I was out with some friends a while ago, one of the guys has an 06 honda rubicon 500. I have a 1999 sportsman 500 I pulled up along side of him quite a few times and pass him with no problems at all. I thought it was pretty good for a 7 year old bike . He admitted that he had no chance of passing me .

I just thought I'd share that

 

i got a story just like that. me and my dad were out at this place riding around. we came upon this clearing and we both stopped and decided to gun it. now he was riding a 2003 Honda Rincon 650 and i was riding a brand new 2003 Sportsman 500. you would think that because of the extra 150cc of cylinder it would have had no trouble...it did. i beat him repeatedly. had him from the start. The very next weekend i was riding with my uncle at the same place. again we hit the clearing. This time the machine i was up against was a 2003 Sportsman 700. We raced and i got him...he always had me at take off though. after about 100 feet i would hook him and reel him in. since that moment i haven't been able to go fast enough.

Wes

 

Just this last weekend a bunch of us went into the mountains camping and riding for the holiday. All Hondas except my SP500EFI. We were riding from 6600' up to almost 10,000' .. at about 9500' we hit snow. Every honda got stuck and had to be winched out by my sportsman 500. So I decided to try to blaze a trail into the winter wonderland ... no problem! As soon as I broke through and made the trail, then those honda's could follow. I was breaking through about 2 feet of snow. We got back to camp and everyone hovered around my Polaris to see what it was all about. Most of the guys were quite impressed with the way I could bust through the snow drifts.


We had a great time. Some of those honda guys are at the local polaris dealer checkin' em out [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

great stories guys!!!

anymore out there

 

Boys...now thats not right - going around embarassing those poor Honda guys. Shame on you for doing that.

Anyway beating Honda's for speed is nothing new. They are slow but they have incredible longevity and resale value (at least around here). Actually I haven't found too many quads out there that I run with that can keep up to my Sportsman either in the rough or in the not so rough going.

But I am dubious about the guy who says his SP500 can take the SP700...

 

SafetySean makes some good points here. Be very careful bragging about Polaris being the fastest in flat out drag racing, because they for the most part are heavier and have less horsepower than many other machines out there. Polaris does have great ground clearence and pretty decent suspension which does allow them to travel faster over really rough terrain. Remember these two things also.#1. The rider has a great deal to do with how fast any machine is. The rider's reflexs, balance,common sense or fear of speed in a given situation all play into which machine comes out the winner. #2. Not everyone keeps their machines maintenance and or performance level up as well as the next guy either. Rider weight and the amount of junk one hauls around can factor a great deal into the outcome. Just a few things to consider before saying this or that machine is faster.

 

My tank is faster than yours Nah nah nah nah nah [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

don't be too dubious...i did it...but it is because the 700 is a much torquier motor than the 500. i used to work at a polaris dealer and i know that the only reason that a 500 can beat a 700 is that #1 it was the lighter of the two in 2003 and #2 you don't get the same rpms out of a 700. and anyone that knows anything about a P.V.T. knows that by making the motor spin faster, you go faster.

Wes

 

Sorry Wes but I still have a hard time accepting that the 500 took the 700 given that both these machines are Sportsman, as oppossed to something like racer vs. utility. Being an old school type person I look at cubic inches, or in this case cubic centimetres, as an indication of horsepower in a naturally aspirated gas engine. Therefore the larger engine would have more horsepower which would overcome the slight weight disadvantage and should post a higher speed.

Just my thoughts pal...