Talon Talon owner's first impressions?

[Tramguage1]

Tool less to remove cover, but think the filter still has screws to secure.

 

[Neohio]

Tool less to remove cover, but think the filter still has screws to secure.

Just checked my manual.
You are correct. Tool-less to remove cover. Looks like hex key to remove filter from housing. But probably way easier than the 1000-5.

 

[HondaTech]

I have one on order for the end of May. Just out of curiosity, how easy is it to get to the air filter? I've been searching for this and haven't found anything yet. Is it a PITA like on the Pioneer 1000? I was waiting to bite the bullet on one until after getting hitched, but I was in the dealership the other day and they offered me too good a deal on my valkyrie for me to pass it up on trading it in on a talon X.

Take the bed panel out with 2 knobs.

Then the lid comes off with snap clips only, like Hondas ATV filters. Then the filter needs a 5mm Allen head to take out.

 

[Zmorris83]

Yes, the gas pedal is hyper sensitive. But you will adjust. I did in one ride.


Agree with almost your entire post. I did hit the limiter once or twice and to be fair, I was going way to fast for where I was riding. I just "wanna go fast" like Ricky Bobby. In reality, unless you are on a paved highway 75 is plenty fast for off road. Now there are flash kits already available to up the limiter. Don't think I will bite as 75 is all I need (for now). Heat is almost a non issue. If someone says they are having an issue, might me another problem. Can you feel a little "warm" coming from the shift area? Yes..... HEAT, no...ZERO heat in seats.

I have kept it on 2 for shocks. Got to say those who complain about the rougher ride have to understand that this is a "SPORT" machine. I have had the good fortune to drive (not own) some world class sports cars. I can tell you, most of them ride rough;for casual driving but handle curves with amazing agility. I have found the same to be true for the Talon. Yes, it is a little rougher ride, but the handling is the best SXS I have driven. I would challenge just about anyone on tight trails in a rally race. For you people on Dunes...can't speak to that as that is my once or twice or year journey.

I too find the gas mileage to negate any of those complaining about a small tank. Put 70 hard miles on this weekend and just under a half a tank.

Where I disagree with you is on Sport vs Auto... The Sport mode reduces about 1 second in zero to 60 time. It is noticeable. Sometimes I take it out of Sport when the trail gets a little less demanding. I want a little less upshifting and the Auto mode is noticeably different. I really like the sport mode though.

It truly is amazing how fast the Talon learns your driving pattern. Rarely would I find myself wanting to manually shift as the auto mode was usually faster than me...

Another perk rarely mentioned is the advantage of DCT breaking. The DCT really aides in braking and slowing the machine. Much less time spent on brakes. You will really appreciate that feature much more than you realize.

The DCT braking is excellent on both machines. So good that I rarely use the brake pedal on the Pioneer. Not sure why I didn't think to mention it.

I can feel the very slightest amount of warmed air through the shifter. Almost non-existent.

I've been keeping my suspension on the softest setting which I find very firm for everything except sending it off of the biggest, fastest jump I have found so far.

I was not very clear about my Sport mode criticism. I love it for spirited driving. My real criticism is the lack of any real part throttle change in normal Auto mode. It still revs to the moon at light throttle, so much so that it won't even upshift unless you use the paddles, manual mode or speed up significantly. Pretty much the same as Sport on the Pioneer therefore the Talon doesn't really have any non-Sport light throttle mode. 5K rpm light throttle Auto mode shift point is just plain stupid.

The air filter, oil filters, battery, and pretty much everything is super easy to get to. The air filter is a 5 minutes or less job. Same with the oil filters. Same for the battery. Maintenance on this thing is a breeze.

OTHER OWNERS BEWARE!!!!
The front wheels may be able to contact the rear of the lower control arms. If this happens when trying to turn downhill and the outer tire hits a bump that tire WILL LOCK UP. This causes an otherwise overly stable machine to instantly loose stability and, in my experience, flipped me on my side. The bump causes the wheel that was rubbing only slightly before to be forced up further into the control arm and dead locked. I will be dropping my machine off tomorrow and Honda can keep it until it is safe to operate.

 

[Zmorris83]

The DCT braking is excellent on both machines. So good that I rarely use the brake pedal on the Pioneer. Not sure why I didn't think to mention it.

I can feel the very slightest amount of warmed air through the shifter. Almost non-existent.

I've been keeping my suspension on the softest setting which I find very firm for everything except sending it off of the biggest, fastest jump I have found so far.

I was not very clear about my Sport mode criticism. I love it for spirited driving. My real criticism is the lack of any real part throttle change in normal Auto mode. It still revs to the moon at light throttle, so much so that it won't even upshift unless you use the paddles, manual mode or speed up significantly. Pretty much the same as Sport on the Pioneer therefore the Talon doesn't really have any non-Sport light throttle mode. 5K rpm light throttle Auto mode shift point is just plain stupid.

The air filter, oil filters, battery, and pretty much everything is super easy to get to. The air filter is a 5 minutes or less job. Same with the oil filters. Same for the battery. Maintenance on this thing is a breeze.

OTHER OWNERS BEWARE!!!!
The front wheels may be able to contact the rear of the lower control arms. If this happens when trying to turn downhill and the outer tire hits a bump that tire WILL LOCK UP. This causes an otherwise overly stable machine to instantly loose stability and, in my experience, flipped me on my side. The bump causes the wheel that was rubbing only slightly before to be forced up further into the control arm and dead locked. I will be dropping my machine off tomorrow and Honda can keep it until it is safe to operate.

Dropped it off at the dealer yesterday. Honda is taking care of everything, including the subsequent damage. They expressed concern for mine and my passengers health/injuries which I was shocked by and really appreciate. (I didn't have a passenger at the time.)

Still don't know the root cause, but I suspect it has an X component in place of an R component. We compared an X to mine at the dealer and only my driver side tie rod has almost no adjustment left. The other 3 tie rods are all very close in adjustment available. Just speculation, but we will see.

 

[snuffnwhisky]

Dropped it off at the dealer yesterday. Honda is taking care of everything, including the subsequent damage. They expressed concern for mine and my passengers health/injuries which I was shocked by and really appreciate. (I didn't have a passenger at the time.)

Still don't know the root cause, but I suspect it has an X component in place of an R component. We compared an X to mine at the dealer and only my driver side tie rod has almost no adjustment left. The other 3 tie rods are all very close in adjustment available. Just speculation, but we will see.

If the toe setting is off, the wheels can turn farther than designed.

 

[HondaTech]

Dropped it off at the dealer yesterday. Honda is taking care of everything, including the subsequent damage. They expressed concern for mine and my passengers health/injuries which I was shocked by and really appreciate. (I didn't have a passenger at the time.)

Still don't know the root cause, but I suspect it has an X component in place of an R component. We compared an X to mine at the dealer and only my driver side tie rod has almost no adjustment left. The other 3 tie rods are all very close in adjustment available. Just speculation, but we will see.

Our first X had the wheel contact the tie rod as well. The alignment was off and the steering rack wasnt centered.

 

[Zmorris83]

If the toe setting is off, the wheels can turn farther than designed.

Yes, when I first got it the thing was not operable at all. Correcting the Toe setting resolved the drivability. Just imagine how much worse the problem would be with 2” toe out!!

 

[Zmorris83]

Our first X had the wheel contact the tie rod as well. The alignment was off and the steering rack wasnt centered.

Do you happen to know what steering parts are and aren't shared on the X/R?

It's obvious the upper and lower control arms and the center link for each tie rod are different. The rest is not real clear. The Ackerman effect change from the X to the R should make it necessary to change other components.

 

[Zmorris83]

The Throttle Maxx is awesome on the Pioneer for the same reason. The Talon needs it even worse.

I set the toe at 0.10" toe in. Drives good at that setting and the steering is light and responsive.

Weighed mine and my brother's SXSs with a full tank of fuel and no passengers. 1550# Talon. 1860# X3 RC. (This weight difference was very apparent on extreme rock faces.)

Did a day of rock climbing and rather technical off-roading yesterday. The Talon is almost impossible to flip. It throws about 100 times more mud than the Pioneer into the cab, but about 10 times less than the X3 RC. That's not an exaggeration. I noticed a couple times that the I-4wd was obviously inferior to a locked diff, but it is really nice not having to lock and unlock the front diff repetitively. 99% of the time the system works very impressively, but it doesn't seem to like 3 wheeling with lots of traction and wet brakes. I was too busy having fun to really pay attention to the how/why.

In hindsight it's very obvious why the i-4WD wasn't operating properly. "Lot's of traction” was actually the wheel bound up against the control arm. Everytime it happened was a hard left with the driver side compressed and the passenger side at full droop. Makes me feel stupid that it took a major catastrophe to figure out all the issues were the same root cause.

 

[sek-hunter]

Our first X had the wheel contact the tie rod as well. The alignment was off and the steering rack wasnt centered.

The whole alignment issue with HONDA is becoming evermore apparent. It has been an issue with atv’s, Pioneers, both 700 and 1000, and now the Talon.

I am amazed that this isn’t something that is set to a standard measure from the factory!?!?!?!?

I mean, these are $20,000 plus machines. Should a man really have to go straight home after purchasing a sxs and do a diy front end alignment???

What’s the deal? I don’t get it? I’d figure this would be a part of a quality control check?

Is it that we as consumers have just accepted it?

“Buy a Polaris, expect belt issues. Buy a Honda, expect to have to do an alignment before riding.”

Really?

Just blows my mind...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Zmorris83]

The whole alignment issue with HONDA is becoming evermore apparent. It has been an issue with atv’s, Pioneers, both 700 and 1000, and now the Talon.

I am amazed that this isn’t something that is set to a standard measure from the factory!?!?!?!?

I mean, these are $20,000 plus machines. Should a man really have to go straight home after purchasing a sxs and do a diy front end alignment???

What’s the deal? I don’t get it? I’d figure this would be a part of a quality control check?

Is it that we as consumers have just accepted it?

“Buy a Polaris, expect belt issues. Buy a Honda, expect to have to do an alignment before riding.”

Really?

Just blows my mind...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It is pretty absurd, I agree. It's worse to me that the dealer delivers them so far out that you can see it with naked eyes. My Talon is the 3rd SXS we bought from the same dealer. One of them was set to 3.5 rear and 2 front degrees POSITIVE camber. On all of them the toe was pretty far out and steering wheel pretty crooked. I bought a fourth SXS from a different dealer with the same problem. There's no excuse for a professional shop to be incapable of what a couple ”stupid rednecks" can do in a driveway.

Polaris, expect *everything* issues.

 

[HondaTech]

Yeah we're never surprised what gets to us anymore, we try to catch everything before it leaves us.

 

[Puller810]

My thoughts after my first ride this weekend. Might sound a little negative but I'm pretty happy with my purchase so far coming from jeeps.

 

[Doc-TEAMWAX]

I have the R, my son has the X. They're both great. Fit, Finish, and Appearance is excellent. The R handles exceptional, especially when riding aggressive. The X handles great also. The R feels a little more stable in turns. Both jump great with a few suspension adjustments. It would be nice if the R had the tight turn radius like the X for tight low speed trails (normally not an issue). I really like all the shift options. No issues with the I-4wd, it works great for me. We serviced the X already. Everything is easy to access and simple to perform. They are not the fastest machines on the market, who cares..!! They are the all around total package in my opinion. A super version of my P1K-LE. LOL... Like my R more each time I ride. We have several videos on youtube. Check them out. TEAM WAX OFFROAD

 

[my99svt]

@nbomar @Ragnar406

 

[Carleton]

I have the R, my son has the X. They're both great. Fit, Finish, and Appearance is excellent. The R handles exceptional, especially when riding aggressive. The X handles great also. The R feels a little more stable in turns. Both jump great with a few suspension adjustments. It would be nice if the R had the tight turn radius like the X for tight low speed trails (normally not an issue). I really like all the shift options. No issues with the I-4wd, it works great for me. We serviced the X already. Everything is easy to access and simple to perform. They are not the fastest machines on the market, who cares..!! They are the all around total package in my opinion. A super version of my P1K-LE. LOL... Like my R more each time I ride. We have several videos on youtube. Check them out. TEAM WAX OFFROAD

I've kept my eye on your videos of the R and X. Thanks for putting those out there. Which one is funner? I know you'll probably say the R since you own that one ha ha.

 

[AlR]

Boys: The Talon has a ‘P’ark and no hand brake. If you’re in Park on a hill, is it difficult to move it into gear? Thoughts or impressions on this? I know there’s nothing we can do about this, but it’s a question I had.
Thanx

 

[Zmorris83]

Boys: The Talon has a ‘P’ark and no hand brake. If you’re in Park on a hill, is it difficult to move it into gear? Thoughts or impressions on this? I know there’s nothing we can do about this, but it’s a question I had.
Thanx

Same park as a Pioneer 1000 in a lighter machine. 4000 miles on the Pioneer and about 150 on the Talon. I've parked them both on fairly steep grades and never noticed any difficulty getting either out of park. There is some difficulty if you lock them in 4wd and winch against the parking pawl. Probably shouldn't do that anyway.

You can add a hand brake btw.

 

[AlR]

Same park as a Pioneer 1000 in a lighter machine. 4000 miles on the Pioneer and about 150 on the Talon. I've parked them both on fairly steep grades and never noticed any difficulty getting either out of park. There is some difficulty if you lock them in 4wd and winch against the parking pawl. Probably shouldn't do that anyway.

You can add a hand brake btw.

Thanx for that @Zmorris83. Who'd'a thought a hand brake would be an option!