Hello to all. I have a 1980 Honda ATC 185 that I am fixing up. I would like to know if anyone knows what the shifting pattern is for these bikes. past experience working on Hondas back in the seventies was that it was usually 1 down, 3/4 up. I did have this running briefly but not enough to know the pattern. Also, there is a neutral indicator shaft. Mine may be missing the indicator that goes on the splined shaft. Anyone have an idea what this looks like? Clymer manual does not show it.

 

i have a 83 185s mines all the way down is neutral and you just pull up through the gears i dunno if this will help you but

 

is it a clutch bike?

 

oldmanriver i like that handle , i have an INTERTEC MANUAL * 2nd edition It's not an O.E.M. manual and it cover's Honda , Suzuki , Kawasaki , Yamaha and polaris brand ATC's and ATV's ! The only thing in my manual about your Honda ATC 185 is that in has 5 forward speed's , it only cover the the ATC 185 and the ATC 200 and nothing about reverse on these model's ; only the ATC 200ES show's a reverse gear according to this manual ! If it has a reverse there should be a small red botton on the left side handle bar , even it doesn't have the red botton the redcap that cover's the revevse bottle could've came off over the year's ; just look for a round shaped botton on the left handle bar ! It will be next to the parking brake , as best as i can remember you push down on the botton with your index finger ( the one next to your thump ) ; Then squease the brake lever then shift up or down , but before you try to push in the botton make sure you don't squease the brake lever or it won't engauge the reverse ! If there is no botton it doesn't have reverse gear , in that case the shift pattern is probally 1 down and 4 up ; or 1 up and 4 down ! But i'm almost positive it's 1 down and 4 up ! It has be to be one or the other , my youngest brother had 2 Honda ATC's i think one was a 110 and other a 150 and i don't think either of his had a reverse gear ; he is probally running around looking for yard sale's unless he had to work today ! I'll try to get ahold of him with he get's home he rode those little 3 wheeler's just about anywhere i rode my old Honda TRX 350 Foreman Full time 4x4 , i rember tunning them up for him and he let me ride both of those little sucker's ; the first one i asked him to let me ride ( like to have scared me to death ) and the second one i said no way i'll ride that thing ! But he kept after me untill i gave in and tryed it , same thing as the first only it had alot more power to it ; he almost laughed himself to death over that ! It wasn't that funny to me i probablly could have got the hang of it ! But i'm a Bilateral amputee lost both leg's below the knee's in 1975 when i was trying help push a freind who had ran out of gas push his car out of the road , another car came over this little two lane black top road going way over the speed limit and road condition's and caught me between the bumper's ; it took about 3 yrs before my doctor gave the ok for me to drive again ! I ride ATV's all the time it's just those three wheel'ed one's that still scare me , and my first ATV was a 1986 Honda TRX350 Foreman full time 4x4 i kept it till my brother i'm typing about talked me into selling him the Honda ; because i had 2 ATV'a at the time the Honda and a 1993 Suzuki LTFDXP 300 King Quad ! He finally wore me down and i sold him the Honda , and in Feb. 07 2006 i bought a new Arctic Cat 400 FIS Auto with the Suzuki 376cc engine and the suzuki Duramatic belt/driven clutch ; and a week later i sold the Suzuki 300 KQ to same brother for his wife to ride trying to keep 2 ATV's running and in good shape just finally kept me broke the lyear before i sold them ! Well sorry for such a long reply , i tend to do this much to often , so i hope this is of some help to you and have a good and safe weekend ! ........................

 

mike121121 in my manual it only has two type chutch's in these model 's the centrifugal clutch type and the multiple disc clutch , the centrifugal is automatic work's kind of like go kart or mini bike and chain saw's ; and the multi disc type witch is more like the later model 's with the Semi- manual clutch type you see ATV's of today ( if i'm wrong please correct me ) ! Like i said in my earlier reply i never got the hang of the body engish for riding them myself , but my brother and some cousin's of mine loved those little bugger's and could go almost anywhere my 86' Honda TRX 350 Foreman full time 4x4! and some place's i wouldn't even try If i could ride one i would buy a manual for it , you could save enough money on one simple service or repair one repair alone from a dealer ; if you are lucky enough to find a dealer who'll even touch a trike ! A simple tune-up oil chang clutch ajustment any of these a dealer would charge more than a good manual ! You can find them on ebay and some of the ebay store's , i hope you can get it going oldmanriver ; and good evening to all on the forums ! ..............................

 

First of all, Thanks very much for the quick response to my post! And "oldmanriver" is a name one of my daughters pinned on me quite some time ago. Not sure why but it stuck.

Anyway, I will check the shifting per the responses I got from everyone. I haven't worked on bikes since the late 70's before I went in the service. But this ATC185 is pretty darn close to the old Trail 70's and other cool bikes Honda had in those years. So I am back into the bike thing again after almost 30 years and having a blast with it. Yuck, anyone remember those gawd awful things called the Honda Express??? Had the pleasure (not) of fixing a lot of those rascals in the day.

Anyone have an idea what the shift/neutral indicator looks like?? Like most everyone here, I scour Ebay all the time for parts and haven't seen this particular item at all.

Again, thanks for the great responses from all who answered my post. Have a great weekend!

 

oldmanriver i have a spare 185 engine if i knew what the neutral indicator looked like or where abouts in the engine it was i could probly sell you one if you can get me a picture or a location in the engine

 

I have a 82 185s and its all down. 5 gears down.. all the way up is neutral no reverse. The nutral indicator is right by the shift lever. Its a splined shaft with a plastic piece on it with an arrow. it points to n when your in neutral. I took mine off when i rebuilt the pull start and never put it back on. its pretty tough to bend over and look to see if your in neutral. I think its just there so you dont start it in gear.

 

Thanks to all again!

BrandonH, thanks for the info on what it is. Sounds like something that I will just make out of a collar with a set screw and maybe put a notch in it or something.

Mike 121121, Thanks for your offer. I do need a sprocket cover if you have one by chance that you'd like to part with. Otherwise I will just surf good old Ebay for one. Only downfall to Ebay is that once you get on there, you end up spending hours gawking and drooling over stuff you want to bid on or buy, lol.

If anyone needs any info or help on the old, old Hondas from the 70's, give me a shout. Thanks again!

 

i need a sprocket cover myself lol