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I carry spare cables in case added length is needed for winching. With an extra 100' of cable I am pretty comfortable I can wrap it up to discourage anyone from taking it. Even better would be to have a riding buddy go for help while I hide in the trees and wait for someone to try to steal it! I would like to introduce them to my little friend! Pretty hard to think anyone would stoop that low to try and steal someones broke down machine....
A Master Lock Python can go through places most cable locks won't, like the spokes on an ATV wheel. Polaris steel wheels have a dozen small holes in them that a cable lock with a steel locking lug on the end won't fit through. At least mine wouldn't and it was a Master Lock too.
Fortunately I should have no problem then, with any size cable/chain. Hopefully I'll never need to walk away and leave it, but still no one should ever ride alone, bad things can happen no matter how safe we try to be! good example was when my buddy was following me down into a steep incline into devils bowl at Bundy Hill, when his 4x4 caught the side of the run throwing him off, out in front of his quad, then it rolled and started bouncing like a big ball, going airborne, bouncing twice before hitting him, while he was frantically trying to scoot on the seat of his pants trying to get away from it, but it finally caught up to him pounding down on him and busting his hip in 6 places, with me watching it all happen in horror, at the bottom of the cliff, with no way to help! then after it finally rolled/bounced to the ground it wasn't done yet, it started charging at us like a bull in the arena, going round and round in circles at top speed, because the throttle had been bent all the way in, it wasn't until my son could jump in on one of its passes, to turn off the ignition. Fortunately the staff was right there within minutes, with one of their sxs's to get him up and out of the canyon, or else he would have had to have been air lifted out, and they advised him to allow them to call for that, but he refused, afraid he would be billed later for the rescue. Instead we loaded up everything and drove him to the hospital 30 min away, with him in agonizing pain! But can you imagine if this would have happened way out somewhere alone, and even worse, just before dark, on a cold rainy night, possibly in an area that is seldom traveled. I shutter at the thought!
Another thing I don't remember anyone mentioning, taking along, in their first aid kit, is bailing wire and heat duct tape, one for quick repairs and another for bandages. I've used this over the years, when doing construction as a carpenter, and when there's been a cut, larger than a simple band aid could cover, I'v used a strip of duct tape, with a clean tissue to cover the wound, it wont let go, and also helps to pull the wound together, creating a bit of a tourniquet as well, to help stop the bleeding! This has helped many times over the years, where power tools are used on a daily basis, sometimes way out in the field! Much cheaper than those drugstore types, especially the larger ones, plus they only cover a square area, only covering the cut, with no extra tape length to reach around, to help pull the wound together.
If you had just the front wheels chained up, or just the back wheels, it would be possible for someone to tow it out. But if you run your cable through a front wheel and a back wheel I don't think anyone would even try taking it. How's your buddy doing since he healed up? I imagine he's still messed up.
I don't take wire or duct tape but I think my friend still carries some wire. I used to carry a small roll of wire too. I bought a big roll of black rebar tie wire and gave him some. One time he used it all when he and another guy were riding and something on the other guy's quad broke. I'm pretty sure he said it was a tie rod. Whatever it was they managed to hold things together long enough to limp it back. I gave him more wire to keep in his ATV and some for his truck too. I keep some in the glove box of my truck but should carry some in my ATV again too. Rebar tie wire is annealed to make it softer. You can twist it a lot more than other wire to tighten it up without breaking it. This roll is big enough to divide into 8 pieces 50' long or 16 pieces 25' long, etc., but I just grab a small bunch at a time without measuring it. I always use a couple of small pieces of wire around the rolls to keep them rolled up.
I try to keep a small roll of TP for that nature call moment, so if I added duct tape and antibacterial ointment I would have the perfect bandage! Lts of good ideas comming out here. However if we carried everything we might possibly need there would be no room for the rider! Now we need to prioritise what we "really" need....
It has been annealed so it would take much more than normal bending to make it break.
You might get tired of bending it before it breaks. Any other wire I've used, except lacing wire, will break before a loop of it gets tight enough to hold things together. I have a roll of plain stainless steel wire that when I wrap it around something and I think it needs another twist or two it snaps. It's not annealed like stainless steel lacing wire. I had a pair of lacing wire pliers in my tool box when I was in the army. They made it so easy to tie together the parts on the gas cylinder of M60 machine guns.
My buddy's accident was 4 yrs ago, already, and it took over a year for him to get fully back on his feet, but was in constant pain in his abdomen for another year from the crushing impact! His Polaris 660, heavy front rack was busted/cracked in half, destroyed his light/instrument modular, wasted throttle ***'y, bent bars. He now has fully recovered, back to doing heavy construction once again, and even rode the trails with me, up around St Helen, for 4 days, last year. He was a little hesitant about doing the hill climbs the first couple of days out , then on the third day, I looked behind me, and he had followed me up a pretty steep incline, and from then on was up for what ever the trails had to offer! Before the accident he had just bought a 2 story farm house, and was in the process of totally renovating it, from top to bottom , gutting it down to the framing/studs, new shingles, siding the works, and has since finished it, and even built a beautiful stone fireplace! He's planning on building a 3 car 2 story garage this year, after just buying the lot next dr. from the city. I still find it hard to believe, what he's accomplished since his accident! Very strong willed, determined individual, indeed!
03-16-2019, 05:45 PM
You might get tired of bending it before it breaks. Any other wire I've used, except lacing wire, will break before a loop of it gets tight enough to hold things together. I have a roll of plain stainless steel wire that when I wrap it around something and I think it needs another twist or two it snaps. It's not annealed like stainless steel lacing wire. I had a pair of lacing wire pliers in my tool box when I was in the army. They made it so easy to tie together the parts on the gas cylinder of M60 machine guns.