I was just down to a polaris dealer on Saturday.(Rushford, MN) You guessed it!! I asked him if he's heard anything about the 700's. This is what he told me.

Yep, there is a new 700 sportsman in the works he thinks he'll see them this year (fall). He saw it up at the plant about a year ago. He told me they had cut about 100lbs off the weight too. It will have the V-twin motor.

I asked about the scrambler and he didn't think there would be a 700 version. He thinks the price will be around a 1,000 more though.

I can't wait to see them babies, should be pretty impressive!!

 

hummmmm. i dont think your dealer has all his facts straight. the engine is the same one that polaris is using in there four-stoke sled. its a IN-LINE twin. i believe it weighs about 107lbs.
i dont know how Polaris could take 100lbs off the sportsman without using expensive metals or cutting features.

i think kawie was having problems with there 650, thats why there is such a delay. they had to cut the weight somewhere and that might affect durability.

i would love it if the sp700 were 100lbs lighter, but i doubt it. i think it will be about the same weight as the current HO, but with more hp and torque.

later
jon

 

Wait a minute, just because Polaris has come out with an inline twin in their new 4 stroke snowmobile why does the new Sportsman motor have to be the same one? The Victory division happens to be working on a new motorcycle and engine, too. It is rumored to be a 700-800cc V-twin. This motor would be a better choice for the Sportsman and the inline twin would be better for a Scrambler. The latter is known for producing less low end torque but more horsepower.

Polzook

 

if u look at the motor that polaris built for the four-stroke sled. it is VERY compact. the polaris engineeres used a special design to make the engine especially compact. Snowmobiles dont need a compact engine, but quads do.

is the Victory liquid cooled?? if its not then they wouldent put that engine in a sportman.

im sure that the new sp700 engine isnt still in development. there isnt enought time to develop a new engine by summer.

it should be out by then, the griz660, traxter650, and kawie650 will all be out by then too.

later
jon

 

Jon, Where can you go (on the internet) to see a picture of this new twin?

Thanks!

 

go to Maximumsled.com

then look up there polaris four-stroke sled, called the frontier.


later
jon

 

It sounds like the atv world is about to get much more exciting. I wonder what quads will be like several years down the road. When will the displacememt wars end? What will be the king of quads when the cc war ends? When will engines in quads stop getting bigger? bigger is better up to a point. the bigger the engine the bigger the quad. pretty soon are we going to have atvs as big as toyota tacoma's.

 

I think we will see the cc wars come to an end when they hit the 800cc mark. That is the maximum allowable cc's in most states legal definitions of an atv.

 

you have a point MNXPLORER,BUT, when they reach the 800cc mark, they will probably start calling it a jeep.

 

I stopped at my Polaris ATV dealer around mid day on Saturday (they are also a KAWI dealer) to talk with the GM, who is a friend and neighbor. He and the owner confirmed their discussion with their rep this past week, that a 700 Sportsman will be out this fall, the bad news is that it will be in short supply. They only expect to get 1 or 2 units, but expect them in mid August. The only info that they could get from the rep, is that the engine is new, and is not the engine being used for the 4 stroke snowmobile. They don't expect the cost to exceed $7500, because Polaris DOESN'T want to give up market share to KAWI. They expect their 650 KAWI's within the next week or 2. Do we smell some cost reductions or model eliminations coming from Polaris?????