I need a real workhorse, i drag alot of logs out of the mountains, but also trail ride alot, so also need a fast and smooth ride. What are your likes and dislikes of each and which would be my best choice?

 

I suggest the King Quad, Ive been hearing only good things about it so far except the tires.

 

None of those machines are really work oriented, but rather best designed for play. Thats not to say they cant work, they just arent as good at it as they are at playing.

Fast and smooth ride dont go together. Either you get a smooth ride with IRS that gets tippy at speed, in corners and off camber, or you have the rougher but more stable ride of an SRA machine.

This topic has been covered many times since the KQ was released. In every thread there are a few people who will suggest polaris or the other kawasaki machine depending on which was initially listed. In each thread 20 people will chime in with all kinds of information they they got from reading the first batch of posts, and have no personal experience on all of or even one of the machines in question.

I'd go with the prairie, but not because I own one. The grizzly is a great machine, almost bought one. But she's a little too top heavy for my tastes and I didnt have the budget for 700 bucks more on wheels and tires to fix it. The KQ sounds great, but I havent even been able to find one on the road yet, just the dealership. I got to cruise around the dealer lot which has a field out back for just such occasions. It was not as tippy as the grizzly, but it didnt feel like it had all that much low end punch compared to the kawi twin and not really any more than the grizzly. The prairie is lacking in the ground clearance department, but when you load it down it doesnt lose any gc like the IRS bikes do. It has more torque than both from my experience and handles better for trail riding.

If you really wanted to work you should be looking to AC, Polaris, and Honda (but not the rincon).

EDIT: Thanks cc1999, must've been an off night.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Here is another good but similar choice from Kawi


The Brute Force 650 is the same as the Prairie 700 but uses the a slightly smaller version of the prairie V-twin and has new updated plastic and name all for 500.00 less $6,599.00 This quad is one of the best buy's on the market. For 250.00 you can put a Dyna CDI in it and out run the stock Praire 700. Its faster than the grizz and should be equal or maybe a little faster than the king quad. It has all the good points Mad dog was telling you about the prairie just cheaper.

Hey Mad Dog. I think you ment to type SRA at the end of your second paragraph. maybe want to edit???

 

The Honda Rubicon is a really good work quad.

 

You are right Bigballer the rubi is probably a better worker. Belt drives do not realy make the best tow vehiches. Heavy loads are hard on belts. The Rubi has no belts and is still an automatic with Honda quality. The only criteria that the Rubi might fall short in is, its not that fast. but to some 50 to 55 mph is fast but to others fast is 70 MPH. The new 05 rubi has a switchable 4x4 system now so it might be a pretty fun quad to play around on also. Now that you can swich off the 4 wheel drive I bet doughnuts and powerslides are a blast with the new rubi.

 

Rubicon, great for heavy work.

 

I have owned three Grizzly 660s, two Prairie 700s, and have ridden a King Quad for an afternoon trail ride, so at least I have some experience with each machine. The King Quad impressed me with the best suspension I have had the chance to try out, and superb handling for an IRS ATV. At the end of the ride I started doing donuts in the paved parking lot, and kept going around faster and faster and faster, with the inside front tire carried a foot off the ground for the last half dozen donuts, and the ATV felt very stable and predictable the whole time. The power of the King Quad is better than the Grizzly, and not quite as good as the Priairie. The off idle hesitation that plagues the Kind Quad does tend to go away once the engine gets good and warm, but does not go completely away.

If I were buying an ATV for sport riding I would get the Prairie. If I were buying an ATV for work I would get the Grizzly, just because it does not have the off idle hesitation, and because the belt drive transmission on the Grizzly is bulletproof, which may not be the case with the Prairie. If I were buying an ATV for work and play, then I would get either a Prairie or a King Quad, depending on which one I could get the best deal on.

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Rubicon 500? Why? So he can have the most boring ATV in the world?

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

OuterLimit

 

sorry guys but all the info ive read about HONDA says nothing about a good worker atv.
gear ratios are high and spaced too far apart.
if it were me i would go with arctic-cat or polaris.
I own a king quad and think it is great, but for working the #'s are better looking on the ARCTIC-CAT or POLARIS.

 

My 500HO makes the ~grizz~prarie~kingquad~and Rubicon~ look like jokes wen it comes to towing.
I have pulled a grizz up a muddy hill with a trailer hooked up to him cuz he could not make it up by him self. just did not have the weight to make it.