Mine stayed bone stock until the entire warranty was up. Well... Except for tires. The wheels I bought were the same diameter as the rear stockers, asked my dealer if that presents a problem with warranty claims. He said as long as they're not bigger than stockers, no problem.
Abuse? What is abuse to one person may not be to another. What defines abuse can vary, because folks will have different opinions. I didn't vote.
Clearly, extreme careless usage that goes against common sense causing abnormal damage is not a factory defect and shouldn't be covered by warranty anyway.
I ride mine in such a way, many will call that abuse. But that's just their opinion... Only because the way I ride may be drastically different from the way they ride. Doesn't mean its abuse though, as I'm actually very easy on a machine. My toys seem to have an overall longer lifespan than the average. My snowmobiles are an example of this. Hope my ATV is an example one day too.
I've not broken any axles, CV joints, drivetrain parts, etc. Everything lasted as expected except for known issues that were repaired properly under warranty, no questions asked.
What you don't hear a lot on forums, is the folks who are satisfied and have no problems. Failures & fixes account for a small percentage of total sales... You just never get the other 99-/+% folks constantly posting "Still good, nothing broken, No warrantly claims." etc. This maginfies the effect of hearing only a few of all the voices that own motorized toys.
If a manufacturer sold 100,000 ATVs, and you found 1000 people posting problems on forums... Not hearing from the other 99-/+% of owners makes it look worse than it might really be.
:chug: