I am getting ready to purchase a big bore utility ATV. I have narrowed down my choices to a Honda Rincon 680, a Kawasaki Brute Force 650i, and a KingQuad700. I have been reading just about every forum out there for the past few months trying to make an educated decision before buying.. now I am asking you guys to chime in and help.
I am an experienced rider, coming off of a CRF450, and before that a Quadrunner 500 and before that many other ATVs and bikes. My reason for buying is pleasure riding, not work or utility. I also plan on doubling the old lady, which is why I am looking at a big bore.

To summarize my understanding of the above listed ATVs I will list my pros and cons from reading.

1)Honda Rincon 680-
Pros- Cadillac ride, great handling and trail manners. Plug N Play, little or no wrenching. No Belt. EFI- No rejetting.
Cons- Low on power in comparison. 38.5 Horsepower!! No Locker. Engine braking can be intimidating for beginners (Not me..but if the little lady is driving). If I want to mod.. will be difficult with EFI.

2)Kawasaki Brute Force 650i
Pros- More power than Rincon. 48.5 Horsepower. Locker. Great handling. Great trail manners. Can mod if needed, pipe, jets, etc.
Cons- Belt. Clunking Tranny. Carb..may have to rejet.. but not a major gripe. KEBC (engine braking) seems to be too much at times. Lots of reports of noises (probably belt) Reports of sputtering when going through water.

3)Suzuki KingQuad 700
Pros- Most power of the three. 65 Horsepower. Locker. Great Ride, Great Trail manners. EFI
Cons- Belt. Low end lag. (I dont know if I could deal with that). Some people have water crossing issues. Lots of reports of this motor being crippled by Suzuki.. people waiting for CDI to fix all the issues.. (How can a motor with this horsepower rating have so many reports of lag in power across the band?)

Five years ago it was much simpler, but today we have so many wonderful choices it is mind boggling.

FYI I got the horsepower ratings from http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/onroad/.../2006/2006.php

My gut and loyalty says Honda. My hunch says BruteForce 650i. The King seems so iffy, but promising.
Why am I not looking at BF750?? From what I understand the 650 is lighter, quicker and handles better..maybe im wrong.

I am not entertaining the Grizzly (hate Yamaha). not into Polaris either. Dont want a Bomb.

Thanks in Advance.

 

I was faced with the same issue, I went with the 650i because 90% of the power I would be needing would be on the low end, (not into drag racing, especially on trails). efi means nothing to me yet, I see no benefits unless you are going above 10,000 ft (except maybe gas mileage, but you have to sacrifice a little gas mileage to have all that power). All 3 are great rides, it just matters what you need and want, if one bike had it all, I guess there would be no competition, Good Luck, kk

 

I'll chime this on for ya, FUEL ECONOMY ON 650I IS TERRIBLE, lol ok im done but damn son at 21.9 miles i use half a tank of fuel, thats crazy bad. Im banking on no more than 40-45 miles to a 5gallon (4.8) fuel tank, my 1998 Polaris Sportsman 500 easily got 125miles to a tank of fuel with no sweat what so ever. Kinda sucks considerin gas prices lol, but other than that, im tellin ya get that rincon and boast about its ride, then you'll be regrettin it when it doesnt matter because you just lost the racks off of it in the windstorm caused by that 650i that just jetted by you lol har har. -joe

 

my brute goes 80+ miles per tank on normal terrain if i can use high range at least part of the time.

the KQ will not produce 65 HP. i don't know the numbers, but that is more than the Bomb 800 produces if i remember right.

i have not needed to rejet the 650i for my stomping grounds (4,000' to 11,000). i may be not producing the power at high elevations, i don't know, because the high elevation trails are almost always strictly low range and slow going. power is not an issue. i also ride double with the GF, and the long seat of the Brute makes this comfortable and easy without a rack seat. IMO it is a little safer this way because the weight of the passenger is lower and foreward of the rear axle.

the KQ is a great machine that is pretty good at everything. that was my first choice until i rode the 650i.

the Rincon is not a contender in my area because of the lack of low range and diff lock. those two features are necessary. this is too bad, because i like the looks of the rincon otherwise.

monty

 

I agree 100%. Rincon is out of the race with me on the three choices also, due to the same reasons. I would choose the 650i over the king also.

 

The Honda isn't the best choice when you've got these other two ATVs. While it's tranny doesn't have a belt, it's a power robbing tranny vs. the belt driven other two. It doesn't have a front locker either. Belt driven ATV's are the majority, and if a belt ever breaks or goes bad it's like $70
instead of $1000 for a tranny fix on the Honda.

It'd be between the BF and KQ.
The BF 650i in stock form is faster than the KQ and Rincon. Low end is very good with it's V-twin as well as midrange. It's got a lot of the engine components from the 750, which makes it nearly as fast. It is a 633cc just so you know. It does get bad gas mileage though, ecspecially if you play around a lot, easy riding shouldn't be to bad though.

The KQ is a very good ATV, that is about to get a lot better with the introduction of the "low end lag" fix. Like you stated Velocity Devices Inc. are going to make an ECU that will open the KQ up big time, b/c with the stock ECU the King is severely detuned by a timing retard. This could very well put the King right there with the V-twins power wise b/c VDI is getting some jaw dropping results with an early build ECU, giving the KQ the ability to do burnouts[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img]!! That's right. I have 1200 miles on my KQ and it's been great but it'll be awesome with this new ECU. Gas mileage with the EFI is great, great as in comparable to my old 400cc ATV, cold starts are easy. 70mph+ top speed.

I really comes down to if you want to spend the extra money on the ECU with the King, if so then I say King Quad. If you just want to buy an ATV and do zero mods then get the BF650i, b/c like I said it's more powerful than the King out of the crate.

 

Monty, that is the same thing i thought. Those numbers are super high in comparison to the other ATVs

 

Although I love speed, I am not buying the fastest, just because it is the fastest. I am putting trail manners and comfort above speed for this particular purchase. I would rather have low end grunt than a high top speed, torque is addictive (Coming off the CRF450 made me addicted to torque!). I was looking at HorsePower trying to relate that to the torque that I am looking for.. and as a few have pointed out it is probably safe to assume that the KQ numbers are inaccurate on the California Emissions site.

I threw KingQuad into the mix because on paper it seems very comparible to my other decisions.. but my gut does not like Suzuki.. as I have owned 3 Suzuki products in the past and I felt their engineering was very poor.

The Brute Force 650i is looking tasty the more I read..

 

The KQ's trail manners are supposedly better than the BF's, it's said to have a better ride and suspension....but really the difference isn't probably that much.

As for Suzuki as a whole, I'm extremely impressed with the quality/design of the King Quad for the most part...but then again I just came from a Polaris last year. I haven't had one problem with my KQ though. Suzuki isn't any less of a company than Kawasaki from what I've seen, very simular actually, the Japanesse brands are all very comparable quality, usually high quality bikes by all 4 of them. Honda, by the way isn't necessarily the most reliable anymore either.

 

I own a Rincon, but am not biased. If your going to ride 2 up alot then the Brute or King would be the better choice. But alot of people have a problem with Honda not having a locker? My Rincon will spin all 4 tires, if one wheel is spinning in the air and the other isn't pulling just touch the front brakes and the power shifts. I've never felt that I've needed a locker. And yes I have ridden some nasty stuff ie Telico. If your into mud maybe they would help. But if you want ride and fantastic handling, Rincon all the way. You have a very tuff choice ahead of you. I know you said you weren't looking at the Bomb, but for 2 up riding its the best out there.