I have decided to get back into ATV riding. My last quad was in 1984 (I think) and was a Suzuki Quadsport 185. After looking on the net I have found there have been vast improvements in technology. I really like the Polaris Sport 400 but it is automatic. I have not purchased the bike yet but I come from gears. What are the disadvantages/cost performance between gears vs automatic. Thanks
Mark

 

The advantage to having an automatic is that you are thoeritically always in the right gear. When properly tuned, especially on the Sport 400 (I dont care what anybody says, its still the Sport to me)if you have a hopped up motor there is hardly anybody who can get you out of the hole. A very modded 400 (60+HP)can rev up to 7200RPM's, and with the right spring/weight combination you can set the engagement of you clutch to your liking (anywhere from 2000-nearly 4500RPM's). Meaning, when your clutch engages and starts moving the rear tires, you only have to build 2500 more RPMS till you topped out!

Of course the disadvantages are weight, a wider ATV, more maintenance, tuning requires a tachometer, and did I say weight? On the 4X4 models they can be a problem if they get wet, but a rider experienced with an auto can avoid that.

After just about every motor mod you will need to re-tune the clutch, which is really not that difficult, just time consuming.

I guess the biggest advantages are that they are user friendly, easy to operate, and offer the rider the opportunity to tune it to their riding style. Parts are easily accessable and not very expensive.

Polaris' all are inheirently heavy, but that is not all directly related to their auto tranny's.

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Jerry Goodman '99 400L, '98 TBlazer

 

Jerry
Thanks for you reply. I have gotten a few e-mails suggesting the same issues you mentioned. It has been quite some time since I worked on one but now is as good time as any to start again. I went and looked at a few friends quads today and I am really going to have to test drive the Polaris to make my descision but I will say that from my initial the Polaris just seems to be built a little better. Of course I am not biased its just a feeling. Guess I will waste some more time at work tomorrow looking around the net and evaluateing the opinions.

 

Mark,

What kind of riding are you going to do? Mud, sand, woods, ice, etc?

What style: Sport, recreation, utility?

Do you want to do any work with your machine?

If you are looking at the sport 400 then you need to look at 300EX, 400EX, Warrior, Banshee.

If you are into Sport Utility then there is a wider range: More Utility: Sportsman, Grizzly, Arctic Cat 500, Suzuki 500, Foreman 450. More Sport: Scrambler 400 and 500, Wolverine, Explorer, Magnum, Kodiak, Foreman 400, etc. I probably missed a bunch.

The more you can describe about your riding style and planned areas, the better the folks here can assist.

RM

 

rennym
Well I will be riding some trail mud open fields just about everything. I have looked at them all and went back to the Polaris Sport 400. I picked it up last night and I fell in love with it. Thanks for responding.
Mark

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No more calls please,we have a winner!!!!!!

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Kevin Gowdy aka Kagey 1999 Polaris Magnum 500

 

Congradulations on your new machine! I am going give you a few links that will probaly make you want to spend even more money! :-)

Here some nice Sports:

http://www.godigital-design.com/schultzmotorsports/
http://www.baselnet.com/atv2/own/page44.htm
http://www.baselnet.com/atv2/own/page41.htm
http://www.baselnet.com/atv2/own/page00.htm