Did anyone see the test in the November 2004 issue on the Rancher 350ES? They jumped all over it for not having enough power to climb all but the easiest of hills?????? Then they said if you downshift to first or second gear, that it is at a loss for momentum and it stalls with a lack of power? Is this just an undue bad rap for the Rancher 350 or is there truth in this?

 

decided against the prairie aye. haha, no prob. Youll have fun on the rancher. The rancher will not have a problem with hill. On most hills you can crawl up in 2nd but if you need speed go up in 3rd then a quick down shift to 2nd will get you up the hill.Dont worry, ive seen ranchers climb some good ol' hills.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

The Rancher will go anywhere any other machine will. In fact, it will do better than a big bore in some situations because it is smaller, and more important it is lighter than the monster machines. It may not get there as fast, but in the technical stuff big horsepower is just wasted.

I would like to see them offer the Rancher 400 engine with a manual transmission option, for a little more muscle!

 

My 01 ES climbed everywhere by buddie's eiger 400 would, no complaints here.

 

Don't believe what the mags say. My rancher goes up hills like a mtn goat. I have scared myself a few times by climbing stuff that was very steep but the rancher climbed it with no problem. The rancher is a great combo of power and weight. Now EFI would be nice though.

 

THat's because the test riders obviously have no clue how to ride a manual shift auto clutch bike anymore. Rider skill will take the 350 over most anything.

 

The test riders are probably use to riding powerful big bore machines, so their bias shows. The troulble is that the price you pay for those machines is that they are overweight and huge, and way more expensive.