Overview
When you think about power, most of us automatically think of the motor and what we can do to get more power out of the little beast, but that's only part of the story for most people. In this brief post, I'll talk about the best ways to approach unlocking more power in your ATV.
Fuel Tuner and Flashes
If you've been following along, you'll know that we already talked about the differences in fuel tuners and flashes in this article Flash vs Fuel Tuners. What I'll say here is that whether you flash or add a fuel tuner, the increase in the seat of the pants feel is minimal. Even if you have a 1000cc motor that's in the 90hp range and a good dyno-tuned flash, you'll net about 5-6 rwhp (rear wheel horsepower) because even if you get an 8hp gain at the motor, you'll lose around 30% of that in the transmission and CVT before getting that power to the wheels. Your investment will probably cost you around $500-700 depending on the cost of the flash, dyno time, and transportation costs, so the dollars spent per horsepower gained is quite high.
You can, however, skip the dyno-tuning and invest much less for nearly the same results.
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Clutching
The focus of this post isn't to do a deep dive into clutching, but in brief, clutching is "pay-for-performance". The more you spend, the better quality and performance you'll see, especially in the Can-Am Outlander, Renegade, Maverick OG world. There are 3 essentially levels of clutching for you to consider:
- Clutch kit
- CV Tech clutch
- QSC/STM clutching
For other brands, mostly a clutch kit is all that's needed and this is solely due to the weak Can-Am primary clutch used on the Gen 2 ATV's and the Maverick OG (and Commander). (The Can-Am primary only has the inner sheave driven by the power of the motor, the outer sheave is just along for the ride.)
Clutching is what gets power to the wheels and what most people don't realize is that stock clutching is set up for the general, around the farm, or trail rider (yes, it's true even if you have a High Lifter Edition or XMR mud machine). Adjusting your clutching to match your tires, riding style, and engine flash will greatly enhance the power that's getting to the ground.
Tire Selection
Tire selection can have a major impact on the overall feel of your machine. Take for example the 62lb 32" Assassinator vs the 45lb 32" Motohavok that are comparable tires for mud use. Spinning an extra 17lbs on an inefficient clutch setup with a motor that's not tuned will make the machine feel soft and unresponsive, particularly in mud.
Conclusion
When you want to unlock the power in your machine, it's important to consider how all three of these things interact to change the overall feel of your machine, but to truly unlock horsepower our first recommendation is to invest in a clutching solution. For Can-Am ATV owners, that means a new primary clutch, and for others, a clutch kit will do nicely.
