Talon New Talon X owner in Louisiana

[highpocket74]

Took me a while to figure out how to insert image from my media!

 

[Admin]

 

[JenElio]

Welcome to the club! From South FL

 

[Adam490]

Welcome from Covington, LA! Where do you guys ride at?

 

[highpocket74]

Locally, mostly Kisachie Sandstone Trail, best trail in Kisatchie. Although with this new 64" Talon X that might get culled. We've been riding there for years with 60" machines and have had no problems. We rarely see rangers and they've never said anything about width when we did. Just don't get caught on the road, even if you had to park there and unload! All the bridges are wide enough for 62" machines to cross with room to spare. But it's still "officially" 50" restricted. Grow up Louisiana!

We also have recently visited Sabine ATV Park, which is not completely a mud park. They do have some decent trails too.

For big trips we go to Arkansas quite often. Wolfpen/Fourche Mountain since 1998 almost annually, Mill Creek in 2017, Mount Magazine in 2019 to check it out. Returning to Magazine in April 2020 with 14 machines. Trails there are better than Wolfpen and the lodge is fine!

And of course around home, out in the country.

Colorado once in 2015. That was a great trip! Had 12 RZRs and multiple families.

Hatfield-McCoy once in 2013, 3-day ride guy trip to check it out. Would like to go back for a solid week! Schedules prevent many long trips.

Hidden Falls in Texas is on my short list right now, maybe in the Fall of 2020.

 

[Magnetic]

I'm near Baton Rouge and going to pick up my 1000X this week. I was wondering too if I would be able to get away with going into Sandstone with a 64" machine.

 

[highpocket74]

Looks like Kisatchie trails will be messed up for a while. Half the trail at Camp Livingston and all of Enduro Trail is closed for tornado damage. No telling how long it will take forestry service to clear the tails. They aren't too expedient! Sandstone will be closed till May as usual. That only leaves Claiborne open and you definitely can't go there over 50" because of gates. Seems like with all the closures, the forest service would keep Sandstone open but Louisiana is "different" than anywhere else. I've written numerous letters to the public relations person for Kisatchie and always get a politically correct answer with no clue as to future plans. I wrote a letter to the Lt. Governor over tourism and spelled out how much money trails bring into Mena, AR economy ($50 million annual impact in 2009). They said they would try working with the park service but that probably went nowhere. If it weren't for a good job and family, I'd leave this stupid state.

 

[highpocket74]

Figured I'd keep riding Sandstone till they give me a ticket. And when they do, it will probably be the last time for me. I'll take my ticket money and gladly travel to Arkansas! In 21 years of riding at Wolf Pen, we've met 2 park rangers on the trail and they only thing they asked was how we liked the trails!

 

[Adam490]

Looks like Kisatchie trails will be messed up for a while. Half the trail at Camp Livingston and all of Enduro Trail is closed for tornado damage. No telling how long it will take forestry service to clear the tails. They aren't too expedient! Sandstone will be closed till May as usual. That only leaves Claiborne open and you definitely can't go there over 50" because of gates. Seems like with all the closures, the forest service would keep Sandstone open but Louisiana is "different" than anywhere else. I've written numerous letters to the public relations person for Kisatchie and always get a politically correct answer with no clue as to future plans. I wrote a letter to the Lt. Governor over tourism and spelled out how much money trails bring into Mena, AR economy ($50 million annual impact in 2009). They said they would try working with the park service but that probably went nowhere. If it weren't for a good job and family, I'd leave this stupid state.

Sorry I missed your earlier reply. I try to ride Sandstone at least 3-4 times every year when they reopen it on my Rubicon. I've written to them as well but get the same canned response every time. I really enjoy that trail system and cannot for the life of me figure out why the hell they won't get their head out of their ass and keep it open longer. I'd love to ride the Pioneer up there.

 

[Ezgoin]

Bought a new 19 model Talon X this weekend from Covington Honda (great people from my experience). Had RZRs since 2012, prior to Honda getting in on the sport UTV race. An unfortunate fire destroyed my 16 RZR S 1000 (which I did like) and led me back to Honda. Only 31 testing miles this weekend on the Talon X but so far I'm impressed with the machine. Took Honda long enough to build!! Spent my life on Honda ATVs from ATC110 as a pup to TRX400EX. Loved the machines because they were stone ax reliable!!! Certainly hoping this Talon will reduce the number of spare parts I've had to carry around the last several years.

Welcome!!

 

[highpocket74]

Finally got to actually ride the Talon X this weekend. A few of us went to Sabine ATV Park. Not our favorite place to go but it's open, NF is not. Park was MUDDY!

This was a great learning to drive trip. Overall I'd say the Talon is not as great a beginner machine as you'd think. Too many options for the transmission and if you've never ridden atvs that require shifting it can be confusing.

I found that I like AT high mode for easy trail cruising, AT Sport Mode for attacking trails, but I prefer up shifting most of the time, MT Low for slow technical or climbing to prevent upshifts. I find that the transmission downshifts correctly for nearly all situations. I actually like being able to control the shifting! Reminds me of good old sport atvs. Plus it adds an element of driver engagement that is missing with CVT machines. Talon is like driving Indy car in the woods!

Steering is very accurate. More consistent and controllable than my previous RZRs. Ride is not as good as my RZR S but I"ll work on that. It's not terrible but choppy, mostly on the rear. Front suspension feels good.

I don't like the shifter with all those notches. I'll be replacing that with a CA gated shift plate.

Seats are comfy. The wife didn't complain all day.

Just my opinion. Even for those short comings in my opinion, if this thing is more reliable than my Polaris machines have been, I'm good!

 

[Montecresto]

View attachment 175194

Very nice. But I’m astonished that you had a fire on a RZR....🤔

 

[highpocket74]

Very nice. But I’m astonished that you had a fire on a RZR....🤔

I guess something low voltage electrical got wet while washing because there was a delay in the fire start of at least 35 minutes. It had been 3 hours since I had driven it off my trailer. Wasn't like the first time I'd ever washed it over a year and a few months of owning the RZR. It was very discouraging because I did like that RZR. I've never had ANYTHING catch fire before! But that's the end of the RZR. On to new things. I would have bought another one, but wanted to try the Talon and got a good deal on it. I grew up on Honda ATV's so back to the roots.

 

[Montecresto]

Great, I hope you enjoy it at least as much as you did your RZR...👍

 

[highpocket74]

So far I like the Talon. I don't think there is one perfect machine in the UTV world. Just have to choose what suits your riding style and roll it!

 

[highpocket74]

I guess something low voltage electrical got wet while washing because there was a delay in the fire start of at least 35 minutes. It had been 3 hours since I had driven it off my trailer. Wasn't like the first time I'd ever washed it over a year and a few months of owning the RZR. It was very discouraging because I did like that RZR. I've never had ANYTHING catch fire before! But that's the end of the RZR. On to new things. I would have bought another one, but wanted to try the Talon and got a good deal on it. I grew up on Honda ATV's so back to the roots.

The most astonishing thing about the RZR fire is that I'd not even heard of this happening to anything but Turbos. Afterward I found out from other people that a person living not too far from me had a similar fire after washing and parking. His was parked in his shop and burned the shop to the ground. LUCKILY that day, I had not parked RZR in my shop yet, like I normally do! That would have been a terribly great loss of other machines and tools!! So thankful for that!

 

[Montecresto]

So RZR’s need to park outside the first 24 hours after a bath....🤷‍♂️

 

[Ezgoin]

View attachment 175194

Finally got to actually ride the Talon X this weekend. A few of us went to Sabine ATV Park. Not our favorite place to go but it's open, NF is not. Park was MUDDY!

This was a great learning to drive trip. Overall I'd say the Talon is not as great a beginner machine as you'd think. Too many options for the transmission and if you've never ridden atvs that require shifting it can be confusing.

I found that I like AT high mode for easy trail cruising, AT Sport Mode for attacking trails, but I prefer up shifting most of the time, MT Low for slow technical or climbing to prevent upshifts. I find that the transmission downshifts correctly for nearly all situations. I actually like being able to control the shifting! Reminds me of good old sport atvs. Plus it adds an element of driver engagement that is missing with CVT machines. Talon is like driving Indy car in the woods!

Steering is very accurate. More consistent and controllable than my previous RZRs. Ride is not as good as my RZR S but I"ll work on that. It's not terrible but choppy, mostly on the rear. Front suspension feels good.

I don't like the shifter with all those notches. I'll be replacing that with a CA gated shift plate.

Seats are comfy. The wife didn't complain all day.

Just my opinion. Even for those short comings in my opinion, if this thing is more reliable than my Polaris machines have been, I'm good!

Welcome from SW Washington! You’ll love the X, but your expectation of minimum modifications will likely get expanded somewhat as you ride it more! Depending on your style of riding and the terrain, you may find that the suspension is just too stiff to be comfortable, especially as you’ve already noted in the rear! I just got my shocks/springs back from Shock Therapy and haven’t had the chance to take it out yet, but can already tell the trail riding will be vastly improved. Additionally, as some have noted, if you ride in dusty conditions the air filter life span will be unacceptable, unless you like installing a new $50 air filter every 100 mikes! I’m still hoping someone will soon come out with an ascetically acceptable and affordable snorkel or air intake relocation kit of some sort.
Beyond those things, you’ll get used to the shifting transmission and a few other quirks and learn to love the Talon!

 

[highpocket74]

Rode Talon saturday on nationa forest trails. Trees were TIGHT and trails very twisty. Not as relaxing squeazing 64" down a 50" trail! Getting used to the shifting now and getting the hang of using it to my advantage. Steering is very precise on dirt. Suspension on rooted trails was quite choppy but improves with speed.

 

[Tramguage1]

Welcome to the addiction from Central Texas.
Let me know when you want to do Hidden Falls. That's my local park(2hrs away) we can meetup and ride.
I think I have a few that want to ride there in the fall.

 

[highpocket74]

That would be fun! I'll keep that in mind for the fall.