Rincon,

I agree with you. Its best to ride with others and more fun, but not always feasible. I tend to explore my hunting areas via ATV alone. And I spend a considerable amount of time bowhunting; accessing my bowhunting areas via ATV; ALONE! Reliability is crucial to me. Not that I would necessarily mind getting stranded. That is what survival gear is for. A night out in the sticks is fun. I just don't want to haul out a 600 plus pound ATV with gear. Now that would suck.

Daryn

 

i agree, but i trust honda, I've NEVER broken down on a honda, as well as my brother, or father. dad has a 300 honda (which i think will never break) and brother has a 450s honda. If you're gonna buy a quad and you already have one, i would always wait for the 2004 model, if your in no hurry. Look at the 1998 grizly, the '99 model had a whole page of improvements, and now look at the 660, it is way better. so sometimes it pays to wait, but have you ever seen a honda model come out, then they had to DRASTICALLY change it? no. look at the rubicon, they never changed it yet, so they can't be getting many complaints.

 

I have to agree with an earlier post by gregsims. Too much mud slinging. I see more name calling and mud slinging in the Polaris section than all the others, any particular reason? I generally ride with roughly 15 different people. I own the only Hondas in the group. The only time any ATV's have given anybody problems are one cpouple that abuse their Polais's severly and do zero maintenance. I wouldn't give them 5 cents for both their atvs and one of them is a 98 500 sp. The only other time anyones atv gave them any trouble was a month ago and one of the 92 Polaris 350 Auto trans 4x4 brake kept locking up and we have have to stop a bleed off the preasure. He had put new brakes on the day before. ATV or mechanic's problem? We have Yamahas in the group too. A good friend I work with asked my opinion on what ATV to buy his wife and after he told me what he wanted it to do my opinion was the Yamaha Kodiak with the auto trans, not a Honda. No one builds an ATV for everyone.

The new Rincon is going to be one acceptionally nice ride. Is it a mudder? No. Is it a rock climber? No. But if you want the smoothest ridding nice handling ATV, I think this is it. Is it for everyone? No. Did Honda make a mistake? No. The dealer I purchased my Honda's from has 56 Rincons sold already.

Remember, when you get there, there you are![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

The Rincon would meet my needs. Heck, any 300cc ATV would meet my needs. My first ATV ever was a Kawi 650. I rode them all ahead of time. I just loved the speed and acceleration of the 650. Ego had something to do with why I got one of the largest "Big Bores".

I ride with a friend who has 5 Polaris's. They all operate very well and they are reliable. But he takes care of his ATV's. Anyone who rides his ATV's has to clean it too and we all know how long and monotonous that can be.

The 650 is good to me right now. I take care of it too. With all the electronics it will be interesting to see how reliable it is in the future. I will either be very happy or quite pissed.

I was told that the 650 has a limp mode in case of any belt issues. It will let you get back to civilization at a S_L_O_W pace but get you back nonetheless should the belt go. Hope I never need it.

Thus far I am impressed with the quality of Kawasaki. My ATV buying pattern follows my car buying pattern. That is one can never go wrong buying an auto from Japan. So be it Kawi, Honda, Yamaha, or Suzuki, you should most always come out ahead with reliability.

Have a nice day!

Daryn

 

I just think its funny how many times the KVF650 was mentioned in the various replies.
Would this suggest it has set the standard for others to compare with?

 

Probably not the standard, but the fastest.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Remember this?

November 30, 2001
CPSC, American Honda Motor Co., Inc. Announce Recall of ATVs
November 21, 2000
CPSC, Honda Announce Recall of Off-Road Motorcycles
November 13, 2000
CPSC, Honda Announce Recall of All-Terrain Vehicles
April 11, 2000
CPSC, American Honda Motor Co. Inc. Announce Recall of Lawnmowers

There is no magic to Honda. Only the magic you want to believe.
Don't believe the hype and more importantly don't add to the hype.

 

I think somehow the 650 has been handed the thrown for the quickest (if not the fastest) atv around. From what I have seen, this is questionable. I have seen 650s get beat by 660s and 700s. They are all so close, it is hard to say. I have even seen 700s with 27" tires beat 650s with 26" tires. I saw a 2002 HO smoke 2 650s and 1 660... and one of those 650s had beat a 700. All these bikes are so close, I wonder why it has been accepted as fact that the 650 is the fastest.

 

the 650 Quset is the fastest on the strip, but a good handling atv can soon leave a lesser handling atv behind, even if the lesser handing atv is faster

 

The Prairie is definitly not the fastest(top speed) but I guarantee it will SMOKE everything up till about 50 mph(traction permitting), After that some of the others will slowly catch up and pass it.
I would rather have the low end power than a few extra MPH faster top end. I also know that when diamond G comes out with the aftermarket CDI box it will be a whole different story.
Remember that it was the two chineese chaps who built the ninja motors that built the 650 v twin so I am sure it is capable of much higher RPMs that the 6500 it is now limitied to.