Hello ATV riders,
I am a college student redesigning atv utility vehicles. I am in the research phase of this 6 month project. I am writing to this forum to get real feedback and responses to how one uses and lives with Atvs. Scince Atv (the utility vehicles in particular) being an funtional based product often are not designed with all its uses in mind. Often these products stay the same for years because upfront research and redesign cost lots of Money. This is a full scale project ( concept to fullscale working prototype) and your help may eventually fulfill your wants in the future of ATV vehicles. So I a on a quest to find out what you use your personal vehicle for and under what conditions.

I am would love to hear from you all. I have questions such as, What do you do with your ATV? ex, pulling, moving material, hunting, construction, recreation, etc.
What does your vehicle not do well?
How do you misuse your ATV, these are rugged vehicles and are put to extreme uses, what extremes do you use or not use?
What environment do you use it in? ex: your land, public land, on your farm, ranch, swamp, mountain terrain, etc.
How often do you use it?
Do multiple riders use it?
What are these vehicles missing for you enjoyment and use? ex: not comfortable, not enough grab bars, no cover from elements, cheap materials, etc.

What was caused you to buy your current utility vehicle??? cost, look, uses, etc.



By answering just one of my questions would be a great help and will lead to designs which will make the life for atv users better,safer and more productive. A simple few answers or a small story of how you live and use your atv would be great.

Thank you for your time and participation.

sincerely, Kirby Long

 

I ride evry day with tons of my friends for hours i use my quad to race and jump

 

Here are some answers:

I am would love to hear from you all. I have questions such as, What do you do with your ATV? ex, pulling, moving material, hunting, construction, recreation, etc. Mostly recreation, occassional pulling.
What does your vehicle not do well? It's too damn heavy
How do you misuse your ATV, these are rugged vehicles and are put to extreme uses, what extremes do you use or not use? Rugged rock climbing
What environment do you use it in? ex: your land, public land, on your farm, ranch, swamp, mountain terrain, etc. all
How often do you use it? 1/week
Do multiple riders use it? not really
What are these vehicles missing for you enjoyment and use? ex: not comfortable, not enough grab bars, no cover from elements, cheap materials, etc. There should be a 4x4 ATV with 600+CC that weighs under 500lbs

What was caused you to buy your current utility vehicle??? cost, look, uses, etc. uses and reliability

 

Hello. Here's my 2 cents.

How do you misuse your ATV..................I use my atv for hunting, plowing snow and trail riding.
What environment do you use it in? .................I use it in designate atv zone as well as on the river during the winter months.
How often do you use it?..................I use it between 1-2 times weekly for an average of 1-3hrs each time.
Do multiple riders use it?.......................I am the only rider.
What was caused you to buy your current utility vehicle?.............The development of trail in my are. As well as hunting and plowing.

Hope this helps

 

I would start your research from the ground and work your way up. The first thing everyone changes on their quads is the tires. How about a machine that came with 6 ply rated decent overall tires i.e.: bearclaws, mudbugs, mudlites etc... I know that the cheap tires are used to keep the price and weight down, but the consumer ends up paying for something they can not use. Is there anyone out there who has had their quad for a year and still has the stock tires on it? Second to be added is the skid plates. The manufacturers all tout the benefits of their polyethelne (plastic) skid plates, but they are happy to sell you an overpriced alum. replacement. Again, price and weight are the main reasons for this, but I'd rather they built the quad to work hard from the start. Finally, they all have some problems. If they would only read some of these forums most of them could be fixed next year. This should be mandatory reading for the R & D folks.

 

Hey Guys,

Thankx for the replys. It helps a great deal. I totally agree that R/D engneers and designers should get first hand knowledge of what these things are really used for. Thats what I am doing with this. I can't go out and visit the diffferent markets and users across the US so i am using this forum.. Hopefully in less than a year i will be a professional designer and be in or near this market and make some changes. And remember this forum and the real end user, not the sales office..

The info is great. Storys would help a great deal. I am a visual person, the design i am doing is goign to be based around aesthetics, Human factors and ergonomics, And new ideas of funtional use (inventing new parts or accessories.) Since i am visual a story of your typical day on the farm or on the trail would be awesome.

An awesome ride. A huge obstcle you over took. A major problem you always have. The most ya ever hauled, somethin like that... I'll see what ya' all think.

Thanx for eveybody's time, and lookin..

Student