Honda at work in the snow

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.