Hey Mike, what bad comments were about the front suspension? I loved it. Purposely diagonally loaded it, also tried wheelie-ing it over the washboard little whoops. The thing was golden. Found out from and industry insider today, that one of the Dirt Wheel's editors absolutely hates Sports/Scramblers. Shouldn't an industry journalist be able to accept a recreational quad for what it is.....hmmmm look at how many have been sold. Gonna do like my Yamaha buds are doing and let my subscription run out.
Like Fourlix said, the tank was excellent for hangin' it out hard on the tight little track. The shoot-outs should be interesting to read...IN OTHER MAGAZINES!!!!!!!
Biggin', you are sooooo correct in the 400ex engine placement, you just have to realize that there are some that look at the world a little angled..hehe.

Ken...if you take the time to look behind you, the Predator might do more than just pass you.

 

modquad,

They were complaining about the (wait a minute, I have to get the magazine to be accurate, unlike the people who actually write in them) front shocks "blowing through their travel a little faster than we'd like, revealing a lack of compression dampening". And "When you go off a jump the suspension drops quickly and noisily which points to an inadequate top out spring".

Not busting Honda's chops here, but the Sportsman 700 "ANTIQUE PUSHROD" motor is angled forward for a lower center of gravity and the Honda's "HIGH TECH OVERHEAD VALVE MOTOR" on their Recon, 250EX, Rancher, Foreman, Rubicon and Rincon isn't. Are we starting to see a little bias here or what? You can take these words out of any copy of their magazine when they do tests of these two machines.

I do find it surprising that only one of them wouldn't like the Sport and Scrambler series. Heck, I thought all of them hated them. After all the writers for that magazine are "sort of" human. But, when you put out a magazine, you had darn well better leave the bias at home. If I want to hear a biased opinion, I'll go to my local dealer, it doesn't cost as much as a magazine subscription. I'm going to let my subscription run out too. It's getting so I don't even have to read the end of the articles to find out who won the shootouts anymore. Just look at the front cover and see what they test.

Did any one besides me catch that the new Trailblazer 250 has 10.5" of front suspension and the rear has 8.2" of travel? Gee, nothing like getting your facts straight before you go to print!

 

I dont care what any magazine says. Just like any institution, or quadstitution there are biases. All publications are opinionated and its there right. Every newspaper in this country has a certain view and they hire people and lay people off by that view. It might not sell off the stands but it is what they want to believe. Dirt Wheels is at least mildly entertaining. I will still buy it. I just test the machines i get the chance to ride and listen to my friends who ride the others. I think the ludacris shootouts they have are funny though. Sometimes they do happen to make good suggestions and are fairly accurate if you happen to own a certain machine. Otherwise you will have to look at other magazines to see your dream machine on the front page.

 

Scrambler01

I guess what I was refering to by "more technology" was an automotive style tranny vs a belt tranny. If ones feels that all automatics are equal, then I guess the Rincon really has nothing new.

As far the Rincon being a smaller atv for more money. It seems displacement over 600-650 CCs is irrelevant, since all the companies seem to be detuning the big ones to keep them safe (lawyer proof). This applies to sport (Raptor) and utility (SP700). If you want to quibble that an ATV that has about 30 more CCs (5%) for $100 less is a better value, I guess in that framework you win.

Did you see on the ATV Connection homepage there is a comment that "Polaris is making a concerted effort to improve the quality of their ATVs". What the &*%$ does that mean?

 

I let my subscription run out a long time ago. It has been very clear that they are Anti-American. For awhile I used to at least take a look at the magazine on the stand, but I don't even do that now. IN MY OPINION DIRTWHEELS IS WORTHLESS! Some people may say "at least you can use them to get specs" but they can't even get that right.



<< Polaris should play the game and put some advertising money into these magazines, sometimes you just gotta pay to play..... >>



I don't think they should. Why pay money to a company that shows no credibility? I would rather them continue to spend more money to better the product.

 

Whoops,

I forgot to mention the part of the article at the very beginning. It said that &quot;this quad was one of the worst kept secrets out there.&quot; Well, no duh! Polaris didn't exactly ship the machine to Japan to have it tested, did they? No, they tested it here in the U.S. under the conditions that most people who buy them would use them. Just a little more bashing to get in on Polaris. Let's not forget the paragraph heading, &quot;Does this machine have a CVT?&quot;. Well, if it's one of the &quot;worst kept secrets&quot;, you'd know that it doesn't have a CVT on it.

Guys this keeps getting worse and worse.

 

I've found (in shootouts at least) that as long as I don't read the paragraph about who won, I can get the real answer. A hypothetical example:

&quot;Handling: We've found the Cannondale to be far superior to the Z400 in all aspects of handling, but we like the comfort of the Suzuki.Suspension on the Cannondale is flawless, easily taking any abuse out test riders could throw at it. While we did bottom out the Z400, we didn't get any harsh jarring pain from it. We found the Suzuki's suspension an overall better setup.

Powerband: In all of our drag races, the Cannondale beat the Suzuki by 6+ bike lengths. On a motocross track, the Cannondale was pulling in much faster times than the Z400. The Cannondale seems to have more bottom end grunt, and definitely pulls away on the top end. We do feel, however, that the Suzuki's powerband was more usable.

Who was the winner: Well, that is a difficult question. If you want a superior bike all around, we might suggest the Cannondale. But......................the Suzuki Z400 is really COMFORTABLE and EASY TO RIDE. Therefore, we are crowning the Z400 as the winner of this shootout.&quot;


Anyways, you get the point. There is always a smidgin' of FACT amongst the rubbish.You just gotta pick through the BS.

 

Why is there an inherent dislike for polaris amid the mags and it seems the general popualtion as well?Is it the automatic or the Macpherson struts or what?It couldn't be b/c to many other brands have similar setups.Reliability,I see just as many japanese quads as polarises at the repair shop on my way to work.WTF?!?!

 

<< Reliability,I see just as many japanese quads as polarises at the repair shop on my way to work.WTF?!?! >>



biggin,

That's probably because there are more of them (Japanese quads), as opposed to Polaris. Also all the wonderful &quot;gas it and go&quot; or &quot;no maintenance&quot; features on these quads (like no grease fittings) do take their toll eventually. Since that is the way they are made, they require someone with a full shop just to take care of them.

 

Did you see the review on the Honda Rincon? If that isn't a big load of crap I dunno what is. I went and looked at the Rincon in person yesterday and it looks flimsey to me. I cant wait to read the load we get when they do another big bore shootout.