I have a Polaris Sportsman 500 and am a newbie to atv's. When trail riding should I be in low or high gear? (Assuming I am not going through deep mud/terrain etc).

 

Rule of thumb for me: When at speed, I will climb hills in HIGH. If I am going slow, I will just stop and go into LOW. Also, if I am climbing something really steep I go LOW.

If you ride too long or too fast in LOW, it is also bad for the machine. If you are even close to bogging, shift to LOW.

Happy Trails!!

 

trust me use high while trail triding its better for the quad if ur going fast or slow use low when climbing over logs stumps rocks and plus it saves on the belt if you ride in low when ur climbin over things like i listed if you use low just trail riding and go to take off quick it wont go as quick at it would as if it was in high you manly use low for pullin towing and climbin and if you punch it in low the motor will rev

 

if you are going to go under 10 mph for long periods of time use your low gear... mud, climbing, large hills Low gear... anything over 10 mph use high... flat surfaces small hills and slight mudholes use high

 

Like he said, 10 MPH is a good judge, I use 7 MPH myself