so i have been a honda person for as long as i can remember. but well recently i've been looking and ready to trade my 04 AT in for a dare i say yamaha with IRS or maybe even the AC manual 400 with IRS also. i made the mistake of riding my dad 06 kodiak 450 witch has IRS. and well i have to say i liked the low range, and the ride in the country i ride in was well, awesome.
so do you think i should look for a Rincon? with no low end to speek of. or trade for a kodiak or big bear, arctic cat?
please tell me what you think. as i'm.. well very disapointed in honda not going with more IRS quads.
i like the gas milage i get with mine and the size of the quad, it does and good job of plowing snow but hardly plowes dirt. (no low end), with the rincon have what i'm looking for.?? heck i don't know.
how much is mine worth anyhow.? 3 maybe 4 grand? it's in great shape.
sorry for the rant but. i think i need help.

HR

 

i personally dont like IRS. Sure, they ride better and give you more ground clearance, but if you try to pull something heavy around a corner, the rear end squats to one side. The IRS gives you twice as many CV axles to break or wear out, as well as many linkages and parts that are, from what i've seen, much easier to break than a 2" tubular swing arm. It's the same thing with today's SUV's.... all the soccer mom's want to have a better ride and all that stuff so they push the manufacturers to follow suit...Now you have wimpy IRS rear ends on suv's and nothing solid back there for towing, what trucks were MEANT to do.

It's the same thing with atv's. If you want a workhorse ATV (foreman, anyone??) buy a honda, if you want something that just trails nice, maybe look elsewhere.

 

Very well said. Surprised my friend lately when my 2000 Rancher 350 out pulled his Polaris 500 HO

 

Every bike has it's strenghts and weakness.. the lack of a front end locker on the honda is bad. I watched some video's of ATV's doing some mudding and rock and hill climbing and the Honda had the most problems and got stuck alot..If I had the the money I would be looking at the new Gizzly 700..
.I haven't had any problems with my 2201 Sportsman..

 

I would go with the AC NOT a honda. The Rincon's no low range will not work if your going to do much plowing and hard trail riding. The Grizz also looks like a great machine for work and play. I can't say anything bad about my Polaris. 2 yrs old and only ever changed the fluids.

 

I have to say that I'd buy the Kodiak long before I bought a Rancher. Both are reliable machines but the Kodiak has the locker, low range, and smoother ride (and more power) for about the same price - maybe even a little less. That's just too much to dismiss because the other bike is a Honda.

 

I second that! I didn't buy my atv to just cruise around the woods or open hills and have it ride smooth. I have a 4wd truck for that.

 

so. from what mostr of you have told me then honda is a better work horse. ok. i do hawl a wood trailer and hay at times. when doing i have to air my tires up to almost 8lb to keep them from being flat. most of the time they are at 4.5.

the lack of a front locker hasn't hurt me yet. i have gone everywhere my dad has. even plowing 12+ inches of snow the front locker hasn't been an issue. so i'm thinking i'll have to get my dads and hawl a trailer and see what it does. i would also have to say that 85% of my riding is trails. so i'm thinking an irs would be nice.

thank you very much for all your replies. any more insite would be great. maybe advise on what quad to get. NO polaris's sorry i hate the way they feel to me. i'm just not cumphy on it. but most of the others i have site on are OK. but not a honda. lol.

 

Just like you said, I have yet to find anyone or anything that could go somewhere that I couldn't, I love my Rancher for everything that it is and everything that it is not. I love the sporty feel of a strait axel that is one reasons I bought the Rancher. I would like more power though. I am currently looking at putting a 650 from a Rincon into my Rancher [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] Some people think it is silly but I have all the HP bolts on's available and there is no replacement for displacement [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] It all just depends on what your looking for. Great Quads are built not bought [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] I am not a die hard Honda fan but Honda's are just as good as any other quad out there[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Ride a Rincon, then decide.