frist thing id like to say thanks......iv always wondered if there was a limt to as how much you could put in one post and you have proved there's not lol and i also hate floorboreds i love 4wd's two people make fun sometimes but sometimes there's just more fun iv owened a 88 300 4wd& 95 400 forman loved them both iv rode quads with floorboreds i have no clue why people like them maybe im missing something there who knows
my dad got me a set of blackwater's and i could nolonger do the huge hills because at 3/4 the way up there was simpely no more power to be had
anyways iv jumped on the sport quad band wagen about 4 years ago o well
86 4trx250R lots of goodie's
86 atc 250r im restoring it back to factory spec's

 

I, too, have a 2000 450 ES and just love it. I have had zero problems with it and the odo currently reads 2250 kms.

There was and is a lot of talk about the Rancher, as well there should be. I have one of these too and it is a fine bike.

I believe that the 450 is a victim of the "spec" wars.... as in the Rancher has so much more to offer than the Foreman. Everyone talks about the added clearance that the Rancher has when in fact it is exactly the same as the Foreman. It is just that Honda measured from the rear differential on the Foreman and from the frame under the floorboards for the Rancher. Measuring from both points on both bikes shows that they are identical.

The steering on the Rancher is a little lighter but that could be due to the weight difference. Just my opinion.

The turning radius difference is also over rated. We did an actual comparison and the diameter difference is one foot! Not that signifiant in my books.

Last weekend we had both bikes out and did a little playing in the streams, climbed a couple of hills and did a lot of trail driving. The Foreman showed 40 mpg (Cdn) and the Rancher showed 43 mpg.

Drag racing them shows little difference on top end but getting there it is all Foreman.

Well just my $.02 worth. Comments?

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