i think we should be safe, but not to the point where it seems "communistic"

 

The only substitute for horse power is more horse power. Just sayin. There is a guy down here in Texas that is running a 350 chevrolet with an automatic transmission. Not much in the mud but man its fast. Lol. The engine size war should never stop. All guys want more power and that's sells

 

500cc works good for me except in the deep snow, for me I would be happy with 650cc.

I really don't care how big or fast they get as long as all the speed freaks don't plan on coming here and riding the Paiute Trail.

We don't want or need them.

 

I agree - let the market decide.

 

all i have to say is that the atv industry has to allow the consumer to decide what is right for them. i bought a 700 arctic cat and wished i would have bought a 1000 thundercat but my wife ended up getting in a bad accident with the 700 cause she wasn't experienced and it was my fault for letting her go. i thank the good lord every day she just got minor bruises but i was also thankful i only got a 700 compared to the 1000 cc. she looked at me later and said why haven't you ever been in an accident and my response was that i have put thousands of miles on through the years and am very comforetable with higher cc engines and never ride beyond my means. in the same sense though, the customer is not intelligent enough to decide sometimes as someone who has no experience with atvs but has a fast car has to have the biggest atv for their first one will get themselves or someone else hurt. i remember back in the day when a 400 was a big atv, i myself hopped up my 650 v2 kawi motor and my 700 arctic cat motor cause i would get to bored on a 400 and it wouldn't be able to turn the tires i am running.

edit: i also forgot to add that alot of times i use my atv for working cattle and anyone who has done this work in swampier land will tell you horsepower is golden. when i turn the corner and hit the throttle i expect instand response for this work.

 

My only problem with that mentality is that kids and or novice riders will drag their parents, girl friends etc into the dealers and the sales guy will convince them that they need the top of the line to go fast etc. Then it is a crap shoot whether the guy survives long enough to get the experience needed to truely ride it at max potential and be safe about it. Throw in all the buddies that will want to "Ride " it and the potential to add to the injury statistics is very high. Understand I came from the original ATC 90 days where the 3 wheeler would only do about 25 max. We had more fun than a barrel of monkees on them, and they were not fast enough to get you into too much trouble. What really ultimately killed the ATC's was when Honda started putting a race prepped MX 250 motor on it. That is when the accidents and subsequent deaths came at an alarming rate. So much so, that they outloawed them. The same can happen again if we don't stop this craziness now.

 

I've personally never seen a dealer convincing anyone to buy a quad beyond their abilities. Limiting the size of engines limits the customer's choices to buy what will meet their needs or wants. That's like saying fast cars are responsible for deaths. Idiots in fast cars are responsible for deaths, yes. But it's not the quad. It's the people riding them that need to decide what is best for them. As a parent I watched my son learn on a 250cc Honda Recon. Sounds like a good small starter quad but it certainly could go fast enough to kill anyone that didn't ride it properly.
Going back to the car argument, there are those who say trucks should be outlawed because they use a lot of gas and kill people in small car/truck crashes. But, I say, the Toyota Prius isn't going to hack it when it's time to get a lift of 2x4s or a bunch of sheetrock. Same goes for quads. You're making the argument that, because people don't think and kill themselves riding overpowered quad, the makers should limit the size of the engines. Well, I've found that my needs aren't met by a 500 once the snow falls in our area. I guess I shouldn't have a more powerful quad because some other clown crashed a machine that's too much for them. Doesn't fly with me. The educated consumer should make the decision on what works best for them. If some get hurt because they didn't take the time to learn how to ride that's on them unless the quad has a serious design flaw that causes it to go out of control pretty much on its own.

 

It seems to me that the same people who argue to outlaw the freedom of companies to build their products as they choose and to restrict the consumer from purchasing what they choose are the same people who would argue to restrict the freedoms of Americans from many other things as well. All for their own good of course.

 

I'm trying to remember the last successful ad for power sports that had "smaller engine and less horsepower" in it.

It is what it is. They make what sells.

 

in regards to dealers pushing larger sized atv's on people who are not experienced enough to ride them.... in my experience,it's the total opposite.
dealers move the larger sized atv's (650cc+) a lot easier then the mid sized- (400-550). Every time I've walked into a dealer to kick some tires, the salesman tries to talk me into buying the "more than enough power" 500 or 550. Most people rather spend the extra $900 - $1500 for the big bore and leave the dealer with an overstock of med-bore atv's.

Just look at cl- people buy the mid sized atv new, then post them on cl a few months later because they regret not buying the big-bore. The ratio of med-bore to big-bore atv's on cl is probably about 10:1 - all I do is search for atv's on cl when I'm bored...