thats funny, sp vs. vin. it's no match. different bikes. even though both have their strong points.

 

680 miles????
Are you joking????
boy thats the longest I've ever heard a polaris last without crappin out.
man you are lucky.

Polaris earns total dependibility at less than 1000 miles. classic.
check back when you hit 3 to 5K then we will talk.
i also find it hard to beleve that you've towed so many bikes with only 680 miles of riding. Just a thing i noticed take it for what its worth.

 

this sp 500 i ride with has had over 2000 dolars od repairs cv axels hubs, and drive belts , like my motto say you ride with the rest unless you have s on you chest, and you shouldna bougha poohlarass

 

TowTubby, I was wondering, could you tow THESE?! Intimidated. Hold on, I'll be right back...Okay, I think I can breath now. Was real hard to do while I was dying laughing. Listen, I don't want to bust your Poohlaris bubble. You want to be proud of your machine and I'm not mad at you for that. After all, I too owned a few Polaris products, and I too tried to be proud ( About wore my butt out, but I tried)
At the end of the day we have what we have, and should make the most of it. My intentions were never to "Polaris Bash" but hoped to at least partially educate some folks about the risk of buying Polaris. As I said earlier, all the manufacturers have things we could beat their butts for, and all have points of praise. This is true of anything man makes, and is a result of the fact that WE are far from perfect. However, when a company produces something such as Polaris has, and lets face it, folks, Polaris certainly isn't offering fantastic prices on their machines, and their product continues to shame the American market, we owe it to our own good health and hard earned money to get around to demanding that they stop spending so much time on bells and whistles ( The more they place, the more they break) and pay a bunch more time simply making the basics function as they are needed.
The Chevy Chevett, and the Ford Pinto. These were real pieces of American crap but, you know what, they were intended to be nothing more. It was easy to accept these bombs because they were dirrected a bottom-end market, and could be purchased from saving a bunch of pop bottles and cans, over time.
Polaris has played on a proud-to-be-an-American market, impressing us with electronic throttles and engine-braking, push-button four-drive, and most certainly will be the first to produce a 1000cc quad but, I would be more impressed if they would take a step backwards and perfect (or at least somewhere in the area) the 500, first. Impress me with making the earlier bells ring. Make me feel like I didn't get butt-surfed on the thousands I've already spent. I mean, after it's all said and done folks, the answer was really obvious the entire time. I should have known the first time I grabbed the gear selector. When you can actually get the things to engage, they kinda remind me of engaging the pto on our old wheelhorse tractor, what with the grinding and crunching and all. Sometimes you can't get it at first so you pull it back and give it a smart shove and you feel that ever cringing pop forward of your machine as the tranny lets you know all about what you just did! You can adjust the linkage and idle it down, as this seems obvious cures, but then you finally get the real task of quality...As nothing worked!!!
You'll tell ME nothing about a Poohlaris that I don't already have the misfortune of knowing, and with that you'll tell me no fictions that I don't know better of, like being able to put it in real water without the belt slipping terribly. You see, even with their improvment, the vent snorkle still only comes up as high as the bottom of the tank on your left-knee side, and that's giving it some. What's your quad going to do, tell the water" Yo, you come in here and I'm going to mess you up!" Well, I know for sure that the PVT is going to gulp down water, and you're going to STOP! So do what I did and take some vasoline covered shop towels and just before you cross stuff them in the snorkle and beat feet across the water and then hurry and get the rag out before the pvt heatsup too bad. My Vinson and quadrunner(master) I simply lean back a bit and ride water wheelies across, acting a damned fool. I may even stop and cast a line halfway across, you never know.

400L and a Scrambler, basically the same quad: Two stroke(plug fawling, low low-end torque) 400cc two- wheel drive. Four stroke 500cc 4x4(demand) Maybe it's just me, but that's apples and oranges. I guess you get closer if you got the 400 scrambler, but there is something about a two-stroke 4x4 that just does not settle with me. But, if this helps you some, had the 400L been four wheel drive and handled the way it did with tha sluggish performance, maybe then I'd given it a better mark, but SPORT is the key word here, baby, SPORT. I'm 40 years old now and don't bounce like I used to, so I've moved away from full-out sport, but my first ten years(starting in 1984 with Suzuki and it's introduction of the "FOURWHEELER" I did nothing but *****-out racing on machines such as the FourTrax250r, quadzilla500r, Zuks Quadracer250r, Banshee 350 twins. That's indicative of "Sport". The 400L Sport was another time that Poohlaris really should've burried their heads in the sand. Had they just said something back then like "400 TrailBoss or Blazer", everything may have been different. But no, another deceptive marketing manuver by Polaris...SPORT...As if
I'm done, you guys are getting my bloodpressure up and giving me gas. Ride what you want and enjoy it like there's no tomorrow, hell, you paid for it. But I'm certainly the one person in this discussion that knows the truth. You ever get past the "I've got a bigger cc than you" and get in touch with reality, the Vinson, the Prarie, the Rincon and the Grizzly will all stomp muddholes in Sportsman, and breath easy doing it. The Grizzly could use some suspension work, though. Center-of-gravity was a bit tall, too. Mine also didn't waste much time in the A-arm mounts collapsing. They need to add some metal there and go larger on the tie-rods, as it doesn't take much to "U" shape those on the Grizzly...been there, done that, on a 6" branch laying flat on a trail at about 20MPH.

 

B-bite,

You might want to read up on Polaris's nowadays, both snorkles on a Sportsman come up to the gas cap, and a Sportsman can out-mud any other quad, stock for stock. My buddy on his 660 Griz can attest to that.

 

"First, I've never been towed, ever. Not out of the mud or woods or anything"

Neither have I and yes I have towed others out. So what.


"I can only go by what I have encountered,. and so far, my polaris beat the hell out of the Vinson I have now. "

Still don't understand if your Polaris was so great why take a chance an another. 1) more to this story or 2)wanted to sell before it fell apart.

"Polaris Sportsman 600, 680 miles, and very dependable"

Well duhhhh. Check my previous posts, about anything that's brand new is still nice including a Polaris.

"thats funny, sp vs. vin. it's no match. different bikes. even though both have their strong points"

This is a fine comment, let me knock you down then pick you back up and dust you off.

 

Polarisman, after some consideration of your postings, I've concluded that your riding and machine wisdom would have to come into question, what with the fact that you're crashing in to trees at four MPH, and not once, but it sounds like several times. Dude, what's up with that? I don't know for sure what it all says for the machines you're riding but, I'd certainly consider installing air-bags on whatever YOU are riding. Maybe that will be Polaris' next inovation, at which point I'd understand your consideration of that brand. Not trying to beat you up, but I'm worried about ya, bub. Most Polaris dealers do offer rider training courses, free of cost with the purchase. Just something to consider.

 

Sorry to get off topic, But has anyone seen or own a twin peeks yet. I have been waiting for mine since october and have herd from my dealer onother 30 days now for the 3rd time. I was told the end of the month in october, november and now december. They have been advertised on there website now for over 90 days. my dealer said susuki is having trouble getting product to dealers for some time. I was told the have been waiting for Susuki's that were suposed to be shipped in september and still nothing not just the twinpeaks but vinsons and z400's ect. Anyone know what is up with Susuki. How can it take three months to gat a product from lincon nebraska to kansas.

 

Actually, I wasnt intentionally hitting trees at 4mph, rather, I was in a tight spot in some thick woods, and was in the process of turing around. I was pulling up to a tree when I pulled in both break levers, but to my suprise, nothign happened, I didnt slow down at all, and just tapped the tree. I heard a big crack, looked at the bumper, it was all twisted and cracked.
Where I ride, you have to make trails, and that means running over some trees, but if my front bumper cant take hitting a tree that slow, then it's not doing much at all.
I also backed into a tree, downhill, hit the breaks, and once again, nothing happened, and I hit the tree behind me.
You wanna know why nothing happens when I hit the breaks, that's because they are already worn to nothing with only 300 miles on them.
I also had a stick, about 3 inches in diameter fly up and hit one of the floorboards, all the rivets in the floorboard busted out, pulling out 3 of the holes and mangling the floorboad, the ones on my old polaris were metal underneath, tougher than crap.
When I got rid of my Polaris, I had the original belt on, orginal breaks and everhting, the only thing I did to it was change the oil, grease it, and change the filter, it had 2500 miles on it when I sold it.
So in review, the polaris took more abuse than what the suzuki has.
To me, having break pads wear out after 300miles is horrible. I dont ride them hard, I dont ride in the mud, and I do keep them clean, no reason for them to go out.
Other than that and the weakness of the components of the machine, I have no complaints, it just doesnt take what my old polaris did.