I have a herniated disk in my back. I REFUSE to ride in one of those little carts. Now, maybe if they had a Polaris sized one with big tires to go over the displays.....

 

I understand lockers.

The thing I don't understand is why soo many people put a front locking differential as a higher priority than quality and dependability.

I would be humiliated sitting on the side of a trail with a broken belt.

 

Just as humiliated sitting on the side of a trail with a slipping honda tranny with a factory defect? And again on a different honda that got stuck in a mud pit miles from the truck because my honda couldn't claw itself out and finally got rescued by two other atv'ers- who both rode through the same pit to get me out like it was nothing

I've never ever had a broken belt- by brutes belt got a little wet and slipped a bit, but threw it in low range and it was dry within 2 minutes-

on the other hand- my honda rincon tranny almost left me in the local trails due to a factory oring defect- drove it home over 5000 rpm in first gear slipping the whole way...

never had any problems with my can-am. My KQ had a good 4000 miles+ on the factory belt and was still perfect when I sold it.

Honda might've been the "reliable" atv back then- but there's really no data to support such claims now- especially with the current atv line up. You can't really say an atv is dependable if it doesn't have the latest off-roading traction assist features

 

I have nothing against Honda. My personal opinion...Ride what you love, (and mostly) Love what you ride!!! If you read all my posts, you'll see that I have never bashed any make, model, or brand of ATV. Except Polaris...due to QC issues and the decision to move their ATV plant to mexico.

As far as dependability goes, I think any belt driven ATV is as dependable as a regular tranny if it isn't abused. I hope this post lets you know where I stand when talking about other peoples rides.

 

Used properly belts aren't really problematic. I've seen one guy out of hundreds of riders with a broken belt. It was my son who didn't like shifting into low. Belt problems come mostly from driving in slow or difficult terrain in high gear. If they do break it's usually no more than a 15 minute job to replace a belt at a cost of $50-$80. I like the automotive style transmission Honda uses but I've read about plenty of problems with their ES transmissions too. A lot more costly to fix than a belt. I've made a mental note of all the quads I've seen pulled over on the side of the trail needing to be wrenched and I haven't seen one brand pulled over more than any other brand. One of the Polaris owners was pull starting his quad because it needed a new battery. He knew about it but just wanted to keep putting it off. Honda guy needed to change out his spark plug. Brute Force guy had no idea but it wouldn't run. AC guy had no spark at all. A Polaris guy did need a tow once. But it was because he was looking at a moose (not me in this case) and ran a 3" log up underneath the quad and managed to catch his throttle cable and rip it up. It was a Sportsman X2 just like mine. I towed him about 5 miles with my quad through mudholes, over nasty rock gardens, up and down hills, through ruts, etc. He got a new cable a week later and it has been fine. My point here is that I haven't personally seen any particular brand broken down more than any other brand. My own experiences with quads tells me that, for the most part, if you maintain them and take care of them, they'll run for a long time and be pretty trouble free. People do get lemons that are the exception rather than the rule. Most of the makers will adress recurring issues pretty quickly and get things straightened out. I still try to never buy the first year of any new vehicle if I can help it.
Now, on the locker note, we have two types of mud here in New England; black soily stinky stuff, and clay mud. I've been through too many of these holes where, with aggressive tires and full 4wd I've barely made it through and have pulled people out who have limited slip front ends. That little bit of extra traction can make the difference. Also on rocky off camber terrain it's good to have all 4 wheels pulling at the same time. Get one tire off the ground with a limited slip and you may end up in 2wd or 2.5wd. 3wd is better with a tire off the ground. I've watched a lot of videos of Hondas climbing rocks and trying to get traction. Then you see a quad with a full locker like a Grizzly climb the same section with relative ease. It's just safer to me to have the extra traction.
Once again, to each his own. I'm happy when people can just get out and ride. If I had a ton of problems with my Polaris I'd go look at another brand but then I wouldn't have a dump box that can be converted to a 2nd passenger seat in a few seconds. If someone, including Honda, came out with a machine that has the on board cargo capacities, large gas tank, Turf mode (to not tear up my lawn so much), seat/dumpbox, 400 lb. rear rack rating, etc. that my Sportsman X2 has I'd consider it. But to trade away all of these features that I use almost everytime I go out riding for a little (if any) more reliability to me would be crazy.
My whole point, other than being humorous, is that Honda can easily step up to the plate and have a machine with just as many, if not more, features as the other brands. They are that good a manufacturer. They put their mind to something and they can make it. Great product. I'm not saying they need a belt transmission or a locker. But, it would be great if they had a locker AVAILABLE to make it just that much better. It wouldn't change the reliability one bit if they added a front locker and it would make Honda that much more competitive. I've been on them. I LIKE Hondas. Just didnt' meet my needs or come close to meeting them. They could if they wanted to. There are tons of riders out there who look right past Hondas because they don't have the features that the other makers do. It's kind of like the difference between my old 85 Nissan 4x4. Little truck that was great off road but lacking amenities. Have a 2010 Titan now and I'd never go back to the 85. The new one can do everything the old one did plus much more and with more features. Honda could keep up with the other makers feature-wise but they're not there yet. My own observations show me that Yamaha and Suzuki are cutting into Honda's pie just for a few more features that people like. Honda could still produce the models they have and come out with a big bore, IRS, with a locker, and high fording abilities just like CanAm, Polaris, and Arctic Cat have. They already have great engines on their shelves, and a locker in the Big Red. Put them in a quad and let the competition begin.

 

Another thread that degenerates into a "my ATV is better than yours...." Seems like there should be enough of these on here by now.

As long as my machine starts, I'm happy. As long as whatever you drive starts, I'm happy for you. Honda works for me and I am not embarrassed to be riding one. I will never need the front locker. I could care less about it. If you think you need one, go get a machine with it and stop bashing Honda for not offering it.

Like Rodney King said...Can't we all just get along?

 

Is this before or after the police chase?

 

To bring it back around that video was freakin' BBOOOARRRING. Cool tech but, man they must of used up Marketing's budget. It made me wanna do this...

 

[OFF TOPIC] How in the heck do you guys get the video embedded? Youtube Embed code doesn't work and it's not in the list as a supported upload file type??? 8\
[/OFF TOPIC]

 

When you click the "share" tab on youtube, just copy the code AFTER the = sign. In your case it was GZBbtk47vZw.

Then click on the youtube icon in the reply and put that in.

{YOUTUBE]GZBbtk47vZw[/YOUTUBE}

I changed the beginning and ending square bracket to show it in the reply. But you should get this when you do use the icon.