A riding buddy of mine had one of these machines. It was our beer hauler due to the 30 pack front compartment! Neat machine really.
Originally Posted By: CrazyMike
Thanks boraticus, and you're right the newer machines have the cvt. Bombardier decided back in '98 or '99 they were going to introduce a machine no one else has, and you bet they did, but it quickly adopted the nickname "tractor" since it was so utility focused. The step through, huge under front rack storage, biggest gear driven transmission, a huge radiator that 800's don't even have, it was a workhorse, but the biggest complain was it was ugly. Not a bad performer, just ugly. I read reviews of where it did incredibly well and surpassed comparably sized competition, but failed on looks so what can you do, if you don't like the way it looks, you won't buy it. They came out with a cvt style machine in the same chassis the Quest, which hauled arse better than the sp700, kawi650, everything, but it was ugly.
Bombardier finally followed the leaders in atv's and created a similar style in '04 (Outlander), and as far as pro sports and competition goes, they are a force to be reconed with, even though they don't have the sales #'s as Honda or Polaris. I would own Can-Am myself but the local shop is run by jerks, and great long term friends own the Polaris shop, quite happy with them, I've always liked Polaris machines anyway, not as powerful as Can-Am but a great ride and 4wd system.
For the record, back in '04 I used the two Traxters, the only two out of 60 machines, in a atv jamboree, got 3 1st place finishes in pulls and a 3rd in the obstacle course, would of got a 1st if I didn't bounce off the machine and blow a shift. Got best overall, passed on the prize to a dude that needed the free warn winch. Beat out 650 kawi's, sp500/600/700's, grizzlies, ah it was great. Maybe it was a bit of the rider too eh