ATV suggestions?

[Daubs]

Wife and I discussing getting two ATV's.

Her Ex has two Yamaha Grizzly's, one 600 and one 700, both EFI. The 700 has power steering.

We borrowed both for Colorado trip last year and loved it. Also borrowed my sisters Polaris with carb...it died at the 8k foot mark...so we need EFI.

Suggestions on brand and options?

Will be primarily used for trail riding, maybe some hunting. I certainly have the truck to pull that trailer.

[dieseldawg142]

welcome to the sport! their a great way to spend the day!
surprised the polaris bogged at 8000. my son has an 010 polaris outlaw 90, and 90% of our riding is in the mountains, his quad runs fine at height, as does my yamaha & wifey's suzuki, and were all carbed.
between us & the wife's family, we have (so far....) 3 suzuki eigers, 2 yamaha grizz 450's, my wolverine, 6 polaris's, 1 800 & 1 600 sportsman, 3 trailbosses, (sin law has 30" itp on her t.boss) son's outlaw, 1 kawasaki brute force 650, 1 kawi 650 kfx, 3 chinese kids quads and assorted dirt bikes
you cant really go wrong sticking to the name brands, their all pretty good quality. chinese quads are only good for kids, small kids, thats about it. they are cheaply & lightly built & you will notice it the second you park it next to a real quad, or the first bump you hit....dont let one incident with a polaris gun-shy you, they are excellent, tough, durable quads, & the innovator of pretty much how every quad looks & is designed today.
some of our "fleet"
notice how most of them are in MY truck?
sure was happy when wife's dad bought his flatdeck....

[dieseldawg142]

few more..

[snj8198]

Great pics but I don't think that first pic is PG rated! That's how little wheelers are made you know.

[Gregs71]

Grizzlies are nice. I have a Honda Foreman 500 (with manual shift) and love it mostly because I think it is bullet proof. Some are faster some have better ground clearance, etc. Mine has no belts to burn up / replace and when I am miles away from camp I am confident it will get me home without breaking.. Some don't like the reverse but after you get used to it, it's no big deal.

[b454rat]

IMO, stay away from Poolaris. Frames can break in two, 4wd beyond screwy. I've had Honda's years ago, but everything has come a long way since then. In the past 10 years I've had Yamaha, and recently Can Ams. Grizzly's are awesome machines, reliable and pretty good power, depending what you get. My first UTV was a '99 grizzly 600, 5k hard miles but kept going. Now have a '14 700 Grizz with power steering. Great all around machine. But if you are a power junky like me, then your gonna want a 1000, either Renegage or Outtlander. I have the Renegade, but it's not for amateurs!!!! Some will say they aren't reliable, but no machine is 100% reliable. Whatever you decide, do your homework, research, and go to some forums and read all you can....

[dieseldawg142]

[QUOTE=b454rat;7614462]IMO, stay away from Poolaris. Frames can break in two, 4wd beyond screwy./QUOTE]

i'm every quad manufactors worst nightmare, i put our machines threw their paces, belive me (jumped my kx over 30 ft high once) never seen a frame break in two (except jumped or rolled machines). only frames i ever seen break are chinese quads. got real good at welding up "lawn chair tubing"
i still say you'd do yourself a big favor & check out polaris- there's a reason they own 90% of the side by side market & about 50-60% of the quad market to themselves. sil's trailboss is a '93 & runs with the new 400's easy, never had the mill cracked-just reg maint. for what kind of riding he will be doing, speed and power are a moot point. most trail riding is under 30, & a 300 4x4 will climb the same obstacle the 800 4x4 will. stick with the basics, 4x4, locking diffs, & power steering (your wife will love it) save your money for tire upgrades.
and no, i dont own a polaris right now, but i have ridden them, hauled them, crashed them, watch my family beat on theirs, they are tough durable quads.
yes, there are tons of quad forums- start hitting them

[b454rat]

if you think a 300 4wd can climb hills like an 800, your not riding very big hills. A 300 won't make it 1/4 way up the hills I go on. Check out the pic of this Popo, I think it was an older couple, not beating on it and look what happened. Also, if you go to every manufacture forum, their all gonna say theirs is the best. I have a Grizz and a 'gade, and both talk smack bout eachother. Its the same with every forum. If you go to the Popo forum, their gonna say it was abuse, or something other than the machines fault.

http://www.grizzlycentral.com/forum/...-yamaha-2.html

[dieseldawg142]

b454rat, this is bc dude, home of the rockies. what most people call mountains we call hills
and i'm not brand loyal with my toys, i've owned machines from the top 5 & i buy what works for me, plus if i just plain like it, polaris, yam, hon, not picky...
we do take our toys pretty seriously, check out this stylish hauler that showed up at Larson Hill one weekend (and no, i dont know who the lady is...lol)


here's just a sample of some of the places we ride


Dry Gulch up the Coquihalla. i've taken my quad up the left trail, the right i've only done on my bike. it's 10 feet of vertical at the top with a 3" ledge that juts out & kicks your machine while your vertical hanging...


our roads are a little rough

[dieseldawg142]

i will find the weak points in any machine...


here's what happens when you mis-judge your speed & put your bike 30 feet in the air...cracked swingarm, bent rim, sub-frame got bent up a few inches which destroyed everything bolted to it, bodywork, exhaust, seat, fox shock mount broke, but my 1200 buck Too Trick fr forks came threw with flying colors...


and you dont need a huge machine, that just allows people to rip up the land more.....which 90% of the time leads to gates or land closure. we have area's were we can let it rip, but i've always instilled Tread Lightly! principles into my son head, we've had our spat of closures, & it sucks...
here's my boy ripping up the small hill at Boss lake (on his 90), theres a beauty of one little further down, 60 degrees for 1 mile up, called suicide hill.


and here he's coming up a 200 ft 45 degree, again on his 90. mostly stock, clutch, cdi box, re-jetted & gutted muffler


this is his second quad, here he is at 5 when i got it for him, maybe 3 hrs on it & yee-haw!....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mrfj...ature=youtu.be