I joined this forum back when the original Rubicon came out, Bought the first one our dealer had (it was a huge deal back then with the Hondamatic , seen the redesign in 06 and now this, and im pretty upset as its just a larger boxy looking Rancher. Back in 2006 we were all hoping for a Rubicon II 650 with a tri-range, power, disc's and locking diffs. but nope, not even light aluminum wheels anymore. I will save my money for a KTM 350EXC

 

Someone at Honda should stand up and come up with the idea of putting the Honda 47hp XR650 ohc dirt bike motor their now improved ATV chassis.

The 38hp 680 ohv is just holding its own against the new 500- 550cc.

Its what Yamaha did with the 660 Grizzly in 2002.
The 660 motor was in their XT660 on/off motorcycle long before they put it in a ATV.

 

i dont see why they cant come up wit at least a 800 engine ???

 

Even if they did it would probably be a 800 ohv that puts out the power of the current 650s.

 

I'm getting déjà vu all over again lol. That would be a great idea and they already have a more powerful version of that motor compatible for a atv in the 700xx powerplant. Still, your basing everything off of crank horsepower. Ever see a rincon drag a grizzly? It's very close, maybe the grizzly will take it by 1 quad length after 300ft. The rincons trans is more efficient so it makes up some of the difference plus the rincon is lightweight. The ohv design makes a lot of sense for an atv. Lots of low end torque, slightly more than the grizz. Also carrys it's weight very low which allows for superior cornering and stability. There are positives and negatives to everything.
The rincon desperately needs a revamp now. The 2014 is nearly the same thing as my 04 minus efi. I'm sure it's coming in 2016. Honda seems to be moving in order. They first redesigned the rancher, then the foreman and now the rubicon. The rincon will be next.

 

Actually I did a long day ride with a Rincon 680,500 Foreman and 660 Grizzly and will line up on a wide straight logging road and the 660 really did clean up I was amazed I could stay with the 680 as close as I did on my Sportsman.
The 500 foreman was just completely left behind.

If I was on a 600 or 700 Sportsman it would of been very bad day for the Rincon.

For a 680cc its quite pathetic.

 

I read somewhere that this year was a re-design for the Rincon as they also added a friggin cat converter to the thing.

 

And its not just the ATV'S either, those of us on thumpertalk have been begging Honda to make a 400-500CC light weight dual sport enduro like a KTM 350EXC with modern LED blinkers and light weight DOT parts but again, nope- we got the heavy low power china built CRF250L that has a modified street bike CB250 engine in it. Less power than my 24 year old XR250R

 

They updated the motor for emissions but it was not a redesign. That will probably come next year

 

Can am has push button electric shifting on the Spyder 3 wheel motorcycle so they could possibly offer it in an atv. People are too much in love with cvt auto transmissions coupled to powerful engines. Yes there is power loss with a cvt but when its an 80+ hp 1000cc monster like on the Renegade, its still more power than most people could ever use. You need gears on smaller, less powerful engines to get the most out of them and also to make sport atvs and smaller utility atvs lightweight. Cvt auto transmissions add weight as opposed to a manual gearbox. I like cvt auto transmissions for 500+cc machines. For anything less than 500cc, I'd prefer to shift for myself.