I talked to my AC dealer for over a month, asking every question I could come up with and prying about repairs made. They have been Ac dealers for about 6 or 7 yrs now and have sold tons of them despite being a small shop. He said he has never had to do any repairs in any auto trans. yet with the exception of a shaft bearing on the motor block side that was a warranty repair. I played with both the manual and auto. and I decided that I could live with the power loss of the auto. for the ability to be a bit lazy on the machine and also knowing that in a year or two it will belong to my wife when I buy a 500 or bigger when they come out.

 

Clutch

Looks like a Yamaha Kodiac CVT with the addition of a clutch before the primary sheave.....interesting.