I just rode a 2012 BF 750 PS FI yesterday. WOW, what a machine! And it wasn't even broken-in yet!
They have really improved the geometry and performance on these machines vs the older 750 BF's. Now if they could just do something about that horrible-looking front end..........

Even though I don't really care for the looks of the new BF, I'd still have no problems owning one---especially if my only other option was a PO-PO!

 

I just rode a 2012 BF 750 PS FI yesterday. WOW, what a machine! And it wasn't even broken-in yet!
They have really improved the geometry and performance on these machines vs the older 750 BF's. Now if they could just do something about that horrible-looking front end..........

Even though I don't really care for the looks of the new BF, I'd still have no problems owning one---especially if my only other option was a PO-PO!

haha, I like the new look of the new brute over the old one they have both a green or the matalic brute for that price

 

Yeah x2 on hating the new brute front end.The po-po will eat the brutes lunch when they are both stock,and i think the 850 rides smoother.But thats because its built like a tank and weighs 10 tons.I wouldnt mind having a new Can-Am renegade myself.Don't get me wrong love my Kawie.

 

If only the Renegade had racks! Well, that and if they'd work out a few more bugs from the G2 design.

As for the Po-Po, the weight kills it. No other machine on Earth seems to go through more bushings and bearings. And a lot of the grease fittings on it are next to impossible to reach......

All in all, if I had to buy a new machine right now, I'd have to go for the 750 BF with EFI and PS, even though I don't care for the front end looks. You can grab a '12 for 8 grand out the door and put the money you would save from buying the Po or the Can Am into some gear and better tires. Overall, the 2012/13 BF is one solid package that just works. Hails back to the glory days of when the Prairie reigned supreme over anything. Heck, I still have a Prairie and don't feel outclassed by many of the new machines.

 

By the way, they didn't steal the look from Can Am. They stole it from Argo!

 

After the brace on the g2 the seem to be good, I was looking at an outty but then the one I wanted sold (9200 out the door on a XT 1K)

Can-am renagade 1000- 10,799 out the door
can-am renagade 1000 xxc- 12,999 out the door
outlander 1000 xt- 11,299
850 sportsman xp eps H.O- 8,000 out the door
850 H.O scrambler L.E- 9200 out the door
brute force 750 eps- 7300 out the door

these are the prices of bikes I would want but dont think I am getting the can-am now becuase of price....

 

USD 7,300 for a brand new Kawasaki BF 750 is an awesome price! I live in Ukraine, quads and UTVs are much more expensive here. I think the Brute is an excellent choice. Would recommend it! Two things I don't like in my 2012 Brute 750 EPS LE -- stock tires and shocks. Otherwise, it is an excellent quad and the price tag you stated is incredibly attractive.

 

Common problems of the Can Am G2:

Frames cracking up front
Headlight bracket cracking
Plastic tips on the bumpers of XT models rip off very easily
Brakes wear out prematurely (probably due to the massive weight of these machines. They are into a whole new weight category here and should be using some sort of auto brake pad instead of atv pads).
Tri-mode DPS system failures (ultra common, I know someone who bought three Can Ams and all three had to be fixed in this area).
Brake cables fraying up front
Rear storage box lid coming open (Outlander)

Common complaints of Can Ams in general:
Too heavy
Too expensive
Single lever brakes
Hot engines burning legs/lack of heat shielding
Crisco-lok err Visco lok differentials
Squeaky inboard rear disk brake (G1)
Horrible customer service ( a good dealer can offset this but try getting BRP Corporate to listen to you)

 

Common problems of the Can Am G2:

Frames cracking up front
Headlight bracket cracking
Plastic tips on the bumpers of XT models rip off very easily
Brakes wear out prematurely (probably due to the massive weight of these machines. They are into a whole new weight category here and should be using some sort of auto brake pad instead of atv pads).
Tri-mode DPS system failures (ultra common, I know someone who bought three Can Ams and all three had to be fixed in this area).
Brake cables fraying up front
Rear storage box lid coming open (Outlander)

Common complaints of Can Ams in general:
Too heavy
Too expensive
Single lever brakes
Hot engines burning legs/lack of heat shielding
Crisco-lok err Visco lok differentials
Squeaky inboard rear disk brake (G1)
Horrible customer service ( a good dealer can offset this but try getting BRP Corporate to listen to you)

frame cracking brace or later 2013 modle
headlights bracket only on renagades (not hard to fix)
plastic bumper parts not a big deal haha
Brakes.... after market brake pads
dps theres an update to fix that problem
rear storage lid just make sure it locks all the way

also really hot is only G1s
heavy..... its lighter then my 800 touring lmfao
Visco lok....... dumb idea

price, visco lok are are my only problems, My dealer said waite for 2014 modles sounds like both polaris and can-am are having somthing new......

 

I had a Polaris value model and sold it and was going to get an 850 last year. Then I rode a brute and fell in love with the instant throttle response, torque, light weight and smaller size. The 850 will run away from a stock brute above 30 or so and it rides better. But it does not have the off the line feel if the brute. It weighs almost 150 lbs more also and u can feel it on the trail. The brute is much more sporty and playful which is what I was looking for. U can throw it around like a dirt bike on the trail. I put elkas on the brute so now I have the best of both worlds IMO. The narrow seat and feel of the xp is nice though.

 

I'm gonna have to drag a 850xp and see for myself, I've ridden with a 2up xp 850 and there is no way on gods green earth it's "trail faster, turn to turn". I also think with a lighter rider like me it's more like he pulls away from me at around 50-55mph. Esp with muzzies and digi. Top speed about 77-81mph pending conditions and rider correct? I'm maxxed out at 75mph on my brute. In the end yes no replacement for displacement, but for the engine size kawi's tuning is tops. They just need to come off this Japanese agreement crap, screw Honda Suzuki yamaha, give us 1000 bruteforce!

 

Speaking of game changers, give me a king quad with a v twin option. That thing would plain rule the roost.

Also people use their atv's for different uses. I know guys that love a heavier machine, and their machines never see hardcore mud. Machines used for hunting also thrive with a thumper engine over a vtwin, etc, etc, etc.

Nothing wrong with the new brute force though, although I wonder why the price is so much cheaper then the competition. I noticed resale value around my parts, teh kawasaki also has very poor resale compared to other makes.

 

I noticed resale value around my parts, teh kawasaki also has very poor resale compared to other makes.

That's interesting because you can't hardly find a used Kawie for sale around my neck of the woods. If a used Prairie 700 or BF650 comes up for sale here and it's in decent condition, it gets gobbled up so fast that they are usually sold before you can call the guy.

I had to drive 1200 miles round trip to buy my last Praire 700!


Suki's are good machines too, but so far, the only Jap company to have the nads to do a v-twin has been Kawasaki. A vtwin equipped King Quad would be awesome though. Especially if they did a SRA version with a lower seat height and less plastic body panels! Kinda like a Twin Peaks model revisited!

 

Honestly,none of the mentioned problems would keep me from buying a can-am,just saying.Im not knocking the can-am,brute,or po-po.Im not predjudice,i have owned hondas,yamahas,and my brute,worked at a polaris dealership,and would love to have a Can-Am renegade and a Suzuki ltr450.Can't stand artic cat though.

 

I don't know the differences in the 800 and 850, but I rode an 800 and also drag raced it with my bolt on P700 and spanked it. The 800 is ass heavy to the point it makes a turning radius the size of Earth's orbit around the sun since the front wheels have hardly any bite with weight distribution. Power is smooth and predictable, but lacks the top end and slight mid range. I beat him by over a bike length in about 400 yards. Now, I have a stage III clutch, and all the intake and exhaust with dyno tuning you can throw at mine, so...

 

The Polaris 800 and 850xp are worlds different.The 800 is a turd,but the parallel twin 850 is pretty peppy,especially with some upgrades,and even though there heavy they are balanced pretty well.And i am going to have to agree on the Kawasakis having a low resale value.Tons for sale around here,and at some pretty dang good deals.If i was loaded id have 2 garage full of brutes and v-forces.

 

Thats part of the reason I spend a fair bit of time reading on this site, is the low resale value of the BF 750;s in my area.

If they can be had cheap, and will suit my needs, I might end up buying one over a canned ham!

 

The 850 is way, way more powerful than the 800. Stock clutching not so good though. I would agree in resale on kawi....seems lower around here also, but then again most around here r made into mud machines with snorks, so u know they were in some wet and muddy environments

 

I already had an 850....... mine was the lemon from hell, you name it, it broke. I just wanted to see the speed wise, I know there not for drag racing I just hate driving long dirt roads and him just smoking me. I just dont know to trust spending the cash on another 850, my dads was not to bad. I really wanted the can-am but the only good dealer (works good not going to screw us) has no more bikes and I dont want to buy at the other one. I am just going to see what happens I like reading about all bikes (I work on almost every type of bike) more I know the better

 

Ok I did a bit of YouTube searching for you that shows ezactly why you don't want a canned ham...

That video shows how poorly even the newer qe version of the visco lok works... it would be better to have a honda wich only has limited slip than that can am system which might as well be a open diff... I saw a guy get hurt quite badly because he slipped across a log sideways and rolled down a hill and this was after 6 of us drove over the same log with zero issue(including a limited slip honda foreman) and 3 of us had same tires

I personally feel the kawasaki diff lock system is far superior to any other as you can pull it half on if you still want easy steering or pull it fully on for complete.lockup.. and it locks 100% solid... and unlike any electronic locking diff like a grizzly or the artic cat in the above video there is no need to stop or even slow down to lock the diff on a kawi... it requires about 7lbs of hand force for full lock which is hardly anything and is super easy to grab without looking, it feels like pulling a bmx brake (shorty levers)

I don't do a lot of mudding but here in bc we have a lot of nice slippery logs fallen over our trails and you might end up driving over 10 in a row so I need my diff to lockup at slow speeds and before I slip because once you slip on a log it becomes even slicker so the canam system is garbage around here


Oh and lets not forget the potential dangers of not having a seperate rear hand brake.. canam uses a single handbrake that controls braking to all 4 wheels at once and then has a seperate foot brake for the rear.. as opposed to most other quads like kawis that have a seperate hand brake for the rear and front as well as the rear foot brake.. while this would vert rarely be an issue if yoy come to a situation where you either need to walk the atv down a steep incline or stand on one foot peg and go down a hill the last thing you want to do is put the front brake on but with the can am that's your only choice and a far more common occurrence is having to back down a steep hill and you do not want to put on the rear brakes at all... with the can am you will just flip over backwards

Since I got on the subject of brakes nothing beats the extremely low maintenance and superior stopping power of the kawi wet brake.. my '02 prairie has 5500km on it and just this past weekend since I was doing the swingarm bearings and had the swingarm out decided to inspect the rear brake.... looked as good as new, I know a few ppl have had them fail quickly and can only assume they tightened the cables to much so it was always draggin a little

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

 

I personally feel the kawasaki diff lock system is far superior to any other as you can pull it half on if you still want easy steering or pull it fully on for complete.lockup.. and it locks 100% solid... and unlike any electronic locking diff like a grizzly or the artic cat in the above video there is no need to stop or even slow down to lock the diff on a kawi... it requires about 7lbs of hand force for full lock which is hardly anything and is super easy to grab without looking, it feels like pulling a bmx brake (shorty levers)

I don't do a lot of mudding but here in bc we have a lot of nice slippery logs fallen over our trails and you might end up driving over 10 in a row so I need my diff to lockup at slow speeds and before I slip because once you slip on a log it becomes even slicker so the canam system is garbage around here

you sound like a salesman
Yamaha's 4wd system has always been best in my book. You don't need to stop to lock it, you dont need 2 hands on the handle bars to ride it locked, when you hit the 4wd button, it goes in immediately. IMO, the actuators kawi uses for 4wd and kebc are garbage.

 

I will have to disagree on the 4wd and the brakes. Both visco ce and the Polaris awd system work great IMO. Aside from the plastic cages in the Polaris diff, I like their system the best. The kawi rear brake sucks. It has little feel to it, although it will last forever. I do agree having separate brake levers is better. Than Polaris or canam though. I would rather kawi go with 4 discs all around like the grizzly. Grizzly brakes r much better than my kawi. Too bad u can't take features of different quads and have all of them in one kick ass quad

 

Perhaps its because I have larger hands but.. I have never had an issue holding down the diff lock... if for some reason u find it tough get a pen lock from high lifter

And you do so have to stop on a grizzly to engage the diff lock don't believe me go to thier site and watch the video comparing the grizzly 700 to brute force

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

 

Like i said,i'm not married to my kawie.So if you really sit back and think about it you can find quite a few things kawie has had problems with.Plus the Kawie should be more reliable,it has been out longer than the 850 and the renegade and outlander 800 and 1000.All bikes have their ups and downs,and if there's a problem there's always a solution,even if you have to buy some aftermarket parts.

 

im not saying its difficult to hold the diff lock. im saying on the yamaha, you can be in a situation where you need the diff locked and you can be even off the bike to get it over something. try it on a kawi

 

People who complain about the Kawie diff lock lever have obviously never used one. They gripe that you have to have your hand on the handlebar (if you choose to not buy the aftermarket part that locks it) and that is a nuisance. Hello, if you're using a diff lock on any machine, chances are you've got a death grip on those bars anyway! It's dangerous to hit the lock if you aren't holding on tight to the bars since it really decreases steering ability! Being able to hold it in half way, on the fly, and letting go immediately is absolutely the best diff lock on the market!

And the wet brake has long been considered the absolute best brake on the market by every editor and test rider in the business. It's so damn good that other companies have paid Kawie for the design and copied it! If your's doesn't have any feel, then you simply need to adjust it. Oh, and you don't even need any tools to adjust it and you can do it on the trail if you want.

Po-Po's AWD and Can Am's crisco-lok require you to lose traction before they kick in. Yeah, read that again and tell me they are good systems!

Po, Can Am, Arctic Cat know that two brake levers are better than one. But they are still putting single levers on their machines for some reason I can't fathom. You've got near half ton machines here going up hills with only one brake.........talk about scary.

Sure, Kawies ain't perfect. No machine is. But most of their known problems are easy to fix and can be done at home. People always gripe about the KEBC and 4wd Actuators and I just have to laugh. They are so easy to take off, lube, and put back together that a 5th grader could do it. If you've got a problem with a Po 4wd system, you need to have a PhD to fix it. Ask Doug Meyer of ATV TV how many times he's had Po's into the dealer to find a the AWD gremlin that causes it to go in and out of 4wd. Doug ain't a novice mechanic or rider and he was just as confused as the Po mechanics were!

 

Forgot to answer original question... my only experience with a polaris is 3rd party... had a close friend buy a sportsman 500 new and after a few months he blew the motor which was replaced under warranty then he had an issue where the front locker would engage while trying to turn when driving down a logging road at high speed which was very dangerous because it caused him to drive towards the edge of the road a few times after about a year of use the transmission blew into tiny chunks.. atvs are always high maintenance but the polaris was just rediculous his front wheel bearings continuously failed

As far as I am concerned there is really only 3 atv makers out there... kawasaki, honda and yamaha out of those I would only ever buy a yamaha or kawie myself if I did farm work I would probably want a honda..

Now to be fair my prairie has not been perfect... most of what iv had to upgrade on mine is fixed in '03 and newer models so I won't get into those things but 2 rides ago I tore my swingarm boot... so I ordered a new one but of course it takes a few weeks to come in so while waitig for it I went out riding after the second ride so maybe 6hours of riding time later I noticed my swingarm was loose took a closer look and saw that the bearings had completely disintegrated and fallen out either into the swingarm or onto the trail... in the end instead of just a $35 bearing kit and a $15 boot the parts cost me $150 because I had to replace both swigarm pivot bolts.. this is a poor design.. water should not be able to get into the bearings from inside the driveshaft tube and if for some reason it did the bearings shouldnt have enough room to wiggle and disintegrate and fall out they should stay together and sieze...

Another issue iv had is that it wouldn't go into 4x4 and so while still out camping I pulled the actuator off cleaned it up with some sandpaper put new grease in and it hasnt been a problem since... so after 8years of pure abuse the motor needed a quick cleaning... this to me is not a real issue.

And like many iv disconnected my kebc and removed the motor to get rid of that awful bearing whine... but I'd rather be able to control my engine braking and not have the computer do it for me anyhow so either way I would have disabled the kebc

That's about it for issues which compared to any other atv iv owned is next to nothing.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

 

Kawie's diff. lock is not instant all the time....

2.08 minute mark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw-vziJWFck ....that's my experience with the diff. lock on my brute.
(yes, its more PoPo biased vid. but it true for the diff. lock on my machine)

I am sorry but Yamaha has the best 4wd set up I have seen, instant 4wd, Instant diff lock via a switch.

If your stuck and not on the quad cause your trying to get un-stuck....you can't really reach and hold the Diff. lock from the throttle side of the quad safely...

I love the power of my Brute...I think it would be even better with a Yamaha 4wd system.

If I had to get a new machine I would be looking at Can-Am 800-1000cc....maybe even the newer 850's HO XP's (prolly go Can-am though)

 

In the situation that they show in the video where the brute force diff "slips" is 100% impossible.. its a clutch pack that you are pulling tighter so yes there is the potential for slip but the only way I see it happening is if you are stopped and spinning the wheels like crazy with the non spinning tire stuck under a root.. and in that situation having a bit of slip is highly benificial as you won't break a cv shaft due to the shock load.. what they did in the video was leave the diff unlocked and the reason its not false advertising is because its true if you clamped one front tire so it couldnt spin and pulled the diff lock on when under extreme load it won't lock up instantly... but let me tell you in this exact sort of situation I stalled my atv because 1 tire wasn't spinning... which means all 4 tires where 100% locked and that the belt had more grip than the engines stall point

Now back to the real world being able to feather the diff lock on and off quickly in a stuck on a root situation is awesome because it provides a rocking motion without having to let off the power

If I was an older man I would probably prefer all the sportsmans plushness and idiot proof controls but I'm not I'm a 30yr old experienced atv rider and want full control over my machine and don't want the added maintenance of the idiot proof stuff.... if I decide to do something stupid like drive up a pile of logs at speed I want to know all 4 of my tires are pulling the whole way not only when one slips.. actually if I was an old man I still would never consider a sportsman I'd buy a grizzly

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

 

Just wanted to add.. if you truly do find your front diff slips in everyday situations be sure to tighten the cable within tolerance... easiest way to do this is to use a fish scale and make sure that it takes 7lbs of force to fully engage the lever.. for the type of people that only ever have thier machine shop maintained the shop would never check this unless you complained that it wasn't locking properly... I just bought a '07 650 for my gf and the diff lock sucked ass until I tightened it

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

 

I rode a friends 850 sportsman and it rode smooth like all Popos, I found the power steering a bit too easy, it removed most of the feeling of the road and I found I oversteered in turns.

Never got to test top speed but I have no doubt it has lots. Bottom end still goes to the brute. Maybe it is just as quick taking off but it sure doesn't have the same snap. Tried a friends Can am 800 the other day and it didn't have the same pull feeling either.

Dragging the 3 side by side would be interesting but I like the feel of the brute best. Just bought a 2013 candy green.