MENTION QUAD bikes to 100 people and, without doubt, Honda will top the league table of ‘names’ followed by – in no particular order – marques like Suzuki, Yamaha and Polaris.

I doubt if anyone will come up with ‘Odes’ (pronounced Odess), which is a Chinese manufacturer that has been quietly working away in the UK through its Scottish-based importer for some six years.

But, as that importer, Chris Moir, of Agri-Services, of Newmilns, in Ayrshire, is keen to point out, they are becoming much better known given the fact that he reckons that a couple of hundred are now on farms throughout Scotland, with some into England as well.

“We’ve been selling the Odes quads for six years and, to be fair, it has only been recently that the name has become a wee bit better known,” he told The SF.

What is clear, though, is that the Chinese manufacturer is here to stay and is keen to put into practice what users feel might be weaknesses in design and engineering.

“We’ve found that whatever we pass back to the manufacturing guys in China, is very quickly acted upon,” points out Chris. “There is no doubt that they want to make the product better and part of that is listening to what customers want, from wherever they are in the world.”

The main model which would be of appeal to farmers is the Odes Workman 400, which is, in fact, a 360cc petrol-engined quad that is quite unshamedly based on what was the old Honda TRX350, a model which the Chinese company used to make under licence for Honda.

What is immediately apparent is that the Odes technology has not moved on terribly much since that was a popular workhorse in the late 1990s. But that should soon change with the introduction of a full CVT transmission model later this year, with a diesel ATV and quad scheduled in for the beginning of next year.

For now, farmers will have to rely on either the semi-automatic Workman 400 with a heel and toe operated change, or the full electro-shift model with thumb lever ups and downs.

But, being a bit behind the times in terms of sophistication comes at a price – and this time it’s in the buyer’s favour. The Workman 400 with semi-automatic comes in at a miserly £4000, which is a smidgin’ off being half the price of some big-named models. A full-automatic thumb-change comes for about £300 more.

Also included in the price, though, is a 2200lb capacity front winch, load racks front and back, plus windshield guards for the operator’s hands.

Areas where older models fell down on, like a fading digital dash and a rather antiquated suspension and braking system, have recently been addressed. So that means disc braking and independent springs both front and rear and a UV protected dash.

There is no ‘start in gear’ facility with the Workman and, to be fair, the gearchange can be a bit ‘notchy’, though with time, while the quad was on test, it became easier to cope with the idiosyncrasies of the foot pedal change.

The Workman has a nominal top speed of 50mph, though it takes some getting there with the five-speed (one reverse) gearbox. It is not the quickest responding quad I’ve ever been on, so don’t expect to win many races.

But, as a cheap and cheerful quad for stock watching or getting from A to B, then it is fine enough for that. It will pull a small trailer, but would maybe need a bit more oomph for doing that day in day out.