No Honda uses a belt drive, the reason why Honda decided to go beltless is because Honda seen the problems with the Polaris belt drive. Polaris runs a single stage clutch with the belt drive that was copied from their snowmobile mentailty of the Co. The Japs, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki use a dual stage clutch on their belt drives causing the clutch to slip before the belt slips, the dual stage clutch system is only used on the bigger, high end quads like the Yamaha Grizzly. To you guys new to ATV's gather around children im going to tell you about the old days. In the old days when ATV's first came out all were gear drives, and nobody had a problem, Polaris only made snowmobiles, then Polaris made a ATV with a belt drive snowmobile engine it was made fun of, all the children called the Polaris names, they called it " The Belt Smoker", The Polaris ATV wanted to run with the other ATV's but the Polaris was left behind and couldn't run with them cause the belt would smoke. Big Boy Honda took a look at the Polaris and they said they will never, never, ever make any of their ATV's with a belt drive cause Honda wouldn't wanta be called names and made fun of and lose sales and market share and if they made belt smoker ATV's it would refect a bad reputation on the Co and they would lose car and motorcycle sales too. By The Way? Who is the leader in ATV sales? What ATV out-sales all other ATV's by 3 to 1?

 

i think it is pretty well established that the belt drive is suitable for atvs.

monty

 

To Be Fair: I will admit there have been some improvments over time to the belt drives but there is plenty of room for more improvment like why can't anybody make the engine side covers that cover the belt waterproof? Why can't they install a check valve in the air vent tube that allows air in but water out? Why can't any dealer that sells a belt drive warranty the belt? Why can't any dealer give the customer a break on the price or lower the price of a replacement belt? Why can't they design the system so its quick and easy to change a belt? Why can't dealers throw in a free extra belt when you buy a new ATV?

 

Why can't you be a man and stop whining about cvt's? Face it, they are hear to stay and we are only going to see even more applications in the future. There are a few applications where a geared tranny is better, but the truth of it is, a cvt will work fine for the majority of the population 95% of the time. Just be glad that at least for now, you have choices.

 

Honda just is not into belts , I don't think they ever made a Snowmobile in there history like the other makers so why start now. You only get the options from Honda constant shift or there expensive over engineered Fully automatic hydromechanical, continuously variable with electronic controls that you pray never screw up because its a unserviceable $1500 replacement unit.

I have a over 100hp,100mph Sled(Not the most powerful in our group ) that will make you pi$s your pants and change your mind about Belt drive in one big hurry. Belts on a thumping ATV is not a chore for this system. Even the biggest baddest ATV made is low horse power compared to a average intermediate snowmobile.

 

If you weren't so clueless you'd know that Polaris has a LIFETIME warranty on their belts now. How's that for confidence in their system. You'd be a little better off if you'd have at least a small, tiny, little, bitty, bit of a clue what your talking about.

BTW, the best way to tell if a guy up here is an idiot is if he shows up with.............................................. .................................................. ...................................

















an eiger in the back of an f150.

 

1) I have taken my Arctic Cat up to the racks in water, belt is always dry

2) Because that is impossible, and not needed

3) Some do

4) Because they are cheap parts anway

5) Because belts last 15,000+ miles, and they aren't hard to change anyway

6) Because that is a waste.

I agree with TLC, hop on my snowmobile and I will show you what a belt can do. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

when the day comes I need a new ATV and all are belt drive, thats the day I give up buying and riding ATV's

 

You just dont know when to stop digging yourself a hole, do you? You cant just start a thread that bashes another brand without people getting real Pis*ed off. You should post that speech you gave on the Polaris forum once, it might be kind of humorous. Also, as Catterman stated, I to have been STANDING on my seat, and have yet to have any water on my belt. I also have no signs of wear on it yet as of 1100 miles

 

Kawasaki does not use a dual stage clutch. Its system is alot like Polaris's system. Yamaha, Arctic cat and Suzuki are dual stage.
The bikes are that powerful now that the semi automatic systems are not strong enough. And I would rather replace a belt system, than a $1500 hydrostatic system in a honda.
Hondas only sell because of their reliability. And to tell you the truth, most competitiors are now just as reliable but with way more features. The best Honda does not even have low gear, locking differential etc. Than the others don't have IRS, or locking diff. Honda is in the stone age. And guess what, Honda was all I ever owned, not anymore.