What's with that heel-toe shifter? I've seen a couple of people struggling with that thing out on the trail and couldn't see it's practicality.
This has to be the worst shifter avaiable. How do you ride standing up?

 

Roman, once you have the heel toes shifter and get used to it, it is great. I loaned my 4 wheeler to my friend this summer and he had no problems with the shifter. in fact he just got a King Quad and he hates the "normal" shifter that is on there and plans to buy an aftermarket heel toe shifter. if you have to wear big heavy boots because of the extreme cold or mud and water you ride through it is very convienent not having to try and slide the toe of your boot under the shifter and lift up on it. you just hit the back of the shifter to go into a higher gear and step on the front to go into a lower gear. all i can say is dont knock it untill you try it and give it a fair chance. if it is really that bad then there is always the AC 500 Automatic.

Stay Muddy

 

I love the toe/heal shifter on my '00 ac500. It did take a few tries to get used to it but now its second nature .The shifter had never been an issue whether standing, sitting, in mud snow or water BUT your post did get me to thinking. While the thoughts never crossed my mind before i was wondering, how do guys with 'standard' shifters shift while standing up? ( generally speaking i only do recreational riding and work around the farm BUT i cant ever remember shifting while standing when i used to ride the old yami moto4, i seemed to recall always having to sit down to shift as it was very uncomfortable to shift while standing)

 

Basically its like this, if you don't like the shifter, get a different quad. I see no shortcomings of it. Arctic Cats are all utility quads, and sport riding isn't quite their forte anyway. I ride standing up at times and I don't have any problems. If someone is actually "struggling" to shift it, then they probably can't ride very good to begin with. Its not really that hard of a concept to grasp. I can shift with it as good as I can with the regular shifter that my previous 3 quads had. Sure its a little different at first, but in two days, its nothing.

Take it this way. Presume that you never rode any quad before in your life. Now say you start out with the heel toe shifter. It would be no different to figure out that the regular shifter. People are a little different to the regular kind the first time they ever ride it, then they get used to it. Same thing here, only the majority of people are already used to a different kind, so therefore the heel toe is wierd to them.

To tell the truth, I've only seen one AC owner here that didn't care for the shifter. Mainly, its only non-AC owners that have a problem with it, and what do they matter anyway.

You can always pay $20 to get a regular shifter for it anyway, so its nothing to even bother talking about. Old Hat.

 

Yea, shifting while standing up is alittle hard. You have to find away to balance yourself on your right foot then shift. I'm thinking of trying the toe shifter to see if it will make it easier for me to ride. Since I find my riding style alittle aggressive I think I might like the toe shifter better, but I will see I guess.

 

I think standing up is where the heel toe shines. Granted I have never used anything but the cat shifter. I wear a size 12 boot which performs flawlessly while shifting, I can't imagine how I could get the toe of my bog boots under the front of a conventional shifter. I also think that the angle your foot would be at while standing would make it hard to lift the front of your foot versus simply pushing down with your heel.
Anyway, to each his own.

Cheers Jim

 

I think the key here is new riders trying to ride with there feet over both heel & toe shifter, I ride with my feet off the shifter until you must shift. The other concern about these shifters & sport rideing is true, they are not the best for standup sport riding, but then Cats are not sport machines ( exhonda's or wolverines ). I ride a lot standing up but don't find much problem shifting, maybe a little slower but so what. What I think you will find is that anybody who uses a heel toe for more than a quick trial usually would refuse to go back to toe shifter! Me included.

 

Well said.