Has anyone had the compare how the 2 bikes do against one another,Not concerned about mudding.Just would to here some opinions.Thanks

 

I own a Rubicon, so my opinions are probably biased, but the only advantages I see on the Wolverine are higher top speed and slightly more sport oriented chassis. Oh and the price difference. Since you have a Rubicon, I really don't have to tell you about all of it's great benefits. The Wolverine is due, and I hear is about to get, a redesign or update. The truth is that 15 years ago you could make a quad and just keep building it and the buyers would come. Not anymore, since the manufacturers finally feel like the government watchdogs have loosened the choker collar. Now it is a game of one-upmanship, which is great for us as consumers. The only real disadvantage is prices will continue to climb and you won't own the king of the hill for 7 or 8 years like used to be the case. Someone will trump the Raptor soon enough, and Kawi is making a bid to dethrone the Rubicon (or Sportsman, if you see it that way) and just may prevail. I am sure Kawi, if the quad lives up to the hype, won't reside at the top of the hill very long.

 

I do not buy my bikes to be the fastest but to have good allround bike and something that I can put a ton of miles on it with out replacing many parts,and to have something comfortable and smooth and best of all go out have some fun,get out with some freinds"bug each other" and relax.

 

Well goat, you were there with me getting at the facts behind Rubicon vs Wolverine, but I'll post my thoughts here for the general interest of other readers.

Top speed is as close to equal as it can get, with both 23" tires or 25" tires on the Wolverine. I know, it suprised me too that the Wolverines spped didn't change with the taller tires, but it didn't. (Though the exhust baffle was removed when running the 23s. It might have made a difference)

Acceleration from a standing start. Hands down win to the Rubicon. With the smaller tires the Wolverine closed the gap a little, but it was clear that the 500 honda outpowers the 350 Wolvine.

Acceleration from trail speeds (roll on). Close, very close, but I'd have to give the win to the Wolverine (what do you think goat?) When the Wolverine is in its power band it's pretty good, and cruising along at trail speed the Rubicon will never leave it behind. The only caveat here is that the Woleverine rider has to make an effort at keeping the quad in the right gear, as opposed to when you're riding partner is on a rancher and you can afford the extra time it takes to downshift and then walk away from him.

Hillclimbing (in snow). Again, hands down win for the Rubicon. The extra ground clearance, low end torque, and auto tranny give it huge advantages. Places where the Wolverine can get a bit of a run and get the revs up in 2nd or 3rd it can be pretty impressive, but there's no arguing that the Rubicon will go every where the Wolverine can go, and the Wolverine won't always follow the Rubi. The Rubicon has the advantage of being a point and shoot quad. On the Wolverine I often have to make 2 or 3 tries, because you have to get it just right (line up the hill, gear changes etc...) The Rubicon rarely has to make two tries.

Creature comforts. Rubicon. No explanation needed.

Work. Well, I've never seen the Rubicon do any work, but you'd have to be silly to think it won't be a better machine for work than the Wolverine, which is really saying something, cause I work my Wolverine all summer long, and despite what some magazines say about it being much more biased towards sport, it is in fact a very viable quad to have to get the chores done.

Sportiness. The Wolverine gets that one. The Rubicon may be able to go as fast, but it's alot easier to pretend you're Baja racing on the Wolverine. It just feels light and fun to drive. It's fun to give a tug on the bars going over whoops and get the front end up in the air. It flies better over jumps. And it certainly looks more like a sport bike, at least with the racks removed.

The other advantage the Wolverine has is that it's a lot easier to get unstuck. It's lighter, and you can feel the difference right away.

So, goat, I know that you prefer the Rubicon, and, as I said before, I'll probably get something like that when I'm ready to retire, (in 30 yrs), but for now I'll stick with the Wolverine.

 

That was a excellent post.I am not sure about the jumping part yet it seem a few times today where the ruby just laughed at some hard front end landings, where it looked like the wolverine was almost ready to cry from the same landings.What do you think,did you notice that?

 

Well, I wasn't jumping on the Rubicon, so I can't say what it felt like landing.
The Wolverine, however, generally lands pretty good, the major exception today was the jump coming off the highway, where I landed in a dip, and bottomed the front end. In general though, I usually get more hieght and distance when jumping.
The other thing we have to remember is that the Rubicon is brand new, while the Wolverine is over a year old. It's possible that my shocks aren't as fresh as they used to be.

 

How can you say you get more distance and height yet we have not tried that yet with the ruby.I am not saying the ruby is ,we just do not know yet.

 

No, we didn't actually measure one after the other who was going the furthest and highest, but we were jumping at that first spot for quite awhile, and it seemed clear to me that I was getting better air.
I'd love to go try again asap, and this time we'll bring a camera!

 

No, we didn't actually measure one after the other who was going the furthest and highest, but we were jumping at that first spot for quite awhile, and it seemed clear to me that I was getting better air.
I'd love to go try again asap, and this time we'll bring a camera!

 

If i wanted to be best jumper i would have kept the 400 ex.