Kawasaki Brute Force 650 4x4i

2006 Brute Force 650 4X4i review

• Currently 5/5 Stars.

by ridgrunr 2 years 211 days 7 hours 12 minutes ago
Pros: Just about everything.
Cons: Haven't found anything yet. It remains to be seen how the IRS handles side hills.

Ok folks. Here's my impressions of the 2006 Brute Force 650i after today's 63 mile ride. Nobody seems to know much about these things yet, so this is pretty detailed.

The machines I'm comparing this with are my 2004 Rubicon, 2002 Rancher, 2 2005 Brute Force 750's, a 2005 Brute Force 650 SRA, and a 2005 Rincon.

First ergonomics: Sitting on the 650i, everything feels like it's just where it should be. Handle bars and controls are perfectly situated for my 5' 10 ". It feels slightly wider between my legs than my Rubicon, probably is. The fuel tank is beneath the right rear fender, the space where the fuel tank used to be (now for the air filter) is short, and this lets you sit a little farther forward than the Rubicon did. The seat comfortable, about as soft as my Rubicon, not as soft as a Polaris. And the seat is long so there's lots of room to move around. I can mount my Tamarack rack pack on the rear rack, and my wife can still ride with me with the pack on. I like that long seat.

It's a little taller at the seat than my Rubicon was, probably 1-2 inches. You'll feel it when mounting from the side. You have to remember to not drag your foot across the seat. But it's not as tall as the 750. I kept forgetting that I didn't have a rear differential hanging down back there, and at first found myself trying to avoid the rocks. After awhile I got over that. It has lots of clearance. I wish it had a little better skid plate than the 1/8th inch of plastic underneath. I'll probably change that. I already replaced all the A arm/CV joint protectors, having made some out of black nylon semi truck mudflaps that protect front, rear and underneath.

As you climb on the Brute, you notice it rolls a little to the side that you are climbing on from. That's the first indication that this is an IRS machine. It definitely responds to body movement. That's one thing that frustrates me on the SRA machines. When I leaned left, there wasn't much indication that you were leaning. It pretty much stayed at the same attitude because of the SRA. On the 650i when you lean left, the machine leans left. I think it responds to body movement well, at least the feeback tells me it's doing something.

Starting: You can start the machine in gear, any gear. You don't have to put it in neutral to start the bike. Just apply the brakes, any brake, and push the start button. That's slick.


The thumb throttle is flat fide and comfortable. Maybe a little more comfortable than my Honda's lever, but it also has a stiffer spring (two carbs?), so I felt my thumb getting tired where I hadn't noticed that on the Rubicon.

Standing up while riding the 650i is terrific. It feels natural, and very comfortable while riding standing up, allowing me to easily shift my body weight when I needed to.

Speedometer display is great. It shows you 4X4, speed, fuel, time a couple of idiot lights for oil and neutral and has two tripometers in addition to the odometer. I like that. One I can set to keep track of mileage since last refuel, an the other I can set to show the distance of the entire ride. The modes of the entire display are easy to use.

I wish the grips were long like the ones on my Hondas. I feel the long grips are more comfortable. Honda also has grip plugs in the holes in the ends of the grips that help keep water out of the bars after washing or dunking. I can imagine water building up in there and slowly rusting out the bars from the inside out. I plugged up the holes in the grip ends with a couple of expanding rubber plug nuts that I got at Ace Hardware.

I also like the brake light on the 650i. It's good to know if the guy in front of you has hit the brakes. It works when any of the brakes are applied.

The racks on the 650i (in fact all of the 06 Brute Forces) both front and rear no longer have the top loop, so the racks are just flat. After my over the bars episode on the Rubicon I've decided that top loop isn't a great idea. If I hadn't had that soft Tamarack rack bag on there, I think that top loop would have broken my back when that machine landed on me. So I'm not sad that the 650i doesn't have one. It does have the Tamarack back on there. I won't ever ride without a soft (air) bag on the rear rack again.

The tubes that the racks are made out of have less diameter tubes than the Rubicons. It think the Rubicons may have been about 1 inch in diameter and the 650i has 7/8 in diameter. That may not be exact, but they are not as beefy. The 650i also has a flat black wrinkle finish on the racks. Looks good new, but when you get a place where the paint has been worn off, it's more noticable.

Brakes are terrific. The rear foot pedal isn't underneath your foot when you are in normal riding mode like I'm used to having. You have to pick up your foot and move it forward to push the rear brake, sort of like a cruiser motorcycle. However, the brakes are linked, so the lever on the left bar accuates both front and rear. I found myself using it almost exlusively. Front brakes are stong and predictable. Kawasaki seems to have gotten this right with the rear sealed differential brake.

The plastic on the 650i is more plasticy (harder) than the plastic on the Rubicon. It's thicker too, but I don't think the plastic on the 650i would have survived the flip over as well as the rubbery plastic on the Rubicon did. The Camo on the 650i also scratches and scuffs less than the Kawasaki shiny plastic. It think it will look better longer.

Power: Wow! This thing flat haules A _ S! Serious power. More than the 650 SRA I rode a couple of weeks ago. It feels very much like the Brute 750. I won't know how it'll stack up against a 750 till I get it broke in, but I'll bet it's close. REAL CLOSE! You nail the throttle and the rear end sort of squats as that thing takes off like a rocket. On a well packed dirt road, it'll power wheelie in high range 4X2. In low range, you better hang on when you nail that throttle or you'll find yourself sitting on your butt in the dirt. I don't know if it's as fast top end as the 750 (this one is new so I never got above 50), but it's got to be close. It feels like it accelerates just as hard. I am sure it will smoke a 650 Rincon, and probably the 700 too. I've never ridden a Grizzly, so can't say about that one. 50 mph feels like it's just loafing. Very stable at 50. The Rubicon top end was 54. I'm thinking this thing will easily hit 70. Feels like it's super charged. At anywhere between 30 and 40 if you nail the throttle the rear end will break loose.

Slow speed Power: The Rubicon has to be the king of tractability and slow speed power. Nothing has a smoother transmission. It'll spin the tires, but is better at putting just the right amount of power to the ground. The 650i isn't quite as smooth, but it's darn close. Ultra slow speed crawling feels very controllable. The 650i is smoother at crawling speeds than the 750. The 750 can be hard to ride smoothly at crawling speed. If you nudge the throttle too much, it'll take a leap. The power of the 650i can be modulated very finely, feeling much more like the Rubicon, but if you smack the throttle the acceleration is unreal. Even with stock jetting there is no burble or hesitation. My buddies with the 750's have had them everwhere between 200 ft and 11,000 ft with stock jetting and the machines have run perfect at all altitudes. I hope the 650i is the same.

The engine is smooth too. The V-tiwn has great balance. Almost no vibration. It starts right up when it's cold by turning on the choke, but you need to get the choke off almost right away.

Engine braking: Sometimes it almost feels like it's too much. In high range, it's usually ok, but it feels like the brakes have been put on. In low range, on down hills in 4X2 it will lock up the rear wheels. It'll slow the machine to a halt unless you to feed it a little gas on down hills to keep the machine going. Make sure you have a firm grip on the bars as you could find yourself eating handle bars when you let off the gas. It almost feels like you've put the brakes on, which you have to do very seldom.

Handling: This is my first IRS machine. When I got it all the shocks were set to the softest setting. The first thing I noticed is that it seems to dive to the outside in hard corners, especially on the front. Off cambers (hated them on the Rubicon and still do) had the machine feeling like it wanted to track down hill. I was able to really put my weight up hill, and that helped. It also helped to set the front shocks on the 3rd (out of 5) settings. I set the rear on 2nd. This seemed to really help the body roll, in both the turns and on off cambers (which I still hate). This also helped allow comfortable power slides in the turns. Just add throttle in the turns and the rear end will drift out just fine. I'm don't think it's as stable as the SRA Rubicon in a slide, but it does fine.

I had my dog Roxey (black lab) in a basket on the front rack for a lot of the ride. She likes to run when the going's slow, but rides when the speed pick up. She's a pretty good rider, but doesn't like speeds above 30 too much. I was sailing behind by brothers 450 Foreman, at about 35 when we hit a talcum powder dust bowl (man nothing makes dust like a quad!). Visibilty suddenly dropped to about fifteen feet, and suddenly there was a 12 in wide and 12 inch deep gully right across the road. The dust was so thik I didn't see Russ hit it, and by time I saw it, there was no time to hit the brakes. I knew if I hit that thing with the brakes on, it would bounce Roxey right out of her basket. So I instantly reverted to the time honored motorcycle rule...when in doubt gas it! So I did, and nailed the throttle. The thing accelerated like my 73 Dodge Challenger six pack did. Rear end squated down and it lauched at warp speed. We sailed over that gully like it wasn't even there. We barely felt it. Even at 35 mph the 650i had plenty of power to unweight the front end so it sailed right across, and the IRS rear end soaked up the other end so we hardly felt it it at all. Pretty impressive. Roxey was happy.

Ok so what did I not like?: The gas tank under the right rear fender is a neat idea, but...it's almost impossible to pour gas in to it from a can without pouring some on the fender. The tank neck sits low in the fender, so gas starts pouring before you get the nozzle in the hole.

I wish you could put it in or out of 4X4 on the fly. You have to stop. On my Rubicon (with the Warn 424 select) I could put it in or out of 4X4 on the fly as long as the wheels weren't spinning.

On the 650i it takes between 3-5 feet to get the machine to go into or out of 4X4, so you need to plan ahead. If you don't you may get stuck as I don't know if the thing will shift into 4X4 if it's not able to roll. Maybe it would if the wheels could just turn, but by then it's probably too late.

I'm not sure I like the pull lever on the left bar to engage the front end locker. It feels a little awkward, especially if you are standing on the machine. But then again, having the locker is an option I never had on the Honda's at all, so that's a step up no matter how you look at it.

The thing is louder than the Rubicon. Not exhaust loud as that's pretty nice, but engine noise, mechanically loud. But then I guess it has one more cylinder, valve train, carburator, exhaust, and the cluch system. I think I'll be wearing ear plugs more on the 650i.

The tires are crap. Cheap 2 ply Dunlops. I think they add to the feeling of roll in turns and off cambers as the side walls have serious flex. I can see a set of Radial ITP Mud Lights in my future.

I wish Kawasaki would use stainless steel exhaust and silencers like Honda does. They don't rust out and stay looking better longer.

No storage. The Rubicon and the Rancher both have great rear storage trunks. There's almost no storage on the 650i. The 650i does have two super neat rubber netted pockets in the back of both front fenders, and a small tool kit under the seat, but no other storage. You can "buy" an optional cannister that bolts opposite the silencer that's supposed to make it look like dual exhaust, but the cannister ($46 I think) is only big enough to hold a roll of toilet paper. It's sort of cheesy. There's plenty of room to put a decent storage compartment beneath the rear cowling if they'd replace the single tail light with dual tail lights that would open up a large place just below the rear rack.

The two power bus plugs (one at each end) of the wire loom need to be replaced. One is under the right frame rail just beneath the fuel tank vent, and the other is under the front cowling, just in front of the steering head. Front and rear plastic and racks have to be removed to access them. Kawasaki doesn't seem to acknowledge that they are a problem, but they are. Water can and will get to them which causes corrosion and circuit failure, causing loss of cooling fan, overheating, etc. It's easy to fix, but takes about four hours to do both ends. I did away with both plugs all together and soldered the wires together, then sealed them up tight.

Well that's all I can think of...as if that isn't enough. I just hope the thing has the reliability of a Honda. The 750's and Prarie's I ride with have been great so far. Time will tell. So far I'm loving it.

[img]http://pageproducer.sisna.com/fnowens/bf650i.jpg[/img] (alt+p)

[img]http://pageproducer.sisna.com/fnowens/bf650i2.jpg[/img] (alt+p)

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