I picked up the BF today. I drove 3 hours to Utah to get the deal. I took my wife with me to try ATVing for the first time. I try to involve her in my hobbies and some she is interested in...some not. But she always willing to try something once. I borrowed a 250 Polaris Trailblazer for her. The dealer was a straight shooter, no wheeling and dealing like all of the others I have been to. Anyway, we went riding in the trail system in the Dixie National Forest about 30 minutes west of Cedar City, UT. Great trails, very well marked and maintained. You can get a map a trail system a few different stores on the way.

Anyway, all I can say is "omygod" I love it. Gobs of power. Did I mention the gobs of power? I've been riding Polaris Sportman 500s and Scramblers and the power difference is amazing.

I will say that "suspension-at-softest-setting"+"Crappy-Dunlop-Tires"+"250lbs of my fat a$$"="Tons-Of-Roll" at medium/high speed. I did not have any tools to change the spring preload in my truck so I was not able to try any other setting. The softest setting does eat up the bumps for a very smooth ride at slower speeds.

As for the upright riding position...love it. I'm less racer and more adventurer so the upright position will help riding fatigue for me.

I was aware of this going into the purchases but the BF is a loud machine. The exhaust is so throaty. When I was in the showroon at the dealer, I heard the prep guy start the BF in the garage area and I got chills. The transmission is loud, but that what you get with the Kawi Prairies and BFs. I know that this will be the first complaint that the Polaris "heads" that I ride with comment on. "Our Sportman 700s are so quiet...blah, blah, blah." Whatever, try to keep up with your "tanks on wheels."

So what is up with the break in period? The prep guy told me to keep it easy and not to gun it. Just ride it at various speeds without over doing it. OK, no problem. Then I read in the manual that I am not supposed to go above half-throttle for 10 hours. Half throttle? Can anyone do that for 10 hours? What the heck? I rode it normally and goosed it a few times just to feel the power, but only for a few seconds.

There a few people over on another board who have complained that the BF was popping during deacceleration. I did not notice this but I did notice that the engine was missing a little bit at about 3/4 throttle. I believe that this was probably beacuse I was riding at about 8500 ft. and needed a carb adjustment.

Here's my dumb a$$ story of the day. When my wife and I took off and rode for about 1/10 of a mile she stopped and asked "what's that smell?" It smells like someone dropped oil on the exhaust. I notice a whiff of smoke. Looking things over, I realized that I left the parking brake on. Crap! I looked at the rear diff. It had gotten so hot that the oil that they put on it to stop corrosion during shipping was smoking. There went a few hundred miles off the life of the brakes. I have to get used to pulling on the brake harder than I had to on the Polarises to release the parking brake.

I will be going out with a group ride Saturday morning. I know everyone will want a demo of the BF power, but I have to keep my cool during the break in.

bs

 

You brake it in the way you are going to drive it.

 

The cylinders are lined, nickle on my 650, they say you will get them hot where they are so tight, if you open her up at first. I locked my throttle so as to make sure I never went past 1/2 way in the first 10 hours.

I must say that my 650 has not used one drop of oil in 7000kms. Not only that but the oil is perfectly clean when changed every 1500kms. I could sell it to honda owners who oils are totally black from the dual job of lubing ther trans as well as the motor, GROSS.

My 650 is the cleanest running machine I have ever run or owned, bar none.

They way mine works from proper breakin, I would say to lock your throttle too.

DOA

 

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

read that ride it hard as you can full throttle desell like that for 20 miles the do a oil change then ride however you want

 

Very interesting article on breaking in a new engine, everyone should read it
Tonto

 

Uh...from what I've been reading this morning, that was "belt-slippage" smoke, not brake smoke. I hope I did not trash the belt. It ran fine after that with no slippage or smoke, so I'm sure I'm ok but I'm sure that I've taken some hours off of the life of the belt. Oh well, live and learn.

How many people have done the 10 hour maintenance themselves? It does not look difficult at all!

Brian

 

Brian,
Which dealer in Utah did you buy your Brute from?

Re: break-in, I'd be conservative. I have two Vinsons. One, I babied during break-in, the other I didn't. The Vinson that didn't get proper break-in is a lot noisier (coming from the engine) than the one I broke-in correctly. Just my experience.....

Thanks,
Mark

 

Cedar City Kawasaki. I've got a group ride with a local club Saturday and tooling around with the wife Sunday. I should be able to keep up without pushing it too hard. I've got to get the 10 hours out of the way before I go riding with my "Polaris" buddies where we ride kinda hard. I don't want my first outing with them to be "You guys go ahead, I can only go half throttle! I'll catch up to you later." You know that they will want to drag a few times!

Brian

 

WHen I got my P650 a year ago (it was brand new), I screwed in the little screw located behind the thumb throttle so as to limit my throttle to 1/2 way. After the initial 10 hours of use ended, I removed the screw completely and ever since I drove it like I stole it. If I didn't have that screw, I know I would have been tempted to hit WOT before the 10 hours was up, so I really like that screw!

Happy trails...[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

That's a great idea. I'll check to see if I have the screw today. I can't wait for 10 hours to be up! My boss walked into my office today and saw the BF wallpaper on my computer and started prodding me with comments about how I need to be prepared for when his Polaris Scrambler 400 smokes me from a dead stop. I laughed. It's quick and pulls pretty good but I'm not sure if he realizes what he's up against.

Brian