Howdy everyone, I am new to this wonderful forum and have a question. I am new to Quads bought a 2007 Honda TRX680. Found myself in rough terrain in the Sierras and want to know what is the benchmark for changing out of automatic gear to manual low gear? Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks
Cathy

 

Where you riding in the Sierra??? We ride the southeastern Sierra, Bishop/Mammoth area mostly, and the Inyos on the utility quads.

I would say for cruising the flats stay in auto, but for hills, you may want to hold it in a lower gear.

Your title says "downhill", so that is a bit confusing. Are you aware that the Rincon has no engine compression braking below 8 mph (it's all brakes to hold yourself back...no help from the engine!)??? Is this why you are asking???? Putting it in a low gear isn't going to help, because it is going to be freewheeling....

 

Yep that is exactly why I was asking. Didn't want to burn out the brakes, guess I better review my operation book. We ride the Sweetwater Range just north of Bridgeport. Beautiful area and very remote. Thanks for your help.

 

For me, no engine braking is a fatal flaw for the Rincon, and one reason I never recommend it to anyone! It's fine for flat land, but I wouldn't want to do any technical downhilling on it. We could have told you that before you bought it!

 

Yeah, engine braking starts around 6 mph or so, but a really steep hill will have you doing 12 or so if you don't use the brakes. My Foreman in the same situation could hold 2-3 mph.

The thing has great ride and handling, and is very reliable, but having to hold the brakes all the time on steep technical decents gets old to me.

For some (like Reconranger) this is a fatal flaw. Other folks don't seem to be bothered at all. I guess I'm in the middle, and consider it an annoyance, but the machine's strong points still makes me happy with the choice.