Hi guys,

My trusty old honda 300 has been stolen, so I'm now looking at a new atv. I've looked at and ridden the suz and yam 700. Not really interested in the rincon (felt underpowered for this class) or the brute force (handling was unimpressive, and my buddies has had problems). I had a polaris scrambler that was nothing short of a complete turd, and am now skeptical of anything with a belt.

My honda never so much as hiccuped in 11 years, even if it was slow. I've pulled many stranded riders out with old red, and I'm going to miss her.

I do frequent deep water in creeks. I do enjoy flying through the woods on somewhat technical trails. I love a good hill climb. I do pull areators, sprayers, trees and stumps. 70% fun, 30% work.

Are the belts reliable, which machine is preferred?

Thanks for the input.

 

Let me preface with this by saying that I have never owned a machine with a belt, but I ride with lots guys who have them. I believe all belt drives are pretty good. In my experience, Yamaha seems to have the best system and Polaris the worst. I am basing that opinion only on what I've seen on the trails.

I think that as long as you use low and high range properly, you'll probably be fine.

 

I would agree with what has been said above. I've personally owned a dozen belt driven Yamaha's; four belt driven Kawi's; and three belt driven Polari's. I have never had a problem with Yamaha and Kawi, but had to replace belts in all three Polaris ATVs, and one of the Polaris ATVs even had to have the entire primary clutch replaced, not just the belt.

DV

 

I've kind of come to the conclusion that the better belt systems do fine as long as you don't go out of your way to make it a problem.

Are you looking at SRA or IRS? What size machine are you looking for?

 

Thanks for all the input guys. This really makes me feel a llot better. I really think either the yammie or the zuk will do me fine, but the deciding factor will be whether or not my wife can handle the king quad in 4wd mode. I think it's been out a little longer, and felt a little faster off the line. I rode them at different times, so I could be wrong, but the yamaha seemed to have to wind out a little more before the real power kicked in. I'd rather have more bottom end, even if it comes at the expense of top speed.

Anyone who has more experience with both of these, please chime in now.

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: JeffinTD

I've kind of come to the conclusion that the better belt systems do fine as long as you don't go out of your way to make it a problem.



Are you looking at SRA or IRS? What size machine are you looking for?</end quote></div> Pro

IRS, and around a 700. The extra weight doesn't bother me if it's got a low cg and puts more traction down. From what I've seen, all of the 700's are around the 600# weight range, which is only 40-5# heavier than the rancher. Top speed doesn't mean that much, but low- mid acceleration does. I like to ride fast through woods trails, and take moderate jumps. I'll never be on a track of any type, so having the latest, greatest most powerful machine doesn't mean a lot to me. Plus 9-10g for a outlander is ridiculus for my tastes.

 

Sounds like you might want to take a test ride on a King Quad and a Grizzly 700 and start doing some background research on them here on the forums. It sounds like they may be kind of what you're looking for.

 

If I didn't happen to like the Rincon (and not everyone does) I think my next choice would be the Yam 700 w/power steering. I suspect the power steering would generally reduce fatigue, and would be really nice in reducing kick back when you smack into a hidden rock or stump.

On a brief ride of a KQ700, it seemed stiffer riding than my Rincon, and seemed to make power more toward the upper RPM's. Personally I also don't care for the shim and bucket valve arrangement. On the plus side, they are nice looking machines, have a nice waterproof glove box, and if you watch there are some marked down pretty good.

Either of those would probably serve you well. Just don't try to drag stumps in high range, and inspect the belt once in a while.

 

OK, My wife and I went out today and rode the king quad and grizzly 700's. We were set on the Grizzly. It did everything better, ride and steering wise. The power seemed at little soft in the bottom compared to the kq, but I really didn't care. Then the salesman handed me a key to an outlander 800. Holy cow. We rode it around for a bit, and noticed that the steering was much lighter than the suzuki, and rode better than both. Sold. It costs me a little less than a grand more than the grizzly, and I really feel like it's money well spent. Quick, extremely well built, and the ergos fit me perfect. Hope it was the right choice, but either way it felt like the best bike, and best value considering the build quality, ride quality, power, and the fact that my wife loved it.

Thanks for all the advice on the other bikes.

 

Excellent. Have fun with it. One of the people I ride with has a smaller Outlander Max, and it has some nice features. I would recommend putting a skid plate on it, though. The single spar under there does slide along logs and stuff, but it can get bashed up on rocks if it isn't protected.

Enjoy the great gobs of power, and hopefully it will serve you well.

 

Since top end speed is not a high priority with you, you might want to consider the Outlander 650 or even the 500. Each one bumps down the price by about $700 or so. The 800 and 650 are set up the same while the 500 has struts on front.

Jaybee