Stepping off the BX frame buys a real Category I hitch and a 1,411 lb three-point, roughly double what a BX lifts at the rear. At $20,017 it sits between the BX80 range and the L02 compacts, and it is the smallest Kubota that takes full-size rear implements.
0.97 PTO hp per $1,000 of list price
As published by the maker
On the price: The maker's own published starting figure for the base build. A dealer adds a loader, a deck and freight on top.
Lift figures are the maker's and are quoted at whichever point the maker chose; the about page explains why two loaders with the same number do not lift the same pallet.
Comes with
From owner discussion and long-term write-ups
Gathered from owner reports
Owners buy the B2601 for lift, and the ones who are happiest are the ones who also bought a third-function valve and a grapple. That combination comes up more than any other single recommendation in the file — owners call it a lifesaver for dead ash removal, a huge time saver on brush and rock, and the thing that makes the machine feel larger than it is. One owner on three acres with a grapple, forks, auger, landscape rake and box blade says he has never hit a job on his property the machine could not do, and has moved logs big enough to look absurd against it. A school maintaining 34 acres hit a hundred hours and cannot work out how anything got done before. Owners also point out the front-mounted hydraulic auger off the third function as an underrated choice: safer than a PTO post-hole digger, reversible if you get it stuck, and it takes a stump-grinding bit too.
The thing to know before buying is that this machine tips. The reports are numerous and they come from experienced people: a contractor who runs several says he has rolled all of his more than once, an owner in the British Columbia mountains flipped his and now tells buyers to order wheel spacers, another fitted two-inch spacers and calls the difference night and day, and one lifting a firewood tote on forks describes the front setting down with a rear wheel in the air. Owners who move full firewood totes can do it on flat ground with loaded tires and a box blade for ballast, going slowly, but not on off-camber ground — and the consensus is that loading a tote into a truck bed wants an MX-class machine. If your land is hilly, several owners who started here have moved up to an L or LX for exactly that reason.
The belly mower is the implement owners use least. The school reports the tractor is simply more functional with the deck off because of the clearance it costs; an owner on two hilly acres says mowing takes far too long and the machine is heavy enough to tear turf when the ground is wet, even on filled versa-turf tires, and is shopping for a zero-turn. Mechanically the machine is quiet in what owners write, with two faults worth knowing: the loader and three-point going dead while the backhoe still works, which two owners traced to failed hydraulic quick-connect couplers costing about $40 in parts after hours of hunting; and the PTO lever being easy to nudge while dismounting, which trips the safety and makes everything appear broken until you cycle it off and on.
Summarised from public owner discussion, not from testing. Nothing here was measured by this site, and a report that recurs is not the same as a defect rate.
Cross-shopped against
Same brand or same size, nearest in price
Kubota
Replacing the LX2610 as the entry point to the LX20 range, rated 23.3 gross hp from the indirect-injection D1305 with a three-range hydrostatic as the only transmission. It sits between the B01 series and the Standard L02 - more loader than a B2601, less hitch than an L2502, and about $2,900 dearer than the L2502.
Spec sheet & owner notes
Kubota
Cheapest hydrostatic B-series Kubota sells, sitting between the BX80 range and the B2601 on 20.9 gross hp from the 61.1 cu in D1005. It shares the B2601's LA435 loader, 8.3 gpm pump and 1,411 lb hitch outright - the difference between the two is 3.4 gross horsepower.
Spec sheet & owner notes
Kubota
Replaces the L2501 at the bottom of Kubota's Standard L range, now rated 23.3 gross hp where the older machine was rated 24.8. Same cast frame, all-metal hood and Kubota-built LA526 loader; the 8F/8R synchronised shuttle is the base build and a three-range HST is the alternative.
Spec sheet & owner notes