What's up with peoples obsession about two brake levers? Do you think it makes a person less of a rider by only having to pull one lever instead of two to stop or slow your machine? I don't know how that would have any advantage on one of these big machines. These are not sport quads and not meant to be ridden as such. When would you need just the front brake? You have the foot brake that works just the rear if you think you need to slide the rear around. About the only thing a front brake only is good for is to show off by power braking your machine, which is tough on these big, soft tires. So go ahead and jump up and down and tell me why two are better than one, and I will just sit back and laugh. If it really was better then why don't the two top end atv builders use that system?

 

It's called control and this ATV doesn't have enough power to show off.

There are times when having a brake lever on the right side of the machine would be helpful, like when you are in a bad situation and can't reach the left side.

The reason Polaris only has one is because its cheaper to manufacture.

The foot brake shoud be removed from this machine because the ADC can't/doesn't function when you apply it and the rear wheels lock up. The foot brake on this maching makes the ADC function as though is was the old EBS on an old HO.

Everybody has their likes and dislikes. There are a lot of things I like about this one that I like and there are things I will never get used to.

The Ford Tarus was the best selling car in the world but did that make it the best one???

Keep laughing because I am too.

 

Good to hear that we are both entertained.

I've never had any control issues and I guess I wasn't thinking about it being a 550 in terms of power. They do fall a little short in that department.

I didn't think about being stuck hanging off the right side of the machine. I will conceed to that one, I just haven't been in that situation.

As for the foot brake, I am in total agreement with you that it should just go away. The only thing it does is lock up the rears.

Ford Tarus, hahahahaha

 

I am enjoying this new 550 Touring, I think the added wheel base makes a huge difference. Polaris has come a long way over the years.

If I was to buy a new Polaris I would buy a Touring over a regular ATV, even if I was never going to carry a passenger.

 

The extra wheelbase make a huge difference. I used to ride an '07 X2 and couldn't understand why my wife would have issues following me sometimes. I had an extra 9" of wheelbase and didn't realize at the time just how much more stable that is. After going to the XP I lost 6" of that length and I'm amazed at the difference, and I still have a 3" advantage over the older model sportsman. I just didn't care for the ride quality of the X2. With it being designed for a 400 lb. payload, the rear spring rate is way too high and rattles you all over, but I would take it anywhere. Now I think about some of the steep climbs where as before I would just ride up.

 

I really don't have a problem with the single lever braking- aside from getting used to not having a lever to pull on the throttle side.
My renegad 800x had left & right braking, but all of my outlanders had single lever only.
The only time I really have to even use the brakes on a can-am is when there's another atv'er in front of me who stops quick- other than that, the engine brake stops you on the steepest of decends and on the trails pretty quickly.

When I do use the single lever, I like it- I feel it controls the atv much better then having just the front or rear applied. Plus, it allows me to keep the throttle hand gripped on the bar in control of the throttle.

I don't feel it's so much of an "entry level" thing anymore. Maybe on sport quads...
I think engineers have the task of stopping an 800lb+ atv the fastest, safest & easiest way possible- using one hand to apply all 4 brakes is safer (for the rider) and stops the atv sooner than relying on 2 hands to grip the levers. I think you'll see just about all sport-utility atv's switching over to the single lever with foot pedel in the near future. I don't think I've ever even used my foot brake- I forget it's even there.

like specta mentiond tho- it does require a bit getting used to. Going from my rene to my outty I kept grabbing air also

 

yea-
one of the major things I really had to get used to going from my rincon 650 to the XP850 was the high rpm to engage the clutch- I think I remember it at almost 2k rpm before the bike would spin the tires. Can-am is also a bit higher, but not as high as my polaris was. The polaris always felt like it was "winding-out" to move-
The sound from standing behind the xp850 was nice- but sitting on it and hearing it sounded (to borrow the term from cncpro) like a lawn tractor

 

Does the 550 have disc on all four wheels?
Two on the front and one on the rear is a thing of the past?
.......Caper..........

 

I'm pretty sure the xp550 has 4-wheel disk (my xp850 did). not sure about the sportsman 500 / 800 though, I can't remember

 

The rear axles are hooked together unlike the two front wheels...So I can't see how Polaris would spend the extra money on each quad for the same amount of braking in the rear...........Unless larger, faster, heavey Quads make a differance.....

My 2006 Sportsmans 450's are in the larger frame style and only have one disc in the rear, And dry weight is at 715 lbs...........Caper.......