Hi I'm new to this forum and have been reading it for quite some time. i would apreciate any input on the 650 prairie or the 650 rincon. I like the looks better of the rincon and have had a rubicon for the last 2 years, it has been a good machine with no problems(1700 miles). I mostly ride power lines,rough trails and play in the mud a little.I usually ride with guys with sport quads and dirt bikes and want to be able to keep up a little better but still have a 4x4. I only rode the machines in the parking lot and liked the power of the prairie. any help on the pro's and con's of each would sure be appreciated. If i buy the prairie i want to get the c-series wheels and was unsure of what tires i would put on it, i was thinking of staying with the stock size to keep it as sporty as possible, is this a correct assumption? I don,t want to make the ride worse but hear the stock tires are not the best. Is the ride day and night between the rincon and the prairie? Will the prairie ride better than my rubicon? I want the quad that will give me the best fun factor and make me forget all about my 2001 rubicon. I also like to ride fast and jump a little. Thanks in advance for your input, i apprecite any advice you guys can give me.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

 

The prairie will ride fast and jump. And will keep up with the sport quads. I believe the Rincon will reach a comparable top end, but is much slower getting there. In professionally timed drag races, the Rincon was 6.80 seconds and the Prairie was 6.14 seconds. In comparing to other quads, the SP700 was 6.91 seconds and the Grizzly was 6.20 seconds. If the way you descibed riding is true, then I'm not sure how happy you'd be with the Rincon. The Rincon does ride better than the Prairie because of the IRS, but don't know how much better. The Prairie rides very good for an ATV with a straight axle. It has been said before that the Rincon rides good, but is more suited for the leisure recreational rider, with the auto type transmission. But if you ever want to get sporty and keep up with those sport quads, the Prairie would be your answer. I'm running 26" tires and could almost keep up with a Z400, KFX400 and a 400EX when they were doing everything they could to stay in front of me. But my tires are 589's and on the heavy side. If you went with a Prairie and liked to ride some trails, but also keep your speed to keep up with the sport quads, you may want to look at Mud-Lites or a similar light weight tire in a stock size.

 

On second thought, maybe those ATR Radials would be good. The tread isn't as aggressive as some of the mud tires, but you said you rode in a little mud. My stock tires carried me through some pretty good holes, but not as good as the 589's will. And those ATR Radials are supposed ride extremely good and should give you a real sporty feel.

 

Mount:
Welcome to the forum. Now lets get down to business. You describe riding conditions that directly scream KAWI P650! I am not about to bash the Rincon...I have not rode one. But I have read as much info on all the big bores as I have about my own Kawi. I have read both good and bad about the Rincon, and I have formed a opinion on the bike that it's a good machine. I admittedly love the looks (much nicer than the P650) but in reality thats the only real thing that appeals to me. The Kawi has alot more power. This is not even up for debate. I have read dyno runs on the Rincon that claim 20hp @ rear wheels and even with a pipe...23Hp. Some have claimed as high as 25hp. The P650 has dynoed at nearly 32 @ rear wheels. They basicaly weigh the same, thus the power to weight ratio of the Kawi destroy's the Rincon. This reflects in drag races between the two, as the P650 is the king of the drags! The braking on the P650 is superior...double piston front disks and the amazing sealed wet brakes on the rear(the first service for these is 6000-7000 miles!) The engine braking on the Kawi is far superior as well. The P650 also has a "on-the-fly" front locker...and believe me it's awesome. I am riding along a trail and along comes a real scary mud hole...simply pull in with your index finger and mash the throttle and you make short work of the hole...all without having to stop. This works equally well in snow as I have been putting mine through it's paces all winter long. Don't underestimate the locker, it works. The suspension on the Kawi lends itself to sport riding better than the Rincon. I have read the Rincon apparently handles better on the trail. Maybe...but the same rear end on the P650 has found it's way on to the amazing Kawi V-Force 700. I doubt VERY much that you will ever see the Rincons rear end on a sport quad...EVER! The solid axle on the Kawi makes it more stable in the corners , the very nature of I.R.S proves this to be true. The front springs on the P650 are a little soft and do tend to dive a little in the corners but it also helps with a plush ride. Not as plush as the Rincon obiously but it will ride much better than your Rubicon. The stock tires on both bikes reportedly suck! I know the stockers on the Kawi suck as they are far too soft for fast riding. They cause you to dive in corners as the sidewalls roll too much. I beat the pi$$ out of my front rims untill I put the 26" Kenda Bear Claws on (AWESOME!) The Rincons tires are probably even softer as they are Radials. You stated that you ride with sport quads alot...they all have impressive power and speed. While the Rincon is a powerfull and fast bike...it does not have the throttle response, power, accelleration , or the speed that the Kawi has...no other 4x4 does. The kawi is VERY resticted in it's stock form ( more than any other 4x4 out there) Kawi de-tuned it 3 times before it was released to the public. There are quick, cheap fixes out there now to unleash the REAL BEAST living inside. The sport quads you ride with will never know what hit them. Apparently a bigger air intake alone plus jet kit gives 5 hp. Add pipe, clutch springs(real cheap by the way...and will make your belt last a very long time) and the bike is a monster! Add the new C.D.I. and this bike is in Raptor territory, as the C.D.I is the biggest thing Kawi done to de-tune it. The C.D.I. releases GOBS of power and torque all through the power band. The Kawi is an absolute beast in every form and beats the Rincon at almost everything. It's cheaper than the Rincon...you could do most of the mods above and still be priced the same as the Rincon and then you have a potent weapon on you hands that will make you soil your pants on a daily basis...how can the Rincon compete with that? As for reliability...yes Honda has a gleaming reputation. But in reality Kawi has a good one as well. Most all problems associated with the Kawi are really a non issue. The biggest was the belt as kawi lets them out the door a little on the loose side...this causes them to wear prematurely. Make sure that it's tight and add the black spring and it willl last a very long time. By the way it only takes 10 minutes to change the belt and is as easy as picking your nose and hurts less! I have had my Kawi for about a year and drove it like a savage, left it out in the snow most of the winter as I plow my driveway with it as well. It curently has mud and ice frozen all over it. I have a shed but it got snowed in...sometimes I cover it, sometimes not. It has never let me down. I have shoveled a foot of snow off it at -30 and it always starts and performs like an animal. I love this bike and would not even consider anything else...maybe someone can convince you to buy a Rincon, and if you did you would still love it and have a great time on it. But you said you wanted FUN-FACTOR...BABY THAT MEANS KAWI!!!

PS: Sorry for the long post, but your new, and I wanted to steer you in the right direction. In truth , I could have went on all night long...but I gotta go. Good luck and happy shopping. Keep us posted on your decision.


ROB

 

The Rincon's new tranny will take some work to make it interesting for me. It basically freewheels instead of engine braking like the Prairie. The Prairie is also less expensive. Power wise, the Prairie definitely takes the Rincon. Let us know what you decide.

 

MOUNT!;
One more thing...you said the Rincon looks better! Well picture this... You are out riding with your buddies on your new Kawi P650, you of course are in the lead. You stop for a little break and along comes another group...led by a guy on a Shiny New Rincon! He pulls up along side and looks your bike over , warts and all!
He looks at you and says" so thats a Prairie eh? Don't look like much! His group laughs... you suddenly get a surge of adrenaline throughout your body... you look at your group and say " lets ride"! You look at the Rincon rider and give him a little smile. You turn your key and hit the starter... all of a sudden the Rincon rider's smile fades. His group stops laughing... you hit the throttle a little and it's there! That sweet roar of that mighty V-TWIN! You let off the gas to return to the deep thump from that beautiful engine. You cast the Rincon rider a glare, that turns into a bigger smile... you turn away and mash the throttle...engine just screams! and those 26" Kenda Bearclaws grab Mother Earth and proceeed to give her a face lift! A 50ft tail of mud, rocks and tree stumps shower the Rincon rider and his group...YOU ROAR AWAY AND YOUR SMILE STUCK OFF THE SIDES OF YOUR HELMET! Ahhh I love Kawi!!! It just feels so right! What do you want...Beautiful...or BADDA$$ ?!!

PS: Sorry Honda... I couldn't resist.

ROB

 

Hey Mount,

Welcome to the forum......YEAH, what they said! I have two good friends who both bought RINCONS at the end of last year ('03 models) Just this past weekend, while on a ride on the Hatfield McCoy system, BOTH of them, independently, have come up to me and said that they wish they would have asked what you have just asked before making the purchase. I rode the RINCON for a half day last fall. (One of my buddies wanted to trade for 10 minutes to "see the difference", and he was having so much fun that I couldn't get him off of my Prairie.) Granted, I had a few mods done on my bike and his RINCON was bone stock, but riding it was.....quite frankly......boring. Another noteworthy observation (and granted it might be rider experience, it might be the difference in trails, but each of these two guys have rolled the bike multiple times. I noticed a dramatical "top heavy" feel and very tippy tendency when riding the RINCON compared to the PRAIRIE. I don't know whether it is actually the true center of gravity, the IRS, or just my imagination, but it was extremely noticible.

Neither of these guys uses a computer much nor is a member of this forum, but I would be happy to give you their contact info and let you or anybody else pick their brains personally.

I don't have an axe to grind, and I certainly don't have anything against "Big Red"....I'm just an EXTREMELY SATISFIED P650 owner.

Good Luck!

 

Oh yeah....I forgot to mention this: Both RINCON owners DETEST the Engine Braking System (if that is what you call it) on their bikes. The say that the bike feels REAL squirly when going down big hills and that 100% of the braking is manual, until you get up to like 18 mph. (And who goes 18 mph down a steep *** hill!?) They also said that, and I dont understand exactly how this is supposed to work, but, supposedly one of the front levers is supposed to supply equal braking to all for wheels? All I know is that watching one of these two guys come down a BIG hill (the other guy wouldn't even go up it for this reason, and in West-by-gosh-Virginia, I'm sure they would refer to this "hill" as a "freakin' mountain", the poor guy was locked up and nearly out of control. I was puckering up just watching him.

By comparison, going down the same hill, to save brake wear and tear, I put the Prairie in 4-wheel drive, low range, and only had to apply light equal pressure to both front and rear breaks on the steepest and longest grades, and didn't spin a tire. The EBS will control the bike without applying brakes for many hills.

 

How do the c-series wheels and 26" bear klaws ride compared to stock. Is the ride a lot stiffer? I was thinking of staying with the stock size to keep it sporty and keep the speedo accurate will the 26's throw off the spedo much? Thanks again for the info.

 

Thanks for the detailed reply! I was ready to call the dealer when i got done reading it lol. Seriously thanks for your input hear i am going to make a decision next week and look forward to talking to you guys about atv's.