If you have an all-terrain vehicle (ATV), there are two ways to treat it. You can keep it and ride it like a newcomer all your life, or you can get to grips with all the gears and rules, the thumb throttle, the clutch lever, the gear shift lever, the front, and rear brakes, and really learn how to drive an ATV the way it’s supposed to be driven.
We guarantee you, if you get some basic principles of four-wheel drive under your belt, the pleasure you get from your ATV will skyrocket.
Contents
Buying The ATV For You
The first key to four-wheel pleasure is to buy the right ATV. But what is the right ATV for you?
Well, when you’re getting your four-wheeler, you can choose between two kinds of ATV, the Sports Quad and the Utility Quad.
Contrary to how it sounds, if this is your first ATV, you’re better off with a Sports Quad than a Utility Quad. Ironically, Sports Quads are usually two-wheel drive vehicles, but they’re also usually much lighter than Utility Quads.
That means you can drive them faster, and they’re usually able to handle some jumps and some steep terrain in the event that you wander off course. They’re also usually manual transmission vehicles (with a clutch lever and a gear shift lever), which might sound like a counter-intuitive choice for your first ATV.
But if you have to get to grips with using the clutch lever and the gear shift lever on a manual transmission vehicle first, eventually graduating to an automatic transmission will be a step in an easier direction, rather than a whole other learning curve down the line.
Utility ATVs are traditionally automatic transmission vehicles and are available in both two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive varieties, so they open up your options eventually.
They have more storage space, and you can pimp them out more with attachments, so they’re the equivalent of getting an upgrade to Business Class or buying a Volvo – great to do, but worth working up to, rather than suitable for newcomers.
Size And Power
Chosen the type of ATV you want?
Great, now let’s think about what size ATV you want and the power it puts out. There are a few factors that play into this stage of your choice.
You’d expect your size, age, and proficiency to factor into the choice, of course, but there’s slightly more to it than just those elements.
Here’s a rough guide to the cc power of the ATV you probably need.
50-70cc: The perfect power for children (under 12) getting their first taste of ATV riding.
90-125cc: The ideal ATV for children between 12-16 who are still learning to ride an ATV as opposed to their pedal bike.
200-300cc: The ATV for older and stronger teens who already know how to ride an ATV but need more
practice. Also suitable for shorter or smaller-framed adults who won’t be riding the ATV for long periods at a time.
400-500cc: The ideal first ATV for adults taking up the sport. Also a useful ATV for farmers or light trail riders.
550-700cc: An ATV for riders who know their way around both the vehicle and the kind of terrain they can cover. Good for hardcore, aggressive riding, and also more suited to taller riders.
700-1000cc: The pinnacle of aggressive, fast, challenging riding. If you want to cross streams, climb hills and play dirty in the mud, you’ll need this much power.
The Extras
Whichever size and power level you choose, your ATV is likely to have a handful of extras. It’s down to you to choose whether or not you want your ATV to have any or all of these features. For example,
- Automatic transmission is a lot easier to handle, especially if you’re new to ATV riding, but automatics give you a lot less control. They might be easier, but they bring more risk on the likes of steep terrain.
- Electronic fuel injectors are useful if you’re going to be riding up and down hills a lot, and they usually need fewer repairs than standard injectors. On the other hand, they add significantly to your initial ATV cash outlay.
- Do you want a four wheel drive or a two wheel drive machine? Four wheelers offer you much more control in more challenging terrain, but they also cost you more cash. Two wheel drive ATVs tend to offer more power for beginners, who should avoid steep terrain in any case.
- How about power steering as an add-on? It will save the ache in new ATV riders’ shoulders, but it’s a costly addition, so weigh it up carefully.
- Brakes are among the most important elements on your ATV. Front brakes, rear brakes, front and rear brakes, the choice is yours. Importantly, you also have to decide whether to get disc brakes or drum brakes.
Safety equipment
When you buy a motorcycle, you buy a crash helmet. When you buy a car, you don’t buy it unless it has seat belts. Safety equipment is a fundamental part of driving or riding any powered vehicle because there’s speed and physics involved, and the terrain is probably harder than you are. As with a motorcycle, so with an ATV – get yourself the right safety equipment, including a helmet, goggles, gloves, and boots. Then if accidents happen, at least you’ll be as protected as possible.
ATV accessories
When you’re new to riding ATVs, you probably don’t want to go too credit card happy in the ATV accessory store because you’ll end up with lots of equipment you don’t need and never use. But there are a few items you should consider.
Get a winch. Get a winch because if you ever need a winch – if you slip down a bank or get stuck in the mud – the bitterest thought you will ever have is, “Damn it, I should’ve bought that winch when I had the chance…”
Also, seriously consider some nerf bars.
And then, go right ahead and buy some nerf bars.
You want to be connected to the experience and the ride, and the last thing you want to have to worry about is what you’re doing with your feet. With nerf bars, problem solved – they will keep your feet where they should be during your ride. Eliminate hassle – buy nerf bars.
Before You Start Riding
OK, you’ve thought through your choice of ATV, you’ve got the appropriate safety equipment, you’ve pimped your ATV with options and useful accessories. Now, are we going to tell you how to drive an ATV?
Nearly. So very nearly.
Before you jump on your ATV and ride off into the mud, though, there are things you should do. This is especially the case if you’ve never ridden an ATV before, but even if you have, a little ATV refresher course can’t hurt – whereas falling off an ATV in rough terrain definitely will.
Safety Courses
Take yourself an ATV safety course. Ideally, take yourself an ATV safety course run by an experienced rider because they will know not only what the books say you should do but also what really happens and how it feels when you’re out there in the wild. An experienced rider is the voice of truth who can take you from your first decision to buy an ATV right up to the moment you ride safely off that first time on your ATV. Heck, more than anything you can find online, an experienced rider can teach you how to drive an ATV.
ATV safety courses take three or four weeks, taking maybe two or three hours per night, once a week.
Do The Reading
Yes, we know. What you want to do is jump on your shiny new ATV and ride off into adventures.
Sit your butt down. You have a user’s manual to read.
Before you ride off having ATV adventures, you need to know how your ATV and its parts all work.
Why?
Because it’s possible that when you ride off on your ATV adventures, some part of the ATV will go madly, mysteriously wrong, you have to know how it works if you’re going to be able to fix it and get yourself out of the mud, protect your property, and save yourself an ignominious trudge home.
Find out how the parts of your ATV relate to one another. If you have a manual transmission ATV, work out how the clutch lever affects its working. If you have an automatic ATV, understand how the gear shift works without you.
Understand the hows and whys of how your engine starts because, believe us, if you’re stuck in the mud somewhere in the middle of nowhere, understanding how your engine starts – and perhaps why it doesn’t – is one of the best pieces of knowledge you could have.
Read up on fuel consumption so that when you go riding off on your ATV adventures, you remember to check you have enough gas to get you ‘there and back again.’ Next to needing a winch and not having one, the realization that you don’t have enough gas at the precise moment when the engine stops working is one of the worst feelings you can have on an ATV.
So before there are any ATV adventures to be had, do the reading. If you can, read the manual while you’re actually sitting on the ATV. That way, you can identify the parts in real time as you go along.
Get a feel for the thumb throttle. Feel the pressure required to kick in the front brake. Usually, the electric start, kill switch, and front brake are found on the ATV’s left handlebar – unless your manual tells you otherwise.
Likewise, the rear brake is usually a foot pedal on the right-hand side, and the gear shift lever is on the right handlebar.
Familiarize yourself with the various parts, and even, if you feel confident, carefully strip down some of your ATV’s components and put them back together so that, in the unfortunate event that your ATV stops working for some mysterious reason miles from home and in potentially hostile woodland, it won’t be a wholesale mystery to you.
Registration and Permits
Some states require registration and licensing before you’re allowed to take to the woods on your ATV. Some also require a land-use permit before you can ride on public lands or in public woods.
States also determine their own rules on ATV safety, licensing, and even sound levels (a particularly thorny issue if you have a higher cc ATV). Check which laws and regulations apply in your state, and make sure you follow and comply with them before you fill up your ATV’s gas tank and ride off into the woods.
ATV Maintenance Before You Ride
It’s so close now; you can smell the wind in your hair as you ride through the open spaces –
First, though, a little maintenance check. If you have an older or second-hand four-wheeler, you’ll obviously have more maintenance work to do to bring it up to a safe level.
But if you’ve bought a brand new ATV… you’re still going to have to do some preliminary checks before you ride off.
Fluids
Check all your ATV’s fluid levels before you set off. We’ve already said that there’s no feeling quite as stupid as realizing you have too little gas when you’re in the middle of nowhere. Check your fuel levels, but also your oil level and your coolant level. Think of them as the three fluids you never leave the house without. Also, while you’re looking, check to see whether any of your fluids is visibly leaking out of your ATV – nothing good can come of leaks.
Check Your Air Filter
Your air filter doesn’t demand much in its metallic life. It demands to be clean, and it demands to be oiled. Even if your ATV is brand new, the air filter may be clean but not oiled. If you’re new to riding ATVs, you may not have greased an air filter before. If the filter’s too dry, it’s no good to you, so check it before you ride out, and if the air filter feels dry, use some air filter oil to lubricate it. Trust us; you’ll get a much better ride if your air filter is slick than you will if it’s too dry.
On the other hand, if the air filter is not dry but dirty, the fastest solution is to swap it out with a replacement filter. Job done.
Tire Pressure
Check your ATV’s tire pressure before you ride out. There’s every likelihood that before your first ride, you’ll need to add air to both the back and front tires. Don’t overdo it, though – tires that are too full can pop when they encounter a wild environment. Grab a low-pressure tire gauge and make sure your
pressure’s in a safe place.
Check The Gas And Oil
Of course, this sounds obvious, but you’d be amazed how many ATV owners don’t do this before they ride. ATVs carry an element of excitement with them – people ride them hard and wild and don’t necessarily check their oil or gas levels when they’re done.
That means the levels can be too low the next time they ride out – and if you don’t check them, you won’t know it until it’s too late.
Nuts
While you’re checking your ATV’s rear and front tires, take the opportunity to check the nuts too. Make sure they’re tight, and if they aren’t, grab a torque wrench and do the job right there. Check for any worn-out bearings, and make sure things like the brake lever, the clutch lever, the throttle, and the foot pedals all work easily.
Start Riding
Now Are You Ready To Learn How To Drive An ATV?
Assuming you live at the location where you intend to ride it, yes. If not, you’ll need to work out how to safely transport your ATV to the riding location. But you’ve waited long enough. Let’s assume everything’s fine, and you’re ready to assume the start position.
How Do You Start Your ATV?
You’ve read your owner’s manual, yes? There are a couple of different ways to start your ATV, and your owner’s manual will tell you which one applies to your particular ATV.
Usually, the engine starts when you either pull a cord or turn a key. Despite the speed and acceleration involved, this is not rocket science.
If you have an automatic ATV, you simply need to put the ATV in gear, usually by moving a lever forward. Then, slowly press the thumb throttle or twist the right-hand grip to get the ATV moving.
Practice
Before you ride out into the woodland on your ATV, be sure you know how to handle an all-terrain vehicle. Practice on some flat land with very little for you to hit, fall over, or sink into. That said, avoid public roads and paved roads as your practice grounds.
Public and paved roads are not your friend on an ATV because the universe is perverse, and the paving you think is flat undoubtedly won’t be, and the public road that looks empty also won’t be.
Because the universe likes a laugh as much as the next person, that’s why.
This practice is your final chance to get familiar with things like your ATV’s brakes and your gears. If you have a manual transmission ATV, check out what first gear feels like, then shift gears slowly up as you grow confident.
Obviously, if you have an automatic transmission ATV, the gear shifts will be taken care of by the ATV – so long as you don’t leave it in a neutral gear!
Test the front brake, the rear brake, and then the front and rear brakes together – but gently!
Get to understand how your ATV’s front wheels and rear wheels behave out in the real world before you take them into the wild. This is you, not so much learning how to drive an ATV as learning how to drive your ATV in the conditions and the terrain that will become its home.
Once you’re comfortable with all these elements, guess what? You’re ready to discover how to drive an ATV on an actual trail. Start with a simple one – you wouldn’t throw yourself down the most complicated ski slope in the world on your first time out, would you?
But you can now hit the trails, fairly confident you can handle your ATV.
Note: If you have land, read this guide on building ATV trails.
This is when you discover how important it is to focus intensely on both the trail and your ATV’s response to it. This is not like driving a car on paved roads. This is a moment-to-moment adventure ride – more like white water rafting than a morning commute.
Watch your speed at first – you don’t want to be going fast enough to outpace your line of sight – or your brakes, for that matter.
Practice your engine starts, practice your turns, and above all, practice being alive and in touch with the trail through the medium of your ATV. That is, after all, probably what you paid all that money for.
The Right Posture For ATV Riding
Again, ATV riding is a much more organic experience than driving a car. Having the right posture can help you drive an ATV with more precision and accuracy because it can put you within responding distance to your brake lever, clutch lever, and foot pedal. Good ATV riding posture means:
- Keeping your head up, so you can see the trail in front of you and get advance notice of what’s coming next and how to deal with it.
- Relax your shoulders and bend your elbows out a little. The temptation is to lock your elbows, but that loses you some control over your ATV.
- Keep your left hand on your left handlebar, and your right hand on the right.
- Pull your knees in. Think of it like a fairground ride – keep everything tucked, because you don’t know what’s coming up alongside you to catch you a blow.
- Keep your feet on your ATV’s footrests. That’s what they’re for – the clue is in the name.
- Weirdly, feel free to stand up. Yes, it might feel unwise for a beginner, but actually, it’s slightly safer at faster speeds. You can bring more control to bear from a standing position.
Taking bends
Turning and taking bends is where a lot of the fun of getting to drive an ATV is, but it’s also not something to do lightly. When you’re still learning how to drive an ATV, stick to the basics.
What basics?
1. First of all, slow your speed before a turn or bend.
2. Push your body weight forward and into the turn.
3. Look in the direction of the turn, and turn your handlebars while you’re observing.
4. If you need to, shift your body weight more into the turn.
5. Reduce the throttle if you need to. It’s better to take a turn wider and safer than to try to cut it sharp before you’re ready.
6. If your ATV begins to tip while you’re turning, lean further into the turn while gently reducing the throttle. Again, go wider and safer by default when you’re starting out.
Going Backwards
You can drive in reverse in your ATV, but usually, you can’t go too fast in that direction because that way, madness lies. It’s like playing Russian Roulette with trees.
If you get stuck in a bog, there’s usually an option to reverse the rev-limit on your ATV so you can go fast in reverse. Only ever do this in situations that call for it. Do it for fun on a random piece of trail, and the result is likely to be a grinding crunch, the universe muttering “We told you so,” and you having to explain the big dent in the back of your ATV.
The Majesty of Four Wheel Drive
Four-wheel drive is a kind of superpower for those ATVs that can use it. On rough terrain, on steep terrain, on tough climbs and icy conditions, four-wheel drive can be your savior.
But like any superpower, if you use it all the time, it’s less special. Steering in a four-wheel-drive is rougher, and because your engine is working harder to provide the drive, using four-wheel drive when you don’t need it will burn through your fuel, maybe leaving you with it too little gas to get home.
Climbing Hills
When you start out, this shouldn’t be a thing you have to deal with, but as you get more confident, you’re undoubtedly going to encounter hills and need to climb them.
There’s a right way and a wrong way to do this. Do it wrong, and you can lose control, slip, and potentially seriously injure yourself or break your ATV. To do it right, keep some things in mind:
- Common sense is a better tool than four wheel drive. Look at the hill. There will be hills that are simply too steep. Avoid steep terrain if you’re at all unsure you can cope with it.
- If you can’t see beyond the crest, don’t drive beyond the crest. For all you know, the crest could be the edge of a ravine, and it’s better to be thought a coward than a corpse.
- To safely climb hills in your ATV, make sure to keep your weight uphill for the whole length of the climb.
If you see a hill ahead and you’re determined to climb it, drop down to a low gear, but rev up your speed. That gives you momentum for the foothills of the climb.
Stand up and push your body forward, putting as much weight as possible over the front wheels – the last thing you want is for the front wheels to get air as you go up the hill.
If you need to shift gears, do it quickly, briefly releasing the throttle – again, this should help glue the front wheels to the ground. If you get halfway and realize you don’t have the power to complete the climb, ideally, use your momentum to perform a turn and head back down, facing forward. Keep your weight pushed forward and make your U-turn while you still have the speed. Then shift your weight to the back of your ATV, almost like a parachute for the descent.
Keep the ATV in low gear on the way down – giving it too much freedom means excess speed and loss of control.
If you don’t realize you haven’t got the power until you literally stop moving forward, you’re in for some interesting minutes.
Keep your weight forward, but apply both front brakes and rear brakes. You’re aiming for a dead stop rather than allowing the ATV to roll freely backward.
This is the moment when you’ll thank your ATV’s manufacturers for a parking brake. Apply it while still leaning uphill.
Get. Out. Of the ATV. Do it on the uphill side because the last thing you want is to be chased downhill by an out-of-control ATV.
Ideally, from a safe position uphill of the ATV, hold onto the vehicle until rescue arrives. This is just one of many scenarios that prove the wisdom of always riding in company.
On no account let the thought “I could just ride this sucker backward down the hill” take hold in your mind. This is a gross slap in the face of physics – and physics slaps harder than you do. Similarly, if you start rolling back, do not apply the brake sharply – that’s encouraging your ATV to do a backflip while
you’re still inside it. There is no scenario in which this is a good plan.
Mastering Downhill Driving
The key to downhill driving is situational awareness and good decision-making. Choose a path that is as unobstructed as possible – making sharp turns while heading down a hill is bad news.
Shift your weight back like a drag anchor, and pick a low gear – again, you don’t want your wheels to have too much freedom and speed going downhill. Use both brakes to slow down, but always use the rear brake. As we mentioned, applying just the front brake in this situation tells physics you want your ATV to do a backflip.
You really, really don’t.
Traversing Hills
Usually, there’s more to hills than up and down. There’s also across – and getting across the landmass of a hill is called traversing.
Traversing uses a couple of techniques it’s worth knowing. As you traverse, keep your weight pointed uphill. If your ATV starts to slide, turn your front wheels uphill to maintain a straight line across the surface of the hill. If that doesn’t work and your ATV begins to tip, turn the front wheels downhill instead, terrain permitting. Anything remotely safe is better than ending up underneath your ATV.
Random Obstacles
Obstacles are everywhere. Don’t try and get over anything thicker than 2 feet – you’re taunting physics beyond that point. If you have an obstacle you want to get over, stand up on the approach, and slow down – think of the difference between hitting a curb fast and rolling over it slowly.
Keep hold of the handlebars and point the ATV straight ahead. You’re aiming to hit the obstacle at 90 degrees. Give the ATV a little gas as you hit the obstacle, but release the throttle as soon as the front wheels have cleared the obstacle. Lean forward and completely release the throttle before the rear wheels hit the obstacle.
Mud
Ah, mud.
The endless tempter of the ATV driver.
Without four-wheel drive, you can hit it at top speed, make an awful mess, and hope it wasn’t hiding something sharp or jutting. This is in no sense ever encouraged because you are not the Mud Psychic.
You can’t know what might be hidden under the mud, and if you hit it at speed, you might pop a tire, you might find a buried obstacle that throws your ATV off its wheels. Essentially, hitting a mud patch at speed is gambling your ATV, your safety, and just possibly your life on the question “What could possibly happen?”
Alternatively, you can look for someone else’s ruts and follow them. Go through the mud puddle with your tires offset to the existing ruts.
Do not be tempted to hit the gas as you do this, even though we understand the absolute temptation to power through and get dirty. It’s also a great way to get stuck and spin your wheels… more or less until the end of time unless you can get help and get rescued.
Also, if you spin your wheels too hard in mud, you’ll end up getting personally drenched in it, and mud can be cold, wet, smelly, and all-around unpleasant the longer you sit or stand in it.
If you start to get stuck in a rut, you need to get out before both the ATV and the mud get the idea that this is what happens now. To get out of this, you will have to give it at least some gas, spin the wheels, and physically rock your ATV back and forth, hoping the tires catch on something solid and give you enough grip to give you some forward motion.
End Of The Trail
At the end of the day, and the end of the trail, put your ATV in neutral gear once it’s come to a stop. That stops you from the accidental forward jolt as you get off the ATV. Set your parking brake so the ATV doesn’t wander or creep away from where you put it.
Ideally, give the ATV a clean-down before you go in the house for your own shower. Congealed mud is no friend to the vehicle. And above all, take out the key if there is one, and take it inside the house, separate from the vehicle itself.
You paid a lot for your ATV. And you know we made you work hard before you went for a ride on it. Keep it safe and sound from potential thieves, and make their job as hard as humanly possible. Responsible ATV ownership and driving only mean anything if you get to keep the vehicle.
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