well i guess shes got u there but i'll agree with TLC. I bought one and learned how to ride w/ my buddy and took it out w/ all my friends. Eventually one after another beat it down or broke it so i stopped taking it out with them. Now i ride alone most times which can get boring and can be dangerous. So try to get someone to buy one with you maybe you can get a better deal on them.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: bassballs818

well i guess shes got u there but i'll agree with TLC. I bought one and learned how to ride w/ my buddy and took it out w/ all my friends. Eventually one after another beat it down or broke it so i stopped taking it out with them. Now i ride alone most times which can get boring and can be dangerous. So try to get someone to buy one with you maybe you can get a better deal on them.</end quote></div>

Very true......

When the original poster asked the question I assumed that they had those other pre-qualifications worked out.....

It is true because I didn't own an ATV while I lived in NJ for years because places to ride were getting too hard to find.

And riding alone is kind of lame and as you said can be dangerous.

But if you have those things covered then all is good......

 

I rode alone most of the time for a few years, then my best friend got back into ATVs and so did his his family and his best friend's family and his brother-in-law's family. Some of them got tired of having snowmobiles and no snow to ride almost all year, so ATVs were the answer to the problem. The downside is that after spending 23 days straight on summer vacation nobody wanted to go home.

 

Really, the only down side is money. The sport can be a money pit. Make sure to budget everything such as insurance, gas, safety equipment, transportation costs to the trails (vehicle, trailer, gas, insurance again), storage, regular maintenance, registration fees, trail fees, repairs from abuse, etc. As someone already said it's not the cost of the machine but everything else.

 

For me the 5 hour round trip to my favorite trails and back costs more than gas for the ATV, ORV sticker, insurance, etc. The only thing that costs more than getting there is the quad itself. Fortunately insurance and all the rest is cheap. I had to buy a helmet, googles, gloves, and a trailer. The trailer is 1/8 the cost of the ATV so that's not bad either. I've had it so many years that it cost less per year than gas or insurance.

 

Well for me it was a like getting my legs back , i lost both legs just before the knees from an automobile accident in march of 1975 from trying to help a friend push his dads car off the road after we ran out of gas , i was caught between the bumpers shearding them both and compound factures of both femures ; 3 days in ICU , three weeks in traction and 9 months in a full bodycast from my knees to my chest and confined to a wheelchair for the rest of my life !

It was over 2 and a half yrs. before my doctor gave me the ok to start driving a car again , at the time of my accident i was 21 just a month before i turned 22 yrs old , i was a truck driver , rode street bikes as well as dirt bikes ; and it was hard being told i would never walk again much less ride bikes or do any of the things i could before losing my legs !

But when a cousin bought 2 new sport quads in 1986 , and a good friend bought a 86' Honda TRX350FM with fulltime 4x4 ; our friend left his 4x4 garaged at my cousins telling him to let me ride it anytime i wanted !

With a custom hand shifter i made myself i could ride it as good as the street/dirt bikes i had riden before i lost my legs i was hooked on it like a junky on crack i found i could go places i couldn't go on foot and in less time before my disability !

It took me 3 yrs before i could afford to purchase my own quad , and it was the very same year make and model down to the same custom mounted 2500 lb. SuperWinch that my friend let me ride in 1986 ; now i could go to remote hunting and fishing spots i loved before i lost the legs !

So for me it was getting my legs back wheater it was getting to places i could go before , and some places i couldn't get to on foot ; in alot shorter time it took with my legs so to me it's a no brainer plus i get to go riding in the mountains and trails for pleasure as well as hunting and fishing !

Sure quads cost $$$$ and for them to last they reqire regular maintained but what machine doesn't , and with gas prices what they are now it's still less cost ( for me at least ) than a funfilled vacation by car , van or camper ; and not to mention motel/hotels stays !

I'm 55 yrs old now and i'll keep on riding my quad even with the high cost of fuel , my quad gets better mileage thatn my 1987 Chevy S10 Tahoo longbed pickup , my 1988 GMC S1500 Jimmy 4x4 MPV or my 1989 GMC Safari Van ; and i have plenty of fun with the freedom i get with my quad !........

 

Lots of good reasons to ride an ATV willebee. I'm glad they work well for you. I think my truck gets 15 mpg, my ATV 25, my scooter 80 mpg. I can think of a lot more reasons to buy ATVs (and scooters) than reasons not to. I have both legs but I'm lazy. When I run to the store a mile away for just a few things I don't walk, I ride. If my ATV was street legal I'd sell my scooter for gas money and keep the truck at home even more than I already do. When the choice is 15 mpg or 80 mpg I fight traffic on my scooter IF it's daylight and not rush hour. If I could ride my ATV to the store I would do it day or night.

 

There are many reasons both pro and con for buying an ATV. The biggest con as stated before is the cost; not of the machine, but of all the rest - gas, insurance, gas, tags, gas, trailer, gas, storage, gas, maintenance, gas, trail fees, gas, repairs, gas, etc, etc... I wish I lived in an area where I could just jump on one and ride like my parents do but I'll have to wait for that. I don't have any problem riding alone, but I am more carefull when alone. I rather enjoy it in fact because I can stop when ever or where ever just to look and something interesting or just because. On my Hawg I ride alone 99% of the time, and even bought plates because of it.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Williebee

Well for me it was a like getting my legs back , i lost both legs just before the knees from an automobile accident in march of 1975 from trying to help a friend push his dads car off the road after we ran out of gas , i was caught between the bumpers shearding them both and compound factures of both femures ; 3 days in ICU , three weeks in traction and 9 months in a full bodycast from my knees to my chest and confined to a wheelchair for the rest of my life !



It was over 2 and a half yrs. before my doctor gave me the ok to start driving a car again , at the time of my accident i was 21 just a month before i turned 22 yrs old , i was a truck driver , rode street bikes as well as dirt bikes ; and it was hard being told i would never walk again much less ride bikes or do any of the things i could before losing my legs !



But when a cousin bought 2 new sport quads in 1986 , and a good friend bought a 86' Honda TRX350FM with fulltime 4x4 ; our friend left his 4x4 garaged at my cousins telling him to let me ride it anytime i wanted !



With a custom hand shifter i made myself i could ride it as good as the street/dirt bikes i had riden before i lost my legs i was hooked on it like a junky on crack i found i could go places i couldn't go on foot and in less time before my disability !



It took me 3 yrs before i could afford to purchase my own quad , and it was the very same year make and model down to the same custom mounted 2500 lb. SuperWinch that my friend let me ride in 1986 ; now i could go to remote hunting and fishing spots i loved before i lost the legs !



So for me it was getting my legs back wheater it was getting to places i could go before , and some places i couldn't get to on foot ; in alot shorter time it took with my legs so to me it's a no brainer plus i get to go riding in the mountains and trails for pleasure as well as hunting and fishing !



Sure quads cost $$$$ and for them to last they reqire regular maintained but what machine doesn't , and with gas prices what they are now it's still less cost ( for me at least ) than a funfilled vacation by car , van or camper ; and not to mention motel/hotels stays !



I'm 55 yrs old now and i'll keep on riding my quad even with the high cost of fuel , my quad gets better mileage thatn my 1987 Chevy S10 Tahoo longbed pickup , my 1988 GMC S1500 Jimmy 4x4 MPV or my 1989 GMC Safari Van ; and i have plenty of fun with the freedom i get with my quad !........</end quote></div>





Willie,

Have you seen this? http://www.ossur.com/?PageID=3364

It is absolutly AMAZING what people are doing today with prosthetics.

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gas prices is the only downfall to owning an atv that i can think of...