Honda quad suspension

[Bob the beef]

looking for a bit of advice. Going to change my honda 420 quad. Dealer has a very smart 2 year old bike that has come off a caravan site , so done little or no work and in cracking condition. Unfortunately it has a fixed rear axle rather than independent suspension.
Bike is right handy money but I m a bit worried about the suspension bit. We ve got some fairly steep land so I need to feel safe .
Any comments welcome

 

[Deutz5g]

If you have a Honda 420 quad, doesn't it already have a fixed rear axle, or am I misunderstanding ?

The 2014/15 onwards 420 is a very good quad in my opinion btw. Not the smoothest ride perhaps, but solid and stable.

 

[Pistonbroke]

My place is like the side of a house and a fixed axle is the best for me. Tried independent suspension ones and the increased roll makes them more unstable. Plenty of people will tell you that independent ones are more comfortable but they won't go where I go

 

[JMTHORNLEY]

I’ve a rock solid Foreman 450 that’s a live rear axle and that is scary where I can get that thing. So long as you’ve a good set of boots on it your fine

 

[A1an]

Personally, if I had regularly had a loaded rear rack I’d never go back to fixed axle.

I previously had a Kwakisaki KLF 300 and have moved to a Can Am, taking the power out the equation the CanAm is a far better/more stable hill bike.

All IMHO of course.

 

[Deutz5g]

Personally, if I had regularly had a loaded rear rack I’d never go back to fixed axle.

I previously had a Kwakisaki KLF 300 and have moved to a Can Am, taking the power out the equation the CanAm is a far better/more stable hill bike.

All IMHO of course.

I've never ridden a KLF300, but know the back axle wasn't a solid setup like a Honda, more similar to a normal landrover axle where it's solid but each wheel can travel up and down separately, so more tip.

 

[Nithsdale]

My place is like the side of a house and a fixed axle is the best for me. Tried independent suspension ones and the increased roll makes them more unstable. Plenty of people will tell you that independent ones are more comfortable but they won't go where I go

I take my IRS bike where the Honda 420 solid axle CANT go...

And I put money you can't go where I go - loaded or unloaded. (I've rolled Honda's trying).

 

[west coast angus]

I take my IRS bike where the Honda 420 solid axle CANT go...

And I put money you can't go where I go - loaded or unloaded. (I've rolled Honda's trying).

Have you tried the new shape Honda it’s a big step up on the old ones?

If I lived closer I would love to take you up on the challenge! Be good craic! Maybe we should all meet up and have a quad bike trial type thing, and report back what was the best bike, and we could crown someone as King Of The Slopes

 

[Nithsdale]

Have you tried the new shape Honda it’s a big step up on the old ones?

If I lived closer I would love to take you up on the challenge! Be good craic! Maybe we should all meet up and have a quad bike trial type thing, and report back what was the best bike, and we could crown someone as King Of The Slopes

That's because the new 420 is on the wider 500 chassis but they are still a pile of steaming turd.

My bike is the diesel arctic cat. Arctic Cat and Polaris are the only true Full-Size bikes on the market, a full wheels width wider track-width than every other bike. That, and the long wheelbase, I've had it some bloody stupid places!.. it also carrys 50kg and 100kg on the racks - more than twice what the Honda's can carry so the IRS don't sag and roll going across hills.

 

[west coast angus]

That's because the new 420 is on the wider 500 chassis but they are still a pile of steaming turd.

My bike is the diesel arctic cat. Arctic Cat and Polaris are the only true Full-Size bikes on the market, a full wheels width wider track-width than every other bike. That, and the long wheelbase, I've had it some bloody stupid places!.. it also carrys 50kg and 100kg on the racks - more than twice what the Honda's can carry so the IRS don't sag and roll going across hills.

I certinaly would not call them piles of shite, but admit they are now playing catch up, my good mate had a brand new Polaris and still has one about 4 years old, and it was a dream to ride so much more comfy, and loads of power with great brakes and really light power steering, not to mention miles better ground clearance, but that’s where the good points stop! The new bike burst in to flames and burnt a tractor and a shed with it, and the older one is never out of the garage and has worked out to be a very expensive bike to keep. There going back to hondas. I run too new shape 420s one has over 8000miles very hard miles on the clock and I have not spent a penny on them except oil and filters and tyres. Never once have they not started and that’s what’s important to me, I can be in the hills for over 12 hours on them at one time,

What’s does your artic cat weight? Could you roll it out of a bog? I go through loads of tight places where there is simply no other way past, your wide bike would be useless

Who cares about rack weights I had two 80kg odd guys sitting on sheep fleeces on the front rack going up a mountain to keep the front wheels on the ground the bike managed just fine.

I do fancy trying the new Yamaha kodiak out,

 

[Nithsdale]

I certinaly would not call them piles of shite, but admit they are now playing catch up, my good mate had a brand new Polaris and still has one about 4 years old, and it was a dream to ride so much more comfy, and loads of power with great brakes and really light power steering, not to mention miles better ground clearance, but that’s where the good points stop! The new bike burst in to flames and burnt a tractor and a shed with it, and the older one is never out of the garage and has worked out to be a very expensive bike to keep. There going back to hondas. I run too new shape 420s one has over 8000miles very hard miles on the clock and I have not spent a penny on them except oil and filters and tyres. Never once have they not started and that’s what’s important to me, I can be in the hills for over 12 hours on them at one time,

What’s does your artic cat weight? Could you roll it out of a bog? I go through loads of tight places where there is simply no other way past, your wide bike would be useless

Who cares about rack weights I had two 80kg odd guys sitting on sheep fleeces on the front rack going up a mountain to keep the front wheels on the ground the bike managed just fine.

I do fancy trying the new Yamaha kodiak out,

I never said the rest of the Polaris was any good


My diesel bike has 28,000miles on the clock. It has 10-11inches ground clearance, on the fly 2wd-4wd-difflock as standard and a front winch. It weighs 400kg and is on the bigger tyres standard, too.. almost 120kg more than the 420. It gets across wet bits better than the 420's do (they are on thetsame tyres, justjsmaller size) and it'll push/pull it's way through ditches and over old dykes and rocks where the Honda gives up as soon as you 'hook' that low hanging rear transfer box on the rear axle
Genuinely, I have only had the diesel stuck once - trying to bust through snow drifts on the hill towing the trailer with 200kg of buckets in it... the Honda couldn't even tow the trailer on the road that day
I've had the Honda's stuck umpteen times.

Did you need them fellas as extra just to climb that bit?

Glad to hear the newer bikes are better - the back axles were becoming a joke

 

[Pistonbroke]

I take my IRS bike where the Honda 420 solid axle CANT go...

And I put money you can't go where I go - loaded or unloaded. (I've rolled Honda's trying).

Always happy to take advice from anyone but the Arctic Cat diesel is one of the bikes I tried and it never stood a CHANCE of doing the job. I'm not saying it's not the right machine for you loading it up but it it's not for me, I'll stick with a Honda 500. Have arctic cat stopped making them ( diesel ) now? Two neighbours had them replaced them with alternative

 

[Mr always wrong]

If you have a Honda 420 quad, doesn't it already have a fixed rear axle, or am I misunderstanding ?

The 2014/15 onwards 420 is a very good quad in my opinion btw. Not the smoothest ride perhaps, but solid and stable.

The 420 electronic shift has irs, whereas the 420 manual has fixed.

 

[JMTHORNLEY]

Well if we are all on what’s the best bike you simply cannot beat or better a new Brute Force, they will pull, climb and pretty much fly anywhere.

 

[AftonShepherd]

My place is like the side of a house and a fixed axle is the best for me. Tried independent suspension ones and the increased roll makes them more unstable. Plenty of people will tell you that independent ones are more comfortable but they won't go where I go

I'm on my first IRS Honda 500 having had a fair few with the fixed axle. Didn't like it to begin with but now can't think of anywhere it won't go that the old bikes did.

I suspect they just feel less stable, a bit like the first time you go round a corner in a tractor with cab suspension or a Range Rover lol.

 

[Al R]

I certinaly would not call them piles of shite, but admit they are now playing catch up, my good mate had a brand new Polaris and still has one about 4 years old, and it was a dream to ride so much more comfy, and loads of power with great brakes and really light power steering, not to mention miles better ground clearance, but that’s where the good points stop! The new bike burst in to flames and burnt a tractor and a shed with it, and the older one is never out of the garage and has worked out to be a very expensive bike to keep. There going back to hondas. I run too new shape 420s one has over 8000miles very hard miles on the clock and I have not spent a penny on them except oil and filters and tyres. Never once have they not started and that’s what’s important to me, I can be in the hills for over 12 hours on them at one time,

What’s does your artic cat weight? Could you roll it out of a bog? I go through loads of tight places where there is simply no other way past, your wide bike would be useless

Who cares about rack weights I had two 80kg odd guys sitting on sheep fleeces on the front rack going up a mountain to keep the front wheels on the ground the bike managed just fine.

I do fancy trying the new Yamaha kodiak out,

What spec are your Honda’s and what year? Our 2016 420 2/4wd DCT/ES PS has been a heap of shite! 3 times in under 2 years she’s been back in for transmission problems. Sporadically going from 1-5 and 5-1 while your driving along isn’t fun at all! Mine is on 24,000km.
The older 2013 Honda 420 ES 2wd bike I had was pure awesome and would outpull the 2016 4wd all day. She had a very very hard life as the spare bike and the transmission problems started arriving this year at 26,000km. Replaced it with a Kodiak 450 PS and it’s been very good so far!

The suspension units on the Honda’s arnt up to it but we’ve never had IRS. Our bikes have always got 2-4 collies on the back and quite often someone sat on the back too!

 

[Al R]

The 420 electronic shift has irs, whereas the 420 manual has fixed.

We’ve had 8 420ES and never had iRS. Even the 4wd 2016 DCT/ES

 

[west coast angus]

What spec are your Honda’s and what year? Our 2016 420 2/4wd DCT/ES PS has been a heap of shite! 3 times in under 2 years she’s been back in for transmission problems. Sporadically going from 1-5 and 5-1 while your driving along isn’t fun at all! Mine is on 24,000km.
The older 2013 Honda 420 ES 2wd bike I had was pure awesome and would outpull the 2016 4wd all day. She had a very very hard life as the spare bike and the transmission problems started arriving this year at 26,000km. Replaced it with a Kodiak 450 PS and it’s been very good so far!

The suspension units on the Honda’s arnt up to it but we’ve never had IRS. Our bikes have always got 2-4 collies on the back and quite often someone sat on the back too!

Mine are manual shift, would not touch a bike with the auto boxes! For the problems you mention.

 

[Mr always wrong]

We’ve had 8 420ES and never had iRS. Even the 4wd 2016 DCT/ES

That is the sole reason we have only ever had the Es was irs and the disc brake on rear axle, prior to that when we had manual shift and fixed axle with drum on rear hand brake was crap. My 420 is 2015 we looked to change and had to get another es to get the irs neighbour bought new 420 manual and it still had fixed axle and drum brake

 

[exmoor dave]

What spec are your Honda’s and what year? Our 2016 420 2/4wd DCT/ES PS has been a heap of shite! 3 times in under 2 years she’s been back in for transmission problems. Sporadically going from 1-5 and 5-1 while your driving along isn’t fun at all! Mine is on 24,000km.
The older 2013 Honda 420 ES 2wd bike I had was pure awesome and would outpull the 2016 4wd all day. She had a very very hard life as the spare bike and the transmission problems started arriving this year at 26,000km. Replaced it with a Kodiak 450 PS and it’s been very good so far!

The suspension units on the Honda’s arnt up to it but we’ve never had IRS. Our bikes have always got 2-4 collies on the back and quite often someone sat on the back too!

The DCT is abit of a gimmick I think, nice idea in practice but it needs a fair few revs to get it changing up,
Going down hill, it will be holding nicely in gear for abit of engine braking....then it changes up unexpectedly

Useful if you need to hold a sheep in one hand, otherwise just use button shift