ATV Industry Facts: Did You Know?

CVT. It’s easy as 1-2-3.

When it comes to ATV transmissions, the CVT reigns supreme. The Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) was known primarily for snowmobiling prior to making its way to the ATV scene. It’s an automatic system that uses two cone-shaped pulleys connected by a V-shaped belt.

The taper of the pulleys can be changed on the fly to keep the tension of the belt constant regardless of the engine’s RPM. In short this is a gear-less automatic that continuously varies the drive ratio.

The CVT design is so popular on account of the fact that it is considerably lighter and contains far fewer parts than a hydraulic geared automatic transmission popular in automobiles.

Bonus Fact: Youth ATVs often use automatic transmissions that are NOT CVTs but rather makes use a single broad gear that engages at a certain RPM and carries until reaching the machine’s rev limiter.