LOL... ill get on that may be a bit of a drive..LOL

Since you live in michigan is their no club in your area that maintains the trails? Usually the local clubs will apply for funding for trail maint and such

 

None that I know of. I was a Charter Member of the ATVA, ATV Association of America, but quit since they didn't really do anything. I searched online and couldn't find a trace of them. I haven't been in any local ATV club if there is one.

One of the trails we used to ride a lot hasn't been maintained by any club or the state for years and years. My friends and I cleared out some of the overgrowth with machetes, axes, and saws. We all worked on it for several hours. We may have gotten 1/2 mile of it fixed up nice. Since we can now ride the roads in that county, we take the roads to other parts of the trail, or to a different trail altogether.

 

First I'd like to thank you folks for taking the time to describe some of the techniques for traversing a washout.

I guess the bottom line is "don't do anything you aren't confident you can do." I was looking at the drainage ditches on the dirt roads around my neighborhood. They can be 2 foot deep in spots. They are manmade washouts. So I tried to envision how I would drop my ATV into these ditches and climb out the other side. I think going more straight in, not at very much angle at all, is a better approach if I'm confident the tires will hit the other side before the nose of the machine. And then just enough throttle to start to climb out the other side while the rear tires hit bottom, and the fronts are clawing their way up the other side. I think I will be leaning over the handle bars to transfer some weight to the front of the machine.

As many of you know, I've whined before about all the horsepower our machine have. Yesterday I opened the throttle on my 1000cc machine on my driveway and felt the front of the machine get light. It was fun, sure. Horsepower is what makes our ATVs fun. I perceive it pretty easy to do a "wheelie" and flip over if you don't know what you are doing. Climbing out of a washout greatly exacerbates this condition with much weight transferred to the rear of the machine. That's one reason I bought a "long wheel base" machine (2 up); for more stability on steep inclines. Mine has a long 59" wheelbase.

Does that sound like a reasonable riding technique for crossing a washout? I guess I will learn how to do it by just doing it. Start small and work your way up.

David

PS jumbofrank: It's great to here you participate in ATV trail maintenance. The clubs around Colorado do the same thing. I need to join one. I'm more than happy to help maintain our trails but I haven't done squat yet.

 

Just remember throttle is not always your friend. That 1000 can get away from you in a hurry and can brake parts quickly if used at the wrong moment. im not allowed to get a 1000 due to my riding style..LOL..

 

You are absolutely right Zrock. I bought this machine because I liked the color. And luckily it comes with a "detune" key that limits the horsepower to about half I'd guess, but don't know for sure. That is the key I use most of the time.

In my sports car days we used to say it was most gratifying to drive a small car fast. I had great fun with my 50 horse Sprite and my 90 horse Lotus. Even my 80cc two stroke Bridgestone "dirt bike" was great fun. Some WOT experiences in these "lesser" machines is thumbs up.

I was advised to get a "big bore" machine as the air is quite thin at 10,000 feet and can zap 30% of the engines horsepower. One of my buddies remembers riding a "350" cc size ATV and it didn't have enough umf to pull him up and over a rock field. He bought a 750 the next time. Someday there may be small turbos on our engines so we don't loose power at high altitudes.

Learning a variety of trail riding techniques for this rookie is why I started this thread.

David

 

with the new efi machines altitude is not a issue like it used to be with a carbed machine that you have to change jets for altitude.

 

The trick with the 1000 is simply, don't blip the throttle unless you are ready to. If in a corner, shift your weight forward and to the inside of the corner before you stab the go lever. Same with launching and going through obstacles. Best thing is to keep a steady, slow throttle input going over or through obstacles. Give the quad a chance to slowly claw its way out. You'd be surprised how effortless it can be sometimes. If it doesn't climb with a steady throttle you may have to give it a stab once the front tires are up and the rears are in the ditch. Just make sure your weight is on the front as much as possible.

 

Agree that it is not the same as a carb but power is still robbed with FI at altitude. Even if the ICE was force induction, it helps but power still gets robbed at altitude. On my Grizzly, I've actually got a fuel controller along with an AFR meter so I can tune while under load and make adjustments for the altitude.

 

No matter what, the air gets thinner at higher altitude. Less oxygen and less fuel to burn with it makes less power, about 3% for each 1,000 feet. But if the oxygen sensor is working right, EFI keeps everything running smoothly up to at least 10,000 feet. A carbed 350 that's not jetted for the altitude would really suffer. And if it was jetted for 10,000 feet it wouldn't run right at lower elevation. It's around 750 feet here, and I had an ATV trip to Utah planned years ago. I would have had to get my carb re-jetted if I didn't have to cancel my reservations for medical reasons.