Redgoblin we have a 95 explorer with 26x12 itp 589 mts all the way a magnum with lift and 27 inch vampires these machines work geat in mud but eventually everything will get stuck though. our 03 700 can go just about anywhere the other two machines can go which is rather impressive considering it has juststock tires. you can believe what you want. i may be stubborn but in modern day america an irs machine will prevail over a swing arm in the mud. the only fair test would be to have equal tires on echh quad. find a mud hole and have each drive into the hole and see how far they get without rocking or jerking the bars. just sit still hold the gas at a steady pace. just hope your not on the swingarm quadwhen the irs goes by cuz youll probably get roosted. oh and i am very thrilled and very amazed at how well the irs machine(with stock tires)can keep up with the other two in the mud that have at least five to six hundred dollars each in tires rims and lift

 

The draw back in the liquid cooling is : I ride in alot of silty mud her in mississippi. I am no stranger to floating the front tires. when power housing through heavy DEEP mud holes all the silt (DIRT) clogges the radiator and dries quickly due to the heat of the radiator. Therfore I am usually overheating after about 1 hour or 2 of riding if I cant get into clear water soon to push the silt out. I am not much of a trail rider more into mud bogging. Dont get me wrong I love the Rubicon. After the extended warranty expires the rad. will be front rack mounted out of the mess. Also one of my riding buddies has the vtwin 750 kaw. He hates for the same reason.

 

Ahhh. Now I see why liquid cooling may have not been the best choice for your situation. I make sure I run the water through the radiator thoroughly when I clean the quad, but I haven't had the troubles you face. I've only heard how bad the silt can be in Ms.

I prefered LQ in my situation, my XR600s would ping and start hard when it gets above 90F.

 

CrazyJames, you are correct. All the Rubicons that I ride with have the same problem. Also, the radiator on the Rubicon is not easy to clean out. You have to remove the black plastic cover if you want to get it clean. Some of the guys I ride with just leave it off, and they can sometimes go for longer periods without having the overheating problems.

As compared to my 500 AC, I've yet to have a problem with overheating, and my radiator is much easier to clean out than the Rubicon's. I'm usually going through the same holes as these Rubicons and one or more of them will usually have an overheating problem, and then were headed to a water hose. I usually clean mine out when they do, which is why I never have a problem. I'm sure if I went long enough without cleaning it out, I would start overheating as well.

At any rate, mounting on the top rack will help out alot. There is also an oil cooler that's attached to the radiator. I think it's mounted to the backside of the radiator. The oil cooler needs to be kept clean as well.

 

I have been toying with the notion to design my own bike with big cc engine, IRS, AT/ES, True 4 wheel drive, 2w/4w selection and snorkled. Trying to decide what frame to use and fabricate from there. If anyone has any suggestions let me know. Some one needs to combine all the best features of all manufactuers and combine them into one AWSOME bike.

 

Guys - I just bought a 500 Rubicon but I was concerned about the liquid cooled engine. I would have preferred air cooled but I like the ESP and GPS. Why does anyone not like the liquid cooled? Higher maintenance or real problems?

 

The reason some don't like liquid cooled is that if you are a mud rider, debris can accumulate in front of the radiator causing it to overheat. It is necessary to keep it clear so it stays cool. You can bring water with you to wash it off or drive through water. Other than that, reliability of the Rubicon is great.

 

Thanks for that. I am just a bit nervous that I got the right machine (Honda is not the issue, just which Honda!). The trails here are pretty wet and I look forward to getting it dirty. Lots of clear streams around here, too, so keeping the rad clean should not be a big problem.

 

You'll be really happy with your Rubi. Take a look at some pictures of ours in action: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/crazykayaker89/my_photos. The Rubi is one of my favorite quads and the truth is that all machines suffer from sometype of flaw whether it's IRS, SRA, air cooled, water cooled, light, heavy, too much power, not enough, engine braking, no engine braking. I love my Rubi and my Rancher. If I listened to everything people said, I would be just as well off trading the rancher in for a tri-cycle. Instead, they both offer me hours of enjoyment and will do some impressive stuff in mud. If it was much easier there wouldn't be any sport in it, in my opinion.

 

Nice shots. You should think of coming up here to Canada. Some amazing scenary, too. Hundreds and hundreds of miles of trails in NB. It's all new to me but I am amazed at what is available here. They even have trail side "watering holes", which is a bit scary when I think of a pickled rider driving at 40 mph on a 600 lb machine! Every year we have a few riders killed on the trails in this province.

I agree on your comments. I have had so many opinions thrown at me in the last few weeks (people sure are passionate about their machines!!!) that it's hard to separate fact from fiction. It came down to personal preference and experience with the company. I absolutely love the ride of the Rubi. And that tranny!! Wow! This machine screams quality, which I found lacking in some of the other ones. If I am going to plunk down $12g's, I want to know that I can use the machine for many years to come. I know that I am biased since I have owned two Honda cars in the past 12 years (6 years each and still counting on #2) and I have only replaced wear and tare parts so I can only expect the same from all of their products.

Happy trails.