I have a couple questions, why do the big Can Ams steer so much easier than the 400-500? I thought the 800R had power steering almost as easy as the King/Foreman/Griz/XP.
Do all the Honda EPS shift hard? Need a manual to find reverse, find nuetral, push this,
pull that and press this???WTF just to jerk the bars evey time you shift it.

I rode the 800R 1st and the ride, power and handling was amazing. The little Honda nor King was even close. Now the XP850, the ride was hands down the best, seemed to handle as good as the 800R, seat of the pants both felt equaly fast. AC didn't show so no Tcat to try.
The Ranger/Rhino felt like a big ole golf cart, but the Razr, WOW, quick, fast and smooth, I now see why they are so popular. Not much bigger than a big atv.
Hated to get back on the X2, but it's purpose is work as much as play and it does both very well. Hurry XPX2! or is that R2D2?

To answer your question...at least in my opinion...I think the steering is heavier on the CanAms because they are better balanced weight wise. Make the front end lighter and the steering gets easier, along with the front end coming up on steep climbs easier too. Everything is a trade off i guess. The CanAm's would benefit more from the PS then the Polaris models me thinks

Sounds like a fun time though....

TIRES maybe? Just guessing, I know that if you don't have same amount of air in each front tire it will affect steering also.

If the Hondu was in 3 1/2 wheel drive and you were on it hard then you will feel some jerk on the bars every time you shift because one front wheel is pulling harder then the other. It's also not a fair test unless you have the same tire and air pressure on all the quads. It would be nice to be able to do what you did. Ride them all, even if it was only a short demo ride. I agree on the XPX2

The demo course was about 1 mile, I made a couple laps on the CanAm and Polaris trying to get the best feel for them.
The Honda was in 2wd, just shifted hard even when just putting along and going up or down thru the gears. There was even a decent rutted hill climb to try 4wd them on. It was nice to just throttle 1/2 way up and coast over the top on the big bores.

I don't know what they had for psi, but the ones with radials were sure a lot smoother on the trail. Maybe Honda and Suzi should try them.

All indications that I have gotten so far is saying that The Outlander XT's will have Power Steering this year...

did you just do the Polaris demo trailer?

if so you rode the same 800r I did and I thought the opposite, they must of had the tires over in flated when you rode. I thought it handles ok in the wide open areas but once we got back in the woods and the rocks I thought it was touch and go. I had the handle bars ripped out of my hands more then a couple, I also thought the throttle was way too tight. I had thumb fatigue right after riding the 800r, and it was only my 2nd quad. Luckly I went right into the worst peice of crap on the market,,, the Honda Big Pig,,, I mean Big Red. talk about no ground clearance, no power and a tranny that shifts up when trying to negotioate a boulder going down hill.
They don't like to bring the ACs anymore on those trucks because everyone would complain about them more then anything else so they removed them and now everyone complained about the Yamys, which is where they want the focuse. Yamy and Polaris are the two top Manufactuers of the industry right now.

quote:

Yamy and Polaris are the two top Manufactuers of the industry right now.

Which is first and where is HONDU?

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Originally posted by REDBULL:
did you just do the Polaris demo trailer?

It was a couple local dealers demo ing new atvs.
Not the big factory demos.

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Originally posted by Cob:

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Yamy and Polaris are the two top Manufactuers of the industry right now.

Which is first and where is HONDU?

Honda was always in 1st, but now that Polaris now grouped its ATV and Utility Vehicles including the SideXSides into one catagory (off road division) They are number 1. Yamaha and Polaris where always flip flopping for #2 spot and now that Polaris did what they did Yamaha won't be far behind then Honda will follow suit.

I know several years ago that POLARIS was second to HONDU, they had the most market share. But many ppl are jumping ship with HONDU falling behind. Seems they had a take it or leave it attitude what you see is what you get, that wasn't much compared to what other manufactors offered at same price.

They are a fine machine but just several years behind everyone else, we all want the bells and whistles that are offered by other manufactors. See they did jump into the POWER STEERING option battle though. When they came out with RUBBY and that awesome new tranny, many of us thought they might set a new trend. But that soon fell on it's face, just didn't catch on. The RINCOB to me was a giant step forward, but the tranny and lack of real power along with no more real upgrades has held them back. Great trail machine just not a real technical machine, the tranny lacks a real low gear and lack of EBS limits them. The one that I rode a few years ago felt good the ride was nice and the ergonomics were good. I was expecting it to fit like a RUBBY, that I didn't care for. But was a real pleasant surprise on my first ride.

It is nice today that we have so many choices to choose from, each of us can find some thing thats fits us well.