i have a 1 2018 Honda Recon and cannot shift it into neutral to start it.
 

I have a 2018 Honda Recon with less than ten miles on it, and cannot shift it out of reverse and into neutral to start it. It has a standard transmission. What am I missing?

Foot under pedal, lift up, and out she pops, or press the up button on an ES. You may have to gently rock the machine forwards and backwards for the green light to come on, indicating it is fully into neutral. All manual gearbox quads are like this, same rocking motion goes for changing any gear with engine stopped.

Thanks for that. I had tried rocking it and lifting the shift pedal, by both hand and foot. None of that has worked.

Seems like you have a bigger problem then. Possibly a manufacturing fault has shown up, take it back to the dealer to sort out.

I got it to start after rolling it hard, and think perhaps the gears need to be worn in. It can be shut down in neutral and afterward starts fine. If I don't see improvement, and soon, I'll take it in under warranty.

I had a Recon just like yours I bought used back about 10 years ago. Never had any problem getting it out of reverse. Getting them to go into reverse, sometimes thats a pain. I remember a guy on Ebay made a little fiberglass piece that fit on the reverse cable and you could override the reverse button. It basically locked the button in place by stretching the cable. All you had to do was downshift from neutral to reverse and then upshift back to neutral. You can probably do the same simply by putting a ziptie over the button, permanently locking it in. I think some Honda owners have done that. Just wouldn't want to take it to the dealer under warranty with that on there. I just always thought it was dumb that Honda put that button on there. Why make something more complicated than it needs to be?

"I just always thought it was dumb that Honda put that button on there. Why make something more complicated than it needs to be?"

It is to stop you going down into reverse on the move. Most manual quads have something, Suzuki Ozark and Kawasaki Bayou have knobs on the steering head, just as awkward, until you are used to them. Honda's idea means the brakes are on when you slip it into reverse, so have to stop. Yamaha's idea of the brakes having to be on before the (separate) reverse gear lever can be engaged, gives a lot more trouble.

The knob on the Ozark(I owned one of those too) was much simpler and easier to use. I had an old Yamaha Timberwolf and you had to put it in 1st gear, stop, and pull a lever on the left side of the engine to engage reverse. It took quite a bit of effort to actually pull the lever back on older ones like the one I had. I know Honda did it to keep you from shifting into reverse while moving forward but the Suzuki knob was just easier to use and accomplished the same thing. On cvt atvs, you can't even try to shift into another gear unless you're completely stopped. If you try to, it will make horrible noises even at creeping speeds. Try to do it at faster speeds and you might break the transmission.