The lowest point in the rear is the brake housing. In the 350, the brake is tucked close into the right wheel, and doesn't really get in the way. Why they moved it back to the middle on the 420 (the old 300 has the same setup) is a mystery to me, but they appearently wanted a different swingarm design, and that seems to be why. I haven't done any serious rock gardens yet, but I have not had any problems so far with hitting normal stuff out on the trail.

Keep in mind that Honda never intended to build a rock crawler here or a monster mud bogger with 2' of clearance. This is just a nice little trail quad, and that is all most folks care about owning.

 

Thats because people don't report the good ones.

 

I have an 06 Rancher 350 2WD ES and it has been absolutely awesome. At the time the 07's weren't available at any of my local Honda Dealers, but I'm not one bit disappointed with the performance of the 350! I've gone places in my 2WD 350 that people in heavier 4WD quads have serious problems getting through. I did add a 2500LB winch along with 26inch Mud Lite tires and it still handles better than my friends stock 03 Rincon on tight trails. I love the low end of the 350 and 45MPH top end (with the 26inch tires) is more than enough for the type of trails I run. I have had zero problems with the "Electronic Shift" and I would get an ES model again if I had to do it all over again. The ES comes with a nice gauge pod which I find very helpful in keeping up with mileage and maintenance & the non ES models don't come with that.

I do like the improvements of the 420 like front disc brakes, Fuel Injection, and the larger engine, but I don't like the single tail light, rear drum brake location, or the lack of a Yellow model for 07.

Tad

 

I had an 01 Rancher 350 2wd, and it was a pleasure to ride. Didn't have that extra weight in front, which make it handle about as much like a sport quad as a utility can get. The winch probably negates all that though.........

 

I originally was upset about the single tailight conversion, but after getting the 420 it makes the dual light setup look funny to me. That and the fact that the fenders are much easier to clean mud out of without that damn tailight housing. The triple LED really puts off a cool effect too. (check my gallery for a side by side rear end comparison.)

BTW, I also noticed tonight via the highlifter forum that the 2007 420 is in fact available in yellow on both 4x4 models. The blue is available on the 2x4. Cool.

 

Anybody else noticed that kickass the Suzukiboy always shows up in the Honda forum trying to pick fights about ground clearance????? Guess things are slow over in the Suzuki forum, and he doesn't have anything better to do????

I thought more about the ground clearance issue. My boys ride their little 350 pound, 2wd 250EX's (based on the Recon) almost everywhere I go on the Rancher (they kind of do "trials" riding), and they have only 6.5" of ground clearance under the rear shaft drive (lowest point on the quad). They literally ride circles around people on their larded 600, 700, and 800 pound big bore utes! (I do have to point out that we don't have any appreciable mud around here....which is just fine with me.) Sure, they might hang up on a rock once in a while, but it's no big deal to lift a light little quad off a rock! Meanwhile, the lard riders are feeding out their winch lines..........

My point is, ground clearance itself isn't as important as the nature of the machine that the ground clearance is on. A light agile little machine has advantages over a big heavy monster quad. I don't think the Rancher is as light as it could or should be, but it is lighter than most everything else out there that has 4wd...........

 

Actually the winch and plate added less than 20 pounds to the front end so it doesn't have an effect on handling at all. The winch however is worth it's weight in gold when someone gets stuck.

Tad

 

I bought a winch once, but couldn't bring myslef to install it and add that extra weight up front where it does the most harm. It was a Warn and they said it was "light weight", but when you added in the plate, etc., it was going to be 35 pounds......no thanks!

Again, I don't ride mud, but I can't think of any situation where I couldn't get a Rancher unstuck, even without a winch. It would just be dead weight. My buddy has one on his old 300, and in all these years we have never even used it.

 

Recon, are you referring to the 1.5 warn for sport applications? It's supposed to be 11 pounds with plate but I've never seen one to verify it.

 

I've got to agree with ya recon,I dont see the 420 having "only" 6.5'of ground clearance being a big issue.Least not for trail riding.I think Honda did a good job of balancing clearance vs stability.Low enough to keep it stable,high enough to get over most stuff.I like the handling of an SRA over a IRS anyway.Rode my buddys 02-03? grizzly irs(bigger wheels,tires) a few times and never liked the handling,felt tippy.Now if I was getting a machine for mudding only,maybe it would be a different story,but I'm not.And I've never had a problem with my trx250 rear axle hittn rocks etc...hardly ever,I just keep an eye out for stuff and pick and choose a line through or around it.