I have been reading this forum for a couple weeks now and really enjoy it. There is a ton of good info here and I appreciate it.
I am in the market for a Honda ATV, it will be my first ATV. I have come down to 2 models. The first is the Rubicon and the second is the 450 es Foreman.
I wont be doing too much trail riding, mainly using it for work and utility purposes...plowing snow and such.
I have read up on so much mat'l on both of them but just dont know if I need the Rubicon for what I am going to use it for....HELP!!!

Thanks in advance,

Ken

 

you pretty much gotta decide on the one you want by yourself, i've yet to have any major problems with any Honda product i've owned, maybe because its probably the best machines yet i've hadİİİ i've heard that people have been having troubles with there transmision on the rubicon? dunno if its true or not and also a while ago there were some posts about some bad computers on the 450ES but that musta faded outİİİ what ever u get u'll love and hope u keep comin back

 

ken, I know what your up against trying to decide which machine to get. My brother recently bought a new Rubicon and he shopped for several months before going with that one. I gotta tell ya that I am proud of the Suzuki you see in my signature but after riding that smoooooooth Rubicon I am ready to trade UP! I stand very impressed with its ease of ride, absolutely no harsh shifting. it's utterly impossible to shift it hard--I tried. It will work HARD too. I was down in Virginia for Christmas and watched my dad hook it up to a great big old tree fork that hadbroken out and landed straight up with the butt sticking in the ground. He hooked a 30 FT tow strap to it and left the machine in high range and just backed it right out of there no problem. My brother and I went on a ride and had a lot of weight on it including my 200 LBS, his 180, and a 5 gallon can of gas, and all of his extra accessories. He is running 27 inch Tri-Claws and Bi-Claws on it so those weigh about 60% more than stock tires. It carried us around about 4 or 5 hours crawling over some real nasty terrain and we went about 22 miles and the gas gauge read almost 3/4 of a tank left!! I was very impressed with it. The more I tell my friends about it the more I want one. It is just sooooo cool to ride that thing. I can't say enough about it. (And I don't work for Honda either)
On another note, If expense is a big problem for you then the 450 ES is a good choice but I think they are a bit under powered for a machine that big. I know that all you Foreman riders are gonna hang me but I have to tell the truth. I love the Foremans but my Suzuki is much more powerful. I hope this helps you decide. I can't bash any machine out there as I have ridden them all and like different things about them all but I can tell you this if you get a Rubicon you WILL NOT regret the purchase. Good luck bud!