I'm a bilateral amputee with both leg's off just below the knee's from an automobile accident in 1975 , from being hit from behind by another car while helping a friend push his Dad's Classic 1958' Chevy Impala out of the road after running out of gas ; my first Honda was a 1969 Honda CB160 and my second Honda was a 1972 Honda CB450 with a new 1975 CB750 Twin Cylinder Engine on the CB450 Frame !

Both these Street bike's were the reason i bought a 1986 Honda TRX350FM Foreman 4x4 when i got my first quad , no auto shift's back then so i made a hand shifter from a handle bar and plastic finger style grip from an old lawn mower ; but i was use to shifting gear's before i lost my leg's i was a truck driver before i lost my leg's !

I still love Honda they are great machine's , but where i ride the
most is in the mountain's with some very rough terrain ; and shifting with one hand and the other on the handle bar's can be dangerous so an auto shift would be better for me !

I have alot more upperbody strenth than most rider's because of the fact that i don't have legs below the knee's and this make's me use my arm's and upper body more than most rider's , because they can use both arm's and leg's keeping their bodies evenly toned !

I never thought i would ever buy a quad with a Belt which is what i ride now , a 2006 Arctic Cat 400 FIS Auto with the Suzuki 376cc Engine and Suzuki's Duramatic Belt Driven Clutch Tranny
; and i'm not suggesting that anyone should jump ship on Honda it's just that for now with all these electronic's getting more Hi Tech the cost for the replacement part's can break someone on a low income like mine even though i do my own servicing and repair's !

I've rebuilt geared transmision's both semi and fully manual clutched model's of selveral different Brand's without any help of a Service and Repair Shop manual , but with these new model's of all Brand atv's with new electric device's on them are great while they work ( And again i'm not trying to get anyone to buy anyother Brand Honda's will last a lifetime if they're serviced and maintained properly ) !

But the cost for these electronic part's and my Dealer was one of the big reason's for why i went to the AC Auto , and i had owned one 93' Suzuki LT4WD 300 King Quad and the Arctic Cat being powered by a Suzuki 376cc Engine and Suzuki's Duramatic Belt Driven Clutch Transmission you just put it in gear and go !

Even the Arctic Cat has it's share of this Hi tech High cost technology , i would like to go back to the basic type machine's that didn't have all these electric part's to short out or just wear out which they all do eventually do ; but there's one electric feature that i would like on my AC like a good GPS so i wouldn't have to worry about getting lost on the occation's that i do get to ride a new place i've never ridden before !

My brother who find's new location's in both TN and GA like's to rib me for getting lost even on these small loop trail's we ride for the first time , because he has a built in GPS in his brain like our Dad did ; and i could get lost on a " Merry Go Round " you could blindfold my Dad and take him out in the middle of nowhere !

Some of my Dad's friend's use to play this game were they would do this to each other as kind of of an inuation in a club , when it was my Dad's turn his friend's put a blind fold over his eye's then they drove 50 mile's out into the mountain's , then with the blind fold still on they took him over 2 mile's out into these thick wood's ; and told him to wait 30 minute's before removing the blind fold and find his way back to the car where they would be waiting for him !

They left him with no flashlight or compass in these thick wood's where you couldn't see the moon or star's in the sky , and it was so dark his friend's got lost on their way back to the spot where they parked the car ; they came out of the wood's a quarter of mile from where the car was parked !

When they finally got back to the car Dad was sitting in the car smoking a Cigarette , and after laughing untill tear's were coming from his eye's he told them ; let's go to the store where yall can buy me a Coke and a pack of Camel's because he was thirty and out of Cigartte's !.......

 

What a great story! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

I appreciate it! I liked your comment how you would like to go back to the basic type machine. In all honesty, that's why I went with a Honda over any other brand, and that's why I went with the Foreman. At the root of it, it's exactly what I want. Air cooled, nice engine (475 cc), manual, simple 2wd, or 4wd. I think in the end I'll be really happy with this machine. It's going to hopefully get me far and away from people this summer as I am an avid gold prospector! Anyone know of any nice looking racks one can mount on their ATV?

Thanks!
Jeff

 

Willie,

Nice story. Belt drives today seem to be quite a bit better than when they first appeared on quads, and if you inspect/maintain it on schedule and don't abuse it, it will probably do fine. Honda's hydrostat Rubicon, and torque converter 3 speed Rincon are both reliable autos, though both are computer controlled.

Anyway, GPS wise, I'd highly recommend a handlebar mount for a handheld unit. The GPS in the dash Honda offers is pretty limited (can't upload topo maps) and you can't take it with you.

 

Plus, its hard to drink a beer when you got one hand on the throttle and the other hand is shifting.... I know you not suppose to drink and quad, but we all do it.

 

baseballjeff : It's not really all that hard to learn how to shift these Semi - Auto Clutch geared transmission's of most all utility ATV's of today are what is called Semi - Auto Clutch geared transmission , and the way they work is when you up shift or down shift ; when you put pressure on the shift lever ( Foot Shift Lever/or my hand shift lever ) it disingauge's the clutch and when you release the pressure from the shift lever ( Foot shift Lever / or my hand shift lever ) the clutch is ngauged !

So it's really easy to learn to ride the semi Auto Clutch Manual geared transmission , and hondabuster is right about the semi Auto clutch geared transmission being more reliable ; with no electric shift motor and no shift button to go bad and whatever else is involved in the Auto shift geared Honda transmission !

JeffinTD i know Honda made a Automatic Transmission's they used one of them on their street bike's i think it was one of the CB750 Twin's called the Honda Matic it was one of the Transmission's you're talking about you could hand shift it or just put in drive and let it shift by it's self !

I don't remember the year it came out , might of been the mid to late 70's but i know it didn't last long ; the big bike rider's wanted a full manual shift because the big street bike's were the poor man's Sportscar and at that time people wouldn't buy a Jaguar or Corvette with an Automatic Transmission !

The guy who sold the design to Honda probally thought he made the right decision in selling this design , when he saw how long Honda used it on their street Bike's ; but now that it's being used in the atv's if he's still alive would be saying i wish i had kept the patten on the design of it now !

And TLC since i'm a bilateral amputee i put hand control's on all the Semi Auto Clutch geared transmission just to be able to shift a Semi Auto Foot shift ATV , all i would have to do is to shorten the hand shifter to keep it out of your way when you shift with your foot ; and when you get into the soup to deep to shift with your foot you just grab the hand shifter to go up or down a gear without getting you boot's muddy !

JeffinTD that was what i mean't by the GPS , i didn't mean one that come's builtin by the manufacturer ; no matter the brand it would have to be a hand held one where you could take it anywhere you wanted even if you were walking !

One that you can use Batteries both regular and rechargeable , and one with AC/DC adapter's for using it in your Automobile , ATV , Boat are on foot with the batteries ; recharge from AC or DC adapter !

And on the Belt Drive's i never thought i would ever own a belt drive , no matter who made it i would never buy it untill i was buying a Carburator rebuild kit for my 1993 Suzuki LT4WD 300 King Quad ; while i was waiting for the part's guy was looking to see if he had one in stock the owner of the Dealership came out of the back !

When she saw me in my wheelchair she ask me , willie has someone waited on you ?

I told her yes that her part's guy was ordering a carburator rebuild kit and he was going to have to order the hold kit and , i was going to order the main Diaphram gasket that you have to buy the slide to get this main gasket ; she told me she didn't think the gasket was my problem !

And after i told her how it was doing she ask me if it did this before i put the hand brake cable i bought from her a few week's ago i put put it on right after i bought , i had to think a little bit ; then i told her i didn't think it was !

Then she ask if i removed the plastic's and cut all plastic wire tie's that hold's all the wire's together , again i said no and she said that was my problem the wire's were putting to much pressure causing the choke to open up everytime i hit the front brake lever ; with it didn't need the choke i thanked her for the info and she asked her part's guy if he had already ordered the part's and he told her yes ; then she told him to call back and cancell the order !

I had been buying part's from her so long i didn't hve to call any of the other Dealership's for a part's qote or part's number to get a part , but i did for a while just in case they might have a better qote and her's were alway's the better than all the rest !

I hold a patten on a strong hand shifter , but before i built my own ; i bought one JC Whitney , Gander Mountain and Bass Pro Shop and i tried them all the cheapest to the highest so you could test them all and as in this and everone of the product's were so thin grade aluminum !

All 3 of these Company's sent me a check for the shfter's

Just don't buy one from Gander Mountain , Bass Pro Shop or JC Whitney ; they're to cheap made " Aluminum " that bent on the first try at shifting into first gear they're nothing but junk !

I hold the patten for the one i build from mass production : but i will give anyone the right to build their own using my design for personal use to all the member's of these forums !

 

Yeah I remember the old hondamatic. Briefly after college I worked at a motorcycle dealership and one of the parts guys had a disability in one arm. Those bikes might not have been a big hit with the general public, but they apparently have a following of people who could not easily ride otherwise.

Also, for what it's worth the Foreman has two clutch systems. The "Change Clutch" that disengages automatically while shifting is a multi-plate wet clutch, pretty similar to a typical motorcycle clutch. The other clutch is a centrifugal clutch which allows the vehicle to idle in gear and engages as the RPM's rise when the vehicle is launched. It has a bunch of weights with linings on the outer edges that ride inside a clutch drum. The weights are held in by springs, until RPM rises to the point where centrifugal force overcomes the spring tension and the lining material engages with the drum.

Both seem to be pretty durable, as long as a person doesn't abuse them constantly.

 

Baseball Jeff,

What kind of rack are you looking at putting on? One of the extended metal ones? Tamarack makes some nice looking stuff...