Any new info on the Rubicon? Rumors acceptable. Have only seen the published tranny articles. One of the magazines (forgot which one) rumored to be testing one for the next month edition. What are your dealers (usually the last-to-know people) telling you? Have heard the Spring 2000 1st-delivery has move out to Summer 2000. Problems do you think?

 

3 weeks ago I was at a local dealer that handles Yamaha, Honda and Kawasaki. I was trying to decide between Kodiak and Grizzly, but what I had heard and read about the Rubicon intrigued me enough I decided I should find out some more to see if I should wait a few months for the original May 2000 release. I was told not to expect any on the floor until mid to late summer, and then supply would be very limited. Also, the salesman said the asking price would be $7,000 to $7,500 and up at first due to the short supply, and based on the price for the Foreman 450, the current top tier Honda ATV. Based on that, I bought the '00 Grizzly. If the price isn't a problem, and you can wait, I am sure you won't be disappointed by the Rubicon. If any company can release something as new as the HondaMatic transmission and have it work flawlessly, it will be Honda.

You have probably already been there, but the Honda website, www.hondamotorcycles.com has some information on the Rubicon. It is not in the list for MODELS under the subcategory ATV's. The information can be found under the PRESS tab, use the search function on Rubicon. What you will see is a list of issues of the Red Rider, which is the internal Honda newsletter (dealers etc). Specifically, specs can be found at the following:

http://www.hondamotorcycle.com/press...3.html#rubicon

A different article, I belive one of the Dealer Convention articles has more info and cutaways of the engine/transmission/drivetrain. In addition, this should tell you that the Rubicon will have the same (SureTrac?) front differential as the Rancher series.

Happy Hunting

Yammer_Hummer (2000 Grizzly, still stock to the bone)