i am look at buying a new atv. i have a small farm but atv will be used to move a 17 foot tracker boat. lots of trail riding and mudding. my brother had a 500 sportsman HO and it had no trouble moving boat so 450 should not either. not sure on wich to buy. it is between a 500 vinson, 450 kodiak, 660 grizz. so far i like the kodiak the most. i like the smallness of a kodiak and the grizz i think is the same size as the vinson. i will be going to alaska next year for school and i am from ohio. will be at anchorage university. and would like a good four wheeler to ride up there along with down here. anyinfo will help. so far u guys hae good advice

 

I have a 450 Kodiak and I love it! It can go anywhere and do just about everything, I pulled a big 8 hole ice shanty out on the lake with no problem so I'm sure it'll pull your boat. I was also looking at the same three wheelers you were (kodiak, grizzly, vinson.) I almost went with the grizzly but got a great deal on the 450 Kodiak, I was a little upset at first for not going with the bigger griz but after I got home and out riding the Kodiak I was happier then a pig in shìt! I'm not going to say the 450 Kodiak is better then the vinson or the grizzly I'm just saying its a great wheeler and you wont be upset if you get one. It moves pretty good for a non "sport" utility quad too.

 

hey thanks for yoru reply
yeah i like the kodiak i have heard it is a sweet bike. i have road the 400 before and liked it, but on turns it was top heavy and would go on 2 wheels a lot if u are an experienced rider this would not bother u to omuch but in some stuff can be kinda dangerous, and flipping a new bike is not on tops of my list. i work at a rich persons hunting and fishing club in medina so they brign all ther atv and mules out jsut to shoot sporting clays and the polaris 700 compared to the grizzly is a huge bike. and i like the vinson but do not like suzuki. and concerning the yamaha warranty even if it is a legitamate thing that went wrong will they give u crap to cover it
i was talking to a guy this weekend who has the grizzly, he said he loves it but says it is top heavy.

 

the 450 kodiak is one impressive machine. I canot coment about the other 2 bikes you asked about because i have not rode them. I like my 450 because it has good power, diff lock, a sporty feel, came with a free winch, and good instrument display panel.

Some things i dont like are: I find the seat a little uncomfortable (compared to a grizzly 660). and sometimes i wished it had IRS.


Dont get me wrong. this is still one nice machine. good luck with your choice.

 

oh yeah, i foprgot. The kodiak 450 actually is a 421cc machine. lots of power but I wish it was actually a real 450. or at least closer to it. Funny when you think about it cause the polaris 400 sportsman is a 425. the polaris 400 sportsman also weighs close to 200 pounds more. make whatever use of this that you can.

 

Goins, I see that you are coming up to attend UAA. Are you planning on bringing your quad with you? I would asume you will have a truck or a trailer as there is no where to ride in Anchorage other then Kincaid park MX track which is usually taken for races. the next closest riding is Jim Creek which is a Dunes area created by the Knik Glacier. This area is a long valley riverbed with trails that run off into the woods but wind back out onto the riverbed after awhile. This is 45 miles outside of Anchorage, around an hours drive. After that there is Sutton and King River, mostly hilly, lots of mud during the rainy season{summer} 60 miles from Anchorage. then of course there is Eureka mile marker 147, lots of trails to ride on, primarly used for hunting moose and caribou, again mostly muddy with some steep hills to climb. There is some other smaller trails in between here and Anchorage. If you head north up the Parks Highway there are also some smaller trails but the main one is Petersville, there is trails that criss cross everywhere up there. That is a 3 hour drive from Anchorage.
Any one of the quads you listed will do well in the trail terrain that you will be riding on which is river crossings, long mudholes, steep hills or even mountains, riverbeds dry and undry. The Grizzly and Vinson will ride better over the rocks do to the independent suspension but if you know how to handle a quad with a solid axle you will not notice it as much. I guess it boils down to what you feel comfortable with and what you want to pay. I would suggest a winch and carry at least 50 feet of rope or towstraps to aid the winch, sometimes 50 feet of winch cable falls short. I hope this helps and when you do get here hook up with some of the locals to find the good riding spots.AlaskaBoy.

 

yeah alaska boy i can;t wait to get up there i am gion up with my buddy to finish school and maybe stay there i will see. jsut wanna go up ther eand hunt and fish and ride.jsut waitin on my acceptance. see ya up there

 

I'm biased and I'm just curious why you aren't considering the Polaris 400 or 500 Sportsman? Like mentioned, the 400 is actually a 425 and is virtually identical to the 500 which is a 499cc bike. It has IRS and offers an awesome ride.

Again, just wondering......

 

I'd go w/ the Kodiak 450 if I were you. I was trying to choose between the Kodiak 450, the Grizzly 660, and the Honda Fourtrax Foreman and went w/ the Kodiak 450. I also have a 17' Bass Tracker and I've moved it w/ the kodiak a few times. It's a joke how easy the kodiak pulls it.

 

i like the polaris, my brother had one, and it did everything we wanted it to along with my buddies rubicon they were always the same. we had some problems with them but nothing that we did no cause. they are a really big bike but even though they are really heavy u can slide the back end around really easy with a little shift of your weight. i owuld get a foreman bu they are really slow, but made for work, and a rincon is an awsome fast bike. but has no low and i have heard a lot of problems with them, back to the polaris. there are things about it that i don;t like like the 4 wheel drive system they have. the kodiak is a peppier bike even theough it is belt driven someone said because they have a tension belt drive system instead of a snowmobile like belt system. i think. so right now i am stuck between the grizz and the kodiak , righ tnow i am leaning towars the 450 but not sure. why did yamaha make a 421 cc biek. i knew this before,and i guess it is geared and set up different but y didn;t they make a 450 cc with al that on it.