Quad bike recommendation for land management

[Joeyjojo]

I am looking at getting a quad bike to manage my land, it's 8.5 acres of relatively flat land (probably about a max of 2m change in height across the place). I want it to be able to harrow, roll, spray, spread and grade the arena.

Most places I speak to seem to recommend the Honda ATVs, but I'm not sure if I would need the 4 wheel drive option or if the (much!) cheaper 2 wheel drive version would do the job.

Does anyone have any idea which would be suitable?

 

[Tiddlypom]

Recently had a chat with the local Honda dealer about this very thing. We have similar land and requirements to yours.

Chap was very helpful, and had experience of arena levelling, too. He recommended a 4x4 with a minimum engine size of 450cc. Our arena leveller doesn't weigh that much, but when it's actually doing the levelling, there's a fair drag force to overcome so a less gutsy quad might struggle. (We have a sand and rubber surface).

 

[brucethegypsycob]

I've got a Suzuki king quad. Fab little bike. 400cc. Plenty of power. Good weight. It levels my fields just by driving over them when they are damp. Tows a harrow no problem . My two fields are about 5 acres and 10acres of hillside field. Does everything that is needed. The only thing I would have liked, but it pushes the price up a bit, is differential. Takes all the usual different attachments like sprayers ect.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

I'd definitely recommend a differential if it is hilly, but other than that you can get along fine as long as you drive moderately, there are a lot of quad accidents, [there are a lot of quads] and most are caused by reckless driving, but wear a hat anyway, it costs nothing.

 

[taraj]

We have a Kawasaki KVF 650 4x4 this is more than capable of doing all the work, we couldn't quiet stretch to the power steering model so can be a bit heavy on the steering! Really a bit too over powered but hubby loves it!! My son has a Honda foreman 250 2wd, this struggles a bit when harrowing and hasn't got quite enough pull for rolling, also if we do use it to poo pick the ground has to be dry! Really you need something in between but I would certainly go for 4x4 and the "automatic", think its EFI, model if you can. They have both been owned for 3 years and we haven't had any mechanical problems with either.