When kawasaki built the 650 they had to detune it, too much power and speed. Yamaha answers with the 660 single cylinder probably working on the top end of its realm, damn nice bike, great attempt to capture the throne, but alas that was the best it could do. Then the poles show up with a bike, bikes, that is supposed to take the world by storm. We soon found that third world teck will not make it in the world of superbikes. I wonder what the poles would have done if the kawi had come out as the original version ? What will they do when the cdi comes out? Would it drive them to install a high performance v twin or something else ?
Try not to be so brand loyal, study the bike you are interested in.Will it be reliable, will it work for what you want it for, Is it something i can afford , Will you be satisfied with it?
If a bike comes out tomorrow that is king, be happy that you lived during its reign. I hope that some other manufacture come out with a bike that is faster, lighter,better looking,more dependable, smoother, better traction, easer to work on, cheaper parts, easer on fuel and cost less, that is the one i want, not the pretender to the throne.
long live the king whoever it is.

 

Northstar wrote - You've got me on the ground clearance - but I can add the tires, plus I've got V-twin power, sealed rear brakes, selectable front diff, individual front and rear brakes, low center of gravity, 4x4 engine braking and 150 less pounds. You would have a hard time adding (or subtracting) these items.

Now that I've spewed that out, I like all the flagship machines. I've got a local dealer that treats me well, if he sold Polaris instead of Kawasaki, I might have a Sp700 in the yard.

Northstar - are there any good riding places in the Epping area, or southern NH for that matter? Or do you have to go to Maine? I take the 101 through Epping on my way to Vermont. (Another ATV hostile place).

 

novakaw650, to answer your question, no, there are not really any places to ride around here. The legal areas are pretty lame, and everywhere else is illegal. Everyone posts their land, and NH law says that you can't even ride an atv on land that ISNT posted, without carrying written landowner permission. There is a great deal of enforcement in the woods, because local police depts have learned that it is a good source of revenue. The closest place to ride is an old railroad bed that's 18 miles long and straight- boring as hell. There are 3 parks, but 2 only allow atvs when there is snow cover, and the third is closed during mud season. We normally trailer ours up north, to the other side of the White mts. There is a lot of riding up there. We stay in a campground that's atv friendly, ride right out of the campsite onto a big trail system. Going to try some of the other big paper land trails this year.
I read in atv magazine about some great riding in Quebec. I'd like to try that sometime.

I live right off of 101 at exit 6, beep when you go by!

 

About the whole ground clearance issue.

Has anyone other than me rode with a polaris with a loaded rear rack and looked at the ground clearance. Downright nasty is all I can say. They go from thier stellar 11 inches to a wopping 5 inches. Not kidding here either. The Prairie might only have its 6 or 7 inches but it will never get any worse than that even with 500 lbs on the back. I ride with a buddy of mine that weighs over 300 lbs and his polaris suspension is not a plus. Not saying that they don't have thier place but in my opinion thay are neither a good work machine or a good play bike. Don't know what kind of conditions you guys ride in as far as climate goes but up here where it is either 30 below or 100 above polaris reliability is a real issue. Cant say they have any real horendus problems but lots of little issues which in turn leads to downtime which in turn leads missing rides that your budies are on. My 2c, StAY WITH THE JAPANISE BUILT QUADS. You won't be dissapointed.

 

Well, went out for a ride with my buddy and his SP600. All I can say is "wow" am I glad I got the Kawi. We switched for a little while and what a difference. The power just wasn't there as compared to the Kawi and it shook a little too much for my taste. On off-camber it wanted to slide downhill all the time and felt tippy. My buddy said the same thing about it and that is why we switched was so we could compare. He loved the Kawi, but he loves the ride of the Polaris. I can understand that but I expected the ride to be alot smoother than it was since that is what everyone is talking about. Anyways, I just wanted to throw this out there since we just rode today.

 

Over on the Polaris board, Chaff posted that they bought the SP600. Just in case anyone was wondering. Hope Chaff has a great time with it.....

Not as sporty as the Prairie but at least he will have ground clearance... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] You will know what I mean if you have been reading both forum posts.....

 

hee hee hee. I feel like I have won a small victory.

 

It's no victory Northstar2, just a person doing research and buying what they felt the right one for them was. For me the SP600 doesn't have enough go to it. Waaaayyyy tooooo gutless..... If I wanted to cruise down a trail then it would be fine, but to really have some high-flyin fun it is the Prairie all the way.

Must've been the ground clearance thing that swayed him. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] I just can't get off the ground clearance thing, it is just too funny that people make such a big thing out of it or lack of it for the Prairie.

 

Gee, that was fun. Can we do it again?

 

I guess its all in where you ride. I used to ride a Scrambler, and the places I ride I was constantly bashing the rearend on the ground. I didn't like doing that because it felt like I was abusing the machine. Also, generally when I encounter mud, it is rutted, and the tires go in the ruts and the lowest part of the ATV bottoms out in the center between the ruts. I guess you guys don't ride in the same type of conditions I do. Or you just don't mind dragging. Oh well, to each his own.