Honda

LOOKING FOR A ROAD TRIP AND RIDING ADVENTURE?  WE’VE GOT A PLACE THAT FEATURES A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING, WITH GUARANTEED GREAT RIDING IN EVERY DIRECTION.  CHECK OUT THE UPPER PENINSULA.  IT’S QUITE POSSIBLY THE BEST OVERALL RIDING DESTINATION IN THE COUNTRY. 

THERE ARE LOTS OF GREAT TRAILS TO RIDE IN NORTH AMERICA. IT’S THE TOTAL EXPERIENCE THAT CREATES A GREAT ADVENTURE THOUGH. IN ALL OUR YEARS OF TRAVELING, WE’VE NEVER FOUND ANYPLACE BETTER THAN WILDLIFE REFUGE CABINS.

Not since Little House on the Prairie have we been so fond of a Pioneer family. The Pioneer 500, 700, and 1000 all have their unique uses but they share one very important feature; they’re all infused with a healthy dose of Honda DNA. Each is outstanding in their own way and recently we had an opportunity to ride all three and try out new features.

Every move at Honda is calculated. That’s why when they call their new Pioneer 1000 “the most important new Honda in 15 years,” they mean every word of it, and they’ve put everything they know about design, engineering, and manufacturing into it. And their resources are considerable.

You never really get to fully learn a machine until you can test it on your own home turf. For us that means plenty of play riding in the woods, but also many days on the job whether it is pulling a roller across a large yard, towing a wagonload of firewood, or even dragging a log from the woods. We can pretty much guarantee when there is a tough job to do, we’ll always pick the red machine with the wing on the side, and for us that is the Honda FourTrax Foreman Rubicon 4x4.

Since the introduction of Honda’s original Rancher 350 over 15 years ago, top-of-the-line ATVs have ballooned up in both displacement and physical size to a point where a machine like the original Rancher would be considered an “introductory” machine. In fact, the biggest machines on the market can be a handful even for highly experienced riders, and for almost every type of riding situation, we prefer something that is easier to control and much more forgiving on the trail.

I was less than 100 yards into the RockHouse loop of the world famous Hatfield-McCoy system and I already knew it was going to be a great day. Light overnight rain had erased any dust and a few low areas of the trail even held small pools of water to splash through. Early fall in the mountains of West Virginia meant the leaves were just beginning to turn, but the temperature was also cool and it was a perfect day for riding. Today I would be testing Honda’s new FourTrax Foreman Rubicon 4x4. In every way I felt right at home.