Tag: history

Let the sky be your guide. The first ATV to come with integrated GPS navigation from the factory was from Honda over 10-years ago. The 2004 FourTrax Rancher AT GPSCAPE recognized the value of global positioning and probably couldn’t have predicted a few years later that nearly everyone of us would have GPS tracking in […] More »

First of its kind. A majority of the ATV manufacturers didn’t take development of four-wheelers seriously until 1988 when, after a lengthy investigation by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, it was deemed distributors would no longer be allowed to market three-wheel ATVs and manufacturers had to repurchase any unsold three-wheel models from dealer inventory. […] More »

To whom do the top honors belong? Polaris Industries Inc. is the largest manufacturer of snowmobiles in the world, but the second-largest maker of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). The top spot still belongs to Honda. And though it may be best known as a snowmobile-maker, Polaris now generates only about 14 percent of its revenue from […] More »

Meet Edgar; an important common link. The top two American ATV brands share both a common founder and founding state. Edgar Heeten formed Arctic Cat in 1960 in Thief River Falls, Minnesota and prior to that he was co-founder of Polaris Industries in Roseau, Minnesota around 1954. Edgar Hetteen, a farmer before heading off to […] More »

If we have to have four wheels, might as well allow all of them to drive. Honda was the first to bring 4-wheel-drive to the ATV game in 1986 with their TRX350 4×4. It boasted such modern day features as a limited-slip front differential, a vibration-reducing counterbalancer and a fan-assisted oil cooler as standard equipment. […] More »

Red means stop! While it’s easy to assume that the value of brake lights in the realm of ATVing was fairly obvious from the onset. After all, dim and low-light night riding is generally a staple in the off-roading arena. Not so! Tail lights were strictly optional throughout most of the 80s and brake lights […] More »

Can you name the first production ATV? Not so fast. The answer is more complicated than you’d think. Unlike the automotive industry, there is some debate about what really was the first production ATV. The general consensus is that the honor belongs to Honda’s US90 three-wheeler, which was exported to the United States back in […] More »