Just picked up the new Kodiak today an traded in the Raptor. I like the kodiak alot better.(especially since I had to pull the Raptor and the badger out of the snow this morning before the trade-in cause they both got stuck. The odd thing with the Kodiak is that it doesn't have a brake light on it. Tail light only. Does this bother any other Kodiak riders? I'd kinda like a brake light so the kid doesn't run into the back of me. Does anyone know if the charge system can handle another light?

 

It doesnt bother me at all not to have a brake light. The charging system should handle extra lights without any problem.

 

none of the kodiaks have brake lights??? That doesn't make sense... I would have thought that every quad would have one now-a-days...

 

I would have thought so also. This is the only negative thing I have foung so far except the fact that after driving the Raptor for a week or so before trading it in, the kodiak does seem to be a little slow, I have seen some post about a brake light kit for these from Yamaha, anyone familiar with them? Thanks in advance...

 

The Kodiak is not the only one that doesnt have a brake light. None of the Yamahas or Hondas do. The Arctic Cat does and Im not sure about the rest. But like I said, it doesnt bother me at all not haveing one.

 

I am pretty sure my Raptor had one. Don't they Raptor people????

 

this post caught my eye because my buddy kodymoe was planning on taking the break light from one of his junked ford tempos rear window and see if he can wire it to his Kodiak. He is planning on putting it on the inside of his rear seat. He will cut a hole in the middle of the seat and install the break light if it works. I think its a great idea. Also, if you do a lot of trail riding, I'd recommend maybe getting a rear bumper incase you get some idiot who doesn't have brakes or likes to ride close. He just got one for his. Another one of our buddies just bought a red kodiak and in one day, he had a guy rear end him, then he rolled the bike and it landed right on top of him. Man that would suck. I'll have pics of us all this coming Wednesday, were supposed to go on a trip.

 

You might be right on the Raptor. I have never seen one on the trail only in show rooms. As far as people hitting people in the rear its going to happen even if you do have a brake light. If 2 or more people are riding on a trail or "strip job mining road" and you all are doing 30-40mph or even less and all of a sudden you come up on a huge mudhole or a large rock or downed tree or anything you will have to get on the brakes hard. This may result in getting bumped. Yeah you say the person is following to close, well I dont like to lag behind and make people wait on me at the crossroads, nor do I like to wait on them. If you want or need a brake light on an ATV then thats fine. As long as the bulb burns for backing up when night riding thats all I care about.

 

Where can u buy rear bumpers from?

 

I saw a post a few weeks back that indicated that Canadian models of the '01 Kodiak do have a brake light. Maybe the parts can be obtained as "replacements" for the Canadian version and placed on the USA bike. Seems like the wiring harness would probably be the same for both models, so a single new rear bulb socket with two hot conductors (one for the tail light and one for the brake light), along with a brake light switch would probably do fine. Has anybody tried this yet?