About the ATV’s,,,, It’s not about the ATV,,,, It’s about low stress,,,,, It’s about the trailers, the size trucks to pull it. Can you park the trailer in your yard. How hard is it for you to prepare to go on a ride ? Lagistics Lagistics Lagistics.
My ATV is a Honda RECON, 250cc. Set your rules and specs for what you need. Bigger is not Better, if Bigger was better we would all have monster trucks. Think this through for lower stress.
My specs: (MY,,,, as in "for ME")
1) 2wd
2) under 500 pounds
3) under $4000 out the door
4) Fits easily into the back of my pickup
5) Street legal
6) Over 200cc
7) Over 100 miles per tank of gas
8) easily runs 25 MPH
Explanation:
1) 2wd-
2) under 500 pounds
*2wd is fine, when you are climbing a hill all the weight goes to the rear wheels. If you get stuck or "high center" each end weighs about 250 pounds (the Recon is about 420 with fuel about 210 each end) I can pick it up or help it over a rock. If you are on an off-camber trail your weight is significant in leaning to keep all the wheels down. The larger machines have more ground clearance AND HIGHER CENTER OF GRAVITY. If a 400 pound machine does a slow roll over you,,, OUCH !,,,,, If a 750 pound machine rolls over you,,, things like bones will bust, OUCH ! OUCH ! OUCH ! (4 wd may be needed in an area with snow and mud but not in Arizona)
3) under $4000 out the door
• I’m cheap. If it’s the difference of getting one now or not getting one, or going into hock, don’t do it ! Move up later if that’s what you want.
4) Fits easily into the back of my pickup
• LOW stress. I don’t need this to be a major undertaking . 2 ramps , 10 minutes I’m ready to go. If I get someplace and it’s sucks I can reload and move on to the next spot easily.
5) Street legal
• Honda’s are brake light ready. +License plate holder /light/brake light + electric horn + mirror = about $80. The street license plate= about $80. One years full coverage (YES FULL COVERAGE) = about $80,,,, under $250 total
6) Over 200cc
7) Over 100 miles per tank of gas
8) easily runs 25 MPH
• A 200cc machine can easily run 25 MPH. Over 20 MPH and you are missing the scenery, the trails, the hidden cabins, the mines. With the correct transmission a 200cc machine will climb a wall. My 250 Recon has never hit reserve “NEVER”. I don’t think I have ever put much over 2 gallons in it in a day! It’s really not MPG it’s hours per tank/gallons. I can’t imagine riding sun up to sun down and running out of gas.
In summery; I can tell you I am happy with the choices I have made. I hear people say “some day you can get a bigger one”???? Bigger is not better in fact it may be a bigger pain in the ass in all aspects. If you think you need 4 wd drive I can tell you “you are wrong“. LOL- If your friend has 4 wd, take a rope! LOL (Better yet have him buy a 40 pound $300 winch and increase his weight even more !) I have been on 100 rides in 3 years). If I had a “better, bigger, more expensive” ATV that was a BIGGER PAIN IN THE ASS,,,, maybe it would be 30 rides instead of 100 ????? Find someone else that has been on even 20 rides this year ?????
Yea Yea Yea you want a bigger one (ATV) and that’s fine, just make sure you want it for the correct reasons and not that bigger is better.
Honda Recon, A+. It’s a Honda and goes and goes The engine size has proven to be adequate (<250cc) and the transmission really puts down the power. the fit and finish are still in great shape after all the riding i have done. i have had zero failures. the only thing to be replaced was the tires. it’s a no regret machine
I needed to rent an ATV for my son to have a day out with Dad. This was the time to verify if I made the correct choice so we rented a CanAm Rally. It is truly a fun and easy machine to ride ! It road every bit as good as the Recon even if it is single "A" arms up front, it just worked fine. Both machines have more than sufficient power for what most people do. The Rally is truly a NO BRAINER, anyone can ride it and master it within a few hours. The transmission (or lack of) is wonderful, no shifting for the beginners or non-ATV wife.
Drawback to the Rally, NO Low speed Low gear grunt! That wonderful belt drive system struggled in a few low speed climbs. If the speed is up just a few miles per hour it seemed to hook up just fine. For this reason I know I made the correct choice in purchasing the Honda Recon for my application. For 90% of the new riders this would not be a problem. I think the Rally would make an excellent Guest-ATV. Did I mention they are both under $4000 out the door ! You don't need to spend a lot of money to have a lot of fun !
9 months after trying the Rally I am faced with purchasing an ATV for the wife and family members. I re-examined the marketplace and found Polaris had a new model called the Sawtooth, 200 cc, CVT. This unit looks like just what I had in mind. If I recall correctly Polaris know their belts drives.
First comment I want to make perfectly clear is lets not compare this Sawtooth to an ATV for experienced riders. I purchased this machine for the wife primarily, and young adults that have no experience. If you want easy to ride this is the machine. The CVT spools up slowly or should I say smoothly. Most competing units of this type lack low end grunt. Without a low range this baby can spin the back tires if you hold the front brake and hit the gas. Polaris uses a different belt system. It responds to engine RPM and also torque load. I would call this more than sufficient torque considering I weigh over 200 pounds. The gas usage seemed unexpectedly low? We rode for over 4 hours (easy riding) and used 1.27 gallons, just doesn't sound possible??? Depending on how you drive, it could be hard to run out of gas in an entire day.
On our 2nd ride we climbed from the desert floor up to over 6000 feet into the pine trees. We were out for over 5 hour and road over 4 hours of what I would call “not ideal gas saving conditions”. At around 40 miles and 4 hours it sputtered going up a hill. Yes it was out of gas (going up a steep hill). We hit reserve and continued just fine. When we gassed up the Sawtooth took only 1.5 gallons? It looks like at a half a tank it tells you to head back. The number one attribute is NO SHIFTING and the wife loves it ! I took it for a short ride to check it out before loading it for the return trip. On a straightaway, with a nice uphill slope, it cruised along at 30 MPH without a strain. Once the RPM is up a bit and the speed is up a bit you can feel the CVT drive system really hook up. What can I say? I am very happy with the Sawtooth so far.
3rd ride -The wife couldn’t go so I thought I would get a mans perspective on the Sawtooth. The engine sounds like it is revving up to the point that you would normally shift a manual transmission. This is the normal operating RPM, after about 10 minutes this sensation passes. I was so relaxed on the ATV that I forgot that I took it to test it. I went down several steep grades and had no problem coming up, actually it was nice to always be in the correct gear (Forward). I think Polaris got the geometry correct on the steering. When you hit a bump or rock the handlebars jump about 1/2 as hard as other units, it feels like power steering almost (big plus for the wife). The rear brake is nothing to brag about but worked fine. The front brakes are great, actually some of the best front brake I have ever used.
If it is about a high performance machine, don’t buy this ATV.
If it is about the places you can go, ease of operation, ability to put a family member on it safely (safer?), buy it! This would be just a touch wimpy for the normal adult male with some experience on ATVs, but a great family fun machine in all cases. I’m happy with my purchase and the WIFE LOVES IT. (A Happy Wife Is A Happy Life)
Although I love my Honda I am sold on the CVT belt system. The CTV system seems to have drawback on really steep long uphill climbs. A woman would have the good sense not to get into such situations but guys seem to go down the hill that may not be too easy coming up with the CVT.
I would look at is the Arctic Cat 250, 2wd. It has that same type CVT transmission but Arctic Cat put a low range selectable transmission on it. That SOB will pull stumps in low range, it’s like a tractor ! I have no personal experience with this machine but could be the NO-Compromise answer. Small cc, all the advantages of the CVT, and the low range would make up for all the advantages of a manual transmission + no struggling for the correct gear in a critical climbing situation.
Without question a mid size ATV with a CVT transmission is the perfect combination for guest riders and young adults. Anything in the 200 to 350cc range is sufficient to carry an adult and enjoy the outdoors.
If you have to have 4-WD remember there are many smaller displacement models < 400 cc that would great. it is not necessary to have a 700 cc + machine. i would recommend a larger 4-wd machine if you are a rancher and needed to haul bails of hay, pull a trailer, continuously travel through heavy mud and snow at inopportune times or plow snow. a few machines in this smaller size with 4-wd are the polaris hawkeye-299cc, honda rancher-329cc, arctic cat-400cc to name a few.
All utility ATV’s ride smooth. In the old days some ATCs didn’t even have suspension they relied on the low pressure tire to smooth out the road. With the utility ATV you have great suspension but can also really bring it down to ride like a luxury car by reducing the tire pressure. Some people will say that this degrades the handling ? I’m sure it does and would make a difference if I were racing or something. I run my tires at 2 pound or less. Remember changes in altitude dramatically effect tire pressure. I just measure mine because my tires look flat. In fact they had 1 pound in them. This would be low but by the time I get up to the mountains at 6 to 8000 feet they will be firm. Humor me let the air out of your tires.
(unless you have a Chinese Quad, if you let the air get low the tire will fall off the rim)
Speaking of tires lets talk flats ! I never get any. It’s not that I don’t get punctures, thorns, nails etc. I’m sure I do, I just don’t get flats ! Use GREEN SLIME® except to substitutes. Use the recommended amount !
If you noticed , all of our rides were day trips,,,, as in 1 day. Depending on where you live if you can do a 1 day trip that seems to be the way to go ! Load the night before if you have to. Get up early and hit the road. As you may have noticed we try and load to come home just at dark. Usually half way home we may stop and eat. When we get home we can always unload the next day if we are too worn down. It may be fun to combine camping ,,,,, BUT,,,, Logistics,, Logistics. If you make it too big a pain in the ass you may not go as often. To stay over night think Toy-Hauler if you have the cash.
