Spent the day riding this new Bombardier 850 2-up.

It does have lots of power.

 

The big bombs generally do.

How did you like it otherwise? Handling and suspension?

 

My buddies have a variety of big bore Bombs and Polaris machines. I find them all to be very clumsy handling, tall and unstable compared to my Rancher 420! There is more to good quad design, than monster power and cush long travel suspension....

In yard deep snow, they don't get any further up the trail than my little Rancher does. In very technical terrain, I ride circles around them becasue I am way more stable....so I don't really get what the attraction is for these machines?????

 

They make a 850 now?

 

It could be an 800, I'm not really sure. LOL

On edit it was a Outlander MAX 800R EFI.

 

Personally I wouldn't buy a Bomb.

The ride was nice, comfortable and it seemed to handle OK even at 65 mph.

The nose likes to dive and push in corners, I didn't like that.

I will tell you that a small cc ATV won't hold a candle to a big bore in the deep snow, period.

The other guy that I was riding with has a brand new Polaris 550 2-up and when the snow got deep he had to use low range due to not having enough power so he didn't have the speed to cut the deep snow and even had troubles following the tracks that I already cut.

I always thought the added length would hinder an ATV on 2-track trails but this one seemed to do just fine.

I'm sure it's not a good "technical" machine on dry trails but in the deep snow big bores rule.

Ergonomics?? BRP (I call it the "Burp" machine) needs to take some lessons from Honda.

 

In the deeper snow, the poor ground clearance of the Rancher is not even close to that of the bigger bore 4x4 ATVs and deep snow is where ground clearance plays a very important role. I have the bigger bore 800cc Can Am and will never go to a smaller engine. I like the feeling of knowing that I have more power at my disposal than I'll ever need.

BUT, to each his own.

 

I drove a can-am a while back. The only thing I did with it was drive it down a gravel road. I did not get enough seat time to know how they are.

But I will tell you it did have the power. If I was going to be riding in a lot of snow or mud, I would want a big bore machine for the power and ground clearance. If I was going to be riding technical trails, I would some a little smaller and nimble.

 

In my opinion, when you start getting over 700cc's on an ATV, generally the size and weight begin to take away from the nimble feeling that I enjoy on the trail. With quads going up to 1000cc's now it gets to be a question of who has the biggest instead of the most capable. I've seen the same thing happen with everything in powersports these past few years. Watercraft and motorcycles as an example. To me, the most fun I have on any of these machines doesn't just come down to raw horsepower. I've ridden 250cc ATV's that were a real kick to ride on tight trails....and I could negotiate obstacles much quicker than most folks on much larger quads. It was the same thing on street bikes. My favorite rides are under the 1200cc size.....over that most feel like heavy tanks....fast tanks, but still heavy.
To each his own but I'll stick with ATV's in the 400 to 650 class.

 

In theory....yes! That is why it is so very baffling to me why they can't get any farther up the trail in deep snow than I can!!!

I do have two advantages in snow however: I run a Maier plastic skid plate that acts like a huge ski. It keeps the front end floating so it doesn't dig in. I also run ITP Holeshot ATR tires which give superb floatation and traction in the snow. Am I cheating...maybe, but my quad cost half as much as theirs and weights 250 pounds less...so the joke is on them and their clumsy expensive big bore pigs! Start unspooling your winches guys...while I just pick my quad up.......