I went with my uncle this afternoon to pick out a new four wheeler. He is about to retirement age and one of his cousins that we ride with recently bought a Rincon, so he wanted a Rincon. We found a left over 2005 at a good price and went to pick it up. I talked him in to going riding when we got back home. I thought for a second about just driving the gravel roads but figured maybe he'd want to try out his new 4x4 (his previous machine was an old Kawi Bayou 300 2x4). I headed down in the pasture, and in to the creek, it was low with lots of dry spots. I found a place to climb that I hadn't done before and headed up it, no problem at all. My uncle lined up for the climb and started climbing and he has this bad habit of giving it a little bit of gas to get moving and then completely letting off the throttle, coming to a stop and starting the process over again. He did this twice coming up the embankment, the second time causing the rear wheels to slip a bit and it slid the rear over just a tab. Of course he let off the throttle and came to a stop only to give it just a tad bit of throttle and he started heading up a third time, almost to the top and he lets completely off the throttle, the Rincon stalls and down he goes. Had it not slid sideways a bit, it would have went straight and been fine, instead, going at an angle, when the first rear tire hit bottom, his weight shifted and over the Rincon went. To my amazement, it was running when I climbed down. My uncle was moving and I lifted the machine off him and on to its tires and shut it off. I'm not sure if he got it started on the way down or if it just sounded like it stalled at the top or what.

After he was able to get up and walk around we examined the Rincon. I felt terrible thinking we should have just hit the roads. His hand bars were bent pretty bad, the front rack was bent down about 15 degree on the right from corner. The headlamp on the right front had one broken mount and it snapped the mount causing a hole in the front fender. The right rear corner of the rear rack was also down. I told him it would all straighten fine trying to ease his mind. When we got back to the barn I got a bar to try and bend that front rack back straight and found out how tuff that rack really is. Couldn’t budge it. Fortunately, I own a collision repair center and told him to load it up and head on down to the shop. I spent about 5 hours on it tearing it down and using floor pods and couple of push and pull rams with chains getting that front section squared back in to shape, it had swayed to the left. With a little bit of epoxy, we mended his headlamp mount and the broken mount on the fender and align the cosmetics all up and had it fitting good again. I had to touch up some chips in the racks, and of course the fenders had a few pretty good scratches, but overall, it looked about like one that had been to the woods about a half dozen times. By the time I was finished working on it and had assembled it, he was starting to walk better again. I think he started feeling better as he seen his brand new machine with less than a mile on it start to take shape again. The handle bars even straightened out to where if a person didn’t know they had been bent, they never would have known with out really inspecting them.

Just wanted to share this story for anyone else that may have bunged up their brand new machine. It happens. The important thing is he was alright. His machine was repairable and repaired and now he no longer has to worry about getting that first scratch on it. I have alway told him to stay on the gas a bit to keep that momentum up! I hope he will from now on.

 

Some good lessons to learn here! With any new machine, don't head out into more challenging terrain until you are absolutely familiar with it. Sounds like he was in 2wd, when being in 4wd might have prevented him from gettin sideways (?????). And, practice the drill of what you are going to do if you get stuck on a hill and can't make it.

I just don't like the big utilities much, because they are death traps in a rollover! We keep saying over and over again, that the Rincon is designed to be a comfy recreational trail machine, not a hardcore utility. And, there are posts in here about the Rincon's habit of stalling at the worst times...........

 

I believe he had it in 4wd as he told me he put it in 4wd on the first little bump he took it up. I guess I missed the posts on the Rincons stalling or I would have mentioned that. I tried to inform him about all the good and bad about every Honda Utility that I had heard about. I told him my Ranchers would stall when brand new if I put it under a load and completely let off, but that only lasted a short while, now I can't kill them without shutting them off. I told my uncle and aunt on the way down about a couple of friends having the bigger utes and actually selling them to get Ranchers since they felt they were more maneuverable. Basically anything in the Honda line bigger than the Rancher is about the same size dimension wise and I was originally pushing for him to get a Foreman (would have been my original choice had I not been talked in to buying two machines by my wife[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] He was pretty set on the Rincon which I figured he would be, and they are nice machines

 

Be aware also, that the Rincon has little or no ENGINE BRAKING, at low speeds. (Supposedly this is improved on the 06's, but who knows????) Lucky he didn't try a nasty descent, and find that fact out the hard way. Warn him about this one!

 

yea you really needed to start with easier stuff especially if hes the kind that doesn't commit to a hill, never start a rider on a new bike on hard terrain until, they are use to the machine

 

Yeah, I'll mention the engine braking. Although after today he probably has a pretty good idea. We went for about a 55 mile ride. Lot of old railroad right of way, some levees and lots of gravel roads. Even got in on a nice down pour. He is pretty please with the Rincon. His cousin that has one had no idea it had been rolled, even after they swapped machines for a few miles. When he got home at 1:00 AM this morning however, his wife knew exactly what had happened[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

Littlebill, he is not a kid, he has been riding 4 wheelers longer than I have. He is my uncle and I figure he can decide what he can and cannot do.

 

If I'm in any kind of hilly terrain I always stay in 4WD, it helps a lot when braking and descending. If a hill is fairly steep I get up a bit on the handlebars and it helps a lot but sounds like your uncles problem was how he was handling the throttle. I will say that in the initial break in period I experienced the stalling problem a couple of times but after that it hasn't been a problem once.

Generally when I get a new quad I don't like to wander too far from home just in case there are a few "bugs".....sounds like thats about all you were doing though. Good to hear your uncle is OK and the quad came through in relatively good shape. These things are pretty tough, they are built to take some abuse.

 

Yeah, I experienced the same occasional stall when my Ranchers were new, but not since. What I can't figure out it we both said it stalled at the top, but when I set it back on its wheels, I shut it off because it was running. When I went to start it to move it after checking my Uncle out, it was still in drive. Could the machine have started while rolling backward down the hill while in drive? That or it didn't actually die at the top, is the only explanation.

I've tried to make it a point since to stay on the gas until he is in the clear and to stay up over the handlebars. He usually does pretty good with shifting his weight, but that time, when it stalled (or at least we both thought), he sat back down to hang on for the ride, which attributed to the rolling over. I've found myself having to go back down a hill from forgetting to lock the 424 in ( or thinking I can climb something in 2wd) and I stay over the handle bars to aid in traction for the front brakes to help slow my descent.

 

When I went to start it to move it after checking my Uncle out, it was still in drive. Could the machine have started while rolling backward down the hill while in drive? That or it didn't actually die at the top, is the only explanation.
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Well, in my experiences these things happen so fast and sometimes it's confusing. Maybe with the ignition still on rolling backwards "push started" it?? One other thing I've noticed is to make sure the choke is fully depressed after warming up, I've had it just half a click from being fully depressed and experienced some stalling. The stalling concerned me at first but after about the third time I got it out and rode it for an extended period of time it stopped. It also has to be FULLY warmed up.

 

I read this story in Horror, I have actually seen this happen to experience riders we all must remember safety, first you don’t let off the gas like that .
Some times a spotter is the best way to go. Most of all now our machine and limitations, and always wear safety equipment, Helmet, eye protection and boots.
Yes the Rincon as well as any machine can and will stall. So far I not had this happen to mine 06 Rincon, he didn’t even give his machine time to break in what about warm up time ect , there are many reason why a machine stalls and no one will most likely be able to identify the reason. As he found out if you get sideways even little bit on hill most time means disaster. Any way glade he ok and his machine seems ok be sure to check wheels, brakes and suspension and steering system and bearings too.