Tag: history

Rich history in off-roading. Can-Am’s parent company (BRP) was founded by Joseph-Armand Bombardier all the way back in 1942. His plant manufactured multi-passenger snow transports, which he designed and took to Canadian market even earlier (winter of 1936–37). Today the company thrives with an international presence of over 6,800 employees. Bonus Fact: Can-Am ATVs are […] More »

Modern marvel. Humble beginnings. Evolved from a simple napkin sketch to a purpose built two-seat utility vehicle, Kawasaki revolutionized the side x side utility vehicle segment with the introduction of the Mule 1000, 30 years ago. Kawasaki saw a need in the market that was being underserved by the ATV segment, which generated the idea […] More »

Dear ATVC: I have a question related to the ATV industry. Have ATVs always had thumb throttles? Did the early ATVs have twist grip throttles? I was wondering when thumb throttles came to be and why? dbj216 Believe it or not, the very first ATV to be manufactured using motorcycle controls (unlike earlier ATVs, which […] More »

When your name becomes the name. Polaris is a pretty popular ATV manufacturer both in the United States and all over the world. Just how so? To the point where in many countries, particularly those around the Middle East, actually refer to all ATVs as a “Polaris” much in the way Americans call a photocopy […] More »

First of its kind. Last of its kind. All ATVs were single-cylinder until 1987 when Yamaha released the Banshee. It made use of a 349cc, 2-stroke, liquid cooled, twin-cylinder engine configuration. While many manufacturers have since followed up with twin cylinder engines in the time since, the Banshee remains the only factory 2 cylinder 2-stroke […] More »

Early farm help. Back in the early to mid-1970s, ATVs like the Honda ATC 90 (three-wheeler) had yet to establish a firm target market, farmers began to take interest in using them to get around and handle farm work. A big part of the appeal was that they were quicker, cost less and used 8% […] More »

Putting the power to the ground. Nearly all of the ATVs sold on the market today come equipped with fully automatic transmissions (except for a small percentage of the market consisting of sport and race models that use a manual clutch transmission) but this wasn’t always the case. Throughout most of the 80s and on […] More »