20 years ago, My dad brought home a brand new Honda Recon for use on the farm. I can't even begin to imagine how many miles I put on that thing, but it still runs like a top...fires up as soon as you touch the starter and purrs like a kitten. Right after my wife and I married, I went through a motocross phase, racing locally and just riding with every free minute I had. I stayed hurt too much, though, and my time on the bikes declined. By the time we moved to our current home, I had sold all but one bike. I kept it around to cruise around our property, as well as the numerous dirt roads and abandoned quarries nearby (we live in a really rural location). I was about to take a ride one day when my neighbor rolled past the house in a new 2016 1000-3 in Orange. He stopped to chat and I admired his new toy. I had never seen one and didn't even know Honda made a side by side. I held on to the bike for a couple more years, but we had 2 small children that were growing more adventurous. I would slowly ride them around the yard and my own trails, but I wasn't about to take a 2-stroke MX bike down a public road with a kid straddling the seat.
One nice spring day in 2018, we had all loaded up in my truck and were exploring some dirt roads with the windows down when I looked over at my wife and said, "I think we need a 4-wheeler." She nodded in agreement and a couple of days later I headed to a Honda dealership, already being a diehard fan of the Honda reliability I had experienced from that legendary Recon. I had plans to purchase a Rancher, thinking it would be big enough to ride one kid at a time, or just carry the wife and I when we had a kid-free day. When I got there, however, the Pioneer 500 caught my eye. I talked to the salesman about it for a while, test drove it, debated between it and a 700, and finally decided on the 500 because I could fit it in the bed of my truck. I brought it home and unloaded just in time for my wife and kids to get home from school, and the looks on the kids faces made it worth any price I could have paid. My 7 year old son's first comment was, "Daddy bought a golf cart!", which made me second guess myself at first! Then we all loaded up and rode around for the rest of the day. My initial thought was that they would ride one at a time with me...little did we all know just how much both wife and kids would love it! I needed more room.
I loved my 500, and it was my first introduction to this site. I signed up pretty quickly, though I mostly lurked (and still mostly lurk!). Within a couple months, however, I broached the subject of getting a bigger one to my wife, but also keeping the 500. To my surprise, she was completely on board. I went ahead and sold my last bike, then emailed some dealers asking for OTD prices on the 700-4 models, and one in particular caught my attention with their straight answer, no attempt at getting me in the door before giving me a price, upselling me, nothing. I loaded the family up and we went to visit the dealership. I talked shop with the salesman for quite some time while the kids and wife checked out the increased size and seating capacity of the 700. I shook his hand, told him I'd be back, and took a quick glance at a 1000-5 on the way out the door. Nice, I thought, but more than I need, and a good bit more expensive. I took about a week to think about the purchase, and decided to go pick up the 700-4 on my next day off. I made the trip to the dealer and was there when they opened their doors that morning. As I strode in to find the salesman I had talked to, I did a double take at the price on the brand new 1000-5 I had looked at. It was lower than the price of a brand new 700-4! I found the salesman to inquire about it and he told me that they were trying to make some room for different models and the 1000-5 happened to be one that was selected to be reduced. I figured it was a no-brainer and told him to start the paperwork. It has been an absolutely amazing machine for us, and I have definitely put it through its paces. The entire family loves it, and we ride whenever we have a chance and the weather's nice. I sadly totaled the 500 last year, and still sometimes think about getting another one as it was such fun machine, though a Talon is very tempting also! This site has been the best resource for information I have seen anywhere, about anything. You guys are awesome!