Yep,
I'd have to agree with you..When I worked at the Honda dealership for 18 months,we did not see too many Honda's back in for repairs either..I switched over to a multi line dealership and you do see a FEW more of the other brand ATVs in for service,but not so many as to discredit them as a bad brand ATV..Honda's go thru more wheel bearings than any other brand ATV I've ever seen,and front brakes too..Part of Honda's reliability can be attributed to the fact that most riders that own them,dont ride them very hard,like the other guys with factory lockers,high ground clearances,and better suspensions.

Yesterday,I just did a club members 2003 Rincon's front/rear brakes..The fronts were SO packed with mud/debree,you wonder how Honda could even concider not making all of their ATVs with disk brakes?I also wonder why in the hell Honda was so damn late putting on factory brake lights for?

 

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thats the most retarded thing i ever heard, my rancher goes in mud pits first usually before everybody, and also i jump it higher then most sport bikes, if ANYTHING its the guyz with the king quad and polaris who are afraid of hurting their bikes. so please have an educated reponse before making that comment, not one guy i know who rides a honda backs off because we don't have factory lockers or high ground clearance or better suspensions.

i would love to show pictures too, if u don't believe me i have tons at my disposale

 

Even though I dont ride a quad(but do have a thing for Hondas) I have never understood the reason for such antiquated brakes.

 

SPEAKING OF EDUCATED RESPONSES------No disrespect intended here,but if your JUMPING your RANCHER higher than most sport ATVs,that sure as hell tells me ALOT about the riding ability of you and the guys riding the sport ATVs.

Your Rancher would'nt make it a week in mud where I ride before you LOST your antique style front brakes,the 350cc engine dont make enough power to conquer the mud we ride in,it dont have the ground clearance to ride the mud we ride in,and its 3wd is another factory drawback to riding in SERIOUS mud..BUT,to your defense,

I think I saw one parked outside at Church the other day.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img]

 

uh? ok would u like the pictures? a week i wouldn't last? my bike's brakes wouldn't last?

lol the one run we do is 6 miles under the racks in water, still haven't had anything but shaft drives do it. your mud is the worst? lol y? we ride in coal mud and a variety of others,

i would love to know how ur mud is different? is it special mud?

my bike doesn't have the power? lol would you like to see all the tow pictures of us pulling other bikes out? you bit off more then u can chew i have pictures to back up everything and anything i say, you on the other hand have nothing but hot air.

thanks for playing though it's been swell

 

LITTLE BILL,
just like your screen name,the Rancher is the same,especially if you plan on playing with the big bores in the serious mud,TOO LITTLE------

I ride in a very versatile ATV club here in Michigan with all DIFFERANT brands of ATVs,I also SOLD Honda ATVs for 18 months..I been riding 3-4 wheelers since 1983,so I
''THINK'' I just might know what im talking about in regards to the mud and the Rancher.

Do you HONESTLY beleive that the Rancher can hang with the big bores in the serious mud?If so,thats OK with me little Bill,but if you ever get to Michigan,look up your BIG BROTHER,his name is BILL too and he rides a BIG BORE 4x4..We could have some fun,no matter what we ride-------------

I'll even allow you to pull me out[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

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Wow, I have no idea how I missed this heated debate over the weekend.

Data determining the reliability of models released in the last few years IS available. It's in the form of warranty claims versus the number of units sold in the same time period. Your local dealer can might be willing to share some numbers with you.

Honda, Yamaha, and Suzuki even go as far as issuing reports occasionaly to it's dealers giving nation wide statistics.....but only when they look good in the standings...LOL

I WILL say that among the big bores though, I don't see any of them standing out as the greatest in terms of reliability.

Rincon....consistent water pump failures and weak front bearings since they were intorduced. The outer CV boots dry rot after a short time (cheap rubber?).

KingQuad.....Flimsy lower a-arm mounts that can easily ripped from the frame when hitting the smallest of trail obstacles. Plastic breaks VERY easily when it's cold. And the front bumper guard mounts might as well be made of tin-foil.

BruteForce....I don't know what Kawasaki messed up, but the 750 versions of that v-twin have faulty cranks. Kawasaki fixed this problem quitely after about 500 to 1000 were already in the hands of customers. Big problem getting them to cover the ones out of warranty.

Grizzly...... Seen a few break the lower engine cases when outfitted with big tire kits and hard accelaration. Don't get me started on the front CV axles. Their bearings aren't any better than the Hondas.

You may not have had a problem listed above,...or heard of a problem listed above, but these are wide spread issues pertaining to those models in SE.

No ATV is perfect. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Hey ATV Tech1 nice to hear from you,the foreman fuse problem I have no idea. Haven't spoke to him since. He had a factory installed winch......??? maybe a pinched wire. The Rincon 650 are a mystery they will not wade water like the other bikes. They stall out. I waded back across this river after driving my bike through to help a lady that was with us she had a Honda 350 2 wheel drive and didn't want to attempt it so I said I'd try it. That two wheel drive Honda crossed with out a hitch and that was with both of us on . This is not the first time these two guys with these 650 have stalled out in water. Now the Honda 350 ES 4x4 with the blown engine was a fluke the crank case breather hose came off and filled the engine with water and sand....same thing happened later to my 2004 Polaris.