ORIGINAL: cabage
ive been looking for an atv for about a year[ a small concession to the fact that i'm gettin a little older] anyway in my travels it looks like there is a number of really good machines out there. but in the process of looking i came to pretty much the same conclusions that cabbage did. i have a mechanical background so simplicity of design appeals a great deal and carrys considerable weight to me[suspension, trans, cooling style].on a quad , especially one used to hunt off of, should be of simple design[ no garages in the deep woods], the less to go wrong the better. a lot of manufactureers lose sight of that in order to produce the baddest boy on the block. price became the final consideration to me when it came to making my final choice. i didnt see the point in paying 6-7K for somthing that could be done by something costing 1/2 to 2/3 that number.[400 cc and a good transmission[belt technology,and enclosure designs[not all water tight] doesnt fit my bill]. my final choice was a new 2005 suzuki eiger non current with the manual trans[effectively a 10 spd] out the door for $ 3750. not perfect[body work quality is mediocre[ie., soft plastic], will be camo skinned so not a big issue], but pretty close .
I went to school for this stuff and have been around the industry for a while. The shop i worked at was independent of any manufacturers so in that manner i am not biased. What i have noticed, is that the wrenches always groaned when they saw a polaris rollin' up the drive. They, just like victory's, are a pain to work on, cause you need your metric and standard wrenches. Who was the geinus that thought that one up? Next in my opinion, a work oreinted quad should not have independent suspension, as its load capacitys are less, and the machines lean to much in off cambers and rough terrain being taller to accomadat the extra components for independence. Diff locks are a must, so then the conture of the suspension is not as crucial. When the ride gets, rough, you should probably stand up and slow down. If you want to ride trails hard core, get a sport quad. If you want a plush ride, your either a puss or your casual trail riding, in which the polaris fits just fine. Auto trannys and pushbutton shifting are junk as well. To many extras for mud and brush to mess up. Plus with pushbutton shifting, you can't use your left hand to hold onto odd shaped cargo, you need it to shift. If you can't manage to manuver a "manual transmission" shifter with your foot, then you don't belong on any quad. Liquid cooling is for the birds, just more to go wrong(not to be confused with oil cooling). Large displacement quads also confuse me. Anything that can't be done on 450 cc quad, don't belong being done by a quad. I guess you could say that i'm a minimalist.
I think thats all i got right now.
but i do feel better.