Well, I spent yesterday working on my new 700 EFI and have some observations that may be of interest to others here. I’m VERY impressed with how easily it disassembles and goes back together. The front bumper and box pops off pretty easy to expose anything you’d want to work on up front. The winch installation takes some time but the bike is pre-wired for it so it’s just a matter of connecting the dots. Good job Polaris!

In the tires and wheels department, my 27” 589s went right on with no rubbing on the fenders no matter if I’m coming down off whoops or log hopping. And there seems to be enough fender protection to run the ITP Magnums even with the 1” offset to the outside, which keeps the tires from rubbing the tie rod ends (just barely). The verdict is still out on that, I only went through some puddles and wet gravel, things are still too frozen here to find real mud.

Now I’m in a real quandary. Do I run the Magnums or stock steel wheels? I WILL be running wider front tires so if I run the steel wheels that means I’ll have to put an easy-steer kit on it so the tire won’t hit the tie rod ends. If I put an easy-steer kit on it I may as well lift the front and hang 28” 589s on it. I don’ think the back will need lifting and I may even cut the front lift in half so the machine won’t look low in the rear. It steers pretty nice right now with the 589s without the easy-steer kit so I’d like to keep it that way because turning radius with the kit sucks. I guess it all depends on how much crap I end up wearing in real mud, and that’s going to take some R&D. (bummer, hehehe)

Two disappointments so far. I’m going to have to devise a way to secure that access panel (for the radiator cap & fuses) in the front box. It just won’t stay in place on a hard ride. My biggest disappointment is the clunking drive line lash. Good god, all the design and engineering that went into this machine, and the price of it, and it sounds like it’s coming apart when I slow down! It’s like using 5’ wide bull horns as a hood ornament on a Ferrari. Bad job Polaris!

Since I hate to end this on a sour note, I'll just say that since I've been riding Sportsmans since '97, overall I’m thrilled with what they’ve done to “my quad.”

 

I run ITP Type 5C aluminum wheels with both 27" ITP Mud Lites and also have 589's on 5C's. If you go with the 27x9-12 on the front, don't have to worry about rubbing, but probably would with the stock steel wheels.

As far as the front access panel, we figured that one out the first week they came into the dealer, they come loose, but almost impossible to lose. What I did with mine is drill two holes up high and put in some screws, works great.

Look at the pictured in the following link, you will see the screw on the one side:

access panel screw

dave