I'm looking into buying one of these. I had a 650 Kawi last spring, very nice bike but the ride was downright awful, then I jumped to a Raptor, very fun bike but just not as capable and smooth riding as a 4x4. I've always said my next bike will have IRS, so that basically narrows it down to the Sportsman 700 and Grizzly. I'm leaning on the Grizzly because if I can't sell my Raptor then I could just trade it in. The limited edition Grizzly caught my eye, I always have to have something that stands out from the crowd, so I'm thinking this Grizzly LE might be for me. I've ridden Grizzlys, I have two friends who have them, so I know what they are like, but my main concern with the LE model is the paint. I understand the fenders are painted just like the 02 Limited edition silver Grizzly fenders. And if I recall correctly the paint chipped on the silver, so I'm assuming this could be a problem on the 03 Limited edition as well. But, the dealer tells me that as long as I take good care of the bike and don't sink it in mud up to the handlebars every day the paint will hold up fine. But I'm not sure if he's just telling me this so I'll buy one. So anyways, I'm looking for your opinions on the paint issue, if anyone has an 03 LE or an 02 Silver LE I'd like to hear if you've had any paint issues with your bike. Perhaps I should just get a red or beige model?

Mitch
02 Raptor (For Sale)
GYT-R full exhaust, billet grille, graphics kit, K&N filter, Hotcam cam.

 

well dont get the polaris.. not sure about the grizz plastic but the grizz is a good quad.. ever thing of the Rincon? only bad pt is no locking front diff you mihgt want to look at the rincon

 

I saw one of those special edition Grizz at hte dealer last week,looks terrific in the showroom,but my imidiate (SP) concern was what is it gonna look like after the first couple of rides.I think it will look awful once it gets a few scratces on it.Thats what I love bout the camo pattern on my bike.
Does the Grizz really ride better than the Prarie?Ive ridden with a few guys on the big Yamahas and have been very happy with how my machine has stacked up,not to be knockin the Grizz,I think it is a very good machine and looked at it long and hard before buyin my P650.

 

I have a LE (03) and got around 150 miles on it and been riding on some narrow trails and only have acouple small scuffs on the plastic I put three good wax jobs on it b-4 taking it anywhere and the scuffs buffed right out The only thing I'm concerned about is if I get a deep one in the plastic then you will see the black plastic under nieth which should not be as noticable has the (02) good luck

 

Thanks for the responses. RaptorRy, do you have any pics on the net or through e-mail of your Grizz LE? The only pics I've seen are on brochures, I'd be interested in seeing a real life pic if you have one.

I take pretty good care of my machines so I think I'd be able to keep the LE Grizz looking pretty good. I'll be talking to my dealer this week.

Mitch
02 Raptor (For Sale)

 

unfortunetly I don't have any pics of the thing at all its been to dam cold here in MN to even think of pictures but hopefully soon I will have some thing to contribute.

 

I hear ya on that one, our winter in Northern Maine has been awful as well. We've gotten 95 inches of snow this season, extremely cold wind chills, winds have been blowing up to 50 mph, almost every road was closed last monday due to the extreme winds and white out conditions. Someday summer will come!!

 

Mitch Cyr, I was shocked when I read your post, because you have done exactly what I did [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] I bought a Prairie 650 after reading all the reviews. My riding partner has a Polaris SP 700. He could cruise right over real rocky sections that would really beat me up on the Prairie. Summer came around and my partner stopped riding once it got to hot, but I kept riding, often taking the Prairie out to the dunes. I soon decided that I wanted something faster, so I sold the Prairie 650 and bought a Raptor. After having the Raptor for about 4 months, I realized that I was really limited as to where I could ride do to the low ground clearance. So I decided to get another 4x4. I bought a 2003 LE Titanium Grizzly 660. And I have never looked back. I love the Grizzly. I had my Raptor modified (pipes, air-box, jetting…) and was worried that the Grizzly would seam really slow, but it doesn't. It still seams fast and lots of fun. The suspension and ride quality is night and day in comparison to the Prairie 650, it is so much better. And the ground clearance is way better than the Prairie 650 as well.

As far as the paint, don't worry. I was at the dealership when they unloaded mine. When I was looking it over after they rolled it off the truck I saw that is had sever rub marks on it where it had been setting up against the wall of the truck and rubbing during the transportation. The dealer replaced all my plastic at no cost, so I was not upset, but this gave me an opportunity to see how durable the paint is, since mine was already messed up and I was getting new fenders. The paint will not chip off. I tried digging at it with my fingernail where it had been rubbed down to the plastic. The most that will happen is it will kind of snag if you scrape it with something sharp. But this will also scare up a regular plastic fender as well. Little rubs, like from branches that would put little scratches in regular plastic fenders will not show up on the painted fenders, but big scuffs, or sharp scrapes will have a tendency to snag the paint, and leave a scratch. It's kind of hard to explain, kind of like when you scratch a rubberized surface, more of a ruff scratch than a smooth scratch left in a regular plastic fender. So either way both fenders will show a scratch, they just look slightly different. You wont get the rub/swirl type scratches though, that you easily get in a normal plastic fender. Anyway, it won’t chip off, but it will scratch like any other fender. I have had mine up against some big rocks in a very tight canyon. The rock rubbed up against my right rear fender, and scraped some deep gouges in it. But despite this, the paint has not chipped off or started peeling away from the gouges. To me, the painted surface with the black plastic under it makes it less noticeable, than on a regular plastic fender. The nice thing about the Titanium color is that if it does get gouged like mine did by rocks, the black plastic under the Titanium paint is so close to the color of the paint that is isn't very noticeable.

As far as the SP700 goes it is a good machine, but very different from my Grizzly 660. It is not near as sporty, the Grizzly can take it from a stand still, or at any speed in a race. The Polaris is just more of a utility machine. Also, when tackling down hills, the Polaris will only supply 2-wheel engine compression breaking, even when using 4-wheel drive. This makes it slide more in loose dirt while going down very steep hills. It gets much more squirrelly, and always looks like it is going to slide side ways and tip over. The Grizzly on the other hand will supply very good engine compression breaking to all 4 wheels and allow much better and more controlled descents. They both have the same amount of ground clearance, and the Grizzly has slightly more front wheel travel, 7.2 inches versus 6.7 for the Polaris 700.

We ride everywhere together, and I don't think that either one can go anywhere the other one can't, but there are differences in they way they perform. The Grizzly is sportier and faster, but the Polaris will tow more, and probably do more work, so just take your pick.

Let me know if you have any other questions, as I am very familiar with both machines since me and my partner ride usually twice a week, and I have ridden his SP700 allot over the same trails that I normally ride my Grizzly 660 LE.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the response Area51, you've given me some good info to go buy. I also have a few friends that have Sportsman 700's, and you are 100% right, they can go anywhere the Grizzly or Prairie can but they are just not as sporty and fast. Would you happen to have any pics of your Grizzly on the net or that you could e-mail to me?

Thanks

Mitch
02 Raptor (For Sale)

 

Mitch,
I've seen a LE Grizzly as well.It looks great ...... in the showroom!!
I have a camo Grizz 3000 miles, it is scratched, but you can't see it /camo..u can see black scratches.......if you intent to use it for hunting or in the narrow wooded areas/trails/ ,think about it!
good luck.