I currently own both a sp500 and a grizzly. I bought the sp500 in Jan. of 1999. I immediately began to have problems with the actuator going out of adjustment,then the tie rods and finally the sp500 began to over heat. The main reason I chose the sp500 over the Grizzly to begin with was that it was liquid cooled. The Grizzly I bought in Dec. of 1999 has 1500 miles compared to the sp500 1000 miles. The Grizzly has never overheated, all I've had to do with it is change the oil, grease the few Zerks that it has and ride it. The only thing I wish the grizzly had was IRS. As far as my experience has gone with the two of these bikes, I would have to say that the Grizzly is a far better Quad,the ride isn't as plush as the sp500 but the grizzly makes up for that in durability.

 

I'm sooooo glad to see someone in this forum with the actual truth being said!Keep up the excellent work!!I'll be the first to admit the I.R.S has to be nice,but with that being said I don't know how the rear suspension setup handles any heavy tongue weight at all?

 

So Jltimm, do you actually think that everyone in this forum has conspired to lie about all the problems they are having with their quads? What exactly would be the point of these? Why would so many Polaris quads being selling, if everyone is having so many problems? Or is it that they aren't really selling any and it's just part of the conspiracy? Maybe everyone on this forum are actually Polaris Representitives!

Open your eyes .......

Glenn.

 

And this is just one example of people come over to the polaris forum to rag...ok we are happy you are glad with your yamaha. And you guys are 2 out of 100 who haven't had the overheating problem not to mention the bearings rusting out because you can't grease them. This is not so much at you sledder you made an honest evaluation and we are glad you are happy with your grizz but jltim is a person that goes from one question to the other in the polaris forum seeing what smarta## remarks he can make. Do any of you stop to think that the more luxurys you have with any kind of vehicle the more chance you are going to have trouble for example power windows, power door locks etc. etc. etc. it is just the price you pay when you have all the bells and whistles. And as I have said before Honda is a great bike but unchanged for the last 10 years just the average stuff on a 4 wheeler if you are happy with this for the price well...then fine but if you want the finer stuff get a polaris. Both you guys admit the ride is finer well to achieve this you are going to have to maintain it and take a risk of things going wrong with the IRS...and there is no way a grizz is going to keep up with me on a rough ride with the IRS and the true 4 WHEEL DRIVE it is just not going to happen...this I know from a fact I have the AC 500 which is identical to the Grizz 3 wheel system if not better and it will not go where the polaris does.
So if you want a bike with 3 wheel drive, drum brakes, to big for a lot of trails buy a grizz if you want a cadillac that will climb a wall go through most mud holes that modified bikes won't buy a polaris.

 

Very well put atving! It's like you said...the mosre gadjets and luxuries you have on a quad the more things that can go wrong...but it is worth it! Look at the car I drive for example: 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited. It is the most awsome 4x4 in my opinion. It drives like a luxury car. Sure, everything is electonic and full of options that could break down one day...but I would not give up my Jeep for a smaller simpler 4x4...like a Suzuki for instance.

Want the "top of the line" all terain vehicle...buy Polaris!
Want something totaly 100% reliable...buy a pair of boots!

 

I am a mechamic at a Polaris dealership so I kinda have to put some input in here. Some of the good points of the Polaris quads are:true 4 wheel drive, smoothest ride an the market , liquid cooled engines make good power for their size, some bad points are: the electrically operated front end prone to a lot of problems. The smooth ride of the IRS is great. The type IV trans is prone to a lot of problems with the main drive chain stretching and breaking the chain adjuster inside the trans. This is about a 12 to 15 hour job to fix. Plus the parts inside there arent cheap!!! The liquid cooled engines work great until you plug the rad with mud , dont realize it until the temp light comes on , if it does, and then you end up with a warped head and another big repair bill. Hey, what am I complaining about anyway, i work on Polaris for a living and I know one thing for sure, I have good job security as long as I work there!!
These bikes may seem the best bike on the market cause of a lot of bells and whistles but from a mechanics point of view, they aint easy to fix either. Polaris engineers better learn how to turn a wrench before they turn on their little computers and design any more quads.These things are hard to work on!!Guess thats why I own an old Yamaha. Simplicity at its finest.
(By the way, my "3 wheel drive" always works when I need it. More than I can say for a lot of the bikes I've worked on)

 

Does'nt this Sparky guy think he is clever?He admits to riding a 3wd Yamaha but works for a POLARIS dealership as a mechanic.It does'nt take Shurlock Holmes to figure this clown out.
Nice try Sparky,
BTW,I once was the President of GM,but I seeked all my advice from Ford and Fiat engineers.

00 Xplorer 400cc 4x4
If you want to come in second ''FOLLOW ME''

 

Well Sparky the mechanic I talked to has about the opposite of most of your opinions so I guess it really comes down to opinions everybody has got one...also the mechanic at the Polaris dealer where I bought my bike has worked on hondas kawasakis and suzukis before coming to Polaris for twenty years...who knows they may be more business with Polaris hehehe and then again there could be more business cause there are more Polaris now the quality has came up...

 

In my part of the country there are alot of Polaris quads, because Polaris snowmobile dealers have had to diversify their sales due to poor snow conditions. Plus these dealers aren't afraid to lower prices to make a sale, a lesson they learned in the seasonal sales of sleds. The dealer I use is the first to admit Polaris is one of the most time consuming quads to repair. He also says he would rather work on a Honda.

 

saying that I couldn't keep up with you in rough terrain with my Grizzly because your rear suspension setup is better?I admit that your I.R.S. is better in some areas,but hook up a trailer with some tongue weight and then where is all your ground clearance?The keeping up thing is based upon the rider,not the machine,especially considering it's a polaris sp 500 VS a Grizzly.The Grizzly is lighter and turns sharper and easier than the sportsman,so if you want to say that the Grizz is big,pull up to a HUGE mirror and open your eyes.