Continue your reasearch dude [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

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About the optional recoil starter thing, it's not something I lay awake nights worrying about......

Sport quads don't have backup starters, and you don't have anybody obsessing about that! In a lifetime of riding, I have only had to push start one machine of my own, and that was when the 400EX blew a fuse because of a short in a headlight wire....no big deal. It would take me a couple minutes to even find the recoil starter on my Rancher 350....I can't even remember where it is.

And keep in mid that the 420 isn't one of the foo foo automatics, that can't be push started at all. I guess people who are use to automatics are going to obsess about it, probably for good reason.

I cannot imagine any situation I would ever be in where I couldn't get the 420 restarted. I don't think this is going to be a major issue for the average buyer. And, you can add one on for those who insist........

 

Honda just puts EFI on two of there "Utility" ATVs but not on there serious 450r race ATV or very serious motor cross bikes and that goes for every manufacturer of motocross bikes, because EFI has such a power performance advantage? These EFI on ATV are not sophisticated like the automotive EFIs so you can compare it with those advantages.

In Polaris case they woke up the Sp 500 when they change the carb from a 34mm to the H.O's 40mm carb(+Scramblers high duration cam) but they went a step backs wards to the 34mm carb days in performance with the EFI. The EFI has better gas mileage,cold starts and no re jetting for mountains but performance was not one of its improvements.

 

Regarding the recoil starter, that also has it's drawbacks. Lots of the deep mud riding crowd remove and block off the recoil starter, since mud and grit can get in there were it eventually gets past the seal and into the motor. I wish Honda would have just stuck with a kick start backup, that doesn't risk trapping water and abrasives against the shaft and seal...

I know it's not a good safety practice to ride alone, but some folks (like me) have rotating days off or whatever, so it happens. I'm not sure if I could push start either of my machines on flat ground, by myself, but then both my machines are in good condition, well maintained, and have proven to be totally reliable.

If I had an EFI machine and were really concerned about it, I'd carry one of the small battery booster things, or install a 2nd battery on the macine with an isolator.

As far as sport machines w/o EFI go, I think you will see most of them convert over as various models get redesigned.

 

the only way you would get a formen over the rancher was if you drove in the mud alot i have a 420 and i can out crawl a foremen in the mud all day and the foremen had 26" outlaws i even pulled him out a couple of times then hit the same hole and made it the rancher is a better choice it has low gearing in 1st and 2nd then the other gears are speed you can do almost anything with that bike

 

With all the trouble i've read here with cold weather starting with the Rancher 420 I'd stick with the Foreman. Mine has never failed to start even in the coldest weather so I dont really see the advantages. No backup starter on an ATV is a joke. When my bike hit 7 years old, the battery took a puke in the woods, but I had a pull start and easilly rode the rest of the weekend. Standard 12" wheels means an easy upgrade to oversize tires wihtout the expense of new rims, plus have the power to turn them.

 

the rancher is a better bike on the trails and in the mud me and my girlfriend ride mine all the time i would go with the rancher over the 500 any day it is an all around better bike