Lately, I have taken an interest in the Brute. Anyone aware of a face off between the King Quad and the Brute?

 

No but i seen it against the bombardier outlander 800 and the bombardier smoked the brute force. but i have riden them and they have excellent torque and power i would say the brute would beat the king quad.

 

I have never read a magazine shoot out between the two bikes. My brother has a 05 King Quad and I have a 05 Brute Force. There are a lot of good things on both bikes and some quirks.

Engine Power - Undoubtedly the Brute Force is much better in this area. To me the King Quad was surprisingly lacking when compared to the Brute. Both bikes bone stock in a drag race the King Quad stood no chance against my Brute. Now that I have changed both of my clutch springs I think this difference is even greater.

Suspension - I feel the King Quad has the upper hand in this area, not by leaps and bounds but noticeably better.

Driveability at high elevation - Even with the EFI I haven't noticed major differences between the two bikes. The King Quad definately gets better gas mileage but my Brute has always started just as smoothly and runs just as smooth at the high elevations as by brothers King Quad.

Engine Noise/Vibration - The King Quad seems smoother in this area than the Brute

 

I've ridden them both. Brute was faster. LOVED the engine. The engine was magnificent. I liked the layout of the controls and everything too. The handling however sucked nard. No way around that. Kawasaki should have never let the thing leave the factory handling like that. Wrecked what what could have been a great quad. Now that being said, it is claimed that if you put a couple of grand worth of custom shocks on it you can get it to handle quite well. The one I rode just had radials and rims but handled like crap. Hated that.

As you know the KQ handles great. Power is ok but not exhilarating like the BF. Now a fuel injected BF motor in a KQ chassis would be sweet.

If you want to tinker and add shocks and mess around with the carbs and such the BF might be the ticket.

 

I am one of those who Did ADD better shocks but these WORKS Shocks did not set me back a couple of grand, presently I just finished my final upgrade on my WORKS Steeler AT shocks as I had WORKS add on the adjusters and remote reserviors to all 4 WORKS Shocks.
Total now on my Steeler ATs is $1260. First when I ordered and installed these WORKS I was limited to dollars, so I just ordered the Basic WORKS Steeler ATs with No adjusters, No Reserviors, they cost $758 w/shipping.
The improvement with just the Basic Steeler ATs vs the Kawasaki stock shocks is like comparing night to day. Everything improved, great handling, smoother ride, super control at any speed. Now with the adjusters installed I can fine tune these WORKS even better for any terrain I tackle.
I don't think I really needed the remote reserviors for my riding but heck, why not go ahead and get them too, they sure give it that "trick" look to the Big Brute.
I have a buddy who owns the KQ700, after I did the Basic WORKS Steeler upgrade I couldn't keep him off of my BF he like it that much over his KQ, power is there with that 749cc VTwin motor and now the chassis can handle that power as well.

 

I have yet to get me some of these shocks but I have heard a few rumors that a set of Yamaha Raptor shocks on the BF makes a huge difference in the ride. As far as I know they will bolt right into the BF. I am guessing that the dual rate spring on the rapter makes a huge difference.

 

out4elk
I've seen that too with the Raptor shocks for the rear. Takes a little grinding to get the fit right to bolt up but sounds like it may work at least for the rear.
For the fronts just go with either the Steeler A/Ts at $379/pr or the G-Series at $439?/pr. If over time the Raptors Shocks prove to be a poor choice, then you can add the WORKS to the rear as well.