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Well this is turning out to be a good time for a long term test on the Honda 420 ES. So far we've had floods back before Christmas so that tested the wading ability of the bike, which was very good. Then it had a good period of lugging the logic trailer round in the muddy fields feeding the sheep so there was a good test of traction and towing ability which again was really good. The power to weight ratio of this bike is unreal we've had a few quad bikes on the farm and this one is by far the best for that.
Now some of you may have noticed that we've had a bit of snow. So here's another test how does the quad bike handle in the snow and ice.
Traction was a bit of an issue on the deeper snow (a good foot of snow in places) so I let the tires down to 2.5psi (about half the recommended tire pressure) and that helped a bit. I found that the snow got flicked up from the front tires and got stuck in the frame, after a while the steering would lock up, but a quick tap of the plastic mud guard would sort that.
Ground clearance was a bit tight on the rear diff and drum, but the snow was so soft that didn't matter. The front of the bike is shaped in such a way that it slides over the ground/snow with little picking up on the underside. It's a bit like the hull on a boat a gentle sweep under the front.
As I said last week the bike has a bit of an easy life until March, just a bit of lamping vermin, feeding the rams once a day and checking the crops.
No problem with the bike as of yet apart from the seats split even more now. And I really really do like the electric shift on the handle bar.
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Now we have all the sheep inside, the quad bike has less to do. On the farm for the next few months it still has to take hay and feed to the rams in their little field. The bike will still be going round the farm checking the crops and I will be using it quite a lot to go out on the farm and my friends farm controlling rabbits and foxes with the rifle.
I went round the farm filling up all the pheasant hoppers at the beginning of the week. Going through the woods the bike had three bags of wheat on the back and two on the front. The bike handled a little different but I still felt safe on the steep banks even with the extra top weight of the bags.
I haven’t said much about the specification list on this bike so I will now. The Honda 420 ES has the electric gear shift on the left handle bar, this means that you have both your feet free to move around the foot pegs to balance on rough terrain. I love the electric shift over the old foot peg shifter they always seemed to get blocked up with mud in the winter and you could never get your toe under to shift up.
I don’t know if any of you are aware but Honda launched a new 420 model back in December it’s called the Honda 420 AT, it gives you the option to change the gear box from the manual electric shift to a fully automatic one with the flick of a switch on the handle bars. It also has independent rear suspension and engine braking.
Back to the model I’m testing it has front dual hydraulic disc brakes, they are much better in the wet than the old shoe brakes that older Hondas had. The rear is still the same single drum brake. You can select between 2wd and 4wd so that saves a bit of rubber if you’re going to be doing some work around a concrete yard.
Another good thing I’ve found is that it’s only just over a meter wide so it will fit through most little horse gates and bridle gates unlike the polaris which is wider by a good 6 inches. The quad is so light it hardly makes a foot print in the mud. It’s helped by low ground pressure tyres. I say again any questions you have, feel free to ask. Speak soon.