You are correct. My 04 sportsman 600's owners manual states 740lbs dry weight with goodyear mud style tires. The 04.5's are 720lbs dry weight with the lighter radial tires. They also seemed to gain weight for 05 with more aggressive tires being stock again. Thanks for the correction. 600lbs or less seems to be the target weight for japaneze quads to be legally imported if I remember right. Some one could correct me if I am wrong. This must be why they put on such wimpy tires, wheels and skid plates. There is nothing worse than being miles from nowhere and get a flat with wimpy tires. Polaris equips it's machines with premium stock tires which are going to be heavy when they accually have plies and tread. (04 sportsman 600 /stock tire 3/4" tread 4ply, goodyear) If you ride in rocky terrian you know of sidewall cuts, dented rims, and ground clearance. Even with 11.25" of ground clearance stock, I aproach rocks in the trail that make me pucker up. Thankyou polaris for putting extra heavy skids plates on to protect my $6000+ quad.