I agree with you. I have an 05 eiger 4x4 manuel shift with 26 inch 589's and a moose lift kit plus a 2500 lb winch. It has been a great bike so far. I only wished it had the front diff lock. thinking about a locker though. Any ideas about a snorkel. thanks...

 

This is just my personal opinion, but I think that people just believe whatever they want themselves to believe.

I'm not a big utility guy, but I have a cousin and a friend that have eigers, and really neither one has proven to be a very good machine. Both of them have problems with the power just cutting out all of the sudden, and then just backfiring and sputtering for no apparent reason, sort of like they're running out of gas, then a few minutes later they'll just take off again like nothing was ever wrong. We've tried cleaning the carbs and everything else under the sun, and really never made any progress. One is a 2002, the other is a 2006, and neither one has really been rode that much at all. I really just don't like suzukis anymore, it seems like so much stuff was designed with no thought really put into it. The shifter is sloppy and loose, the shocks are like pogo sticks, the racks and bumper are WEAK, and the plastics are very brittle among other things. Not to say that the other companies don't have stupid designs, but it seems like suzuki has been plagued with bad ideas lately.

Hey, to each his own though, i didn't really start this post with the intention of bashing suzuki, it just sort of turned out looking like that. I can honestly say i'll never buy another yamaha after having my warrior, it's been nothing but trouble and a money pit. I do love riding my warrior when it's all working right, but there's always something that needs replaced or upgraded it seems. For me, even though i own a yamaha and will probably never sell it, it's honda all the way from here-on.

 

Ah... yeah. And you traded a Warrior for a Recon?

 

Lets see..............3 rigs.......and none run worth a **it..............could it be......an.......ah............... OPERATOR PROBLEM ?

 

Recon99: I agree that all of the makers have weird options, just like cars. I think what us Eiger owners were driving to was the fact that for the money the Eiger has been a very good quad. After I read the Quad Mag for October, The Eiger was given rave reviews. Sadly the Honda products were ripped apart. But Honda sells due to its name. I looked at all utility quad's before I bought. Ironically the Honda was the only one I did not like for a variety of reasons. They were heavy, underpowered, No winch mounting location. and everything you wanted was at a premium. They had no incentives and were overpriced to boot ($6,100 for a Rancher Vs $4,899 for an Eiger with Winch and 0% financing).

But I do understand brand loyalty, I was always a Yamaha motorcycle owner, The Eiger is my first utility quad. But I have to say I am very impressed for what I got for the money. I have struggled a bit with the quad running how I would like it at 5500 feet. Seems to be getting better but I am sneaking up on it. I think my lack of constant use really hurts it as well. Bad Gas causes alot of problems and you stated the 2 Eigers you are around are not riden that often. Could be a simple lack of use creating a problem.

Short of going to the big bore quads(and spending double the $$$) the Eiger still remains one of the top utility quads available.

 

No, I don't know where you got that idea, but no I didn't trade a Warrior for a Recon, it was the other way around. I had the recon for 5 years. Me and my buddies beat the crap out of it, and with just changing the oil whenever it started to get dark the quad was virtually bulletproof the entire time I owned it, other than the nasty drum brakes.

Definitely not an operator problem. No matter who rides the 2002 it seems to act up every once in a while. It started doing it about a month after the warranty ran out (go figure) and it kicks into "sputter and backfire mode" almost every time it's rode. What I can't figure out, is that it will run perfect for hours, then all of a sudden just crap it's pants and start throwing a fit. Then after limping around, barely keeping itself moving in low range, eventually it usually does start running right on it's own. The carb has been cleaned multiple times, the tank has been drained, and it was even taken to a suzuki dealer to be checked out (where we were told that the problem was all in our heads and that there was nothing wrong with it).

Eigers are under $5k brand new? Then my buddies got ripped off, they both got raped for just under 6k for theirs before taxes.

 

Yes, your buddies got raped. AND they can't get their quads running. Sorry 'bout that.

You know, when two quads in the same place have the same problem that nobody else seems to be having... there's something missing from the story. Water crossing? Squirrel/rat problems? Lack of technical expertise? The only time I ever had a runability problem was when there was a tiny little almost invisible spider leg part in the main jet. Oh yeah, and when I went into water over the plastics. Both times were my fault, both times were easily fixed because I know what the hell I'm doing. Maybe you just need a second opinion on your friends' rides? A single cylinder carburated small engine isn't really too difficult to diagnose if you have the patience to check it out. Have your friends try searching in this forum, there is some great advice on diagnostic procedures.

Even with all the screwing around with my Eiger that I've done, it runs awesome. SO, I guess I'm agreeing with your earlier premise that people believe what they will. You believe that I'm wrong about Eiger reliability? OK, I guess you're a victim of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Bummer.

 

Both eigers arent doing the same thing. The newer one only did it a couple of times, and that may have just been because of getting wet, but the older one does it anywhere, regardless of mositure, temperature, altitude, or rider. Suzuki has some kind of weird system with the fuel, where the fuel only flows from the tank when the engine is running. We were thinking maybe there was some kind of a complication with that, or something in the carb is getting stuck. The next time we have it apart, i'm going to look more closely at how smoothly everything is working, because before I was focused more on looking for dirt clogging stuff up, and my best guess at this point would be that the float is getting stuck, even though that still doesn't quite match all the symptoms.

Like I said before, it was even taken to the suzuki dealer, and they told us that we were nuts.

 

Don't trust the dealer. They aren't any smarter than the average hobbiest wrench turner.

 

Do you have any suggestions about what could be going on with the eiger that's really crapping out? Because I thought that I was pretty good with troubleshooting quads, but there's a ghost somewhere in this thing that I just can't get cornered.