Which atv to buy

silver back:


it was freakin insane! were you stuck up at the bridge too? Man there were sure some idiots who had more money than brains! If I knew better, i would have turned around right there. I wanted to, but the others in my group said no. And the meatheads who were tipping jerry cans full of booze should have been stripped of their keys and forced to walk out as far as I am concerned.

I said enough was enough and made my own trail by knocking over the spruce trees on the side of the skeg. I am not proud of this, but it beat getting the quads unstuck everytime you turned around. I must have followed the whole skeg bushwacking with the Grizz!
May Lake quad rally? NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!!



1899:

I had to drive the grizzly the most because it was too "big" for my girlfriend. lucky me i thought:) . I was frickin beat when the ride was done:eek: she drove my 450 and had a way easier time! I got on my 450 a couple times and absolutely fell in love with it all over again. It was easier to throw around your weight/ shift your weight to get the bike to do what you wanted it to do.


I am 6"2 210 lbs and enjoyed throwing the 450 around a lot more than the bigger grizz. Again, you would have had to been in the situation to notice the difference. I didnt drive the Outlander too much so I guess i cant really comment a lot on it except that it used less fuel.
 
it was freakin insane! were you stuck up at the bridge too?
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No, we decided to make our own way, not the best idea we were just 100 yards to the left of the "bridge" and ended up with our quads conected to each other by winch cables and floating/winching them through the deep spots. That bridge looked really bad too though. That rally was insane, I was bagged by the end of it.

Did you have a really loud muffler on your Grizz, we were around this one guy a few times waiting for guys to catch up.
 
Suzuki 400 Egor (smile) is the best bang for the buck.
Nothing beats it FOR THE $$$$
It lacks a lot of features like locking diff, IRS, good suspension but has the required low range to utililize it as a utility bike.
Best bike In my opinion NO
Best for the $$$ absolutly!
 
senior said:
Suzuki 400 Egor (smile) is the best bang for the buck.
Nothing beats it FOR THE $$$$
It lacks a lot of features like locking diff, IRS, good suspension but has the required low range to utililize it as a utility bike.
Best bike In my opinion NO
Best for the $$$ absolutly!
Click to expand...


Totally agree....

If you have money to spare go for Kawi or honda.

Bottom line is buy the one you think you will be happy with.

I go to several ATV forums and ALL yes ALL manufactures have their problems and recalls.

Buy any of the big brand names and youll be ok. The only thing I would really investigate and investigate THOUROUGHLY is the warrenties. Some are better then others
 
Originally Posted by stubblejumper
The outlander is a great handling quad,that seems to do everything well.However if you check most atv forums,they have been plagued by broken spars on the frame.

Smokey said:
I believe if you check, none of the quads with broken spars had a skid plate. Why would you buy a quad without a skid plate. Smokey
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Smokey you are def WRONG here!
My Outty had a skidplate from new & still had broken spar:mad: & I can point you to others in same boat! Also in same boat is Bombs refusal to even look at an Outty if it's out of warranty, mine was 3 weeks out this spring & I had to repair it myself:mad: You BOMB fans can take your POS Outty & shove it! My Grizz is a 3x better bike:)
 
For me, it was Honda 500 or Yamaha Kodiak 450. I went with the Yammy. They are both great quads, but what tipped the scale towards the Kodiak was the true front diff locker, smaller (lighter), and it fit in my truck better. I'd stay away from Bomber until they have the frame issue figured out.

Pretty much all the brand name quads these days are great. The little things are the difference.

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senior said:
Suzuki 400 Egor (smile) is the best bang for the buck.
Nothing beats it FOR THE $$$$
It lacks a lot of features like locking diff, IRS, good suspension but has the required low range to utililize it as a utility bike.
Best bike In my opinion NO
Best for the $$$ absolutly!
Click to expand...

How does it compare tp the Yamaha Bruin 350 4x4? The Eiger is actually a 376cc bike, so engine sizes are very similar, but the Bruin's MSRP is $500 less.
 
I dont think the bruin has the front locker. It is essentially a "Big Bear 350" engine in a different frame. Bruins have the yamaha ultramatic drive system.(no foot shifting- I think the only bike that has a foot shift in yammy's line up is the 200cc timberwolf or whatever they call it now) I have never had water in the belt case with my kodiak, and in the event that it does, a quick easy drainplug is located by your floorboards to drain it. I am not sure if the bruin has one, but I know for a fact the grizzly 660 has one too.


I am sure yamaha will up the displacement of the grizzly to 700cc soon. When yamaha came out with the raptor 660 (sport quad) they soon followed the next year with the grizzly 660. I went into the dealership the other day to get brake pads for the kodiak (110 for brake pads?!?!? WTF??) and noticed a raptor 700. Just wait, a grizzly 700 is sure to come.

We were not the guy with the loud muffler on the Grizzly. We had a blue grizzly and a kodiak. The outty was red. Loud mufflers really piss me off.


I guess you can compare buying quads to buying rifles. You might have a .308 that does most jobs very well; you also may want to get a 7mm magnum or 300 magnum because you want them to do the job a little better than the .308 What you give up is the smaller rifle to pack around and what you gain is more displacement(powder and cartridge length) and speed (velocity) All in all, both rifles and quads (400 cc vs the 600,700,800, and inevitable 1000's) can do the job but some may fit you better and do a little better than you ask them to.

The grizzly is a fine bike, but I would rather have the smaller Kodiak 450.

If I were comparing the bruin to the eiger, I would give the bruin a lesser score. The eiger is a lot of bike in a small package.
 
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They dropped this model last year but there may still be some new ones around. I got my new '04 Yamaha Big Bear 400 4X4 in June '05 from Blackfoot Motorsports in Calgary for $6100 plus tax with a Warn 2500# winch. Can't beat that price for a 400 4X4. They are an old design machine, actually they are the old style Kodiak renamed. No IRS, no 2wd capability, no automatic transmisson, but they have all you really need, like front disc brakes,speedometer and the bonus of high/low range, which most other quads don't have.It's not fancy or fast, but they're a good workhorse machine. If I can get my gf interested in riding, I'll try and find another one...or just get the Yamaha Bruin 350, which is very similiar. I think it's still in production.
 
All of the manufacturers newer offerings are pretty reliable relative to other comparable machines. Polaris was touchy prior to the '05s, but I know lots of guys who have '05 and '06's and are doing well.

I have owned 12 or 13 ATV's and right now, I have an Arctic Cat 650 H1. Best ground clearance of any quad without a lift, better than most other brands even when they have a lift. Best (and biggest steel units) racks in the business, important for hunting. It is reliable enough considering how many gizmos it has. Yes, an older Honda with fulltime 4x4 and air-cooling may have less maintenance and less to go haywire, but they are worlds apart in terms of off-road capability.

IRS machines lose no more ground clearance than solid axle bikes under load. The belly of the bike will be lower with more weight regardless of suspension type, and the IRS bikes will still have more clearance than a SRA bike even squatted down. The fact that on a sra bike there is relatively the same clearance under the rear axle under load (minus tire squat) only tells you that it has very little clearance under all circumstances. Like 7.5 inches max vs 13+ on the Cat. You will notice the difference trying to haul meat out of a beaver dam crossing logs and such.

Yamaha, Arctic Cat, Honda- your budget and your dealer locations are bigger factors than the specific brand. Figure what you plan on doing. Then get what fits best and what you like best. I won't go back to a solid axle bike. I still have a little Honda 350, but I like the Cat way better. The Cat 400 is a great utility/hunting bike with great off-road capability. Air/Oil cooled and available as a manual 5-speed or a belt drive auto.

Many guys know one guy who had a bad experience with brand-x's quad. As many guys who swear by Honda also swear by Polaris. Honda is great- resale is great, reliability is great... . But without thousands in mods, they won't follow, say, a stock Polaris 500HO in the beaver dams and the 'skeg. Depends on what you want. I know this, but I don't own a Polaris and do own a Honda (I just take my Cat when I know I'm in for rough going).

For what it's worth, I had a 400 Outlander, and did not like it. Sold it 2 months after I bought it to get the Arctic Cat. I did not improve my off-road ability significantly enough over the Honda to be worth having. The racks were crap, storage boxes were not rain/water proof, and the bottom of it was wide open to rocks. Bombardier claims it's frame is supposed to "ski" over rocks and logs. It just dented up. Don't get me wrong, awesome trail machine. I wanted a wroking/hunting ATV though. Can't find anything to beat the Cat. (But I still kept the Honda 350 4x4 so what does that say?!?) I looked at the 800 Bomb, but to it's got the same crappy racks and storage boxes, and to get it with winch and bumpers, it is now $13,349.00 retail. Yah- not in this lifetime. That's $2500 more than a similarly equipped H1.

There will be as many opinions as there are responses to the original post. Just make sure you have a dealer ou can work with, and that you take care of whatever machine you get.
 
Ac 400.

I taught a ATV Safereiders Course the other day and the crew had rented 4 Arctic Cat 400's. Two were manual and the other 2 were automatic. I like both and am not sure which one was more to my liking.

Arctic Cat has sure gotten their you know what together. I was giving instructions on how to use the choke, gas, brakes, lights, and the rest. When I started to talk about choking the cold engine I was stumped to find it -for a split second- then realized they are EFI! WOW this is a great feature! I started to drool momentarily. The students had to peel my fingers off the handlebars, because I did not want to share:redface: Then I realized I was turning 24 on May 27th and decided to play nice.

Now,when someone mentions "Arctic Cat" one word comes to mind, "SMOOTH.":) :) :) :) :) :) :D


Now I want one:) and will have to settle for my 03 kodiak:(

Maybe I will pick up a used one in a couple years.:cool: Somehow I know the girlfriend will get to use the AC more than me:rolleyes: (how does that always seem to happen:confused: ) Maybe I will trade the kodiak for another one!:D
 
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If they were 400s, I'd bet anything they were carbed unless there were some MAJOR mods happeing. All current AC's from the 400M/auto on up (except the 650 V2) have an auto-choke. Uses a thermo-coupler type of unit from the cylinder to the carb. No choke levers to fool with. There is one EFI exception, the new '06 700 EFI which uses the 695cc DOHC EFI engine from the Suzuki King Quad. All that aside, I'd go for a 400 manual trans, AC in a second if I were to upgrade the Honda I run as a secondary bike.
 
I think that in a few years, the majority of ATV's will have efi. It is the same principle as there being so few 2-stroke ATV's and dirt bikes (excepting motocrossers) currently manufactured. CALIFORNIA and the American EPA. Not that it's a really bad thing. You can get better fuel economy and fewer emissions with EFI- try to find a new carbed automobile for example. Bombardier now has its' 800, 650, and new 500 twins all fuel-injected. Yamaha will likely put the 686cc EFI from the new Raptor in the Grizz for '07 or '08. Honda went EFI on the '06 Rincon. Polaris has EFI on the 500 (still have a carbed model too), 700 (likewise), and the big 800. 'Zuki has EFI on their King Quad, and new 450 race quad. It is the way things seem to be headed. Once they get O2 sensors and what not so the system will adapt for different exhaust pipes and intake systems, EFI will make modding way easier too. I think it's a good thing, but if you can tune a carb, there's nothing wrong with them either. (they work great most of the time if you have the sense to leave things alone, unlike me most times- but that's half the fun).
 
ive ridden a bomb 800 getting one myself did some serious tests i did not see any frame issues at all preformed the best, i poulled out my friends honda 200 and my buddy in his yamaha 600, he would have made it through the puddel if he didn't try to cut up the bank.
 
Can someone offer their opinion on why Suzuki stopped making the 300 KING QUAD? I have a 2004 model and it seems like a reliable, simple quad. I don't trail ride or abuse it really bad but it has all the power I need for moose and deer hunting.
 
Arctic Cat or Honda..... I like the arctic cats because they have a bigger frame then the honda which for a big guy is a concern so your knees aren;t around your cheeks.
 
If I recall correctly the 300 and 250 suzuki were the first ones with the locker.

Everything seemed to get really big really fast. I guess they thought it was a wise decision to replace it with the suzuki eiger.(strange name, whats a eiger:confused: )

I understand what you mean when you say the 300 can still do everything from chores to hunting. They're a good bike.
 
hey Wes my buddy just picked up a arctic cat 400 yesterday , nice machines no doubt , didnt care for the fuel tank under the back of the seat and through the fender idea but its a small detail and the price wasnt to bad either.
Stubble there may have been a few issues with there bikes like any company but for the amount of them out there now they seem to be holding there own and as far as offroad mags and atv critics are concerned the top of the food chain , and no I wouldnt own 1 either!

but seeing we all like the topic of atvs maybe someone reading could help us out, we are looking for 1985 suzuki LT250R quadracer parts or a parts bike to complete our race bike. so if anyone happens to know were there may be one for sale or all smashed up the info would be apretiated especialy in BC :)
 
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