500 Foreman 4 x 4
Jul 10, 2005 | 05:43 PM
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Trailblazer
Joined: May 2003
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500 Foreman 4 x 4
Just wondering what you all like or dislike about this four-wheeler. I have an 04 500 polaris sportsman and am getting ready to trade it to a honda. I don't care for the engine brake. I believe I also perfer manual shift. How fast do these go?
Jul 10, 2005 | 09:02 PM
#4
Pro Rider
Joined: Jun 2000
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500 Foreman 4 x 4
Found the old one for you....
I recently purchased a Yellow Honda 500 Foreman manual shift 4x4 to replace my former machine which kept breaking down. Many questions have been posed about the Foreman and I will attempt to answer most of them in this review.
First – with tax, title, etc I paid $6100 out the door here in W.V., yes it can be found for a bit less but until I take all the time to drive 100’s of miles and fill the tank of the truck several times I figure it was not worth it. I also like the idea of buying local to help make sure I have a dealer in the years to come.
As for the machine, it was delivered in excellent condition and I only noticed one flaw. The headlight cover seems to be loosely attached and vibrated a tiny bit, but once you are riding it is totally unnoticeable and not an issue. I agree with other reviewers that Honda should have placed a headlight shut-off switch for the handlebar light on the bike as a standard feature and not as an option. But at approximately $15.00 I guess I will be forking up for that real soon. The only other “strange” thing I noticed was that if the operator wants to check the oil (and you always should), you need to unsnap and remove a small black panel on the left side of the machine so that you may access the engine oil dip stick. This is inconvenient and sort of silly to place a item that should be monitored before every ride behind a plastic panel. On my personal machine I have removed the panel and placed it in the garage for safe keeping. The funny thing is no one has noticed it is “missing” and it does not truly affect the ascetics of the machine. I say lose the silly trim Honda, let’s keep this simple. If I wanted complex I sure would not have bought a manual shift, solid rear axle (SRA) machine!
Upon firing the Honda up I noticed it starts quickly and only appears to be a tad bit cold blooded. I allowed the machine to idle for about 5 minutes then kicked a leg over it and planned to hit the trail. I met with an interesting surprise; I could not shift it into first gear with my foot! I ended up having to reach down and pull the shifter up with my hand to get it to engage its first forward gear. I quickly ran the machine through the gears while sitting still then went back to neutral. From this time on the machine shifted perfectly (by foot) and never stuck again. I was told the Honda tranny is a little stiff at first and this seemed to be true!
After a stiff start I headed out on the Hatfield and McCoy Waterways trail to do some real test. The first thing I noted was fist gear is LOW. I mean real low!! If you want to pull a plow for a food plot, tow a LARGE load, then this is the gear for you. If you want to do a normal trail ride, skip first and just start in 2nd. I ended up riding the entire day and think I only kicked it down to first gear one time and that was for a massively steep downhill that had a 90 degree bend in the middle of it. This was the only time I even shifted to first; most of the testing was done in 2nd and 3rd. The machine performed extremely well in numerous rough and rocky climbs. It performed so well I very rarely even shifted the machine into four wheel drive. Most of the day’s adventure was easily conducted in 2 wheel drive with the factory tires. Speaking of factory tires, they are not the best tires I have ever ridden on. They tend to allow the machine to have a little roll in sharp downhill corners and a small amount of plowing. All for all, as factory tires go they are not too bad, I personally will replace them with a 6 ply rated tire that better suits my needs.
The ride itself is impressive for a SRA machine. It is not as soft and plush as an independent rear suspension systems but it is a LOT better than the machines of the past. It gets a little bumpy on the real rocky sections but nothing that will cause most people any problems. The suspension seems to be able to carry a load fairly well and really keeps the machine planted to the ground. I can not get over how stable the machine feels. I made a few errors through out the day and picked a bad line here and there and the machine recovered without a hiccup. A few times I side hilled some rutted out sections of trail that should have pushed the machines ability to stay on four wheels but it felt like it was glued to the ground!
The question I hear over and over is can a sub 500cc machine “do the job.” One word – YES! The motor is excellent, from the smooth idle all the way to the redline. It pulls strong but does not produce a “hang on to the bars for dear life” rush of power. It has more than enough power for normal trail riding and with the super low first gear it should perform with the best of them in the work world. This motor is smooth and has plenty of beans to get you where you want to go. No, you are not going to outrun a Brute Force 750, Sportsman 800, or even a Prairie 700, but then again this is not what the machine is designed for.
You will catch the faster bike soon enough if you play it smart. Why you ask? Because of the excellent fuel mileage! I was highly impressed with how far this thing will go on a tiny bit of fuel! After three hours of riding, up and down hills, rocky terrain, mud and some higher speed runs I only used about 1 gallon of fuel! I thought the fuel gauge was broke until I looked in the tank and the gas was really still in there. I am not one of these people that are “worried” about fuel economy on an ATV but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised knowing I won’t always need to haul extra fuel with me when I go out riding!
I would highly recommend the Honda Foreman 500 to anyone looking for a comfortable and fun trail and work quad. There are many choices out there but if this Honda holds up like the past Foreman’s I doubt I could have picked a better quad for my intended purposes.
Ride safe!
I recently purchased a Yellow Honda 500 Foreman manual shift 4x4 to replace my former machine which kept breaking down. Many questions have been posed about the Foreman and I will attempt to answer most of them in this review.
First – with tax, title, etc I paid $6100 out the door here in W.V., yes it can be found for a bit less but until I take all the time to drive 100’s of miles and fill the tank of the truck several times I figure it was not worth it. I also like the idea of buying local to help make sure I have a dealer in the years to come.
As for the machine, it was delivered in excellent condition and I only noticed one flaw. The headlight cover seems to be loosely attached and vibrated a tiny bit, but once you are riding it is totally unnoticeable and not an issue. I agree with other reviewers that Honda should have placed a headlight shut-off switch for the handlebar light on the bike as a standard feature and not as an option. But at approximately $15.00 I guess I will be forking up for that real soon. The only other “strange” thing I noticed was that if the operator wants to check the oil (and you always should), you need to unsnap and remove a small black panel on the left side of the machine so that you may access the engine oil dip stick. This is inconvenient and sort of silly to place a item that should be monitored before every ride behind a plastic panel. On my personal machine I have removed the panel and placed it in the garage for safe keeping. The funny thing is no one has noticed it is “missing” and it does not truly affect the ascetics of the machine. I say lose the silly trim Honda, let’s keep this simple. If I wanted complex I sure would not have bought a manual shift, solid rear axle (SRA) machine!
Upon firing the Honda up I noticed it starts quickly and only appears to be a tad bit cold blooded. I allowed the machine to idle for about 5 minutes then kicked a leg over it and planned to hit the trail. I met with an interesting surprise; I could not shift it into first gear with my foot! I ended up having to reach down and pull the shifter up with my hand to get it to engage its first forward gear. I quickly ran the machine through the gears while sitting still then went back to neutral. From this time on the machine shifted perfectly (by foot) and never stuck again. I was told the Honda tranny is a little stiff at first and this seemed to be true!
After a stiff start I headed out on the Hatfield and McCoy Waterways trail to do some real test. The first thing I noted was fist gear is LOW. I mean real low!! If you want to pull a plow for a food plot, tow a LARGE load, then this is the gear for you. If you want to do a normal trail ride, skip first and just start in 2nd. I ended up riding the entire day and think I only kicked it down to first gear one time and that was for a massively steep downhill that had a 90 degree bend in the middle of it. This was the only time I even shifted to first; most of the testing was done in 2nd and 3rd. The machine performed extremely well in numerous rough and rocky climbs. It performed so well I very rarely even shifted the machine into four wheel drive. Most of the day’s adventure was easily conducted in 2 wheel drive with the factory tires. Speaking of factory tires, they are not the best tires I have ever ridden on. They tend to allow the machine to have a little roll in sharp downhill corners and a small amount of plowing. All for all, as factory tires go they are not too bad, I personally will replace them with a 6 ply rated tire that better suits my needs.
The ride itself is impressive for a SRA machine. It is not as soft and plush as an independent rear suspension systems but it is a LOT better than the machines of the past. It gets a little bumpy on the real rocky sections but nothing that will cause most people any problems. The suspension seems to be able to carry a load fairly well and really keeps the machine planted to the ground. I can not get over how stable the machine feels. I made a few errors through out the day and picked a bad line here and there and the machine recovered without a hiccup. A few times I side hilled some rutted out sections of trail that should have pushed the machines ability to stay on four wheels but it felt like it was glued to the ground!
The question I hear over and over is can a sub 500cc machine “do the job.” One word – YES! The motor is excellent, from the smooth idle all the way to the redline. It pulls strong but does not produce a “hang on to the bars for dear life” rush of power. It has more than enough power for normal trail riding and with the super low first gear it should perform with the best of them in the work world. This motor is smooth and has plenty of beans to get you where you want to go. No, you are not going to outrun a Brute Force 750, Sportsman 800, or even a Prairie 700, but then again this is not what the machine is designed for.
You will catch the faster bike soon enough if you play it smart. Why you ask? Because of the excellent fuel mileage! I was highly impressed with how far this thing will go on a tiny bit of fuel! After three hours of riding, up and down hills, rocky terrain, mud and some higher speed runs I only used about 1 gallon of fuel! I thought the fuel gauge was broke until I looked in the tank and the gas was really still in there. I am not one of these people that are “worried” about fuel economy on an ATV but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised knowing I won’t always need to haul extra fuel with me when I go out riding!
I would highly recommend the Honda Foreman 500 to anyone looking for a comfortable and fun trail and work quad. There are many choices out there but if this Honda holds up like the past Foreman’s I doubt I could have picked a better quad for my intended purposes.
Ride safe!
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