Ya I have to agree more people would buy a rincon if it hade low range. Honda didn't build this machine to be a work horse either, aka no trailer hitch from factory. Now if you want to run bigger tires than 26" go buy high lifter gear reduction.

Only major things I see go wrong with the rincon's lately are the cams, driving slow 12 to15 mph in 2nd gear not enough oil gets to the cam and wears down the lobes. Before that people didn't shift them into gear fast enough and round the clutch dogs on the gears.

Otherwise a really good trail machine.

 

Wearing cams down? Thats new to me. there are alot of rincon owners at rinconriders and no where have I read about cams wearing down. Guys there have 8000 miles plus with no problems. The biggest thing that I have read is the timing chain tensioners get weak and the chain will make noise. Thats about it.

 

I am a motorcycle tech, I myself have done 3 of them myself and other in the shop have done aleast that many. Have replaced a few cam chain tensioners as well.

 

You also occasionally see a thread about grinding into gear, either due to misadjusted linkage, or the end of the cable coming out of place, but I think problems are pretty few and far between.

Granted the Rincon probably wasn't intended for real technical trails, but it does pretty well. It will go up or down anything you could make with my Foreman, or with a Rancher or whatever. The difference is that it's IRS will float over the rough trail to get there faster and with a plush ride.

Still, I'd like to see Honda either offer other machines in IRS, or add some technical trail features to the Rincon. I suppose a person doesn't really absolutely NEED a locker or low range very often. Maybe they are more in the "Nice to have" catagory, but this is Honda's flag ship top of the line 4x4 and you would think they would at least be optional.

The flip side of "some people hate the Rincon" is that I've run into other people who think it's perfect and couldn't be improved on. I don't hear people complaining about Honda bumping the power up a bit with the 680...

I bet if they came out with a Rincon with even more power that had an extra position on the gearshift for low range, and an extra position on the 4x4 switch for 4x4 locked, nobody would complain about that either. If you didn't go over 3/4 throttle, didn't drop the shifter into low, and didn't move the thumb switch into locked, it would still be the same machine...

Anyway, even as it is, I still think it was the best choice for me, my riding style, and how I use it. Other folks are free to disagree. That's why there's more than one ATV on the market.

 

In your opinion, is this due to running at too low an rpm therefore not spashing enough oil up top? I tend to cruise at even slow speeds in second or high gear depending on the terrain. The larger engine handles it fine.

 

I have repaired flat cams in Rincons and Rubicons. 3 on Rincons and 11 on Rubicons. The number of units I go through I wouldn't call it an outbreak.
Each unit has had totally black oil in them and also the washer on the oil filter spring seat were not present. I passed them off from lack of maintainance.
I have mentioned it to our district service rep.
Parts also replaced on these units along with the cam included, cam followers, cam chains, cam chain tensioners and push rods.
Have not seen scores or wear on rockers or pivot shafts
I have passed it off as soft cam casting. Not giving it a second thought.
If anyone has a confirmed insight on the issue, few and far between as they are, let me know
Thanks

----- Gregg -----

 

What I hade said before is what I was told from Honda, low speed riding 2nd to 3rd gear. The cylinder sits at a slight angle and take alot of oil to fill up the area in the valve train and not enough gets up there under this type of riding and cann't get to the cam.

 

I recall seeing something like this in a couple of sport bikes, but I think it was attributed to a heat treatment problem and the cam ending up not as hard as was specified... I think it was like one bad one in several thousand machines, and it usually took thousands of miles to manifest, usually spotted when someone was doing valve adjustment.

I presume these start making noise pretty good if you have the problem? Personally, I'm not going to loose sleep about it.

 

most hear don't like Rincon because they want a it for something its not designed for its a trail machine , they want it for mudding , but yes it will do that too as others stated go to
rinconriders.com.