BZIZZI,You said we Polaris owners cant take it when someone post something negative about our products.Let me tell you something,NOBODY,has been harder on Polaris than me.I own a 99 Sportsman that is a piece of shi-.If you ever read MY posts,you'd know that allready.But you know what?I know a ton of VERY happy Sportsman owners.My experience does'nt make the entire line of Polaris out to be crap.If everyone is SO EDUCATED [as you quote]on Honda products,than why do I see so many Polaris riders in Michigan?It all comes down to what the paying customer feels right in buying.Yah,my next quad could possible be the Honda Rubicon.Im not partial to ANY manufacture,just myself. Happy Trailing and have a SUPER day--------BILL

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OK here- Lets define what we are considering older quads.

When I think of older, I'm looking at 1991 or 1990 models and older. In this case, Honda will dominate on the grounds that have already been stated. They sold more and those first quads were built very solid.

If we are calling 3 year old models "Older Quads", then I will agree that you see a lot of "Older" Polaris quads because thats when they really started gaining popularity.

If you consider 1991 and older Polaris's to be the ones you see most, then you probably own a junkyard or are a mechanic, because there is no doubt that those were tough years for Polaris. In many people's words, Polaris did suck back then. Sucked hard!

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Andy Bassham *(1999 Arctic Cat 500 4x4, 1989 Honda 300)*

 

i have to say, being i own one, that the suzuki corporation put out the first mass produced atv.(the lt 125).i know that go-joe or what ever really came up with quads,but never really mass produced them. Being only three months older than my 84' suzuki,i really appreciate japanese manufacturing. quality control is above the rest, and it shows also in the car market. look at a honda accord vs. an american car and there you go. Honda and yamaha also have more research and development time spent, more hours on tried and true engine designs.
for polaris to come out in the 80's with quads that are relatively new in all aspects is just expected to be problematic for the first few years. while on the other hand, honda is putting 50 year old engine designs (trx 90) in their quads, so reliability isnt really a question with a honda. polarises will get better with time, so lets not waste ours on stupid polaris bashing forums.

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Robert Hammond---and one BAD Suzuki lt 125 RLH151@Aol.Com

 

That was a pretty unintelligent question. Just an invitation for a flame war.

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95 Warrior 95 XR250 97 Kodiak

 

There are allot of Hondas around up here older ones due to the fact that there were no other dealers than the Yamaha place. So you see more older Yamahas and Hondas here than any other brand. Polaris has been around here to for a while , we get allot of snow and there are allot of Polaris dealers. I see allot of older ones of them too, late 80's and up. People still using them and liking them. I have a 2000 Polaris Xplorer it is the best atv i have eveer owned.

 

Suzukis seem to run forever as well.

 

When snowmobile riding with friends in different areas, why is it that I see more old Polaris's still running than any other brand? I see old Polaris's from 80's that look ugly but still run fine. I never ever see a Honda, period.
Honda ATV's have been around a lot longer than Polaris, and until the last few years had a much greater market share. Polaris has caught up and will be passing Honda soon if they haven't done it already. Give it a few years and you will see a lot more "old" Polaris ATV's pulling the "new" Honda's out of the mud.

 

Definitely, Hondas are a great machine, but so are most of the other brands. One reason Hondas are so popular is that they are just so bulletproof. Especially there smaller 4 strokes. I had an 76 ATC90 that was given to me for a Christmas present in 81 or so, and I rode that thing till about 87. I really cant be sure if the oil was ever changed in it or anything. It was just made to run. It finally, just kinda died, and I didnt bother to fix it. I am sure I am not the only person who has had fantastic results with Hondas, and when people find something good they stick with it. So that is part of why Honda is so popular. They started out right and people responded very positively to it.

Hypothetically, lets just say Hondas where the most popular because they were such a nice red for and for no other reason. They sold 50% more than any other machine out there, and lets say that all machines were created equal and about 40% of them only had a lifespan of say 5 years. If they all had the same mortality rate but there was a much larger percentage of one brand out on the trails it would stand to reason that it would stay that way from beginning to end.

I have had other brands and have never really seen much trouble from any of them. However, my family has always been really pro-Honda so it wears of on you. It really is hard to go wrong when you buy a Honda. They just have do such a good job on finish, there attention to detail in most cases is excellent, and I hear very few complaints from people who ride them and maintain them with any regualarity. I think for most of us the best machine to own is one we get to ride on more than we get to wrench on. You might say it is fun working on your bike, but it isnt fun when all your buddies show up at your door ready to roll and you got to go out and work on your bike instead of riding with them.

Adam Smith
99 400EX
with a few mods

 

I live down in Arizona and whenever i go out riding in the good old desert the only people i see on a polaris quad are the younger guys,i mean,there will be 40 year old men passing these guys on old honda ATC's or some other old bike,mainly only yamaha and honda.In the desert,the popular thing to have is a high performance fast sport quad.Polaris is so into utility quads with that wimpy auto and a lot of people just get a polaris because they are to scared to go over 50mph and do not know how to shift a real quad.Honda is in my blood and i love it,wouldn't settle for anything less,like a polaris!

 

Hondas Were Made To last. More people bought Hondas than anything else in my area. I have had nothing but Hondas exept a kids Suzuki 50 cc that I had when I was 2. Polaris aren't junk, they just aren't that popular