Yamaha 700 or Honda 500

[335d]

in my experience quad specs are irrelevant in the real world as they don't translate into actual ability, the 420 and 450 are equally sized and equally capable bikes and both 420cc. 500/520 is a much bigger and more capable bike, though not any faster. My 500 has had more than the actual capacity on it most times it has been used and it is standing up to it much better than my last Yamaha (550) which was supposedly bigger and more capable.

I know the Specs are only a guide, but why list lower capacities. Makes me think the manufacturers aren’t as confident in their product.
towing weights are normally governed by the braking capacity, and the Yamaha’s rear immersed brake is excellent and virtually maintenance free.
Also when comparing price, the basic 420 has no irs.
Ive had probably 10 Honda’s, starting with three wheelers.
Got the Yamaha 10 years ago, and kept it.
Never kept a Honda as long as they always started to give bother.
Shift fork broken on 450es, then it dropped a valve seat, and bent the con rod. Speaking to breakers for parts, they had a few bikes with the same fault.
I was warned away from the 420 Honda then, but I hear they are better now.
Would be hard to look past the Yamaha in my experience.

 

[Optimus]

Dont see what the fuss is about Honda. Had a 420 lasted about 6 month an it near enough broke in half.so went back to my 500 Suzuki that's 21 years old. an other than service and new tyres never had an issue.

 

[dave mountain]

I know the Specs are only a guide, but why list lower capacities. Makes me think the manufacturers aren’t as confident in their product.
towing weights are normally governed by the braking capacity, and the Yamaha’s rear immersed brake is excellent and virtually maintenance free.
Also when comparing price, the basic 420 has no irs.
Ive had probably 10 Honda’s, starting with three wheelers.
Got the Yamaha 10 years ago, and kept it.
Never kept a Honda as long as they always started to give bother.
Shift fork broken on 450es, then it dropped a valve seat, and bent the con rod. Speaking to breakers for parts, they had a few bikes with the same fault.
I was warned away from the 420 Honda then, but I hear they are better now.
Would be hard to look past the Yamaha in my experience.

again, i will agree to disagree with you. no ultramatic can compare with a manual on braking

I know the Specs are only a guide, but why list lower capacities. Makes me think the manufacturers aren’t as confident in their product.
towing weights are normally governed by the braking capacity, and the Yamaha’s rear immersed brake is excellent and virtually maintenance free.
Also when comparing price, the basic 420 has no irs.
Ive had probably 10 Honda’s, starting with three wheelers.
Got the Yamaha 10 years ago, and kept it.
Never kept a Honda as long as they always started to give bother.
Shift fork broken on 450es, then it dropped a valve seat, and bent the con rod. Speaking to breakers for parts, they had a few bikes with the same fault.
I was warned away from the 420 Honda then, but I hear they are better now.
Would be hard to look past the Yamaha in my experience.

Same as land cruisers have low tow capacities, they are still the most capable tow vehicles but they don't have to worry about proving, everyone already knows. If you had more braking issues on a manual with engine braking than on one with a ultramatic then something has gone very wrong. 10 years is just about run in, talk to me about reliability/longevity in 10 years time.

 

[335d]

Seems like you don’t like Yamaha’s. Every one has different opinions.
the old big reds that everyone raved about would have had no engine braking by the time they were 10 years old as the one way bearing would have been gone. I think I fitted 3 in my time. Some of them had less than 2000 hours when changed. Probably due to towing way more than the recommended towing weight.

My original post was just to point out that the two bikes are not comparable, hence the price difference. Btw they are all too expensive.
the Honda 420 was the replacement for the old 350. It has a single shock on the rear as standard, hence the difference in load capacities.
if you price the Honda 420 irs, so you are comparing like with like, the Honda will be similar money to the Yamaha 450.

 

[Nithsdale]

again, i will agree to disagree with you. no ultramatic can compare with a manual on braking

Same as land cruisers have low tow capacities, they are still the most capable tow vehicles but they don't have to worry about proving, everyone already knows. If you had more braking issues on a manual with engine braking than on one with a ultramatic then something has gone very wrong. 10 years is just about run in, talk to me about reliability/longevity in 10 years time.

10 years is just run in? You're obviously not a heavy user.

Wee hint for you, Toyota LandCruiser tow limit is set by UK law here, not Toyota... Honda ATV tow limit is set, internationally, by Honda

You like Honda and that's fine, but your reasoning/argument is a load of rubbish

 

[dave mountain]

10 years is just run in? You're obviously not a heavy user.

Wee hint for you, Toyota LandCruiser tow limit is set by UK law here, not Toyota... Honda ATV tow limit is set, internationally, by Honda

You like Honda and that's fine, but your reasoning/argument is a load of rubbish

Fairly heavy use but not abuse like most bikes seem to get, and I do try to look after them so they last. favourite ever bike was my old Yamaha 400 big bear, I always used to keep one bike of each make but the last 2 Yamahas didn't stand up to my work very well (and got fed up of auto) so gone both honda now. I guess if you are going to just thrash it for 5 years and trade it in it doesn't really matter what you buy, but thats not what I do.

 

[hagar]

Fairly heavy use but not abuse like most bikes seem to get, and I do try to look after them so they last. favourite ever bike was my old Yamaha 400 big bear, I always used to keep one bike of each make but the last 2 Yamahas didn't stand up to my work very well (and got fed up of auto) so gone both honda now. I guess if you are going to just thrash it for 5 years and trade it in it doesn't really matter what you buy, but thats not what I do.

Obviously you're not going to say what kinda milage is on your 15 year old bullet proof Honda
.
But going back to my previous post, and regarding changing bikes at 2 year old.
Everybodys use differs and the mate I was talking about does roughly 40-50 miles in a normal day running round different farms, ground he rents. More at lambing time.
So basing it on those figures- call it 1200 miles per month times 12 months =14400 per year at least.
Now I doubt he'd be willing to risk a Honda at 15 years old with over 200,000 miles on it to be entirely reliable or even capable of the work.
Horses for courses

 

[dave mountain]

Thats a fair comment, i doubt any bike would stick that for 15 years. Thats a lot of miles, i would say we do about 50 a day on each bike at lambing time, probably 50 a week on each the rest of the year. My older bike was bought 2nd hand and has just clicked 49000kms, though it has had odd bits and bobs done to it now. Not sure whether to replace with a new 420 or keep it and try find a tidy old manual yamaha/honda for a spare, seem like hens teeth.

 

[Hilly]

I had a CanAm 570 and it was a dog compared to the 500 it replaced. Plenty of niggling problems so changed before the warranty ran out.
It was so poor that I even considered other makes.... then tried an Outlander 650. My faith in CanAm was restored and love everything about it apart from the turning circle.

Comfortable, reliable, stable and oodles of power. Top speed is somewhere well above where any sane person would go, and I would probably have killed my younger self on it, but the turn of speed on it is amazing when you need to accelerate fast to get in front of a bunch of stock. The only problem is having to pick the flies out of your teeth from grinning as you do it.

Turning circle is easily fixed , sport mode two wheel drive and gun it ... loli

 

[neilo]

Turning circle is easily fixed , sport mode two wheel drive and gun it ... loli

What do you mean Sport Mode? Is there any other?

 

[cowmop]

Going to look at a manual Honda 500 FM2 with PAS tomorrow.
2016

 

[Hilly]

What do you mean Sport Mode? Is there any other?

Well their is boring mode and more boring mode that brings them inline with other makes available

 

[Finn farmer]

Well their is boring mode and more boring mode that brings them inline with other makes available

Do the boring modes save any fuel? Brother complains that his 570 Pro+ drinks a lot.

 

[Hilly]

Do the boring modes save any fuel? Brother complains that his 570 Pro+ drinks a lot.

The 650 is ok in more boring mode , guzzler in sport , a lot converting to gas

 

[JamesM]

Do the boring modes save any fuel? Brother complains that his 570 Pro+ drinks a lot.

I'm sad enough that I've documented the fuel economy of my CanAm 570 Max, for the 996 miles to date its sitting at an average of 17.2 mpg. That's nipping along a tarmac road and then a mix of hill/field work on steep ground, pulling a trailer a fair bit too. Its better than I thought.

 

[hagar]

Thats a fair comment, i doubt any bike would stick that for 15 years. Thats a lot of miles, i would say we do about 50 a day on each bike at lambing time, probably 50 a week on each the rest of the year. My older bike was bought 2nd hand and has just clicked 49000kms, though it has had odd bits and bobs done to it now. Not sure whether to replace with a new 420 or keep it and try find a tidy old manual yamaha/honda for a spare, seem like hens teeth.

The 420 is a good workhorse, had it in the past.
I've no loyalty to brand and only breed Ive never sat on is Kawasaki, they've all got their good points and some not so good points. Depends what you're doing.
Personally I've got 700 Grizzly at the moment, I want it to pull snacker (any bike would do), Flail mower and wiper for rushes (need extra low forward speed) silage bales and fert spreader for parts tractor canny reach I like a bit o weight up front.
Suzuki 500 did it before Yamaha, dealer said when I was changing (same man sells all the breeds) "what do you not like about Suzuki" answer was nothin really. He then told me " people spend years trying to find something they like then stick with it", you find something you like and then want to change .
When did Yamaha stop doing manual shifters?

 

[hagar]

I'm sad enough that I've documented the fuel economy of my CanAm 570 Max, for the 996 miles to date its sitting at an average of 17.2 mpg. That's nipping along a tarmac road and then a mix of hill/field work on steep ground, pulling a trailer a fair bit too. Its better than I thought.

When I had the 570pro it was averaging 9 mpg!!
Had to buy extra jerry cans to quench its thirst.
Mine was a lemon though, constant niggles.
Went back to dealer few times and they eventually discovered it was running on only 1 cylinder, not that you noticed as it could shift.
After repair got it back, filled it with fuel got 2 turns round sheep and the ba****d went on fire and burnt out.
So never got to see if repair was a success.

It's one o the comfiest bikes I've ever had and traction wise was phenominal, but Can am washed their hands o it and weren't interested.
Wasn't looking for a free bike kinda job, just a wee bit more discount to sweeten the deal/pain!!!

 

[neilo]

I'm sad enough that I've documented the fuel economy of my CanAm 570 Max, for the 996 miles to date its sitting at an average of 17.2 mpg. That's nipping along a tarmac road and then a mix of hill/field work on steep ground, pulling a trailer a fair bit too. Its better than I thought.

Was that using it in Sport or Boring mode?

I have to confess that my 650 lives in Sport mode. I love the responsiveness but obviously don’t use all the power (& fuel) all the time

 

[cowmop]

Honda 500 although looked tidy I felt it had previously had a very hard life.
New plastics front and rear on a 5 year old bike, 6000kms

 

[Hilly]

Was that using it in Sport or Boring mode?

I have to confess that my 650 lives in Sport mode. I love the responsiveness but obviously don’t use all the power (& fuel) all the time

I can’t stand mine in sport on bumpy land it’s to responsive bumps make me press the throttle ends up very jerky , lives in work mode until a cow is been a knob head then it goes into sport mode