All this talk of the griz, but don't forget the Kawasaki 650 twin. Now that is a motor! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]

 

Boy I hate to say it but that little devil in the blue dress looks sweet, so dose that 660. My 7yr old son rides Lt 80 and my 11 yr old girl rides a TRX 90. They both had a chance to ride a Scrambler 90 (which I thought looked pretty cool) and both fell in love with it, now they both want one but that raptor 80 is sweet. The only thing I will wait to see is if that 80 cc will cut it with the shaft drive. Do you think it will be able to handle the dunes. The reason I liked the Sc 90 is the two stroke motor. But it only has the Polaris name on it and the rest is something else. Hey Forlix I know what you mean about the DS and Raptor but the Scrambler is hard to beat with the 4x4. I would think that in your country the 4x4 would be the ticket. By the way I will be moving to Rio Rancho in a couple of weeks. Originaly I am from Gods country (Silver City). Parents still live there hopefully sometime this summer we can hook up. Hasta ramon

 

I must admit,the Griz looks pretty cool, but I was wondering how easy the belt slips in water. I asked the yamaha guys also,just waiting on some reply's.

 

3TV,

I know how you feel. But when I bought my Sport, the only other machine that was close to it in performance was the Banshee. Heck, it was the only high performance machine at the time. I started modifying mine to beat Banshees, and the next thing I know, the quad ended up costing me $9000. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't. Do you have any idea how much performance $9000 will get you as far as a MX bike is concerned? A heck of a lot farther than a 4 wheeler, I guarentee.

 

Don't get all worried about the Griz. Polaris will be releasing a Sportsman 700 V-Twin soon. Count on it.

 

Right, I dont think anyone is questioning that they will come out with something new. The question is will it be the same old sportsman with a new motor? I hope not. In 94 i bought a 400L which was the bigest ATV at the time in 95 they came out with the Scrambler, then the sportsman modle. Lets face it they are getting old just as Honda has. They will need to upgrade ASAP, like Mike said just think of what we could have all done with the $$ we have put into our rides. Lets face it the Grizz looks good, but as far as being new king right now it is all on paper just like the Kawi. Everyone thought the Raptor would eat everything alive now we know that the DS, EX, Can. even the scrambler are all competative in there own way. As far as loyalty, even a rat has to jump off a sinking ship sooner or later.

 

The only thing we can count on is the new Sportsman is going to weigh 697 pounds! That is too much weight to give up to a lighter machine. We also have to wait and see what the new Artic-Cats are going to have.

697 pounds! Not even legal in Wisconsin!

I'm still going to wait until fall to see how they all compare. Too bad for kawasaki they had a very short run at the top.

 

I don't know what all the complaining is about on Polaris all of a sudden. Your dissin' the one that started this all! Where would the Grizzly 660 let alone the original Grizz have came from if Polaris raised the bar years ago? Polaris raised the bar, and now everyone else is just catching up. Everyone else ain't gonna' get ahead by releasing something that is the same as the Sportsman, common sense tells you that it's gonna be better! But on the other hand, nothing is proved as of yet. It's all on paper right now. I wanna see some reviews and see it in action first. Alot of people thought that the Grizz 600 was gonna eat a Sportsman for breakfast, but did it really?

Polaris introduced the Sportsman 500 HO to level the stakes a little bit. I think they just bought themselves a little bit of time to get there sh*t together. Now that everyone else raised the bar, what do you think Polaris will do?

Another thing that might have been mentioned already... What market does Polaris crush others in? the big-bore utility. Utility quads are what brought MOST Polaris customers to the door. They are right now #2 in over all sales, primarily due to the SP500. Now if Polaris was to introduce a decent, if not awesome, sport quad, who will be #1 in ATV sales???

 

I've ridden DS-650s and now have a scrambler 400. The DS-650 can haul, way more than my polaris, but the reason I bought it was to have a sport machine with 4-wheel drive(necessary in northern wisconsin forest). If I had the money, i would buy a DS-650 but not any other sport machine. Definately not a Yamaha.
If a manufactor wanted to have a machine that could just flat haul, they should put their 2 and 3 cylinder 2-stroke snowmobile engines in the ATV. I got a Bombardier Ski-Doo MXZ 670 snowmobile and it screams. I can easily reach 115 mph and it feels like going 30. I don't understand why the machines looking for speed use 4-stroke engines. They get power, but if you want that, get a big quad.
Back to the subject, in my opinion, everything Yamaha makes sucks. The Banshee and Raptor are really fast, but they are very tippy. At least Bombardier made their sport machine unusually wide. I know my scrambler doesn't handle the best, but at least I don't role it every time I make a corner. The best sport machine would be a Honda 400ex with a rotax 700 snowmobile engine.
Finally, the best big quad is still the sportsman 500 HO. It is fast, handles good, and very powerful. The leading ATV manufactures still have not made any real competition.

99 scrambler 400 4x4 [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]
99 sportsman 500 [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]
00 trailblazer [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-frown.gif[/img]

 

odin, who said that the new Grizzly is better than the Kawasaki 650? Lets wait to get some fair comparisons before jumping on any bandwagons.