I would say the ride is 'smoother', not softer. The suspension is very controllable for the weight of the machine. You can still whip through the corners in two wheel drive sliding the *** end around with no problem, no diving problems where it makes it hard to hook-up. The technical ascending and descending is great. I haven't experienced the rear wheel hop that others talked about earlier models on the downhills.

The wider stance is nice, but the machines seem really big because of the wider stance and Polaris widened the fenders and changed the design because people complaining about mud flying up from the front tires.

I installed the 27" tires, but the 26s where a nice tread pattern for all around riding and even mud/snow. Its hard to tell in the pics, but there is plenty of clearance on the 27" rubber to fender. I've done some technical riding, hit hard with the wheels turned and have not come close to rubbing anywhere.

As far as the headlight mod goes, do a search it is explained in other threads and also a link to one of the members websites that gives a good explanation. Basically there is a green and a yellow wire coming from the light switch on the handlebars. There are two cable bundles running from the handlebar, follow the one back that had the green and the yellow wire. Pull the screws from your headlight pod and cut a slice into the shielding over that bundle, inside the headlight pod. You will need the switch described above and the type of connectors that can splice into a wire without cutting it. You connect the green wire to the one plug on the switch, generally the copper one and the yellow wire to the silver connector on the switch. You will then have off/low/hi as normal, but when you flip the switch you will have off/low/ and low/hi (in the Hi position).

Here is one more pic of my machine, I took this before I installed the switch for the headlight mod, I will take a picture of the switch location and post later:

05' 700 EFI Pic 4

If anyone wants to see close-ups on my pbase account, just click on 'original' on the bottom of the page and you will get a full scale pic that you can pan around on. Be careful, if you are on dial-up, this may take awhile to load.

dave

 

Guys,
The other question I have is that with the combination of the new tires and wider front track, is the steering easier or a bit harder than last year's model? Thanks.

 

First off Elkbow(Dave) that is one sharp ride, I emailed that picture to all my wheeling buddies and after seeing it I know they'll want to come to the dark side. My question is what about the drive line noise, do you get it with the 05 700? Anyway if I was buying I would have to get a real good deal on a 04.5 because the 05 has too many good new features to turn down for a few hundred bucks especially being there might be a 500 EFI in the near feture.......

 

Drive line noise is minor, not nearly as much as previously. I can only hear it when I get higher speeds/rpms, nothing at lower speeds/rpms.

Here is a picture of where I installed my switch for the 3-light modification. I was thinking about putting it on the opposite side of the other switch, i.e. to the right of the speedo, but the regular light switch is on the left handlebar, so I decided to put it on the left side under the Work Light that is on the '05's:

'05 700 EFI Light Switch for 3-light modification

dave

 

hey elkbow how fast have you gotton your new sportsman up to? how fast do you think it will go

 

According to my GPS I had it at 68 mph and that was at 6300 feet in elevation. But I didn't stay there for long because I was right at the end of my 10 hour break-in period. I will be out again this weekend, so I'll get a better test. I want to check to see what RPM's its turning at that speed. I was running it on an old dirt road, with nobody around for a long ways and I was 30 miles from my campsite. Not a good place to wreck. The roads out there have a tendancy to get washed out and you can't see those arroyo's until you're right on top of them.

 

68 on that big of a machine wow [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img] haha what do you need a sport for..

does the front end lift off like the 04 sportsman. my dads does

 

I can wheelie off on bumps/humps, I haven't tried to lift the front on level ground. I'm just past the 10 hour period and I believe in proper break-in. By proper break-in I mean do not overheat the machine during the first 10 hours. In order to do that, you have to keep the speed/rpm's down, don't stay at the same speed/rpm's for long periods. When I roadraced motorcycles, we rebuilt our motors and then we would start them, let them idle for a few minutes, shut them down to cool down, do it again for a few more times. Then we would take them out for short rides at low rpm's. Each time letting them cool down afterwards. We eventually worked them up to higher speeds/rpm's. I basically do the same thing on each new machine that I buy. I want the rings to seat themselves properly. Polaris now puts 100% synthetic oil in the machine, which I'm not sure that it is the best for break-in, but thats what my '05 came with.

I also just changed the oil at 200 miles, which I had just over 10 hours on the machine. As you can tell, thats 20 mph average, because when I was elk hunting, I did a couple of 60 mile round trip....trips to one of my hunting spots. Get there alot faster on the ATV than bouncing around in the truck.

dave