Tigerfan

Actually neither of my bikes are snorkled, and my Rancher had stock 24" dirt hook tires. The Grizzly is a 2005 with a 6" lift, 26 Mud Lite XTR radials and is not snorkled either. I did not beat him through the mud with my Rancher I beat him in the pond race like I said earlier, the pond had pretty much a hard bottom and you can tell how deep the water was. It was basically a water drag race. I have an ES model and I was gearing it pretty good. I did have the best time and he was second another honda was third. He was having trouble with his belt slipping on his second run about where he is in the picture. As far as the mud riding, I don't ride competatively other than buddy dare's. I know Highlifter puts on a big competition as well others do too, I just don't care to compete like that. We just like to hit the bottoms and see who has the biggest brass and get bragging rights. The stuff we ride in are mostly bottomless pits, if you have ever been in the south and in a river bottom you will know what I talking about. It is a gray clay that sticks to everything, we call it gumbo. It is slick as owl crap and when it dries it is hard as two rocks. Trust me I am not bagging on the Grizz either, I just don't see why everyone bags on Honda so much. Honda doesn't build bikes to do what Polaris, Arctic Cat, Yamaha, and other do. They build them to what Hondas do, and that is to be reliable and to get from point a to point b. They are not a mud bike and were not intended to be one. The other manufactures decided that the only way they could compete with Honda was to attract the mud riders, that is a big market. Most riders still only ride trails, work, or hunt off of their bikes and that is what Hondas are designed for. Honda is just as reliable today as it was 23 years ago when I got my first 185s (that still runs today btw), I hardly ever changed the oil in that thing. I have had my Rancher since April 2004 and I have 2000 miles on it, with no problems at all. I have had the Foreman since July 2002 and I've changed the brakes within the last 2 months. If that isn't reliable I don't know what is. I now have 25" ITP 589's on my Rancher and it does pretty well, can I beat the big bores in the deep mud, if they know how to ride probly not. But you can bet that I won't be far behind on either one of my bikes. In the spring of 08 I am going to get another Honda, probly a Rubicon or a Foreman 500 ES. I don't like the belt automatics to much and Honda has the hydrostatic auto that is a great transmission. I have seen several Formans submarined and blowing water out of the tail pipe, to me that is all I need to see. If I wasn't going to get a Honda I would either get the Grizz or the King Quad. Don't take what I have said personally, I am on the highlifter forums too and I have to defend Honda daily.

Good Luck and Happy hunting. If you ever wanna come down south for a good ride, I have almost 6,000 acres that we can ride all day on.

Anthony T.

I have had both rancher and rincon, and then bought my vinson 500. Like it more then both hondas. It has push button 4wd also. IO have 27in mudlite xtr's on it and it will flip before it gets stuck. I have took it thru muddy ponds up to the bars, flipped it on it's top in 2ft water and had to leave it for 30minutes to get the tractor to flip it back, fired it right up. Nothing wrong with it at all. Belt never slips. If its not buried, its not fun. I don't like huge bores but my 500 is a good medium. I have only a dynojet kit and it will run even with a 660 grizz on a straight stretch. I wont say any is better than the other, but I know mine will hang. It has alot more power than the rincon. If it'll haul the big ole man it has to be pretty stout!

Gadeerslayer

Fatmallard,

You can't go wrong with the Honda Rubicon. I bought a 05 model last year and I haven't regretted a minute of it.

NVMIKE

Cant go wrong w/ honda or yamaha, although the only scooters I really hear complaints on are polaris and bombardier

heeze gutshot shortee

honda... better made and warranty

wyotimberghost

If you're looking for reliability, Honda cannot be beaten. Our 3 Foreman 450's at work all have 5-10K miles on them, one has been flipped/rolled probably 6 times, another 3 times, and the last one finally got wrecked for the first time this summer (dropped off a ledge into a ravine). And the only repair work we've ever had to do as a result is some serious bending with a pry bar and we've had to replace a couple of the cheap plastic rivets that hold the plastic together. They just refuse to stop running. And they are extremely smooth operating machines.

If you're looking for fun and a smooth ride, on the other hand, the King Quad is the only way to go. IRS suspension is significantly smoother than swingarm suspension. And I think it goes without saying that the King Quad's 700 will blow the Rubicon's 500 out of the water. It also has EFI, which can be very nice if plan on riding at many different elevations. For my money, I'd buy the King Quad since I don't do any heavy work with our personal machines and I love the extra power of the 700.

If you truly are going to be hauling heavy loads, though, I think the Rubicon is going to be your best choice for this reason: it has the selectable ESP transmission. Automatic transmissions just don't stand up to the test when it comes to hauling heavy loads over an extended period of time. It's just too much of a strain on them. The 03 Kawasaki Prairie at work whines horribly every time we cross ditches and climb rocks and logs with the 25 gallon spray tank on the back, whereas the Hondas don't even hesitate.

stubblejumper

The rubicon has a hydrostatic transmission which is in fact an automatic transmission.I always use mine in the automatic mode for heavy work and it does a fine job.

skeeter 7MM

Rubi is a good bike and haven't seen many complain abouts is willingness to work. I was in a toss up between the Foreman S and Rubi last spring. Then afamily friend who happens to be a yami dealer kind of threw a wrench in the plans. I sold my foreman and needed a bike quick (the polaris the wife drives would NOT DO!), he lent me a 05'Kodiak off the dance floor and I ended up never returning it. I was darn impressed with that little bike and after the goodness to loan it/ damn fine price I bought it without reservations. Yep CVT/auto but man it has walked and talked the line for me - towing loaded trailers, dragging bull elk/bull moose and just plain getting down n' dirty! Like I said I'm impressed with her, lots of features and great ride to boot. I use to agree about the manual but I really like the auto's ease and so far I have seen no draw backs to the transmission choice.

wyotimberghost

Maybe the hydrostatic transmission is an exception then. I have no experience with them. But I can tell you that after time a CVT won't stand up like a manual. The prairie 650 in question has over 7000 miles on it, and many of those miles were with 25 gallons of spray on the rear rack (that's about 225 lbs if you include the tank weight). As we speak my boss is in the process of trading the 650 in for another Foreman 450 or Rubicon.

uncle matt

I can't find anything to gripe about with the auto trans on my Bruin and it doesn't have a hi/lo range selection. It has done it's share of pulling alot of things well over 1000lbs on the trailer and not on level ground either.

Plus it's pushed alot of snow. I really like the auto for plowing snow - it's like it was designed just for it. I've plowed with manualtrans ATV's before and was always hated having to try and downshift for the last bit of the push when you want to ram intothe pile. When you go to downshift you loose all momentum, sometimes even completely stopping. Same thing going for 2nd gear with a good blade pushing. Loose momentum and your not ready for 2nd anymore. Last thing I want to worry about plowing is speed shifting.

But let's cut to the chase. Fatmallard started this post over a month ago.
Did he make a move? And what was it?