oh and the pic of the white bike thing...go see one in real life ...they are tiny and cheap...it will break the 5th time you ride it, and it wont make it into town.

it WILL fall apart, all the low end chinese bike do.

but it does "look" cool,

just go buy a set of tools and a wire welder, to weld all the suspension parts back together when they break

 

Yeah, the can-am bombardier! I'd LOVE to get one of those, but they're a bit out of my price range.

I actually have another topic up, asking about swapping out the rear swing-arm for a motorcycle swingarm and having a trike that way.

IF I don't go for the cheap chinese, what are my other options? So far, all ATVs I've seen ride far too high to be used on the street without tipping (imo). Granted, they ARE off-road, so a 12" ground clearance is needed... but it's just not the use I'm looking for.

Can I lower a normal atv with shorter shocks and install wider a-arms to get the desired effect... without spending a ridiculous amount of money?

 

yes of course,
you can add smaller low profile street tires and wheel spacers,

you can get wheel spacers up to 5" I think, so you would widen your stance by 10" total, thats a little extreme.

wheel spacers come in 2 varieties, a solid block that bolts to the hub or wheel bolt extenders that screw over the existing studs,

the block/hub type are more expensive and 10X heavier but really strong, most are aluminium but some are high density hard rubber.

the screw on type are prolly the best way to go if you arent jumping or racing, I have them on my 250 atv and tear up the trails, I have never broken or bent one yet.

many people will say the screw on type is bad due to the surface area that they contact, but on my atv (bayou 250) the surface area that the stock rim contacts is only larger by 1cm or so.

so the differance is not that big,
I used the heavy duty hex type screw on extenders,(NOT THE ROUND ONES THEY COME LOOSE)
total cost for 4 wheels $40.00

one thing to take into consideration is your wheel offset, some rims have a high wheel offset that pushes the rim away form the bike, some rims have a low offset that pulls the rim in closer.

so with extenders and a high offset you could widen your stance by a large amount,
I would say over all the max you could push the rear out would be about 7-8 inches per side....but that is really extreme

you could go even wider by adding a wider axle for the rear.
the frontwould be limited to wheel offset and wheel spacers


you would want to find a fine balance for the rear. not too wide
as it could stress the axle and bearings.

any extreme changes like this will seriously affect the steering geometry and performance, but if this is just a Mall Crawler then who cares


adding a shorter shocks may not be nessecary after lowering it with the tires.
low profile street/strip tires are available for many rim sizes. and pretty cheap too

heres a link to several manufactures of ATV tires, you have to search each one to find the street tires, but they do exist.



but in order to drive on the street you still need turn signals, and flashers
those can be bought with an aftermarket kit.

you could almost make that same chinese atv, out of a more reliable and powerful sport quad that you posted with some wheel spacers, wider tires and maybe and extended swing arm and chain.

you would have a better project by going this route as parts are plentyful for the major manufactures ...the chinese change models and molds so often that specific parts are hard to find.

I know of people who bought chinese atvs, and had an issue with something as simple as stripping the starter bolt holes in the block and had to scrap the entire machine as they could never get a part or tap the hole in the soft metal properly.

not all chinese atvs are horrible, but they arent endurance machines, they break down and are kinda flimsy..but thats why they are so cheap.


hmm kinda makes me want to build a Sport ATV cruiser for my next project



or you could by a dune buggy type machine, I know in north GA not to far from me that they are street legal some how

heres a link to some cool looking buggies, but these are chinese made too and many people hate this company ..but the stuff does "look" cool

SunL