I am closly monitoring that very thought (how they de-tuned it). When I picked mine up from my dealer I told him I wanted to know what they did so I could undo it. He has a mechanic that is very good at that type of reserch. I understand that the engineers that designed the Prairie engine are the same ones that built the one for the Kawasaki Ninja street bikes and the way I understood this rep, this thing must have breated fire when they first released it. I'm hoping that what ever they did was simple bolt ons.
If anyone finds any info post it and I will do the same.

 

Like it normally happens when two equally matched quads come out, I think we are all picking apart meaningless things here to find an advantage of one over the other. Basically, you could find a lot of nitpicky things about each quad to make the other one look better.

For instance, you can say the aluminum racks of the prairie would bend easier. You could also downplay the plastic handlebar shroud. You could also play on the weak plastic that surrounds the front push bar on the griz, and say the bars are too high.

As far as the suspension squatting, it will some of course, but not much with just one rider unless that rider is like 250lbs, and even then, the shocks are adjustable. Still though, they claim 11.8", and I saw where somebody measured one with 28" Mudzillas on it and only got 13" at the highest point. That wasn't too impressive, seeing that my 99 AC 500 with a lift and 27" tires has almost 13" at the front skid. You would think that 28" on an IRS quad claiming almost 12" would be a bit higher. Hmmm.. Who knows.

Still, even with the suspension squatted, you are still higher than a conventional swingarm with a gear housing hanging down.

As far as forgetting to unlock a differential, that is pretty lame. Not really something that is applicable, and I think the steering will pretty much let you know. I mean, how often do you lock it anyway, and how hard is it to forget? As far as not locking over 20mph, what need is there to be locked at that speed. The King quad will only lock in super low, and nobody really made an issue out of that before.

As far as losing power because of IRS, it never really hurt the sportsman. It has always cranked out better power than other 500's, and before the HO days, it didn't give up anything to the Magnum with the same engine and a straight axle. Can't say that I can see a noticeable problem with power loss in an IRS quad.

As far as the Grizz being narrow and tippy, I can see that. I always thought a big bear would be tippy due to its narrowness, but I had one follow my AC through a few places, and he never had a problem. I flipped over though. (In a place the BB did not venture, and for good reason, so I guess thats not applicable either) Wider tires on the back would help that.

The way I see it, both of these two are pretty much equal. Each has its minor upsides and downsides, but not really enough to make one a lot better than the other. It pretty much comes down to whether you want team green or team blue I think. When you get down to finding minor differences and such, it pretty much shows that the two in question are evenly matched enough that it would be very hard to pick one over the other.

 

Andy I pretty much agree with you except for the dif. lock. After nearly doing a complete circle and rolling down a hill after a long mud/water crossing because I had the dif lock held in I realized why Kawasaki did what they did with the lever. We were crossing a long mud/water run with an immediate off camber hill on the other side you had to go up. There was no way to approach it straight and if you let off the gas you were stuck. I only had the dif lock held in for a second or so when I hit the hill and I almost rolled over because the atv followed the hill because of the approach we had to take. If I could not have immediately release the dif lock and swung the rear end around I would have rolled it for sure. There were two other riders with me riding Honda Rubi's that did not have a problem but they did not follow me they chose an easier line. My Prairie was new and I still wanted to see what it would do so I pick the less traveled route.
At this point I realized how much thought the engineers put into this one item on the Prairie and was impressed, and then thought to myself if they put this much thought into the whole atv, what a machine it must be!
The bottom line here is this IRS would not have saved me and not having the ability to on-the-fly immediately release the front dif would have resulted in me getting really dirty, and worse yet being laughed at by my peers.
[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

I guess the diff lock depends on the type of riding you do. If you plan on playing in a big mud field for extended periods, then the grizz would be better because you don't have to hold the lever the whole time. If you do mostly trail riding, with the occasional big mud hole, the lever is better. With the lever, you can still steer. Plus, you don't have to come to a stop to engage and disengage the lock. For me, I would go crazy coming to a stop to engage/disengage the lock for every deep mud hole. Either way, having the diff lock is an awesome feature.

 

I find it hard to believe that Kow spent 3 years building the 650 and forgot to put on IRS.
IRS is not a gimmick, its a necessity and a safety feature. It will keep the quad firmly attached to the ground instead of kicking the back end up off of the ground and sideways on a rough road when going fast. Also keeps the quad in contact when rock crawling.(Jeep CJ verses Hummer?) Not to mention a ride quality that is a real "SALE MAKER".
Lots of new Griz owners might well have bought the Kow if it had IRS.
Remember what 4X4 trucks were like in the mid 80's, solid axles in front were cheeper, but the ride sucked and the truck was dangerous on rough roads when going fast.
The auto industry finally gave up the fight against IFS years ago and now its hard to buy a 4X4 without it. Desert race trucks have IFS and IRS, Race cars, anything going fast on uneaven ground needs it.
In a few years it will also be on sport quads, and after that happens it will be hard to believe we ever rode without it.
Kind of like the 3-wheelers we rode with no suspension or front brakes way back when! (ouch, and dangerouse!)
I am looking at the new griz instead of the Prarie 650 for this reason, and lots of my friends think the same way. I know a lot of Sportsman owners thinking about the Griz, and none of them like the Prarie's lack of IRS. The 650 V-Twin is the best thing since rear supennsion was first put on[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] but
Once you have IRS, you'll never go back to the solid axle crap!

 

 

Don't give me any of that IRS crap; I've rode with a couple of Sportsman that popped that cherry out on the trail. I like the solid axle design, myself. It's just beefier.

I just rode with some fellows that just bought three brand new 650s. They have all the power you need. I couldn't believe how strong they were. From what I saw, the total package worked flawlessly: engine breaking, diff. lever, range selector lever, the MOTOR. Instant power and response out of that wheeler. We rode about 40 miles through some bad mud and water with no problems out of any of them. I can still hear that sound echoing through the woods. Now, if I can just figure out how to get one.

 

The plastic skid on my AC hasn't had any problems in all of the rocky creekbeds I've ridden it in over the last 3 years. Nothing to catch and bend like steel or aluminum. Yamaha used steel skids in the past, and so did a few others. Now a few others are going to plastic after Arctic Cat started doing it. Maybe something is up there. Cheaper to replace, if you even have to, slicker and doesn't catch up on stuff, and lighter weight, as if that is going to be a real weight problem anyway.

 

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Ok genius, how much do you figure a steel skid plate weighs anyway? Not a whole lot. Also, I don't believe I said that plastic was stronger than steel. I would figure that the steel skid is going to be more protective as well, only an idiot would disagree with that, but you are really going to have to screw up bad to bust a skid plate. I can see if you wheelied it onto a rock or something, but either way its going to be pretty durable.