Well i went to the dealer and saw the rubicon. It was green and the fit and finish surprised me. It looks pretty good for a honda. I cant wait for a complete shootout between it and the Sportsman 500. It may be the first ever tie. Each atv has their up and downs. The Rubicon has drum brakes, but positive compression braking. The sp500 on the other hand has great disc brakes and good EBS. The Rubicon has fulltime 4x4, while the sp500 has an on command system. The Rubicon has a hydromecanical transmission. It allows for fully automatic features but without belts or pulleys. The sp500 has a traditional belt and pulleys system. While it is more prone to the wheather conditions it is exceptionally easy to use. The Rubicon comes in red or green, and the sp500 comes in yellow, red, green, RSE, DUSE, and new mettalic silver. The Rubicon has 6.7 inches of travel with the use of Showa shocks. And have a unique system in the rear with twin shocks. While the front has double A-arms with 6.7 inches of travel. The sp500 comes with 6.25" Macpherson struts on the front with single a-arms. In the back it has fully indepentant system with an anti-roll bar to reduce the shocks compression while turning. 9.5" of travel in the rear. That boost and industry leading 11" of ground clearance. The Rubicon has 10" of ground clearance. Both sell for $6999. While the 2001 Sportsman now are H.O. (High Output). I am not inplying that the sp500 in better than the rubicon, or vice versa. But with two quads like this in the industry. Things just got a whole lot better. So one is right for you.

 

This is a good time to be an ATV rider. The utility & sport riders are seeing new models every year now. Honda finally made a 500cc & their are rumors of a larger Prairie (600cc-650cc)from Kawasaki. Each quad that comes out has more improvements.