The brute force is my first 4x4 utility quad. I shopped around for about 2 years. At first I was set on the grizzly, then the king quad for a brief period but when I started hearing people complaining like crazy about their king quads I went with the Brute. Wow I love this bike. Every time I ride it the bike reminds me. The power is awesome. It comes on strong and doesn't start to dwindle till about 65 reads on the speedo. Then she is good till 68-70-ish. I put 28" tires for snow riding, and bone stock the power is still awesome and I can get the front up a bit even with the weight of the new tires. I’m almost scared to put the stockers back on. And think, that is stock. Add just a new cdi, as I plan to, and you will be wheeling for miles even with 28s. In deep snow over the winter 4x4 ruled the trails, and nothing was faster than me on the frozen lake. I have a raptor and a grizzly in my family and pass them both and leave them behind on the frozen lake. The stock power of the brute is very enjoyable. Don't believe the magazine about how tipsy it is. I honestly don't know what they are talking about. Even with a full tank of gas (keep in mind the gas is all stored in the rear) I still don't notice much of any bad handling. I can't really compare it to any sport quads because prior to this I had a 3-wheeler. Maybe that is why I don’t feel any handling problems? I don’t know, but its very stable to me. One thing I must note is I do not trust it with a passenger. When riding in the snow, the extra weight of a rear passenger makes it so that the front tires get no traction and you kinda slide around. Especially if your friends are dumb enough to lay down off the back of the quad while you are going up hill.....
One thing you will have to deal with is the tie-rods. they are okay with stock tires, but if you go bigger or you ride really aggressive in rocky conditions you will want stronger tie-rods. I bought some for 80 bucks from Diamond G Racing. They are the best on the market. The only other ones I have heard of are JPRM Hiem rods, which are not as good.
In the water, the high snorkel placement Kawasaki gives is very good. No need to worry about water in the belt housing unless you find yourself riding in water over the racks. Much better than the grizzly, which has its cvt exhaust mounted far out the rear. One thing I noticed however was that when hitting ice water when it was around freezing temperature will cause to much steam that will be sucked into the intake and cause it to stall. But once temperatures warm up in spring that affect goes away.
One gripe I have is storage. I don’t carry much of anything along, but I probably would if the brute had a dry box. I bought a moose pro fender pack, so that will be fine for my sandwiches or gloves or the crap I think of taking.
I have found that the brute is VERY good at STEEP down hills. I scared myself once by going down a near cliff that was covered in snow so I could not see it was so steep. I flew forward into the handlebars but the kawi engine braking kicked right in and it just crawled down. No drama. That’s in low of course. High is more normal, but still allows u to crawl down with almost no brakes.
Uphill I haven't really tested. To tell you the truth, whenever I see a hill I remember the damn magazine reviews and I get nervous. But I have pushed myself to take some really steep hills and after I did I always wondered why I was nervous. The brute just goes up steep hills with no drama. I expected much worse from such an "unstable" quad, as the magazines said. But the brute just does them easy.
The stock tires really suck. I heard handling gets much better when you swap the stock rims/tires with new ones. I have new tires, but they are 28s and don’t add much performance since they are so big so I cant say. All I did was ride in the snow and a little ice with the stockers and they already have big cuts and almost no tread left. They really do suck.
My other gripe about the quad is 4x4. It is alittle picky when switching into 4x4. If you are in 2x4 and you get stuck you have to be really lucky because 4x4 will not come on unless the front tires are rolling. 4x4 also wont come on in reverse. so when you see something that you might be worried about, remember to click it in 4x4 before you try it just to be sure. Id rather be in 4x4 and not need it then stuck in 2x4 and really need it.
Diff. Lock is great. Back when I wanted the grizzly I talked bad about the diff. lock lever on the kawi. but you really need to get used to it then u learn to love it. Its right there when u need it no matter what. No need to stop completely to push a button, which kills your momentum. and no speed restriction so full power is always there.
The seat is pretty firm. it is very sport oriented. Don’t expect a soft grizzly or polaris seat. Once i got off my brute and sat on the grizzly just to feel the difference. I sank in the grizzly seat, I had forgotten how soft it was. After that my brute seat felt like a board. No big deal, I ride pretty aggressively so I stand 90% of the time unless im going through deep water or towing something.
Acceleration is unmatched. I drag raced the grizzly in a field and killed it every time, 2x4 and 4x4. I find the grizzly to be a really fast 4x4 bike, and I always talked great about how powerful it was. but then I got the brute and I got used to its power and sat back on the grizzly and I honestly thought maybe the grizzly was broken. It felt like the same difference as the year before when I road the grizzly all winter and then sat on the foreman 450.
Thats about all I have to say. If you are really interested in getting a Brute I suggested the following websites:
Bbertram.com has very good videos where you can see the brute in action.
Highlifter.com and Kawieriders.com have the best info from real owners about the brute. I am on both forums as x2468. Another two sites that are good are atvconnection.com and my buddy nyrocs website atv.dnsalias.com. I am also know as x2468 on those two as well.
And remember; don’t always believe everything you read in the magazines. The King Quad won all the shootouts, but I've seen many KQ owners very unhappy with the reliability and lack of power the Suzuki has. Not to say the Brute doesn't have its problems, but I haven't had any of them except for the tie-rod.
Hope that helps.
Upgrades/Accessories: I have:
Warn 2.5
28" Maxxis Mudbugs
ITP C-series Type 5's
Highlifter Penlock---allows me to lock the diff. lever like some quads lock their parking brake. haven't installed it yet.
Going to install this summer:
HMF pipe
VDI CDI ignition
New clucth springs
Uni or twinair air filters
DynoJet Kit, stage I
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