don't waste your time dirtydude, you aren't cracking that nut's shell

 

This comes from a guy who names himself propnut.

 

Hmm.. Tell me you are not suggesting that you put your quad in 2wd mode so you get engine braking on only the rear wheels like a Polaris!!! Even I know it is best to put the vehicle in neutral to assure I get no braking except what I provide manually with my brakes. But I would really apprciate you explaining quite carefully how you utilize you split braking to get the most out of your brakes.... based on your experience. Maybe you can share a bit of that experience with the rest of us. My experience with split brakes says that more often than not in emergency situations the rear end almost always locks up first. The reason is that most any rider instinctively knows that you can really hammer on the rear brake and still steer with the unlocked front wheels. On the other hand, it seems there is less tendency to do this with a single hand brake because it is always better to pump a single hand brake system in these emergency situations and have the tires alternately roll and slide. This is one reason I insist that single hand brakes are more safe than split brakes.
BryceGTX

 

ok, so the polaris is superior cuz it doesnt lock the front wheels... and no other manufacturer is as good??? i got an idea..try leavin the "inferior system" in 2wd... there ya go, front wheels dont lock up

as for braking, the polaris breaks arent bad at all, ill agree they should have been rated a little higher... but im still not a fan of the single lever braking system. for extreme situations it might be good, but when your plain out having fun, the split brakes are better. for example, on my kodiak, when coming into a sharp turn, you lock the rears up and powerslide all the way around. now do that on a polaris and good luck. sure you have the footbrake, but the majority of the time, it doesnt work at a decent amount of mileage (not all).

as for the slow/technical riding, the polaris transmission isnt the best. the high range will just fry belts, and the low range is extremely touchy. its not as smooth as some of the other models. yes, ive driven the sportsman in technical riding, so im not just talking about what i read...

 

As for using a brake to do a Powerslide:

On a Polaris you do not have to hit the brake to do a (Powerslide). All you have to do is nail the throttle & it will break the back tires loose because of the power they put out & then you can slide around the turn.

As of using high range you said it will just fry the belt. Oby god dammmmm my belt hasn't fried once on mine & I ride in high range all of the time.

Why do you keep bashing Polaris? I would sell your scrambler if your not happy.

 

Polaris--Either your going to love them or hate them!!!

 

what i mean by using high range, im not talking about trail riding. im talking about rock climbing, or series of logs... in general, the polaris is gonna slip the belt if momentum is lost and its from a stand still start against a rock... now you may say of course itll do that, but with the ultramatic, i left it in high range ALL the time except for deep mud. and for belt life... 5200 miles and i replaced it just for safety... stock still looked decent

as for powersliding...the polaris IRS will not just break loose and power slide around a corner. ive tried on several different of the sportsmans... they all break the tires loose, but they dont powerslide nearly as well as a SRA. the scrambler powerslides just fine, my rear brakes are junk so i just tap the fronts and the rear passes the front... once you get the hang of it it does pretty good powerslides...
as for power, the scrambler is the only one in their lineup that has impressed me at all...

and yes, im selling my scrambler

 

Ok guys I have read all of your opinions about braking, here is mine:

I read a time back where a guy posted that split braking is only appropriate for manual transmission quads with clutches. I couldn't agree with him more. A manual transmission quad with a clutch has complete control of the rear wheel braking by the engine. If the engine provides too much braking, the rider can easily pull in the clutch and provide whatever braking level he desires through the rear brake pedal. Similarly, if the engine is braking the rear wheels, he may desire to have either no braking or some braking on the front by using the front hand brake. The rider instinctively creates the required braking of the front and back wheels and the action is next to instantaneous because the clutch can immediately disconnect the engine. Now if the rider provides two much braking by pressing both the rear brake and using engine braking, the engine may stall for a very short period of time giving the rider instant feedback that he is braking too hard with the rear wheels. Instinctively, the rider releases the rear brake and the engine restarts.

However, with the automatic transmission quad the engine will provide braking when you let off on the throttle, but it will decide the amount of braking and unlike the manual transmission, there is no way to disconnect the engine braking from the rear wheels by pulling in a clutch. The only way to reduce the engine braking is to increase the throttle to reduce the engine braking. Most people find this counter intuitive to the braking process, but it becomes second nature after a time. However, the automatic trans will never have the response that the clutch has in immediately reducing the rear wheel braking. And it will never have the feedback that the manual transmission has that you are applying to much braking because the engine will never stall.

Now if we compare the difference between the automatic transmission with single hand braking and with split braking we will see why split braking is pretty much useless. When the rider on the split braking quad releases the throttle, he finds that he has too much braking because the wheels start to slide. So he increases the throttle to the point that the wheels are allowed to rotate again. The rider with single hand braking, when he realizes the rear wheels are sliding, he increases the throttle to the point where the combination of braking on the rear wheels and engine braking allows the rear wheels to rotate again. Now, there is no way that anyone is going to convince me that the rider with the split baking will ever be able to detect this situation any better than the rider with single hand braking. Nor, will he ever be able to react any faster.

Yea, now I am going to hear argument that "I can utilize the engine braking on my rear wheels and combine it with the front brakes to provide the braking I need and therefore have an advantage over the single hand brake." There are three problems with this argument. The first is that the razor thin difference between the knowing when you are applying to much rear brakes and you are applying just the right amount is virtually indetectable. Second, the engine and transmission braking is continually varying and you will never keep up. Third, the amount of braking that is actually required at the rear wheels is only 10% and the other 90% is provided by the front. So the additional amount of control that you might get by manipulating only a small part of that 10% will be indetectable. I my mind this BS about slpit brakes being better on an auto quad is pretty much a myth.
BryceGTX

 

My Polaris has no problem with the rear brake. Maybe you just need to learn how to take care of your quad.
Go back to the ATVTV web site and read what "slow/technical" means. I seriously doubt any one would leave their transmission in high range.

That is even the reason why Rincon should have a poor score in this category. They rated it as a 7. This means that it had only a minor complaint and it is rated above average!!! WTF, how many 4x4 utilities are lacking a low range? Somewhere between zero and one. The one being a Rincon. So we could hardly call this average. A 3 is a more appropriate value for the Rincon in this category because it has a "glaring" problem that "affects performance" in the words of ATVTV.
BryceGTX

 

take care of my quad huh? thats why out of the 6 polarises in our riding group only one has any rear brakes? our dealer admitted to poor braking designs on polaris...

as for slow riding, id glady leave the ultramatic in high range...doesnt phase it a bit. once again, the owner at our dealer is constantly putting down the grizzly in his riding group, yet the one and ONLY positive thing he says is that whether its 2 or 50mph...the high range will still do it all...as for the rincon, it has enough power to turn the tires in just about everything. may not be the strongest, but itll still do the job