4wd sprockets? Got the OK to buy an ATV

My fiance and I took the chance to enjoy our day off together and go ATV'ing in Denali National Park last weekend. She loved it, and I had a LOT more fun than I expected to... it was nice to be able to just go and ride and not worry compared to how I normally ride my WR250R on trails. Since there's thousands of miles of ATV trails in Alaska, I've gotten the OK to buy a quad so we can go riding together.

Her dad has a Honda foreman rancher 4x4, manual shift, that we can use any time he's not out hunting with it. We've both ridden it and like it. We rented Yamaha Grizzly 350 4x4's. She liked the CVT, I much prefer a manual shift transmission.

I'm partial to Yamaha's, so I was thinking about buying a Big Bear 400 or the Grizzly. Good stories, bad stories, story stories about these or any other comparable ATV's? We're going to be trail riding mostly, and her Dad and I will probably go hunting on them at some point.

I know my dads (now mine) Polaris sportsman 500 has been nothing but reliable/tough even with the auto (don't think its CVT as it has high/low gears) and has on many different occasions been the only 4 wheeler that would start 1st time when we went ice fishing.

And the 500 is more then enough power to do what you need TBH

Good luck and let us know what you get.

Got to do some test rides last weekend. One of the local dealers has a mini MX course to let customers try out a new or used machine, and thankfully for me it had just rained hard the night before so everything was nice and sloppy, including some up-to-the-floorboards deep mud holes. I got to ride two Suzuki KingQuad 400's (one manual shift, one auto), one Yamaha Grizzly 450, and an Artic Cat 700 with power steering. The Polaris dealer down the street also let me test out a Sportsman 500 around their gravel parking lot and grassy areas, not nearly as fun lol.

Impressions....

1) If I were to get a smaller engine'd ATV (sub 400cc), I'd want a manual shift. Above that, there's enough torque that the CVT's rode well.

2) IRS really makes for a nicer riding and handling machine.

3) Mud and slop are a LOT more fun with four wheels. Whoops are a lot worse...

4) There really isn't a whole lot of difference from the saddle between them, except the 700 really scoots by comparison to the rest. I don't like only having linked brakes with one lever on the left handle bar though.

Going to take the lady out Saturday morning and probably buy something from the first dealer, leaning towards the Yamaha or the Arctic Cats (which are priced about half off since they're lease returns from the Forest Service but still considered and titled as new).

I despise CVT, which is why we bought a new 2011 Foreman 500 4x4 a couple of years back. it has electric shift using thumb buttons on the handlebar or you can put the foot lever on and shift it manually. It's been a great rig.

Can't agree with above poster re: Polaris reliability. The group I ride with are mainly on Yamahas and Hondas. There are a couple Polarii in the group. A Sportsman 500 and an Outlaw 525 IRS. Guess which ones are in the shop/not rideable the most? Hint - it's not the Asians.