there will be another post like this soon enough

 

First of all this Moron says he rides a Suzuki.
Second, if you had ever ridden a Rincon instead of spouting BS like MotoF150 about something you don't have a clue about, you would realize there is nothing wrong with Rincon transmission. It does exactly what its supposed to do.
Third, if you take the time to look it up you will see that Honda still maintains a huge lead in sales and has not lost any market share what so ever.

 

Unfortunately, market share is way towards the bottom of considerations I take into account when shopping for a new ATV. Somebody posted the market share numbers over the last 10 years by each manufacturer in another thread awhile back. Honda is at the top but Yamaha and Polaris weren't that far behind. As I see it, the market is starting to be divided into 2 categories: Quality vs. features. Don't get me wrong. I think all manufacturers make good products these days. Some may produce more lemons than others but it's always a fairly low percentage of overall sales. Kawi, Polaris, AC, and Can-Am are really pushing features these days. That is what they sell. Honda is selling reliability/quality thru simple design. That is why you won't find a Honda loaded with more features on a bike than any of the other manufacturers. If they matched the other manufacturers feature for feature while still maintaining high quality standards, you'd be buying $10K Foremans from Honda. Yamaha and Suzuki are trying to market both quality and features into 1 package. This is evident with the new King Quad and Grizzly.

While the Rincon is a very well-rounded bike on the trail, there are a lot of features missing from Honda's top of the line quad. Yet it costs mucho $$$. Will we ever see a locker or a low range sub-transmission on a Rincon? Highly unlikely. It will price itself out of the market if Honda loads it up with features as would a lot of other Honda ATVs. I really like Honda for a lot of reasons. Features aren't one of them. I hated the Rincon when it was introduced because the power was flat, and the tranny didn't work that well. I do, however, like the new Rincon a lot more. Honda addressed some glaring problems with it.

I guess my point is that nobody has made the perfect ATV yet. Not even Honda. All the manufacturers are getting closer though.

 

the auto tranny honda puts out s terrible at a sled pull and dead weight pull. I've seen cases when they could not even spin the tires over cause the tranny was slipping.

 

JDquadrider, Your my hero. Finally someone says the truth. And it seems like a very unbiased opinion.

 

perfect ATV not going to happen and if so I think the last guy that was perfect got crucified for it. I don't think this is about Honda vs the rest of the quads Honda is a great bike for sure I have a 3 wheeler 125cc that starts on the first pull and has for many years. I run Honda motors on mortor mixers and equipment I have it is making me money. I think it is about belts on quads and why honda is not into belts but either way they have spent tons of money on research and it looks like they did not like belt drives. WHo started this thread ??
[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

I'd hardly classify the Hondamatic or the Rincon trans as

 

My buddy waits for me on my honda sometimes. May be because his sportsman 500 is awesome. May be because my 1983 atc 185s is a little old, small, and unsuspended. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

I'm not sure why people get all worked up over here about stuff like this...

If you prefer a geared transmission quad, go get one. There are a bunch on the market.

If you prefer an auto, go get one, there are a bunch on the market.

If you prefer an auto w/no belt, go get one. There's only one brand, but at least there are both SRA and IRS choices.

I think it would be fair to say that when belts jumped from snowmobiles to quads there were some growing pains. Snowmobile drive systems generally don't have to worry about protection from mud and water, and thus cooling and access for easy belt replacement weren't problems either.

Someone else said on one of these topics that "belts are only a problem if you make it a problem", and I think with modern quads that's pretty true.

Just do your research to make sure the machine you pick has the options, features and charateristics that best meet your needs and preferences. I hate to see anyone unhappy with their choice of machine, regardless of brand or whether or not it has a belt.

 

us atv owners should all stand up and demand to all the manufactures that make atv's that we don't want belt drives! When we keep buying belt drives they think we like them and they build more and they disscontinue the gear drives with the belt drives, I fear the day is coming where all atv's will be belt drive and then we will be forced to buy them cause thats all you can get, its impossible to drive a 40 hp engine pulling around a 1/2 ton atv with a stupid rubber belt, it don't work, the only reason they make it with a belt is because it saves them money in manufacturing costs resulting in higher profits. If belt drives are so wonderful why don't they use them on cars, trucks, semi trucks and trains? THEY ARE SHOVING BELT DRIVES DOWN OUR THROATS AND WE MUST STAND UP AND BE UNITED AND SAY WE WON'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!