When one is on the verge of traction while descending a hill, wouldn't applying throttle in reverse be the same as starting out on a very steep hill in 1st gear causing a loop out? But instead if the wheels caught traction you would loop forward? (If the hill was steep enough)

To each his own, but personally I would prefer a little skittering of the rear axle in forward gear. It causes one to wonder, why am I going down this particular hill? Wasn't there any easier way around?

 

01Grizzly,

Many of the people on this forum do not understand the kind of hills (mountains) you & I have up here in the North West. The EBS, one hand braking, & no way to to make sure 4wd is engaged concerns me.

I am also looking at the Polaris HO. We have a stretch of trail near Mt. Adams in which there is 3000' of change over a few miles.

I do like the ride of the Sportsman. If I lived in the midwest, there would already be a HO in my garage.

 

I have also ridden in the Rockies. Those are some very steephills. With just the rear wheels f the SP500 getting the engine brake the quad will semi-lock the rear wheels and make them slide.

Using the 4 wheel lock trickery fixes that problem very well though. I used it several times and the quad will crawl down the hills with NO problem, except being WAY too slow and having to give it gas.

SP500 in NS

 

Tim1, sorry I forgot to mention about the override button, mine is bypassed so I do not have to worry about it.
I sometimes find it better to descend steep hills in high range as this helps keep the speed up a little. Using high range does necessitate the use of the brake once in a while to control speed.

 

snowshark,
Let me guess, the trail your talking about is probably a muddy, tree dodging, rut hopping, rock avoiding, water channel skirting, stump jumping series of steep hills with short flat breaks in between? Becuase that pretty much sums up most of the longer climbing trails that we have in the Pacific Northwest! The kind of hills that you look at and think to yourself "if I can't make it in one try I'm going to have to back down" becuse the only way you can make it up is by standing and riding with most of your body over the handle bars. If you spin out and can't make it, there is no way you can dismount and winch yourself up. Because the only thing keeping it on 4 wheels is your weight over the handle bars! Simply sitting back down on your *** will result in a backward flip. So you have to put it in reverse grab the FRONT brake and inch your way back down. Hoping that you don't slide into one of the rocks, ruts, roots, or trees that you were probably lucky enough to not hit on the way up. Because that means you will flip it for sure!
Then when the adrenalin rush stops, you try it again only alittle faster. Been there done that. Then if everything went well and you made it up. You get the pleasure of coming back down! Thats why 4 wheel engine braking is so important to me! I'm sure it doesn't matter that much to some, but I really like/need it.

Do you usually ride over by Mt. Adams? I've never been over there. I usually ride in the Trask mountains, over near the Flying M Ranch. Or else Browns camp. I'm not into the sand all that much, so I have never been to Sand Lake or Florence. Happy trails.

Rick

 

Rick,
The description of the hills in your neck of the woods sounds far more of a challenge than what im accustomed to here in Mich.I'd love the opportunity to try it sometimes,[I THINK]LOL
Bill

 

Bill,
I think you and that xplorer would kick *** on some of these hills! Its alot of fun. If you can live with alittle adrenalin!

Rick

 

Traildog I tried it out on a hight steep hill it works great.I found it was easier in 2wd because the over ride button was a pain to take care of when going down the hill.I do not know why I never tried it before.

Thanks Tim.

 

01Grizzly,

Your trail description is on target. I haven't been over to browns camp yet. Not much into the sand area either.

I like the slower more technical trails.

 

What is the top speed of the normal sportsman, the HO and the Grizzly. I rode a new HO and had trouble getting it out of reverse. It was excellant in the mud! It seemed like clutch mods would benefit it becasue even at full throttle it seems to be turning very low RPM's.