I have a 97 sportsman 400. Pulls of of the line good but top speed is not what I expected. Should I be able to tell when the auto trans changes gears. It is just one smooth pull. It is the best riding atv that I have ever rode.

 

It does not have gears. It has a CVT (constant velocity transmission) trannie. It has a drive pulley and a driven pulley. The drive pulley is on the crank. The belt rides on the middle of the drive pulley at idle and when you give it gas the pulley will close on the belt making the belt go up on the drive pulley. When this happens the belt then turns the driven pulley making the driven pulley open up and the belt rides to the middle. This is where the constant velocity comes in. You dont feel a shift and has an infinate number of gear ratios but without gears. Kind of hard to explain but if you take your belt cover off you can see exactly how it works. The 400 has tons of parts to make it very fast. Some are cheap and others are very expensive. You can get 90+ hp out of the 400 Scrambler.

 

so, what was your top speed? no you won't feel any shifting, its a variable clutch that moves in and out under rpm and load. not like the auto in a car. welcome to the forums.