The day I find steering a ATV hard is the day I quit the sport and check myself into a old age home, for a extrax $1000 you can buy a Big bore ATV like a 750 King Quad or 750 Brute force,now thats worth a extra grand.

 

"The day I find steering a ATV hard is the day I quit the sport and check myself into a old age home"

I would add that when an ATV becomes big enough to make power steering a nice option (some have), Why not just buy a jeep? I always thought ATV's were a small, maneuravable power toy for scrambling around in the woods.

 

I am 30 years old and in good shape and the power steering was well worth it. Makes riding more enjoyable. Nothing wrong with that. And I came over from a jeep Cherokee and Atv's are much more fun. I always was working on mine and in fact the power steering was having issues at one point. LOL

 

When decending steep, rocky hills with 500 pounds on an ATV power steering would be nice.

An extra grand for a brute force or king quad would be a waste of money.

 

We do alot of riding in the tight woods and the rancher is nice being a little smaller. Even people with the wheels that stick out from under the fenders have trouble with the extra width at times. 2cents

 

Thank you for all of your responses. I found a 2008 Foreman ES with Power Steering about an hour from my home and the dealer must want to get rid of it cuz he offered to sell it to me for invoice. I am guessing that is a pretty good deal on a new foreman with all the bells and whistles?

Now comes the fun part. Are there any accessories I absolutely need to have installed on it for basic trail riding and hunting? I have the gun boot already. Do I need to install the plates on the undercarriage? If so what brand? I had brush guards on my old Kodiak and loved them when riding through the alders in Alaska. Also wondering if there is a good aftermarket seat pad that goes over the seat since I hear some people say the seat gets a little stiff after a while.

Thanks again and am looking forward to your replies.

 

I recently installed MOOSE skids on my 1998 Foreman, wish I had installed them when the bike was new. No more getting hung up on stumps, and the chassis would be in better shape.

Also invest in a winch, I like WARN, minimun 2500lb, it can save alot of heartache if you get stuck, need to move something, or help out somone else.

Better tires. Stock tires are generally mild, mine were brutal for flats. I'm running Mud Lite XTR (radial tires) and they are fantastic. Great on hard trails, great over rocks, and great in snow/mud. Having a load of ELK on the racks and getting a flat on crappy stock tires is not fun.

Bumpers are a nice idea as well.

 

you won't be disappointed with the foreman. tough to find a quad with more work and grunt in its blood...

 

You will like the Foreman. I love my Foreman 450es

Tires and winch are two things that most do first. I did the tires on my 09 Rincon first (found a deal I couldn't pass on). The winch and bumper are next!!!

 

Have two Ranchers 420's. Never have any problems with either. Solid machines. Both are manual shift. My buddy has Foreman with ES and the switch has went out twice while still under warranty. With manual, just less things to go wrong. But you need to ride both and decide for yourself. Both good machines tho.