ATV What do you recomend and why

[MudRunner2005]

My 2005 Honda Rincon 650 is bullet proof. Direct drive with no belts to replace, great torque for my purposes and low maintenance. I have 8,000 very hard trail miles on mine. It is used exclusively for back country riding and rock crawling. I installed High Lifter springs front and rear and it really improved the handling in the rocks. I replaced the tie rod ends myself and avoid dealers like the plague. Most of my riding partners own Polaris machines of various configurations. They ALL agree that their cost to maintain is excessive compared to mine and other Honda Rincons. The only knock I have on the Rincon is that Honda doesn't offer power steering on this model. As with any mechanical device proper and continuous maintenance is the key to long life.

Yeah, until you get in deep goo beyond it's ground clearance....I had a 2003 Rincon 650 with a lift, and 27" ITP 589 mud tires, and if the mud was deep, it was nothing but a chair to sit on to wait to be pulled out... Great and reliable machines....They just suck in the mud and when riding creek beds.

Had Honda, Kawi, Yamaha, and I think I will be going Can-Am next go-round. The Commander 1000 XT camo, or the X-MR 1000 camo will be my next ride. 85hp in a 4-wheeler or SxS is just insane! They are unstoppable offroad machines.

 

[azmetalman]

Yeah, until you get in deep goo beyond it's ground clearance....I had a 2003 Rincon 650 with a lift, and 27" ITP 589 mud tires, and if the mud was deep, it was nothing but a chair to sit on to wait to be pulled out... Great and reliable machines....They just suck in the mud and when riding creek beds.

Had Honda, Kawi, Yamaha, and I think I will be going Can-Am next go-round. The Commander 1000 XT camo, or the X-MR 1000 camo will be my next ride. 85hp in a 4-wheeler or SxS is just insane! They are unstoppable offroad machines.

Well we do have some mud, sticky clay, but not the bottomless pit like you describe. I can tell you that the Rincon is the ticket for me in the big rocks, steep climbs and deep erosion in trails where sxs end up on their side or worse or are too long to stay on the trail in tight turns. I stay away from mud when possible. Just like rifles Mud.....need to use what works in your situation.
Rincon works for my needs.

CHEERS!!!

 

[Outlaw6.0]

....and I think I will be going Can-Am next go-round. The Commander 1000 XT camo, or the X-MR 1000 camo will be my next ride. 85hp in a 4-wheeler or SxS is just insane! They are unstoppable offroad machines.

There are 3 Can-AM XT's in my family. 1-1000 & 2-800's. Raw power out the ying-yang & very comfortable seats. Thats about where my love affair ends. WAY too **** noisy & the engine site between the driver & passenger. When you roll with a cab, the enclosure pretty much turns into an oven. The power steering doesn't react quick enough though i'm sure a guy can get used to that.

Dern things will move though, i'll grant you that. They come from the dealer with Maxxis BigHorn 2.0 Radials which is a **** fine tire on it's own.


t

 

[Travis77]

Hard to beat the little Honda 300 trx. The weak link with this scooter is the rear differential. There is pretty much never a reason for me to switch from Honda. What is nice about them
No belts
The foreman has center head light
Most reliable
Easy to do maintenance on
Quiet compared to all the other autos


Downsides
Poor brake design
Roughest ride
Probably the slowest

 

[Tikkamike]

I have an 03 Honda foreman 450ES and I love it. Does everything I want to do and reliable. Lots of power for only being a 450 im 6'3" 300 lbs and it scoots right along

 

[aspenbugle]

Greg - what you wanting to use it for?

Let me step out of the box just to be different. I like quads and have used them in the mountains many seasons. They are great tools and can be used for lots of things. They are a compromise in many ways though.

When the snow gets deep in the mountains they run into trouble before a good lifted 4x4 usually unless you have tracks or something. I have 37s and chains and it will take me much further than a quad in deep snow and drifts (been there done it both ways).

If you want up and down the mountain quickly and safely a 4-stroke dirt bike is a great answer. I've got a couple and can get up and down a mountain on 4wd roads in less than half the time of a quad and without worrying about getting flipped by a rut etc. You also live to tell about it if it rolls on you or you need to bail off. BUT you can't sight-see like you can on a quad. Obviously the quad can haul more (and I've hauled out my share of elk on them), but you can get in and out of rougher places on a dirt bike and still haul some. CO even has some trail networks that are single- track only, no quads allowed.

I was just wanting to toss out something different. Quads are great, but instead of owning three, a dirt bike (thumper) and a built 4x4 do some things better and are worth having in the stable also in my opinion. They are ATVs too I guess

 

[500mag_guy]

i started out with brand new 2004 Arctic Cat 400. it got me to where i was going but in deep snow it was a little more of a work out to get there. great machine but a little on the heavy side. it also seemed top heavy but stable enough on side hills. great engine break little bit of a rough ride though. cold starts were a challenge. sold it with 2500 miles on it.

next i bought new 2006 Yamaha Grizzly 660. this was an amazing machine. lots of power off the line and low end power would blow my mind. great ride and awesome stability. this machine could go anywhere. push button front differential lock was very nice. great engine break. cold starts were very easy for being a carb engine. sold it with 4600 miles on it.

next was a used 2008 Suzuki King quad 750 with under 500 miles. ride was nice but not quite as good as the grizzly stability was better then the arctic cat but still shy of the yamaha. great engine break. best gas mileage out of all the machines buy far!! fuel injection made cold starts easier. sold it with 4000 miles on it.

next was a used 2008 Kawasaki Brute force 750efi with under 300 miles. this machine seemed very bulky.. ride was very nice power was great and stability was not a problem i didnt like the front differential locking system though. amazing engine break. it also got around well but again a little bulky for my liking also a little on the heavy side for gettting unstuck. sold it with 3700 miles on it.

next was a new 2011 Can-Am outlander 800. Wow power!!! this machine could go anywhere with its power. ride was rough from the factory but once i adjusted the suspension it was ok.. stability was horrible with this machine. i ended up buying 2'' off set wheels and this made it the most stable machine i have ever owned but barely fit though the trail width posts. engine break was a little agressive for my liking. power steering was very nice but had to get use to it. this machine had the best cold start out of them all. automatic front locking differential was also nice. unstoppable machine for sure!!! the extreme power though tended to get me into places the rest of the group couldnt meaning i was on my own when i final got stuck in the snow. sold it with 2500 mile on it.


out of all the machines i have own the yamaha grizzly 660 was by far my favorite!! it was the most stable out of all had amazing power to weight ratio.. the ride was unbeatable. and just a great machine for anyone to ride. steering was very easy and it was a dream to get unstuck compare to all the rest.

now i own a 2012 polaris rzr s 800 that i bought new. i was a little worried at first that i should have kept my can am also so i could keep up with everyone with there four wheelers but i was blown away by how powerful this thing is!!! it gets around like crazy in the snow!! absolutely incredible! only con in just over 2000 miles is not having an engine break at all. but it isnt a problem anymore because you use both feet one to give it just enough throttle to keep the belt engaged and the other to break. its second nature now but at first was a little interesting. lol hope this gives you a little bit of a review on the different mahines. i know you probably werent looking for a big machine but just thought id chime in and give you my experiences.. if you want to stick with the smaller machines i think the yamaha kodiak 400 would be a very nice choice. if you have any questions about anything just ask away.

500

 

[500mag_guy]

maybe with the smaller atvs this may be the case but with that can am 800 not so much....to bad your not in montana id be willing to take this challenge any day!! id even take this challenge in the rzr. i love wheeling in the pick up as much as the next guy but i dont see this haha

Greg - what you wanting to use it for?

When the snow gets deep in the mountains they run into trouble before a good lifted 4x4 usually unless you have tracks or something. I have 37s and chains and it will take me much further than a quad in deep snow and drifts (been there done it both ways).

 

[aspenbugle]

500 Mag - we must be talking different levels of snow and 4x4s. The Can Am is very capable, BUT...you are still talking a 700lb machine that has 25 or 27 inch tires and 10inches of ground clearance. No doubt it would be fun in the snow, but you aren't going anywhere once it gets 2-3 feet deep - especially a wet or crusted snow that you have to go through for a mile or better. I'm talking snow more like this or deeper...not the snow the red one's in...the snow it just came through. I'm also not talking bone-stock rigs (a Can Am probably would do better). I'm talking BUILT, with lifts, big tires, lockers etc. (neither of these rigs are mine - I was out with them).

(guess all my pics are at the bottom, gotta figure out how to place them in the text).

You can check any serious off-road 4x4 or ATV forum and when the snow gets real deep you either need to be light and get flotation on top of it (think Suzuki Samari with flotation type tires, or old 3-wheeler type balloon tires) - or up to a point, you need ground clearance/big tires.

I'm not saying this to bash quads...I love 4-wheelers, and I was planning to get something like the Can-Am, lift it a bit more and upsize the tires to get me through the deeper snow, but after spending a few hours digging and chugging some large 4-wheelers through drifts at 10,000 feet I knew if I wanted to make sure I could get up or down the mountain when the snow got deep, I needed a purpose-built 4x4 lifted with big tires or a snowmobile. The problem with the snowmobile is that camp is often about 3,000 lower and you can get treacherous deep snow and drifts up high, but start seeing some bare ground down lower - you'd have to trailer the snowmobiles part-way up.

Final example is December hunting the last few years here in CO. I got my daughter and nephew into big herds of elk, all grouped up and on open mountainsides in the morning - with no competition because I had a beefy 4x4, with 37s and cleated chains (see pic). The only other people who made it up on top of the mountain where the elk were before noon were two game wardens on snowmobiles. Finally, about noon, a dozen or more vehicles made it up (nearly stock 4x4s with chains) - even after I'd broken trail, they had to spend hours digging through the drifted/deep areas. ATVs....there were probably 6-8 not more than 1/2 mile off the county road...stuck. The first mile is open prarie with big drifts - the big ATVs and a rzr went nowhere because they just didn't have the clearance or tire size to push through. Unless you have tracks, there aint no way you're getting 4 miles back in that kind of deep stuff on a quad. Again, I'm not a hater...I like them, but admit they have limitations. 1000ccs doesn't help when you a trying to push an 800lb "brick" through snow about as deep as your seat.

You guys there in MT close most of your mountain roads when Archery season starts. We are still driving them into December sometimes - some good and bad to that. I'd love to "square off" on some cold snowy December day - wish you were closer. I guess I'll have to check around for someone with a Can Am or Rzr locally and see if we can give it a try and video it. Not wanting to hi-jack things...I'm in the market for a new(er) ATV too...but just sharing some of my thinking as I considered options a few years ago.

 

[500mag_guy]

Gotta love wheeling but I'm still going to have to stick with my guns on the can-am running them jeeps all over the country. Once I'm on top of the snow and I get my speed up 20-30 mph it doesn't matter if its 3 feet of snow or 10 feet it doesn't make no difference to me going up steap mountains maybe be a little more work but a breeze compared to a jeep. even with your 37" tires with chains you still have to drag axles through what ever you are going through along with the weight of the jeep.. And there isn't any getting up on top of the snow and getting your speed up with a jeep. Ya them jeeps will go a hell of a long way in the snow but nothing compared to a set up power house atv.. Ill post some pictures tomorrow..

Now mud and deep water you may do better but snow.... Nah

Back roads closed?? some ya but there is a ton of riding here in Montana in the winter months. you guys ever make it over to Montana I'd be glad to show you around. I sold that can-am to a good buddy and im sure he'd be more then happy to let me borrow it to go get some jeeps stuck but say I do get proved wrong I get to cruise around in a bad *** jeep or fj playing in the snow. Sounds like a good ol time to me. Or maybe ill take a trip down there and you can take me out jeepin in the deep snows of Colorado.


Lol now I'm not trying to start an argument or **** ya off by any means just some good conpetitive discussion is all.

Wish we had more people over here into offroading I'd love to get into it.

 

[aspenbugle]

500 Mag - no worries...agree...all in fun and just tossing out some pros/cons. No offense taken.

I'm not really a Heap fan (no offense anyone). I'm more of a landcruiser guy - that Red one is actually a landcruiser, and a lot of guys around here wheel landcruisers (not as many as jeeps)...friendly rivalry. I like the Toyota build quality and reliability.

I agree, it's just fun to get out. Skimming across the snow high speed...I guess that would work, if you could get up and stay up. Wouldn't work for me most of where I hunt...too many trees to smack into, or drifts to launch myself into or off of. Out on an empty snow field sure, but not up in the trees and switchbacks hunting. At some point, a guy just needs a snowmobile - plus, often if you are in that much snow, the elk have moved down anyway (sometimes). I've just been camped or hunting alone up high sometimes and had it really dump on me and spent hours trying to get my stock 4x4 across some remote meadows and off the mountain - scary stuff...no fun. Made me want some sort of insurance that I could get out alive.

They unfortunately cancelled that late season hunt this year. I guess they met the population objectives. It was great, because if the daughter didn't fill her tag during the regular season, she could use it for a cow that late season. She wants a bull now anyway. She's shot a cow, so now she thinks it's time for a bull (already...at 14)...oh well, whatever motivates her to go with me.

Looking forward to the pics. Take care!

 

[500mag_guy]

Hey that's awesome she gets out with you. I love getting the kids out hell that's just as much fun as bagging something sometimes.

Oh and i hear ya on the hunting side of it. snowmobiles come into the equation torwards the end of our season also. The roads drift over so **** bad that its just one steep *** hill side.. Then boots were ment for walking though so I do my best to pound the ground as much as I can! After the first half of the season walking many many miles and not getting anything i tend to get burned out on that "w" word lol. Ill get some pictures of that machine up tomorrow you'll like it!

 

[Tikkamike]

Ill throw in on this, Until recently I had a little v6 toyota extended cab and that thing was an animal I could throw chains on it and felt pretty unstopable. It not lifted and had 31/10.50's A couple of examples of why I never even wanted a 4wheeler. The first time it was late may and I was up on the mountain looking for bears. I ran into some people on ATV's which included canam's and a grizzley. I was chained up on the rear only they were stuck in the road in a couple feet of snow so I had to drive around them in the bad spot to get past. and when the atv tracks stopped up there I was able to chain up the rest of the way and keep going. Another time My dad had his Rhino out (not a great off road machine in my opinion) so we could pack a couple elk and he couldnt get up a hill with a bunch of snow on it because he was pushing snow with his hood. I gave it a try and went right through no problem and never stopped. aS for jeeps...im not impressed they have the edge for incline decline because the wheels are so close to the front and rear but when it comes down to getting there I was never behind a jeep....Ended up selling the old toyota because i wanted a full size thats when I bought an ATV to help make up for what I lost in the toyota. The can am is an awesome machine and I am sure in some situations itll beat a pickup or jeep no problem, but for what I do the toyota was definitley top of the pile. My dad has the nes can am commander and i have used it a little it seems like a whole new animal. makes all other side by sides that I have been on look like gold carts. And the new 1000cc canam 4wheeler on 30 inch tires looks pretty amazing too...If I was rich I would try one

 

[500mag_guy]

I don't know. I'd have to see a lot of this to believe it.. I like ya mike but I just don't think a Toyota pick is going to go the places a atv will.. I had a 92 Toyota pickup single cab with a 5. Speed it went lots of places but it never when even close to how far these bigger atv will go. Not saying I don't believe anyone. Just saying the people that you went around must have been pretty green to riding.

The jeep and fj are starting to seem more capable with the deep snow the more i think about it but invested into them is enough money to pick up two or three four wheelers.