Talon R 11,000 Mile Report

[hondabob]

The big test is to get it to 20,000 miles without any problems. All the belt drive UTV’s have belt drive problems way before 10,000 miles. I would like to put 50,000 miles on this Talon but I want the Talon 4 for my big solo remote rides and night rides. If I can sell it to one of my high mileage buddies I may get to see the super high mileage. At 20,000 I may decide to sell my low mileage 2020 Talon and put the miles on myself.

One of the forum guys noticed the oil jets for the pistons that are mostly used on Turbo engines. Another thing I noticed is the large cooling system. The fan goes off in about 15 seconds. Most UTV’s have it on for a minute or more. Honda really did a great job on the Talon making it Turbo ready. Without the Turbo engine life should be way better then the other UTV’s.

The 4WD system is amazing, I didn’t think I would like it. If your going to drive it up a tree with one front wheel on the tree the hard locker on the Pioneer is way better. For everything I ride it is working great.

The automatic shifting is really good. I do occasionally shift up or down so I really like the fact that I can override it. I always use manual mode in low range so it won’t shift at a bad time.

My Tusk Terrabite 30’s have 8 thousand miles on them now. It looks like I will get another 2 to 3 thousand miles out of them. I’m amazed that they don’t leak a bit with all the desert riding I do. I’m going back to 28’s for better 5th and 6th gear performance in the sand washes. Rocky Mountain has 2 tires that are 28’s for a 15 inch wheel.

 

[JACKAL]

Nice update. Be careful heaping praise on the I-4WD system or people who don't have it will be quick to opine that the full locker is the messiah for all things off road.

That said, I agree with you even though I only have a third kind that many miles on my P1K5LE.

Great to hear of your good luck with the Talon.

 

[CID]

You're setting a HIGH bar Bob. 👍

btw: I got my copy of your snorkel completed (but not up to the roof), thanks for the part numbers and terrific photos you posted. #beers I ended up removing the rear fender so I could better see what I was doing, being completely unfamiliar with what I was dealing with. I was amazed at the CAD complexity of the front edge of the (red) fender interlock with the black fender flare. That's very complicated joinery, I was fascinated that it fit together that well.

 

[dilligaff82]

Nice update. Be careful heaping praise on the I-4WD system or people who don't have it will be quick to opine that the full locker is the messiah for all things off road.

That said, I agree with you even though I only have a third kind that many miles on my P1K5LE.

Great to hear of your good luck with the Talon.

I don’t have i4wd in my P1k5 but I definitely won’t knock it. For the type of riding I do either system would work fine. I shouldn’t say this out loud here but I rode a Polaris Sportsman for years and enjoyed the hell out of their 4x4 system through all the snow mud and rocks New England has to offer.

Might be out of my league posting over here with you Talon boys since I don’t have one, but I’m leaning towards one as my next machine.

Shoutout to Hondabob for all of the great reviews of his machines. I aspire to be able to pile the miles on half as well as you someday.

 

[gtsum2]

Where do you ride and what’s average speed? I ran Terrabites for about 2 seasons in west va and they were almost gone at 2000 miles. Had a couple cuts in them as well so I switched to Tensors (much rougher tire...they lasted me about 3000 miles)


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[hondabob]

Average speed is 22 mph. We have to open and close lots of gates, do trail work, and some rock crawling. The winter riding is near Wickenburg Arizona. In the summer we ride up north near Prescott and Williams. We have lots of fast trails and sand wash. We try to keep the speed around 40 to 50 but the Turbo guys will hit 60 to 65 and of course we have to keep up. Its only short 300 to 500 yard sections. Most of the guys have raced motorcycles and still have the need for speed. One of my RZR buddies was using lots of oil so I asked him to lighten up on the throttle. He told me, Bob if I don't have it wide open I'm not having any fun. He used 3 quarts on the 170 mile ride. I do get it, I raced the Barstow to Vegas and the Mint 400 in the late 60's or early 70's and did several years of Enduro's. One of my friends broke his leg at age 81. He told me he will act his age and quit racing. He couldn't quit riding for the few weeks so he bought a motorcycle side car to ride until he healed up.

 

[gtsum2]

That’s a lot of great riding you all got going on. We do well to get about 1500 miles per year



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