (cant' remember exactly which one), and the other a 700 Prarie (perenial winner of the magazine shootouts for best handling ute). When I ride with him in nasty, life threatening technical terrain, he always says how I make it "look easy" on my lowly little Rancher. Thing is, it IS EASY. The Rancher is small, light, maneuverable, and has a very low center of gravity. Nasty off-cambers are a dream. It's a piece of cake! Like I said, THE BIKE SHOULD MAKE YOUR RIDE EASIER, NOT MORE DIFFICULT.....all said.....

I can't figure out why there is this fascination with huge, heavy, farm work tractor utilities, that handle like crap! Even the best handling utes are poor compared to even a mediocre sport bike.

 

Just put it in 4x4 and you'll have complete control of the Rinny. Putting it in esp1 does not help a thing. (as long as your not giving it gas going down hill) In 4x4 mode you control all 4 brakes from any lever you hit, makes it much easier to handle. Ive had it so vertical that Ive had the back tires come off the ground. (according to the guy behind me)

 

But, sometimes you need to have it in 2wd and just drag the back end, so when you drop the front off of an overhang you don't endo from the front end digging in like it can do in 4wd.

 

Heres a story on that torque converter tranny, you guys might be interested in reading.
honda torque converter

 

RECONRANGER........There is nothing flat up here in the catskills except my girlfriends chest. Which i dont mind cause she makes up for it with here ****.....Anyway back to the topic i own a king quad and a rincon both excellent atvs...every machine has its gooods and its bads...Ive had the rincon in the same hairy situatios as the king quad.......the king let me down a few times because of the weight.....while the rinny ripps threw it all.....And yes i do miss flat roads at times, ever since i moved here from the city.....then again were would i 4 wheel.......nuff said

 

Generally speaking, What some people don't understand is that Honda did not make the Rincon to do the same stuff as the Racher, Rubicon, and Foreman.

Honda made the Rincon as more of a SUV style machine, with some Utility attributes.

Of which it is awsome at.
You can't beat the ride, it is a Cadillac.
The IRS is awsome on most trails and logging roads
I love mine to death, just not in the Steep Technical stuff.

You can't totally compare this machine to all the other more "true" Utilities.
The Rincon is a SUV.............

 

perfectly said quad.....

 

I recently spent 3 days over at the Tillamook OHV area with my 500 Foreman, and my buddy, who has a Rincon.

On the steep, nasty rocky decents it seems to me to be simpler to get mine to the bottom--- Put it in low, scoot your butt back as far as you can, and steer the thing down the line you want. It'll feel precarious as the front end drops into a hole or off a rock, but if you just let it crawl in low the front end will crawl it's way out of the hole or whatever...

My buddy on the Rincon would have to use his brakes, and it seemed to me it (or he) had more of a tendency to stop in that precarious position when the front wheels drop into a lower spot...

I guess what I'm saying is I suppose the gut reaction is to stop or nearly stop when things seem to be right on the edge, where with the Foreman creeping in low, it seems somehow easier to let it roll and trust the quad to come out the other end. Does that make sense?

That being said, I wonder if it is just a matter of technique with the Rincon... Having the orbs to go just a little faster and/or resist the gut reaction and ease off the brakes as the front end dips off something...

Also, it should be noted that the little bit of extra ground clearance on the Rincon is worth more on the trail than it would seem on paper, and on one of the rougher decents we went down I don't think he hit the bottom of his quad, where I don't think there was a line I could have chosen that didn't involve rocks hitting the underside of the Foreman.

Lastly, I think it would be appropriate to point out that the Rincon really has it's strong points. On the last day my buddy took my Foreman out to try it out. I was whipped, and stayed behind at the RV.

When he got back, he related that he now understands why he is ready to keep riding and I'm not, even though I'm not quite 40 and he is in his 50's. My Foreman is not a harsh riding quad, but it doesn't hold a candle to the Rincon's plushness. Over several days of hard riding in rough terrain, it's a difference worth talking about.

Bottom line: IMHO The Rincon can decend steep stuff safely, but I feel it takes more effort/inputs/attention/rider skill than it would if it had a lower low gear...

 

My impression of the Rincon is that Honda created a "cruiser couch", aimed primarily at the senior citizen segment of the market, who are going to place a greater emphasis on comfort rather than any other aspect of performance. I try to talk to anybody I meet out on the trail and get their opinions about the performance of their machines (no matter what they are riding). Rincon riders do always rave about the suspension! Honda should market this for what it is (an SUV that is not well suited for terrifying technical terrain), and stop running magazine adds that show it bashing through fields of boulders.