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Foreman 500or Grizzly 660

17916 Views 26 Replies 16 Participants Last post by  AkATVHunter
G
My wife gave me the thumbs up today on a quad all my friends just bought 660 Grizzlys. And today the same guy that buried his and had to pulled out by a Honda had his belt slip off.

Tell me more about the Honda trannys... Yammy dealer says the Grizzly will blow a belt before a tranny, says the Honda with gears has no fail-safe to keep from blowing a tranny.

Please enlighten me on why I should be going with the Foreman over the Grizzly I did like the plush ride, has great ground clearance..indy suspension.

Will I wax these guys on the 500??

Thanks
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Your not exatly comparing apples to apples on these two machines.

The foreman has a manal tranny solid rear axle, aircooled on a midsized quad.

The Grizzly is an automatic, indipendent rear suspension, liquid cooled big bore quad.

Foreman

Pros:
Simplicity (adds to durability)
Low gearing
Air cooled is better for mudding
Manual shifter

Cons:
Does not have the same power as a big bore
No front diff locker
SRA bikes are not known for there riding comfort, although the 2005 are a step up from most other SRAs.
low ground clearance

Grizzly

Pros:
Power to turn almost any tire w/o mods
Front diff lock
IRS
High ground clearance
Liquid cooling is more consistant
Automatic tranny (only a pro if you like them)

Cons:
Well known for broken axles
Radiators are small and clog up in mud
Belt drives will get wet

Its all in what you want, but like I said your not comparing apples to apples. My foreman is not the fastest, most powerful, biggest groung clearance ATV out there, but I am very happy with it. It takes me "almost" everywhere I want to go.

I am sure there are other things I have left off, but I truley recomend finding a dealer that sells both of them and take them for a test drive.
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The belts can be a pain in the a$$ too. If not snorkeled right you might as well shut off the engine and sit in the water. If you are wantin something that is dependable and will last you forever, grizzly seem to be a little too much headache for me. just my .02



I guess you could say this is sort of a biased site though.
just get the honda and be over it resalr is better to
I say Honda. Much less complicated cooling system, I've never seen a manual honda gearbox brake, and you get power loss through a belt drive no matter what they say, IRS is OK but it's just two more axles that will break. You can get a diff locker for the foreman from Highlifter and on one final note why buy a Yama HA HA . Of couse it's just my opinion.
Honda for me
I think that will be the overwhelming answer here, unless Hondak stumbles upon this post.
Obviously you are going to get a some-what biased opinion here but what are you going to use the ATV for primarily?

I personally like both but own a Foreman. I like to shift, dont like auto's, I also like to run water. alot of it, so only having one snorkle and not worrying about a belt is another plus for me.
Why don't you ask my buddy who is on his 3rd axle in the 4 months he has had his grizzly...

You are going to get biased answers here...go to yamaha site and they will preach all about the grizz....But I say no you aren't going to blow out all of your buddies grizzlys....But you will be able to get on a ride... and then park it.... and then ride it....Low mantinence and no breakage.....Plus if you like to add stuff on then go for it the honda....My foreman will go anywhere a grizzly will go and make it back home....Why not stop there..If you get a belt drive bike...Buy the new suzuki king quad....Or the brute force....The brute will kill em all,,,including you unless you upgrade them....What about the new bomb 800 (62HP) should beat everybody...Okay enough ranting....Honda is not the most powerful, but it is the most reliable and has the better resale value..Teh rest is up to you.
It has allot to do with your riding style. Most of us love the thick nasty mud and deep water. The stuff that 70% of most ATV riders go around. If you are one of those then the foreman is a great bike. But if you are going to be doing allot of trail riding then the griz is perfect. All up you and what you are going to be riding in the most.
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Locking Diff

What about this issue of the locking diff, I know from my jeeping days that is huge. Does the fact that Honda does not lock put it @ a severe disadvantage?

Thanks
Honda's new limited slip is perhaps the best thing to have if you do not have a locker. The diff locker is only really needed in the rarest of ocassions. Extreme mud or rocks. But there again you are talking about realistically needing around 3-5% of the time.

IMO iwould really only consider adding it to my bike if I was on mountains negotiating rocks a lot. But the biggest things that resemble rocks around here are conch shells.
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IMO iwould really only consider adding it to my bike if I was on mountains negotiating rocks a lot. But the biggest things that resemble rocks around here are conch shells.

conch shells.....that is funny

I personnaly dont think a locker makes a huge difference mudding.

if i get stuck it is 99.9% because i bottom out

my brother with is Brute 650 and his locker... still gets stuck with me. sometimes he makes it farther....sometimes i make it farther.

i agree with the rock crawling though, that is a whole different story. but screw that...looks to dangerous to do drunk! So me and my riding compadres are out! my Foreman would work sitting on the bottom of the mountain and watching just fine!
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Well,
I own a 05 Foreman and a 98 Grizzly 600. I also have axcess to a Grizzly 660. The Yamaha is a nice atv, but it is not as good as the Honda. I do not like the auto trans and the irs is not the most comforting on big hills. They both have all kinds of power, more then most people will ever use properly. If I did not buy the Honda the Yamaha still would not be my second pick. The King Quad is a very nice atv with EFI and all the features you would ever want, but that would not even be my second pick, my second pick would have been the Vinson. When Honda comes out with a 500 EFI I will own it, but till then the Foreman is the atv for me.
I thought I wanted a Grizzly, as the IRS ride is sweet! But, the Grizz is a handful on off chambers! I think the Honda is better in many respects.
LOL here I am to put my 2cents in... Take it from a man that owns a grizz. All of the guys I ride with on here obvisouly have hondas and we follow each other where ever someone leads us, But it seems they always make me stay in the back of the pack Everyone is going to have their opinion on which is the best, I went with yamaha because thats what i have been riding all my life.....I cant say which one is more reliable because a certian individual on here has had his honda in the shop 3 times in the past 6 months.... And i have already broken an axle......
QUOTE ("Rider11x":215h5k98)
I thought I wanted a Grizzly, as the IRS ride is sweet! But, the Grizz is a handful on off chambers! I think the Honda is better in many respects.
Didn't want to seem like I was bashing here, as the Grizzly does have it's element. They are one of the best machines to build into a modded bogger, as many riders have shown us and it is also a great trail machine that has a comfortable ride like no other I have ridden.
I just have become a believer in Honda's due to some of the things I have seen them survive.
QUOTE ("Grizz":2g2btcf2)
But it seems they always make me stay in the back of the pack
Why is it the folks w/ Laws always have to ride in the back???
I get nastier riding behind you guys with laws then I do getting in the holes
QUOTE ("bnjeep":231lavkk)
I get nastier riding behind you guys with laws then I do getting in the holes
lol if you were behind me today when i hit that hole you would have been covered... I must of slung mud 30 ft behind me when i nailed the throttle on the lil girl....
I can imagine
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