Its funny I mentioned the solid axle Brute when I made my comment almost 2 years ago. Now I have one. At that time, I had a Rancher 350 2wd which had basically 1/2 the power. Honda is pretty much the only one that makes a 4x4 quad that isn't a cvt auto. Suzuki might still make a semi-auto Eiger or whatever they call it now but that's the only one. The 250cc Ozark is the only other utility quad not named Honda that is also not a cvt. I'm surprised it hasn't gotten a facelift, they haven't even changed the way it looks in the 15 years they have been making it. The Recon is the only quad that has been around longer. It has only gotten changes in styling but no change to the powerplant for its whole 20 years of production. A 1997 Recon performs exactly the same as a 2017 one.

 

The Recon got a few changes to the motor when it got the re-styled plastics and digital speedo in 03. It also got a different starter motor in 07 (lower quality, but cheaper to fit new brushes to). From about 2006 to 2014 it was the only Honda we would recommend to our customers, because of the faulty 500 gearbox and faulty 420 rear axle. Honda did fix the gearbox, but now old 420s are becoming a nuisance, many of them have worn out the replacement axle shaft and diff that we fitted.

 

My old Arctic Cat 500 has the same motor as the Vinson and manual shift 5 speed. A Dynojet kit, K&N filter, gutted muffler and the best mods were a 5 degree timing advance key with a Web Racing cam. I have a tachometer and it will really scream. I've had it to 62 mph with 30" tires, but when I saw the tach, I slowed down. It will hit 8,500 rpms. I also dynoed it and peak wheel hp was at 7,000 rpm. It's a really tough motor, I have over 8,000 miles on her. I suspect the manual shift models put more power to the road than CVT. I put 25" tires back on and top speed wet down quite a lot.

 

I had an 05 Recon foot shift, it had no speedo or odometer. A friend had an ES model, also no digital speedo or odometer. Perhaps it was optional but I never saw one that had it. You had to step up the the Rancher 350 to get those features. That was pretty typical of utility machines in that price range back then. The Ozark was just as sparse on display. I just wish Honda would come up with a better way to put their quads in reverse. You could override the red button(we did on my Recon) and all you have to do it downshift from neutral to go into reverse. It didn't work very well on the ES models but on foot shift models, it was easy to do. Honda stated that it was for safety to add the red button. In reality, it was to protect the transmission so you couldn't shift into reverse while still rolling forward.

 

Hydrex, good to know about the mods available. For now, I'm going to keep everything stock on my Vinson performance wise because I'm not wanting to make this a race quad, I have enough of those. But if I ever change my mind, I'll keep your post in mind. For now, the only mods I've made are tracking down the many discontinued optional accessories that Suzuki offered for it. So far, I've found everything I wanted although it's been a scavenger hunt to say the least.

I'm just in love with this Vinson. It's the first newish utility ATV I've owned. I was really selective on what I wanted, and I finally found it. I've had a couple of old (87 and 88) LT300E 2x4's, and a couple old LT-4WD's that were more projects that useable quads. But everything else I've had has been sport or racer from the mid 80's, so getting a nice Sport Utility is really exciting for me.

Jack, it's good to hear from you. My son broke the rear axle housing on his lt80 several months ago, so I had it welded and gusseted for more strength. (It's got a wide DuraBlue axle, so there's quite a bit more stress on the carrier than normal.) I'm just getting it back together for a trip coming up in April. This will probably be the last summer he rides it before getting something bigger. It still runs like an animal though. We are going to go through it one last time after this summer cleaning and detailing it, and then it's getting retired up on the shelf with the other quadracers and zilla's. I'll never sell this thing! If I ever have grandkids, they'll inherit it. We even have new plastic (the old original 87-88 yellow color) with some bad *** custom decals made that we are going to put on it when it goes on the shelf. The decals are exact replicas of the '88 rear decals that say 80 quad sport, except they say 90 quad racer! With a 52mm piston, it's a little bigger than 89cc's now, so we had it say 90, and we even got the "racer" font copied from that year quadracers so it's an exact match and looks like it came from Suzuki. It still has all of the engine goodies and other tricks I got from you years ago, and it still flies! I've upgraded the suspension a few times over the years, and it's now the best I could find for it. It fits in perfectly with our collection!

 

"I had an 05 Recon foot shift, it had no speedo or odometer. A friend had an ES model, also no digital speedo or odometer. Perhaps it was optional."

Probably a standard export fitment, annoyingly they give the UK Kilometer speedos, and won't fit Europe legal lights. Honda have changed the red button to a lever on the new 420/500, works well. All quads are different, at the moment I am finding a circa 2011 350 Grizzly annoying as you have to put the foot brake on to get it in or out of reverse.

 

Was kinda thinking the same thing, many entry level quads here in the U.S. don't have full displays even now. Its a way to save money and use less amps from the charging system as well I'm sure.

 

yagerzzz, The Web racing cam 228 grind was actually good for bottom end grunt and the 5 degree timing advance key was probably worth a couple rewhip, but you have to run premium gas. Still nothing that I've done effected drivability or starting in cold weather. It did a great job plowing snow! I'm sure AC tuned it to be more of a work horse, but the cam and timing advance made it able to keep up with other 500's. I suspect AC also gears for a slower top speed, as it would turn 30" Mudzillas like nothing. Since I put the 30's on my Diesel, the 25's went on the AC 500, it is much slower. Anyway, Dynojet stage 1, a Web cam and 5degree key, will wake your Vinson up a lot, just saying.

 

Interesting discussions on these "vintage" quads. I enjoyed reading about the Vinson 500 and Arctic Cat 500 in comaprison to the popular Hondas of the era.

David