I'm considering buying a used Vinson. Is there anything that is a major problem with these quads that I should watch out for?

 

Don't buy a 2002. They have major frame breakage problems. other than that year, they are GREAT quads.

 

Yea, I've had a problem. Every time I get off of mine, I start jonesin' to get back on it!
Oh, you mean mechanical? NONE!

 

cry wimper, uh huh.....2002's STAY FAR away from, now go ahead and get yourself a nice 03-05, and they are superb bikes!\

lets see my problems, are in this order

shifter update
bad digital display
rear breaks forever squeeked
broken 2 cv joints
broke my frame in more then 4 places....

03+ doesnt have these problems, so go ahead and get one they are really really good bikes,

even after all my problems "I WONT BACK DOWN", only put more money into it to make it bigger, faster and stronger!

v581

 

No problem here. Great quad !

 

My O3 is a great quad. If you are planning to buy new, the Brute Force (old Prarie) 650 is now within a few hundred bucks. One of the magazines this month (ATV Action?) did a review of the sub $7,000 machines. 1) Sportsman 500 2) BF 650 3) Vinson and then a few others.

For my money, the Polaris quads are just too damn heavy. I went riding with friends and split time from my vinson and a polaris. The polaris like to beat me to death trying to move the bulk around. We were riding dunes and there was no way to get the lard front end up to do the whoops without getting killed. Artic Cat uses the same engine as the Vinson, but is also very heavy and does not do a good job putting the power to the ground.

I have no experience with the BF.

As for problems, here is what I have seen. Buy a good aftermarket front bumper to protect the weak front end. The plastic bumper provides no protection and the front frame bends pretty easy when slammed into a tree 2 or 3 times. I'm putting a Warn bumper on this weekend after buying a new front section of frame. Of course, you may want to avoid running head long into trees; but, what fun would that be?

Second, buy more plastic clips now. Maybe you can get your dealer to throw in a couple of dozen with your purchase. The clips holding the footwells to the fenders pop out regularly. I just carry extra with me on the trail and they are easilly replaced.

Finally, I would recommend reinforcing the foot wells. There is not much metal under the footpegs. This contributes to the plastic pins popping (when riding you press against the unreinforced plastic footwell and it puts pressure on the connectors and POP you are short a few). I have no good solution on how to do this, but am investigating it right now.

If you buy the Vinson, you will be very happy overall. Mine is great fun. I would not get too wrapped up on which quad goes the fastest. On a mountain trail winding between trees, they never go above 20 mph anyway. The Vinson handles great, has plenty of pep and good top end speed.