ebs is dangerous, in low range down slick steep hills, the rear of the four wheeler wants to slide around you. non ebs is easy to keep under control, just give it a little throttle and that keeps the clutch engaged.

 

I've had both clutches on the very same quad, so I don't have to compare one quad to another. I have actual before and after experience with EBS. If you don't have EBS you can rev the engine up enough to engage the clutch, but if you don't do it just right you might accelerate down the hill faster than you want to. Then you have to ride the brakes and the gas at the same time. EBS engages the clutch without revving the engine or speeding up.

EBS has worked great for me for thousands of miles on dozens of trails for 11 years on 3 quads. That includes, mud, snow, sand, rocks, gravel, loose dirt and hard pack, water, dirt and paved roads, and hills so steep they weren't even supposed to be ridden on, at speeds anywhere from a crawl to WOT. It never caused me to lose control on a hill, around a curve, or anywhere else. It has helped save my @$$ several times. I've had 100% positive and 0% negative experience in all that time.

It looks like EBS is one of those things everyone either LOVES or HATES. Nobody seems to reply with NO OPINION after riding both EBS and non-EBS quads. I ride with a lot of people who have Polaris quads with EBS and we let our other friends ride our quads to see what it's like. So far I haven't met anyone out of the dozens I've talked to in real life who doesn't like it. Just some people on the forum don't. Maybe you guys have something wrong with your quads but mine have all worked great.

 

Yep... makes it very confusing to know rather to get it or not...


I think sometimes too I forget that most of the US is relatively flat. What I consider humps are mountains to some people. Maybe that is the dividing line? Or is it that some folks don't like the way the EBS works everywhere else when they let off the throttle?

I don't know... but here is what I do know...
There is some very steep terrain here. Stuff that with 4x4 and brakes only... well you can get yourself in trouble. And that's nothing to do with skill level and everything to do with gravity.

I'm talking stuff that is steep enough that with brakes only, the tires want to lock up and slide... and if they do you are going to the bottom like a sled... where as with engine braking, you crest VERY SLOW and the trans/engine lockup uses the engine compression to keep the quad at a crawl... where the tires turn steady and slow without locking and sliding.

I imagine it is hard to make a belt drive react exactly like a gearbox quad, but if EBS does that... I want it...

 

Duster, the only time I rode quads with gearboxes it was on flat ground, like dirt roads, so I can't honestly compare them to EBS, but my EBS quads never locked up or slid down hills either. My non-EBS did because the brakes were locked up. With EBS the tires turn slowly and I have a gradual CONTROLLED decent. Even if it was only half as good as a gearbox, I still think that's a heck of a lot better than feeling like you're FALLING down the hill. I never rode any mountains but some of the hills I rode were about half a mile long and steep enough to give 4x4 trucks some trouble. People who say EBS doesn't work must be going down hills well beyond 45 degrees, and I've never seen any like that on a trail.