most of the time spent riding is when I'm up in the mountains riding I'm with my DAD.

He like to cruise at about 10-12 mph. We have plenty of hills and ride on all types of terrain.

??? (1) For general crusing with my DAD at speeds under15mph, SHOULD i be in low gear?

Seems like I read somewhere that speeds under 15-20 mph can damage your belt. IS that correct?


??? (2) When going down a steep grade, i put it in low, awd, and work the gas just a little bit to keep it slowing me down... WILL this hurt the engine in any way?

Should i be using more brakes?

 

1 yes. if your on hilly terrain. but the bike has to run pretty hard to run 15 in low no 2. no you wont hurt it.....

 

Thats funny, I have the same issue when riding with my wife. I thought I read somewhere (in the owners manual) where it said to run in low gear under 10 mph (7 mph to be exact). If I go faster than that in low gear, it seems like I am overrevving the engine and I should be in high gear. Am I missing something here? I thought low gear was for steep hill climbs, rock crawling and mud?

 

That's what i thought as well. When i ride with pops, i'm usually in low gear as we stay around 10mph. Even at 15, my rpm's are around 4200..

It's funny cause when my Dad finally decides he wants to "goose" it a little, i have to stop and shift to high, as he's always in high gear...

 

15 mph you shouldnt be in low range. really anything over 10 mph you would be fine in high as long as you going right along. the big reason for being in low at slow speeds is to keep the rpms up to keep the belt cooler as well as if you are working the bike low will be better and easier on the engine. going thru bad terrain and up /down hills its not a bad idear to use low but dont over rev your enigne or its harder on gas and wearing the engine quicker. imo.

 

At that speed use low when going up and down hills, but keep it in high on level ground, or just switch back and forth a little. Sometimes when I'm behind some slowpoke and they putt along too slow, I put it in low just for few minutes and get a little more distance between us. It circulates the air around the clutches and belt better when it revs up. Then I put it back in high and catch up and <u>try</u> not to tailgate. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

As manual says 7mph and under use low and always when under a load,clutch can run much cooler,longer belt life and you dont have to jump hills,just crawl up.

 

The 400 Sportsman that my dad owned was ridden almost always in high gear except when pulling and it never had any issues. I think high is ok for general riding but for extended slow speed riding you should be in low. I think the most important thing is when you first take off you should get the bike moving right away and not creep to a start. I use low on my 500 when just ''creeping"" around but it spends 80% of it's time in high.