I've lurked on this site for a while, went through a couple ATVS while doing so (03 raptor 660 and 05 big bear 400 4x4).
Well like so many others i saw on the site, i was between the vinson and the eiger. Either would have been better than the big bear, it was entirely too slow for me! But i did my research on both and it still was a tough decision. Well my brother has an 05 kingquad, which he says is actually 2lbs lighter than the vinson, well the kindquad feels too big for me (5'9 185lbs). I can handle the kingquad, ride it all day no problems, but i could really handle the big bear so much better. So i went with the lighter, smaller eiger and was very glad i did. It's the perfect size for my frame, has plenty of speed for only having 22 miles on it so far and of course the $1000 less. The ride is good, climbs very well and if it had a good set of tires, i'm sure it would go through mud better also. Speaking of, the only thing i really dislike about the eiger is how high reverse is geared. I was stuck in some mud, caked up pretty good, and it wouldn't even spin the tires over in reverse. Same with 1st gear high, but that's no biggie, i throw it in low and it'll spin em no problem. I just wished reverse was as low as 1st low was. But i know it's gonna need to get some more miles on it and it'll pick up more power and that might not be a problem. I do race the atv against other ones around here. The kingquad will still kill me, but not as bad as it killed the big bear. Another one of my buddies has an 05 foreman 500 es and i absolutely kill him, 1st and 2nd i walk, 3rd i pull like crazy! Another is a 03 foreman 450es, suprisingly, he's faster than the 500 (probably the 70lbs rider difference), but still no problem for the eiger. So all in all, the eiger is perfect for me and my size, does almost everything i want it to do in stock form as of right now.

On a different note though, got the warn 2.5 winch with the four-wheeler, made 5 good pulls and made a loud pop and would pull no more, broke something, was highly pissed!

But my question for some of the owners that have put a lot of miles and done some mods. Can you tell a difference in power with say...125 miles on it from what it was brand new? This is the first new atv i've ever bought so i dont' know how much of a difference the break in makes? Also in the very near future it's gonna get an hmf pipe, jet kit, k&n, and i'll be sticking with some more aggressive 25' tires, how noticeable will that be and where will most of the power be made??? And will that void my warranty? Thanx in advance!!

 

Hello...Good choice on the Eiger. The bike will gain some power as it gets broke in. Mods, even just jetting it a little richer will make it much more responsive.

 

Any idea on how many miles would be fully broke in???

But anyhow, little story to go along with my eiger being the right size for me. Same day i bought my eiger, there was a kid, probably 18 or 19, around 150 or so lbs. He was wanting the brand new grizzly, big big four-wheeler, well the same salesman that sold me mine, was doing the talking with this kid, the kid had cash money to buy the four-wheeler, well he got it for a pretty good price i guess $7800 out the door. Well yesterday when i went back to the dealer to check on some stuff, the kid and his dad walk in the door and the kid looks messed up and his dad walked up to the salesman and said he had a grizzly he was wanting to trade in. Well i got done with my stuff and hung around for a bit because i wanted to see the outcome. The kid traded in his 07 grizzly with some plastic damage and bent racks for an 06 rancher 4x4. It's like he pissed $3000 away. Poor kid!