New Bruin 350 Owner.
 

Hey all just picked up a new to me 05 Bruin 350. We Also have a 2016 Polaris sportsman 450ho (so a 570 with smaller tires and define) that the wife generally rides. The Bruin was purchased for my sister to ride or for myself to use when I just don’t want to ride the duel sport motorcycle.

Took it it out with some friends for a shake down ride and have to say this little machine is awesome. It made it threw everything thrown at it and was left pulling out the Polaris more times than I’d like to admit (buddy was on the Bruin I was on the Polaris). I was seriously getting embarrassed by my own machine.

One thing id like is to get a bit more stability feeling out of it so am contemplating wheel spacers in 1” or 1.5”. I know this be a bit harder on bearings but am I going to have clearance issues when turning with the genders and the 26” tires on the machine?

Alternately is it possible to run 26x11-12 all way around rather than the 26x9-12 on it now?

Wheel spacers or fat tyres on the front will make steering very heavy. The Bruin is quite low so I can't see it having stability problems. However you can usually go a bit wider on rear tyres as long as you don't catch the plastics or exhaust. Yamaha rear axles are quite fragile, so overloading them is not recommended. Main problem is people don't notice wheel bearings getting worn, and that causes axle spline wear which is very expensive to put right.

Ok thanks for the info. I think I will stick with keeping it as is then and eventually just get new rims and tires in the current size. After a bit more looking it seems the tires on the machine have a pretty soft side wall and the fronts seem to roll a bit in harder turns that gives it the unstable feeling I think.

But this machine still amazes me and I could not be happier with it. I thought the lack of a low range box and locking front diff would leave it getting stuck everywhere but it did amazing on the trails and the MUD. And I never felt wanting for a low range box. On the road it lacked power to keep up with the big machines but so does the Polaris and I don’t mind. Trails it’s a bit more ruff riding but steering is mich lighter than the Polaris so it’s a trade of physically.

So so much so that I think year or so when some funds are saved I will be replacing that Polaris of ours with a new Kodiak (450 se or 700 eps) and keeping the Bruin instead of keeping the Polaris like originally planned.