~wilber~

It appears that you like your Rincon. Nothing wrong with that. I would admit that Honda has a lot of technology available when it comes to building machines. Lets face it, we all know of Honda 3-Wheelers that are still racing around, some with as much spirit as the day they were driven off of the showroom floor.


However, I would claim disparity with a statement you make: "The Honda Rincon is in a class all by itself with respect to handling."


Welllllll . . . . . . . . . . . not quite Lets look at the facts:

The Rincon has 6.9" of wheel travel on the front, 8" of travel on the rear and 10" of overall ground clearance.

My battery powered golf cart has better suspension and handling than that! Heck, my wife's Ford Taurus has better wheel travel.

But to each his own. I'm glad you like your fancy golf cart.

You speak negatively of the Grizzly in handling comparison. Yet the Grizzly has greater suspension front and back as well as better ground clearance.


We can rant and rave all we want but an apple is still an apple. You can't fight the facts, not successfully anyway.

I disagree with you on your comparison.

As you can see I own a Grizzly 660. But in my personal opinion, the Grizzly is more of a 'sport' bike than a utility ATV, and not my optimum machine. Of course, my optimum machine would be a 45hp, deisel, 4-wd, John Deere tractor with mat-tracks all the way around. Now that's a utility ATV ! !


I know there are people who religiously read the 'shoot-outs' and 'side-by-side comparisons'. But I think those articles make good fire-starter, that's about all. (Pretty colors when the flames get to the pictures.)

To say that in real-world conditions the Rincon can hold a candle to any other high-end, big-bore ATV of ANY manufacture, is in my no-account opinion, pure bias.

At best the Rincon is an over-priced, mediocre machine that does most things OK, but excels at nothing in particular. Being a Honda it will probably last forever.

OK, I do have some personality flaws. I happen to be a little competitive. Being stuck with a mediocre machine for years and years is not my idea of an enjoyable experience in the Great Outdoors.

It looks sporty. I guess that has to account for something.

But you know what, when you actually get down and dirty, hauling 750lbs of moose meat out of the mountains from 20 miles back, in snow and sleet, up scree slopes and back down in stream drainages is the real test that far surpasses some staged comparison.

In that scenario, a Wanna-Be, 3-WD, sporty lookin' bike will leave you stuck in a mud-hole somewhere along the trail with your back tires burried up to the racks and that lone front tire spining up in the air.

You will end up spending the night in the elements while I am sippin' my Tarantula Tequila around a warm fire back at camp.

But I promise I'll come get you in the morning, if the Grizzly bears don't get you first.



(I already have a feeling that I'm going to regret this post !)

 

(From ratman)......."To say that in real-world conditions the Rincon 'can hold a candle' to any other high-end, big-bore ATV of ANY manufacture, is in my no-account opinion, pure bias........At 'best' the Rincon is an 'over-priced, mediocre machine' that does most things OK, but excels at nothing in particular.....***BUT***......... Being a Honda it will probably 'last forever'......"

(From blackballed): I like the Grizz a lot and would definitely put it in the 'Big 3' at this point with the Sportsman and Rincon. No 'head and shoulders above' designation for any of them(but I kinda really 'like' that lasting forever stuff............and just might not mind paying a little extra for it![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]).

As far as being 'leary' of taking it out in to the Alaskan Wilderness or the 'real world'? (At least give me some decent tires)

Wouldn't it be ironic if you got attacked by a grizzly while changing a belt on another?[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

John

 

Soooo what I gather from these last two entries is that the Rincon is a mediocre machine that will last forever...

 

Oh by the way... my vote was for Miss Texas

 

Here is some help for you King Quad owners. On your shifters on top remove the ***** and the black plastic cover, on the right side of the shifters remove the nut then the out side leaver fish out the little pin in there leave it out and put the shifters back togather. Then you can go into diff lock in any range. If you have a 250 put the Wiseco 10.25:1 in and it will have more power than the 300.

 

I just caught that, so honda has retaken the baja'a atv class, that'll look good in their back pocket for a while... Now if they can hold it for five years or so---with an almost stock [utility] machine.

 

First off I’d like to commend those who do know what they are talking about in the course of this post. Those who remember that Suzuki was the 1st with the independent suspension and the 1st true 4-wheel drive, not Polaris as so many die-hard Polaris owners contend. Yeah the machine was under powered and the suspension didn’t have the most travel, but it was the 1st, back in 1986.
The 2nd thing is all of these posts bashing drum brakes, I have driven machines with both and yes a disk will apply more force. But what last longer? My own opinion, and according to Honda what there customers of past Honda’s have stated is drum, when it comes to getting wet & muddy. This is based just on my experience and that of the select few I know with 4x4 ATV’s. Take my dad’s machine. A 1986 Honda 350 4 X 4, he has run it through mud and water over the wheels countless times. His land is divided by a 2-foot deep creek; this machine is the only way to cross w/out getting wet. How has my dad lived this long with a machine that has drum brakes? Not only that, the only part that has ever been replaced is the starter. This is a manual shift machine with no engine braking, yet his drum brakes have never been serviced. He pulls a trailer with it and rides it every day. The problem I have with disks is pitting & warping of warm rotors when they hit cold water. Don’t know of any one having trouble with drums.
My 3rd point is for those of you calling the Rincon 3-wheel drive, or any other Honda with limited slip. True there are a few time a locker may be better, but not that many. For those of you who don’t know, limited slip, or positive traction differential sends power to both wheels, it just sends the most power to the wheel that is turning hardest. So if 1 of your front wheels comes off the ground both wheels will still be turning, the one that does the most work is the one on the grounds. Why do all you thing 4 wheel drive farm and construction equipment come with limited slip on the front, not a locker? Do you see people complain about John Deere or New Holland? The reason for this is the slip part allows for a little difference in speed, thus allowing you to turn easier. Case in point a good friend of mine has a 2002 grizzly 660, his problem with the locker is you have to stop to engage it. There are trails he climbs that are long and steep and zigg zagg back and forth. He has the choice of either stopping or engaging it or wrestling with it all the way up. His machine will not make it up all the way without engaging it at some points along the way. He rode another friends Forman, just to try it; this machine makes the same climb with no problem. See when the Grizzly isn’t locked in IT IS A 3 X 4. Even in mud this can help, you don’t always know in advance when to engage and disengage the front end, with limited slip you don’t worry about it. You don’t need to stop or even slow down, you just keep moving.
Last the Rincon did not win the utility class in the Baja 1000; there is no such class. The won the 250+CC class, going against 400EX and Raptors. They did remove the front drives to save weight, but even still that is something for the machine to hold up in that race. That's what you pay for with Honda, testing, testing, & testing. No other company in the ATV world spends as much on it, you get what you pay for.

 

Drum brakes likely will outlast disks for some, maybe the majority of people. However there is a BIG difference between a 350 cc 4x4 that goes maybe 45 MPH, and a 700# machine doing 60+. Trust me, in those types of circumstances, disks are a great improvement. The other problem with drums, is once water gets in, they either need to be serviced, or are toast. My brother & dad each have old 300 Hondas. One has front brakes, the other has rear. Why not both?? They are so rusted, it isn't worth the expense on that old of a machine, and all they use the old putt-putters for is so they don't have to walk. Yes, disks need pad replacement more often...took me a whole 20 minutes for the front, 10 for the rear. Never warped a disk, but have 'ground out' a couple drums.
If you have a manual shift machine, you have engine braking, unless you put it in neutral at the top of the hill. It has been MY experience, that with a knowlegable driver on a manual shift machine, they can go most of the day and never even touch the brakes. These machines by their design don't need as much braking power. Really, the differences aren't as great as some people make it out to be, but I still prefer disks.
Wanabe, what you described IS a locker...when one front wheel is in the air, they still both turn together. The Rancher is getting better, but I have seen Foremans spin 3 wheels all the time. In fact, my Xplorer has busted tracks through snow that a Foreman couldn't follow. They had better tires, but I have true 4wd. Their front wheels took turns pulling, and before the other would start digging, they had ice under the rear wheels, and were stuck. I saw this again and again, and it gets worse the more miles are on the machine.
Payloaders and the like have limited slips in the front because of the load they carry. If you think an ATV with a locker steers tough when locked in, try it with 20,000# extra weight in front.
As a matter of fact, the newer John Deeres HAVE locking differentials. They are activated by a button, lever, or ****, depending on the model.
Honda does have lots of engineering in their quads, though.

Farmr

PS, I have heard, and this is just RUMOR, that the reason Honda didn't go with the belt-drive auto is because Polaris owns the patents on it. From the rumor I have heard, the other makers modified the idea, (and pay a royalty) but Honda wanted to go its own way. I think they did great with the Rubicon. Not sure what I think about the Rincon, yet. I think it is OK, but not for me.

 

Farmr123 wrote:
The reason Honda didn't go with a belt drive is due to their advertising scheme from years past. Honda spent years advertising that belt drives were "archaic, inefficient, unreliable, and anyone with a brain should buy a manual tranny Honda". When belt drive automatics started eating into Honda sales, they were left with no alternative. Come up with their own auto tranny or watch their market share dwindle on a yearly basis. That is why big Hondas' have no disc brakes, no front locker, no low range (on the Rinny), and the highest cost. Honda owners have to pay for Honda's lack of foresight into the market demand in years past.

Wilber wrote:
The first gear ratio in the Rinny IS a result of poor design and planning!!! If the engineers had studied the intended use of the Rincon, they would have put a considerably lower 1st gear in the machine. It would have been quicker out of the hole, handle big tires better, engine braking would have worked better at low speeds, and the perceived need for a "low range" would have been reduced. This is an off road ATV, not a Civic! As I stated in an earlier post, any Rincon owner that feels a lower 1st gear wouldn't be a good thing has his head in the sand.

 

Farmr123
Again maybe you should look up what you are talking about, the newest John Deere tractors only lock the rear, and have since about 1960, and they are limited slip in the front. Also limited slip is the axle that transfers power to the tire that turns the hardest. Also the transmission Polaris uses was created in the Mid 1800's by the founders of Mercedes-Benz, not Polaris, for use in there cars. Payloaders steer with hydrostatic steering, the newest don’t even have a steering wheel, and they use joysticks. So the load on the front doesn’t matter, it’s all hydraulic, and you can get a locker on the front of some models. Also drum brakes not being strong enough, most loaders, dump trucks and tractor-trailers come with drum brakes on all one or more axles. So before you debate some one just maybe you should have at least a clue as to what you are talking about.