Hi.

I am quite concerned about the Utility atv .

Over the past 5 years i've been researching just about every modele, and with every passing year the Utility ATV is dying off.

Bombardier no longer has any new Traxsters/Quests for 2006.

What realy annoys me is the the ATV market is only interested in the American market. BRP has 90% of it's market in the USA. For racing and ripping through nature without so much as a care.

All that seems to come out is cheap atv's with all sorts of flashy useless options, enormous engines which you might as well use a small
car instead at 850cc's

I loved kawasaki's bayou 200-400cc's however they are gone now.

I detest Belt drive (driven) based motors (atv's are not snowmobiles or cadilacs)

There are no more manual shift & direct driven (apart from kawasaki bayou 250) ATV's with the exception of 2004 modele arctic-cat 400-500cc's (choice)

Hi/lo gear ( dubious notion when "automatic transmission" is considered).


The new large 4 wheeled atv's such as the yamaha rhino, is a revival of the terrajet.

We even managed to very much embarased the local BRP dealer and rep when testing hauling a load of fire wood, Blew the drive belt off
an outlander. Where our old beat up 1990 Kawa 220 bayou 2wd kept going and going and going with the same load.

Last year I beacame so fed up of looking for a "REAL" work horse. That I decided to spend more cash and buy and ARGO Avenger ATV.

$$$

At least it was designed for work.

For a business purpose ATV the argo is wonderous.

However as for a personal home use Utility atv. It's hopeless , most don't have much of a trailer hitch mount, or towing capacity of the old atv's . Hauling a trailer with an atv with a rear independant suspension eeeeeesh!

THanks for listening.

My appologies for sounding abrupt. However it is a fact.

yt

workhorse.

 

Check into a Foreman 500 S - manual trans, direct drive, no belts...

 

Good point, still some good old school atv's out there, Eiger or the Foreman are great.

 

Every year more and more utility atvs are added to the market, so how do you say they are dying off? In the last 5 years we've seen an explosion in the utility market including the presence of big bores. Sure some are less work oriented than others, but all have progressed.

BRP is still going to make the john deere traxters, at least for another year.

As for the American market, its the majority of BRP's sales so why shouldnt they cater more to that market? And I care about the environment, any insinuation to the contrary I take as a personal offense.

If you cant find a use for the big bore utilities thats fine, many of us can. My big bore ute can do more and do it faster, better, and more efficently than my small bore ute could. The size and maneuverability of an atv is far superior to a "small car" not to mention weight advantages.

I dont care if you dont like belt drives, they perform very well. Cadillac does not use belt drives.

Kawasaki discontinued the bayou because sales faltered, the smaller prairie is a suitable replacement for the larger bayou.

Honda still makes a number of manual transmissioned utility atvs as does suzuki and yamaha. Did you even bother to do real research?

The rhino is by no means new, the Kawasaki mule has been around for much longer, as has the polaris ranger. Yamaha simply decided to come into the market.

The argo is not an atv in almost any sense of the word, and certinanly not by industry standards. They are also dramatically underpowered and only provide adequate performance due to transmission design and gearing.

Almost nothing you posted was fact, in any sense of the word, but simply your own opinion. You're entitled to it, but it doesnt make you or I right.

 

BRP is coming out with the new quad and felt they would only leave the traxter/quest to JD

 

I dont think the point was that the utility market and sales for these types are dying off, but rather that real "workable" models are fading away from production.

The util segment is most likely the fastest growing part of our sport, but the same reasons these are so popular is the cause behind why the "workhorse" types are dying off.

I often compare this to the insane increase in popularity of jet ski's in the mid 90's. Various models were avail for a very long time, but they were stand up designs that required a certain amount of skill, and were not just a hop on and ride type machine. As soon as there was a less intimidating sit down model that almost anyone could easily operate sales went thru the roof, and many mfg's couldnt keep up with production initially.

Well same thing is happening with the utility ATV today, and with auto everything, and a wide stable apearing stance that isnt intimidating to the new rider their sales are booming just like the skis did in the 90's.

Manufacturers known all about what is pushing all these sales, and they also know that they need to offer different "sales tool items" on their models in order to increase sales. Sadly these items are not normally anything concrete that follows function and can be as simple as a $10 plastic rack accessory or a $99 gps unit and sometimes as simple as a color or camo design to the plastics.

These are great things, but not for everyone, and those who have been around the sport for a while or have used different older models for real working etc will be looking for different spec's or options than the newbie will.

What concerns me even more is that the majority of injuries and deaths seem to involve these newer designed "non intimidating" models that create a false sense of security as to their stability, and a newbie can get in over their head real fast, and even more so if the rider is the younger son or daughter of the proud new atv owner.

Its pretty much the same thing that happened with injuries on the jet skis, and there have been all kinds of bans, and new restrictions on their use, and they have a much stronger association behind them as being legally a class b boat and therefore belonging to both the sport specific groups as well as some of the boat groups or associations.

So sure the mfg's are happy to be selling more units every year, and seem to have little concern for the "work ability" needs, as well as how negativly the effects of their marketing will scar our sport long term.

 

I believe that many of the machines still being offered are very workable. The polaris line including the 700MV and atp models have excellent towing capabilities (albiet with mostly IRS) and honda and arctic cat still offer more spartan models with manual trans that can get the job done. The manual eiger is a very capable work machine as well.

I dont think rider skill is really the issue so much as a rider's intentions for use. Utility atvs are no longer just for the farm or ranch more and more people are enjoying them recreationally. Since this has become the larger market its understandable that the companies are catering more to these types of riders but to say that there are few or no options left for the working man is an extreme exaggeration.

 

The current crop of utilities (even though they are called "sport utilities"), unfortunately really show their "farm work tractor" heritage. They are a compromise that results in a hybrid machine that is far to large, heavy, and ungainly for recreational trail riding. Yet as you have pointed out, being a compromise they are not really a pure work machine either.

I believe that the industry has taken a whole wrong track in trying to create the "sport utility" vehicle. The only true "sport utility" is the Wolverine! [Some folks will claim that there is a Polaris (can't remember which specific model) that is in this class, but that thing is 100 pounds to heavy to make the cut.] In this NEW SPORT UTILITY CLASS, I invision a light sporty machine that is in the 400-450 pound range and has a very favorable weight-to-ower ratio. It has selectable 2wd/4wd so folks can bail themselves out if they get into trouble out on the trail. THIS KIND OF MACHINE IS REALLY MOST SUITABLE FOR THE TYPE OF RIDING THAT MOST PEOPLE DO!

Rumor was that last year Honda was testing a light 250cc machine that had 4wd.......... Now before you start to laugh and say "but it's only a 250", remember that the little CRF250 dirt bike engines can get close to 50 horsepower! Sooooooo, how about a 400 pound, 40 hp selectable 2wd/4wd machine, with great suspension???

Then for guys like workhorse, a seperate PURE UTILITY CLASS of "farm work tractors", and of course my favorite PURE SPORT CLASS of ultralight 2wds.

 

I just wanted to point out that Kawi did ot drop all the Bayou quads here is a link to info onthe 2006, looks about the same to me as it always did.

Maddog is right about the traxters being left to the Tractor guy's at your John Deer lealer. John Deer ATV / BRP traxter Line in JD green.


What about Yamaha They have the Big Bear 400 Its a gear on gear 5 speed shaft drive Utility 2005 Big Bear 400

 

Sorry about the missing bayou link the connection must have some beef with the source and killed my post untill I took out the atv source link.

Here is a link to Kawi for info on the 2005 Bayou, THe 2006 looks the same