A group of us went to the land between the lakes about a month ago. While there we had more than our share of breakdowns. While we were returning back home the main topic was, are we going above and beyond what the quads were ever designed for? So I'm going to ask you guys at the Polaris board. What do you think your quad was ment to do? And does it do it with or without problems?

 

I have used my ATV’s for everything. Hauling wood, rock, deer hunting, Turkeys hunting, water containers, and a lot of farm work. I also play with my ATV’s I ride through Mud, water; hill climbing and I jump with it. So I guess I am saying yes it is more than what I thought they would ever be. One thing I have learned over the years is, if you are going to play, you are going to work on them.

 

I have owned ATV's and snowmobiles for about 20 years now and the biggest thing that I have learned is that the harder you beat on something, the more time you will spend maintaining and fixing it. I grew up with a 90 Honda ATC that my brother and I owned. Being the teenagers that we were, that machine was wrecked, dunked in water, and ran through everything until my dad got tired of fixing the things that we broke. The point is, todays ATV's are designed to take a great deal of abuse, but their more sophisticated designs also leave more room for breakage. I am sure the manufactures realize that some riders will be running their ATV through deep mud and jumping insanely high, but if they designed a quad that could truely withstand that kind of beating and still ride like a cadilac, it would cost double what we are paying know. In order to make ATV's that we can reasonable afford with the features that we want, they are forced to make some compromises. Most people that purchase an ATV will rarely push it to its limits and suffer little failure. For the few of us you push them just a little harder, we can expect higher maintenance bills.

 

Well, My Sportsman does what it's sposed to do.. pull, mud, climb, and comfortably cruise around on the trail. My 300express does what it sposed to and a little more. I jumped it a little, mudded on it, and tried to climb. My banshee does everything I've wanted it too.. since I've had it only 7 days!

 

Same here. The more I learn to ride faster and harder, the more abuse I inflict on my ride. I used to be more carefull choosing my mudholes and rocky trails...but now I just haul through everything! Of coarse last year it cost me 700$ canadian, per quad, since there was so much "muck damage". The mechanic told me that he had never seen a quad with so much mud, clay, twigs, grass, rocks, and every other imaginable thing everywhere. The brakes were all jammed up and under the plastic, where the wires and fuses are was just packed full of crud! It was my fault, no garage and too lazy to clean up after rides...

Hearing all of the stories on these forums it gets me thinking that most of the bikes with problems are usually due to agreesive riding and quad torture! That's why all the Hondoink guys think our rides are junk!!! LOL

 

How dare you abuse a polaris my sportsman goes through mudholes a covered wagon would get stuck in, nosed up in dipping roads, and not to mention goes up stuff steep enough a goat would have trouble climbing, drove on roads 40 mph that were designed to go about 10 mph on and goes over top of rocks that hon...uh I mean most atv's would get stuck on and keeps on going and going and going. If anyone from Polaris is reading this remember these forums are for entertainment use only...yeah right...I will just say most atv's of today will do what they are designed for and a whole lot more remember reading your manual about safely riding on those 30 degree inclines isn't that a joke...but also remember if you abuse you repair thank goodness 400 miles and no break downs yet on the Sportsman 500...THANKS POLARIS