New to the Honda SXS world as I run other SXS machines and lot of 250-400hp set ups out there which work great for the sand where I mostly ride other than ATV/ UTV's for trail/work use.
Since I've always liked and owned Honda's since the '70s for many reasons and other purposes, I've been doing a lot searching and not finding too much other than a Turbo option and curious what they are capable of handling and what is available.
So far I've found an additional 11hp stage 3INT tune.
What's the latest and greatest?
I'm sure you can muster up 300+ hp out of the Talon motor with enough money and the right skills but you used the "reliable" word. None of those high HP machines are going to be reliable. The clutch, belt, trans, gears, diffs, axles, etc. will never
reliably handle that much power.
There are reports of stock Talon pistons failing with the Jackson Turbo when used in long races. Also, someone here toasted their 1-3-5 clutch with the Jackson Turbo (although I believe he over boosted his and was getting a little more power).
You can
reliably add the Jackson Turbo (~165 HP) and for the dunes, I suggest replacing the pistons with some CP forged.
You can also
reliably do the Hess top end work (~135 HP) for a little cheaper and again, I suggest the forged pistons for the dunes.
DO NOT waste your money on exhaust and tunes, they are all BS and add little to nothing. The claimed HP gains are all just sales hype. They compare their worse stock dyno run against their best modded run when in reality, the average runs are much closer together. If they disclosed all the facts, they wouldn't sell anything.
11HP gain that PwrTune claims with an exhaust and a tune is a pipe dream. I had all that crap and it did nothing but make noise and run funky. The HMF and DynoJet tunes were not any better (or worse for that matter). I took it all off except I use that expensive tuner to raise the rev limiter and lower the fan temps.