Went to an auction this morning.

A guy down the road sold his place and was moving to the city.  Came home with this

It's a 2K3 Honduh 500 Foreman 4x4.  It wouldn't start.  They said it started a couple days before.  Cranking it just got it to cranking slower.  I figgered WTF, Honduh, how bad could it be?  Got it for sixteen bills.  We hooked the tow rope up to it behind the Truck and were getting ready to tow it the 2 miles home when I wondered what this here switch on the handlebar did.  Flipped it and it started right up.  Rode it home.  Of course, I had to figger out how to get it out of first gear.  No clutch, no foot shifter.  Top speed is 45 MPH in 5th.  5200 miles on it.

I believe those have an electric shifter on the handlebars.

I blew out my knee on one identical to it. 

We had an electric clutch one for a while and hated it. Maybe it was just smarter than me but getting it to shift was a pain in the ass. 

My buddy has one that I've ridden a lot.  Electronic clutch shifts hard, but you seriously can't kill it.  My 7 year old spend the past weekend on his (with me on the back to help out) and he has never shifted anything before and while he dang near threw me off the back, that Honda kept right on ticking.  

It should also be pretty docile in that once you get it started it will go even if you have it in 3rd or 4th gear.  It might lug a little to catch up, but you don't have to shift it up there.  

Another bonus, while it is kind of goofy to engage, it should have reverse which we had to use often when my son put us in the weeds. 

I found the manuals for it, including the shop manual, and figgered out the shifting.  There's a lever for R, N, D and D(slow).  Then there's a knob for go, go slow(er) and manual shifting, which is intuitively labeled "ESP."  It was in ESP mode when I rode it home, thus requiring the up and down shifts via the buttons on the left handlebar.  In non-ESP mode, it will shift by itself.  Makes a rattle noise at idle, which I assume is the centrifugal clutch.  With it in Drive and auto-shifting, you just flip the lever and go.  I need to free up the rear drum brake.  It tends to stick.  Maybe rig up a stronger return spring.  Anyway, I'm happy with it. 

dculberson said:

Is that a Ducati saying?

That was a good buy, Doc.  Enjoy it!

Definitely a good buy.  Pretty much the Camry of ATVs.   

In reply to Dr. Hess :

Score! Are you going to get a Calvin sticker to go on it? 

In reply to APEowner :

Yep!

I'm not much for stickers.  Except on the RAV:

You know, for camoflage.