 | Home > Off Topic > Farm Quad Bike advice please |
 
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| Phillywilly72 Member Since: 29 Apr 2024 Location: Wiltshire Posts: 45   
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Find yourself a well looked after Suzuki king quad. Old and cheap now but they have limited electronics to go wrong so you can fix things if they ever go wrong.
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18th May 2024 7:00am |
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| Muddybigdog Member Since: 11 Apr 2014 Location: Suffolk Posts: 1016 
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Best mate had a Yamaha, never had any problems.
Worth checking Farmers Weekly they do write ups, also The Farming Forum and The Stalking Directory, plenty opinions on these. Jumped ship to reliability - Mitsubishi L200 Puma 90 XS - Sold D3 - 2.7 S x2 (both Sold) Freelander 2 HSE - Sold Freelander 1 - Sold Disco 2 - Sold |
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18th May 2024 7:04am |
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| blackwolf Member Since: 03 Nov 2009 Location: South West England Posts: 17311 
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I suggest you pop over to Wheddon Cross and talk to Ark ATVs. They usually have a good selection of new and pre-owned machines and offer good advice and support.
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18th May 2024 3:54pm |
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| Barneyboy Member Since: 19 Nov 2014 Location: Exmoor Posts: 1615  
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Thank you all for the above advice, it’s very much appreciated, I was speaking to one of the owners today and he suggested ark atv, wheddon cross that is about 3 miles away so I will head over there and see what they have, he also advised that they are very knowledgeable and will find what I want if they don’t have one in stock
 cheers Paul |
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18th May 2024 4:31pm |
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| boode Member Since: 11 Apr 2012 Location: Devon Posts: 427 
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I’ve used quads on my farm for 20 plus years - now run two Hondas due to reliability and resale values - always purchase from Ark
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18th May 2024 7:34pm |
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| Chris86 Member Since: 15 Jul 2014 Location: South Yorks Posts: 787 
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I deliver quad bike training and have operated most flavours of quads over the years so here's my three pennies worth; Different brands and bikes do different things well, we run a Suzuki King Quad 500 because it's a good compromise of power/size/towing capacity and user friendliness. The other big thing that I like is that they aren't a hugely tall frame, which makes them more stable on steep ground than some of the other larger alternatives. Honda machines are renowned for reliability, I'd tend to agree that the footshift manual versions are mechanically robust, however the designs are well behind others and parts are expensive. They don't do any belt drive machines which some folk see as a bonus, but the good modern belt driven machines (Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki,Can Am) perform well and do have decent engine braking, which some of the less sophisticated older style CVT machines don't. Also- be mindful of the towing capacity of the Hondas- those with swing-arn type rear suspension are very limited both in towing weight and nose weight. I'm not a fan of most of the Polaris machines, their more modern ones are better- but still some way behind Kawasaki, Yamaha, Suzuki and Honda. One of your biggest factors need to be what dealers are near you- if you don't have a dealer relatively close at hand it's a pain if you need any bits or if you aren't going to service it yourself. If I were spending my own money, it would 100% either be on a Suzuki or a Yamaha machine. You must also bear in mind how the machine is registered, if it's on Agricultural entitlement as opposed to PLG you are on a bit of sticky wicket if you intend to use it to just potter about (rather than for agricultural or forestry use) and use it on road, also most (all agricultural reg ones.....) are only single seat. If you are going to be going up and down the road.....they have a fixed rear axle so the handling isn't great, and expect to wear rear tyres rapidly. Whatever you do, please get some training and wear a helmet- the machines have a poor reputation for operators getting injured for good reason. I had it mentioned to me by a colleague who consults with the HSE that over the couple of months either side of Christmas there had been 2 fatalities and a life-changing injuries incident involving quads in agriculture. Happy to help- if you have any other queries drop me a message. Chris Putt |
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18th May 2024 9:33pm |
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| Barneyboy Member Since: 19 Nov 2014 Location: Exmoor Posts: 1615
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Hi, Thank you for everyone’s advice, it is very much appreciated, I will take everything on board and have a discussion with the good lady
cheers Paul |
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19th May 2024 7:33am |
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| Barneyboy Member Since: 19 Nov 2014 Location: Exmoor Posts: 1615
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Hi, just thought I’d update you guys,
we did buy ourselves a quad, we got the same model as our friends who farm a couple of miles away it’s a few years older but it does what we need, we bought it from Ark ATV as recommended and they were great to deal with its a 2010 Honda TRX250TM 2wd it’s been well looked after and Ark did a full service and it’s got 4 new tyres cheers Paul
 Click image to enlarge |
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29th Jun 2024 3:31pm |
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| custom90 Member Since: 21 Jan 2010 Location: South West, England. Posts: 20269
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Very nice.
Around my way UTV’s are used quite a lot. |
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29th Jun 2024 7:04pm |
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| Chris86 Member Since: 15 Jul 2014 Location: South Yorks Posts: 787
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They were the first quads I used at work, handy little machines.
Make sure you keep on top of maintenance and they last really well, if used off road a lot they are hard on the swingarm bearings- keeping the brakes in good order can be difficult if used on wet ground regularly too. Chris |
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29th Jun 2024 7:05pm |
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| Barneyboy Member Since: 19 Nov 2014 Location: Exmoor Posts: 1615
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Thank you for the
and for the heads up regarding maintenance I'll make sure I keep a close eye on the swing arm bearings and brakes too cheers Paul |
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30th Jun 2024 7:38am |
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