Not a thing wrong with the grizzly in my opinion. It has been around long enough that all the bugs are known and pretty much fixed for the most part as I understand it. If the price is right I can't see how a person could go wrong with one.

With all that said it is showing its age as far as the bleeding edge big bores go. If Yamaha would drop a fuel injected 800 in the current Grizzly and further refine the suspension a bit to get rid of some of the mild tippy feel that I (and others) didn't/don't care for I think they would have a real winner on their hands. I rode a grizzly with some brand of after market shocks and it made a world of difference. The tippy-ness was gone and I thought it handled as well as the Suzuki King Quad. I'm not sure what brand they were but I recall the fellow said they were quite expensive.

 

"And anyways, IRS don't really help when doing work, just comfort and handling. I think..................."

SRA is better for work because the rear won't squat when you hook a trailer to it, so IRS actually hurts its working capabilities

 

The Grizzly might still have a problem now and then, "Tell me what bike dosen't". We can really abuse our machines and easily blame it on the equipment. The Grizzly works so slick , I put 5000 klm on it a year and yes I do break things, but boy do you ever have fun doin it.
Still my #1 choice . my 2004 Grizzly Le went to the shop today and home came a sparkling new 2006 Special Edition Grizzly , Grey metal flake and carbon fiber finish. Tires are the ITP MUD LITE XTR Radials in 25" size with the large 1.25" lugs. What a ride , they are very smooth compared to the mud lites on the 04.

got to go time to change my profile below
Gordy

 

That 06 Grizzly SE looks very sweet. Excellent color combo. Always liked the grey machines, like mine. Are those headlamps different, as I observed they're kind of blueish.

 

I have the 04 Griz. It's a bit cheaper than the Pol 800 and the Kawi's. But, all with do the job in need.

People buy from the dealers that are in their area. I have a Kawi and Yama in town, so you see more of that brand.
The guys in my lease are from the south and all drive Suz's. Small town,,one dealer.....

Keep it clean and well maintained. It will last for years like the Honda 300 and Bayou 220.

 

I had a chance this weekend to do some serious mudding with both the Twin Peaks and the Grizzly. All I have to say is the Grizzly is the one everybody wanted to ride by the end of the day. The machine would not stop or get stuck even with the stock tires. A Vinson would not make half of the runs the Grizzly or a couple of BF650's with Mudlites would go. I don't know how good the stocks are on the Vinson.
The Grizzly is also like riding a lazy boy on the trails. What's so bad about the Grizzly? Not a lot in my book. Better gas mileage and a little more mid range power and I would buy another one. Looking back, I would probably buy another Grizzly over the Twin Peaks. Stuff the V-Twin in the Yamaha chassis and I would be in heaven.

 

I can offer my comparisons.

Buying my first fourwheeler. Narrowed down between two. The 660 Grizz and the King Quad.

I spent half a day at a dealer who sold both. I was not influenced by the salesman's persoal recommendations of the King Quad was a nicer choice, after all he is there only to move them and he probabley wanted to get ride of them. I was aware of the King Quads drivetain problem but I never considered that on my final purchase.

I substanially test each bike in the parking lot for about twenty minutes each and then re tested three more times each. Each time I found something profound against the King Quad that didn't reveal its self to me after the first hour and test run.

The Grizz has a tight turn radius and the King Quad needed twice as much to turn. Very bad! Makes for frustrating handling in tight spots.
The front brakes first appeads tigher on the King Quad but the Grizz had better rear braking and then they both seemed about equal after the third ride. Major bonus was Grizz had the foot brake that the King Quad didn't. If the hand brake cable snapped at the worst moment trail cutting, you still have full foot brake control. Ingenious Grizz!

Later I got right under both bikes and two major things found.

First the front end of the Grizz was designed bulletproof like someone knew exactly what they were doing from long experience of off-roading. The knuckles fit tight in, and the brake lines were done tucked high and tight. On the KingQuad it was the opposite. Their Front end looked like it was designed on an after thought from a non off-roader. The knuckles stuck out to far for good protection of the disk brakes like they could get bent easily, the brake lines look like they stuck out flapping in the wind ready to get hooked by a branch or compromised by sinking in mud. King Quad's front A-arms didn't sweep up and out of the way, they hang low ; unlike the Grizz giving more obstruction clearence.

Second comes the rear a major decision here. The King Quad has another very poor design. The rear sway-bar sits way to low and protrudes out too far. Its like they ran it backward with these cheezy tiny connecting links. It asks to be ripped apart by bolder climing and hook into climing obsticles like trees not to mention hook and drag any branches. I cant have my bike bit into something and throw me. Very bad design over all. However on the Grizz once again designed strong and out of the way hitch free, also giving excellent mid back transversing clearences which farther enhanced the excellent ground clearence use and capabilities. There is a substantial differtence in ground clearence hight between the two bikes which Grizz dominates. Now considering putting on thick skid plates farther reduces the King Quad's belly scrapping squat.

Another major decision mattered going with the Grizz. Long down the road there are going to be far more parts still available for the Grizz as its been around a long time and millions sold. King Quad, I doubt its going to be able to compete there as they might totally redesign the new bike in a year far less sold.

I didn't see any difference in power between the bikes that was noticable. I didn't see the Grizz hesitate on throtle as it was very responsive just like the King Quad. So I was asking myself whats the major benifit of fuel injection? I cant see it or feel it but when it breaks what that going to cost me? Is it designed like the rest of the bike? Oh no! Here is another testiment, I bought the Grizz and ride it hard, I've lost control ricoshaying off a tree to running belly up a giant bolder, I jumped off the bike as the bike flipped up nose to the sky. It flipped backwards landing on handle bars, luckily not me. I was not hurt. It took two of us to flipit over. I took out the wrech from the kit and had to lift the handle bars back up which were pushed down. Started it right up and the float never stuck or hesitated. Off I went with out fuel injection.

A correction worth mentioning, the Grizz is rated for 1200 lb rolling tow. The King Quad is only rated for 8 or 9 hundred lb rolling tow. That tells you which is going to have the better frame and suspention and drivetrain. Even the Grizz comes with better tiers.

Last most whimsical decision was the Grizz on special for $ 6,000 end of the season. The King Quad's best price was 7200 new model holding out. For those savings alone were're talking dressing up the better Grizz with full Aluminuim Products skid plate package with a 3000 lb SE Warn winch and still have plenty of money left over to buy tissues for the King Quad owners who made a rush decision based on everyone elses professional opinions who got goosed. Dont be mad at me. Be mad at the editorials you read which are suppose to help you out. Be mad at the tooth fairy. Be mad at yourself because you didn't spend the right time doing side by side comparisions taking a nice long time deciding. But dont be mad at yourself because you didn't know better at the time.

The King Quad might prove itself great for general riding. But the Grizz is extreme and continues to amaze me of the engineering and forward thinking that went into the Grizzly design. Thats refreshing.


Twizz

 

WOW TWIZZ! i have to just say...... u write a lot! haha. i looked at ur profile and its like 30 paragraphs, lol, and wat u just wrote is wayyyy to long for my lazy as$ to read, haha. no disrespect.... i just noticed that u like to write, lol.

 

I guess I had a lot to say. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]


But for the first time shoppers I think its important. I've read magazines spend pages on rating the King Quad # 1.



Now I know that they must have been paid alot of money to intentionaly color up lies. The articles were generized and blandly superficial hiding the true facts.

Honestly when I arived at the dealer the King Quad was more eye catching in yellow, newly engineered must be higher refined which turned out to be the trojan in disguise.


Twizz

 

its a good think u talk so much though kuz at least the buyer finds out wats good and wats not.