Can someone explain the resons for shifting gears on a atv?

Question

I have a new manual clutch atv, And would like the whole shifting of gears thing explained to me. I know that the higher the gear the faster you go. But higher gears are faster and weaker. So You would want to be in first gear on a trail or while mudding, And in 5th on a road. I just don't understand how the whole gear shifting and point of shifting works. This is my first manual atv and I want to understand before I try and ride it to heavily. ty

Answer 1

Same concept as driving a car that changes gears. It's to keep from over-revving your engine. My teens ride a manual shift ATV and it's pretty simple to operate. You take off in the lower gear. When you reach higher speeds, your engine RPMs are of course higher. When you shift into a higher gear, your engine doesn't have to work as hard to maintain the higher speed. Actually, in my state, ATVs are illegal to drive on roadways. My ATV rarely sees high gear. Most of our running around our property is done in 3rd gear.

Answer 2

the point is more power and more accessability to climb hills or something while still being able to go 60 mph. you use low gears to go up hills or to go mudding or to go slowely and you use higher gears for more speed

Answer 3

Think of your engine as if it were your legs when riding a regular bicycle!

To go over steep or muddy ground, you would need a lower gear as less work is needed to maintain movement. If you were to ride up a steep hill in a high gear, you as a person would not feel the pain, but your engine will be under massive strain.

When on smooth, level or going downhill, change into a higher gear to pick up speed as you would on a regular bicycle.

Tip: Change down gears into corners, you will have better grip in a lower gear around the corner, and more power coming out of the corner!

Answer 4

What you said is partly correct. The higher the gear, the faster you go, and top gear is normally reserved for flat out riding on either straight roads.

When mudding, you may need to use 2nd or 3rd, as 1st will typically give you too much wheelspin. However, this depends on how much gas you feed to it.

Once you start to ride, you will 'feel' when you need to change gears, and after a while it will become second nature.

Dont worry about breaking things, You dont need to be babying the bike, its built for fun, but not to thrash.

You could happily ride around in 2nd or 3rd all day, but just practice shifting and get a feel for the bike.

I have owned many quads and raced a few, and after a few hours, your having too much fun to even give the gearchanges a second thought. Youll pick it up.