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Talon I think I'm hooked

Smitty335

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To be blunt and honest because I hear Honda lurks on the forum, the poor marketing release is going to kill or cool peoples desire to buy, I'm a Honda fanboy and it severely chilled mine. Not everyone reads this forum, even if they should, not everyone goes looking for videos on youtube and listening to every second dissecting them to obtain barely referenced information. It needs to be on Honda's website or links to the youtube videos on Hondas website. With no marketing comparisons between the RZR and the X3 and no showy proof that its a good way to measure the size of your junk (speaking of the masses) it can't be sold for more if it can't beat the competition on paper or video, it doesn't matter how it performs in the woods until much later when word of mouth has grown and even then its has to be a mythical difference like a Bo Jackson story.

Polaris does the XP1k videos.
CanAM has good advertising.
Honda has a minivan...I mean surfer dude, sorry they pushed the Talon aside so quickly I only remembered the "well maintained State Park road" Minivan. They could have at least given the Talon to the MX guy and let him drive it and make a few jumps or taken it to MOAB or something.

Its not a turbo and it shouldn't be priced with them even if it has the i-4wd, even so I added $1000 for i-4wd to each to what I'd pay over what the RZR is going for.

With 6 less HP advertised than a RZR or X3 Honda can't sell a Talon for as much, only limited accessories are available, so reliability only carries so far (again masses), especially with the clutch update and recall debacles. I haven't tried to use my extended warranty yet but I hear its not worth the paper its printed on so Honda is at a Polaris level of customer service even if the machine is light years ahead in reliability. I wanted it to be like my experience with Acura, they would give Chick-fil-a a run for their money as the Golden Standard for Customer Service.

I genuinely hope its really as good as the whispers say but if its priced more than the RZR or priced with the 120HP CanAm, I personally will wait for the first year models to go on reduced pricing to move them off showrooms and out of warehouses, like I did my Pioneer and not pay full price anyway. Thats IF the Talon actually works like it is whispered to, theres no marketing from Honda showing it doing anything but piss poor driving by that old surfer dude with the pornstatche. If its priced with the CanAm and isn't as stable or doesn't perform like the whispers, I'll buy a Can-Am X3 to add to my stable before the end of the year. Forget the Popo its not a consideration for me, even if its the gold standard for the masses according to sales.

Talon-X? 14K you see the RZR1000 which seems to be what Honda is targeting at 18k MSRP but they usually sell for around 13-14k here, and since Honda doesn't allow reducing the price at the dealer it needs to be reduced at MSRP. The travel is less than the RZR1000( I know theres no considerable cost difference between the X and R parts but that is perception by the masses)

Talon-R? 15k for same reasons, but travel is equal to the RZR 1000

Yes that puts the Pioneer LE 3 seat at a $5k price disadvantage.

For comparison the MSRP of the non-LE Pioneer is about 25% less than a General but they SELL for about the same around here.
What are you trying to say? The Talon is way over priced without proof? HA! I'll be sitting on my bill fold, until proof!
 
Doc-TEAMWAX

Doc-TEAMWAX

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I am a huge HONDA fan and been riding them since 1985 (250SX, 350X). I have owned numerous models over the years, even one of the first deposits in this area on a 99 400EX. But I have never seen such a highly anticipated release with the price unavailable for nearly two months. I don't understand the reasoning for it, but it definitely has a lot of people undecided. I have a refundable deposit on the first red R at my local dealer (refundable due to no pricing) and if the price is not competitive, sadly, I'm out. I would really like to have another sport SxS in the stable. In the past I have owned 4 sport models (other brands) simply due to Honda not building one, but I have been without a sport and waiting patiently for this release for 2+ years. Hopefully no disappointments.....
 
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hondabob

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You guys are right on about the price. January will be interesting. I expect it will cost more then the $18,000 RZR 1000 and the $18,000 90 hp NA X3. Can-am has a 2k rebate on the 2018 NA X3. Those base models may need a lot of expensive upgrades to be competitive with the Talon. If your going to put on a lot of miles the belt drive repair will add to the cost. The added complication of a 120 hp X3 turbo is not a good choice in my opinion.
 
H

HondaTech

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Not to pee anyone off, but if your expecting the Talon to be anywhere below $18k your going to be sorely disappointed.

The reason everything is discounted down to $14 and $15k is the market has been saturated with the same crap for years. People are tire of buying stuff that breaks or nothing has changed enough for them to want to spend the money on the same thing they've already got.

The Talon will be something new, and while I hate that Honda is taking this long to get it to us, the hype is building and I believe it'll blow peoples socks off.
 
ohanacreek

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Not to pee anyone off, but if your expecting the Talon to be anywhere below $18k your going to be sorely disappointed.

The reason everything is discounted down to $14 and $15k is the market has been saturated with the same crap for years. People are tire of buying stuff that breaks or nothing has changed enough for them to want to spend the money on the same thing they've already got.

The Talon will be something new, and while I hate that Honda is taking this long to get it to us, the hype is building and I believe it'll blow peoples socks off.

That’s a good start to showing the value, you should be in sales/marketing for Honda. Right now with what Honda has shown there in no VALUE vs the popo or canned ham. Add in the fact popo is lying about suspension travel and Honda is “behind” they need to change the perception if they want to sell it for more.
 
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CTDpower

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That’s a good start to showing the value, you should be in sales/marketing for Honda. Right now with what Honda has shown there in no VALUE vs the popo or canned ham. Add in the fact popo is lying about suspension travel and Honda is “behind” they need to change the perception if they want to sell it for more.

I agree. If I didn't have any first-hand experience, or I was new to the sport, then at this point I'd have no reason to be considering the Talon any more than any of the others.

And I still stand behind what I've said before, which is, if I drove my Pioneer as harshly as some of the polaris's are being abused, then it would break also. Where I ride I've seen some broke down polaris's, but I don't think I've ever heard a Polaris owner complaining about their side-by-side being broken. And I've only ever seen one can am broken, and it was just a belt, and it was justified LOL. So I would say, in my opinion, people aren't being swayed from Polaris because of a "breaking down" reputation.
 
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CTDpower

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Here is the one Can-Am I've ever seen broke, with the burnt up belt. He was participating in a mud bog, with sand tires LOL. And for the record, it was extremely impressive. The Pioneer, and Talon probably as well, would just have been bogged down, but this thing was throwing mud 50 feet in the air.
20180616 155853
 
nbomar

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Here is the one Can-Am I've ever seen broke, with the burnt up belt. He was participating in a mud bog, with sand tires LOL. And for the record, it was extremely impressive. The Pioneer, and Talon probably as well, would just have been bogged down, but this thing was throwing mud 50 feet in the air.View attachment 96449

My buddies x3 blew up the belt housing and belt and all a couple weeks ago on the road running 45 mph. They break... it happens.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
ohanacreek

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I agree. If I didn't have any first-hand experience, or I was new to the sport, then at this point I'd have no reason to be considering the Talon any more than any of the others.

And I still stand behind what I've said before, which is, if I drove my Pioneer as harshly as some of the polaris's are being abused, then it would break also. Where I ride I've seen some broke down polaris's, but I don't think I've ever heard a Polaris owner complaining about their side-by-side being broken. And I've only ever seen one can am broken, and it was just a belt, and it was justified LOL. So I would say, in my opinion, people aren't being swayed from Polaris because of a "breaking down" reputation.

I don’t think the Polaris build quality is as good. The fasteners and tolerances are no where near as good as Honda or CanAm. My neighbor is a vet with a TBI so I help him out on occasion with things that take fine motor skills and as much as I’ve repaired his 2 year old Ranger he puts around on, I’m selling him on Honda or CanAm.
 
Choogsbro

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I agree. If I didn't have any first-hand experience, or I was new to the sport, then at this point I'd have no reason to be considering the Talon any more than any of the others.

And I still stand behind what I've said before, which is, if I drove my Pioneer as harshly as some of the polaris's are being abused, then it would break also. Where I ride I've seen some broke down polaris's, but I don't think I've ever heard a Polaris owner complaining about their side-by-side being broken. And I've only ever seen one can am broken, and it was just a belt, and it was justified LOL. So I would say, in my opinion, people aren't being swayed from Polaris because of a "breaking down" reputation.

Sir you are quite clueless about the popo. Here in our area the popo riders/owners are always joking about their machines constantly breaking down or even worse burning down. They have absolutely earned their " breaking down " reputation. Canned hams and popos are both belt burners. Every Atv park I ride at (RRB, Brimstone, Windrock, H&M, Wildcat) have plenty of popo and canned ham belts available for purchase.

Just saying.
 
CumminsPusher

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Sir you are quite clueless about the popo. Here in our area the popo riders/owners are always joking about their machines constantly breaking down or even worse burning down. They have absolutely earned their " breaking down " reputation. Canned hams and popos are both belt burners. Every Atv park I ride at (RRB, Brimstone, Windrock, H&M, Wildcat) have plenty of popo and canned ham belts available for purchase.

Just saying.
A big Popo group here we use to ride with on occasion with ours before Honda use to talk about the crazy maintenance schedule they had. They’d basically check out the entire machine after every big ride or couple smaller day trips. Made it a day thing at someone’s house called it maintenance party. They didn’t ride hard enough where anything should break imo.
It was ridiculous listening to them. One guy has a really bad ass turbo and he didn’t run it hard just the occasional blip of the throttle on dirt road to show how much power he had, changed a belt before every ride because he had broke so many.
We met up with them once when after we bought the Honda, a couple joked they wouldn’t need to do as much maintenance because they now had a tow truck but we were shunned from the group right after. Still see them on occasion however they don’t like riding “destructive” trails as they put it and move on. It’s a going joke with us.
 
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A big Popo group here we use to ride with on occasion with ours before Honda use to talk about the crazy maintenance schedule they had. They’d basically check out the entire machine after every big ride or couple smaller day trips. Made it a day thing at someone’s house called it maintenance party. They didn’t ride hard enough where anything should break imo.
It was ridiculous listening to them. One guy has a really bad ass turbo and he didn’t run it hard just the occasional blip of the throttle on dirt road to show how much power he had, changed a belt before every ride because he had broke so many.
We met up with them once when after we bought the Honda, a couple joked they wouldn’t need to do as much maintenance because they now had a tow truck but we were shunned from the group right after. Still see them on occasion however they don’t like riding “destructive” trails as they put it and move on. It’s a going joke with us.
I mean I’m not sure why you are saying “destructive”... pretty sure you’ve cleared that up for us.
 
Choogsbro

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A big Popo group here we use to ride with on occasion with ours before Honda use to talk about the crazy maintenance schedule they had. They’d basically check out the entire machine after every big ride or couple smaller day trips. Made it a day thing at someone’s house called it maintenance party. They didn’t ride hard enough where anything should break imo.
It was ridiculous listening to them. One guy has a really bad ass turbo and he didn’t run it hard just the occasional blip of the throttle on dirt road to show how much power he had, changed a belt before every ride because he had broke so many.
We met up with them once when after we bought the Honda, a couple joked they wouldn’t need to do as much maintenance because they now had a tow truck but we were shunned from the group right after. Still see them on occasion however they don’t like riding “destructive” trails and move on. It’s a going joke with us.

Well said. I ride with a lot of popos and canned hams. Your "tow truck" description is spot on. My popo riding freinds are always joking about having me in the riding group as they know they always have someone to get them back to camp. I don't mean to hate on popos, hell I wish they were dependable then I might own one. I really believe my next ride will be a 2019 YXZ or a new Talon. Time will tell.
 
CumminsPusher

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I mean I’m not sure why you are saying “destructive”... pretty sure you’ve cleared that up for us.
They stick to dirt roads or logging trails at most.
 
CumminsPusher

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Well said. I ride with a lot of popos and canned hams. Your "tow truck" description is spot on. My popo riding freinds are always joking about having me in the riding group as they know they always have someone to get them back to camp. I don't mean to hate on popos, hell I wish they were dependable then I might own one. I really believe my next ride will be a 2019 YXZ or a new Talon. Time will tell.
I’m either Talon or pre ‘19 Yxz. I’ll stick with Jap machine myself.
 
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Choogsbro

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Why pre 19 ? I want the new gearing.
 
CumminsPusher

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Why pre 19 ? I want the new gearing.
After talking with my Yami dealer who is a good friend of the family and maintains an area we ride as well as knowing us very well, I’m talked into buying a pre and putting a little cash into it. He swears by Alba and Rekluse. Says he will warranty clutch for us if he installs. This is a man I trust. Said there isn’t enough better on the new machine to worry about and absolutely no bed space.
My dirt bike has had the Rekluse and that along is awesome for lesser clutch wear and fun as hell to ride with so I’m down.
 
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Dragon21

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After talking with my Yami dealer who is a good friend of the family and maintains an area we ride as well as knowing us very well, I’m talked into buying a pre and putting a little cash into it. He swears by Alba and Rekluse. Says he will warranty clutch for us if he installs. This is a man I trust. Said there isn’t enough better on the new machine to worry about and absolutely no bed space.
My dirt bike has had the Rekluse and that along is awesome for lesser clutch wear and fun as hell to ride with so I’m down.
did older models have better bed space? the lack of bed space was a huge turn off for me
 
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Choogsbro

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That all makes sense but what about lower gearing ? Do you not feel it is needed. Many in my are think it is an absolute need for our type of eastern trails. And yes hear nothing but good things about Alba and Weller.
 
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