ATVer reborn here.

I have been on wheeler since a young age but was not until the mid to late 90's that I considered my self addicted. Bought a Honda 350 new in late 2000 and over the next 7 years put close to 15000kms on it. Was the trail master for the local ATV club and very active in clearing trails and building bridges.

As I aged work took over and moved from a country setting to a city setting in 2008 where my bike sat at my father in laws for 5 years, racked up a whopping 500kms on it in that time. I eventually moved it to my new home in the city and joined the local ATV club. Unfortunately new business ventures found me selling my bike and walking away from the sport in 2013 but the love of wheeling brought me back recently with the purchase of a 2005 Rubicon and spent roughly 60hrs doing a mini rebuild on it and brushing off my skills. Loved every minute of it.

Now back in it with new enthusiasm I searched ATV forms. I was a very active member back in the day with a lot of posts. I searched for names of guys that were big on the forms back then, Corn Cob and Dusty Rider who I used to follow and came across this form. Looking to set up shop and contribute where I can.

Look forward to learning and talking!

 

Welcome to the forums.

 

Welcome.

 

Hi old yeller: Nice to meet you. I contributed to another one of your posts already. Your background in the ATV hobby is very deep indeed. You will be a valuable contributor here. You know Ol Yeller was a famous sports racing car here in the states.

'm brand new to the hobby with a new ATV in the garage waiting for spring trail rides. I'm a street legal advocate and maybe your neighborhood has a street legal law. Hope so as it greatly expands the use of our expensive machines. I'd love to ride the dirt roads around here in the foothills of Colorado. But I need a license plate.

Hope to see you around these Forums.

David

 

Thanks for the welcomes all!

@Dbj216

Currently where I live ATVs are not allowed on public roads. There is current provincial government legislation currently tabled that would allow ATVs on public roads to access the trail system. This would mean I could travel on a public road from gps to gps point between registered trails. The " word " is this will get approved.

In the past 30 years I have seen some massive changes to the sport. It began slow but grew rapidly in the 90's, then around 2005 there was a major crack down on ATVs by the police force on where they could drive and could not. Trails and road system became actively monitored and bikes confenscated and people charged. Fights started between ATV crowds and more environmental friendly groups, claims to trails were being made that ATV groups built and ATVs banned from them.

During this time many got out of the sport, ATV dealerships closed, restaurants and gas stations lost business and in some cases closed. Trails that were once well maintained over grew and bridges lost by storms did not get replaced. After a few years of this the province realized it was not the smartest idea to wage a war on a 350 million dollar a year sport and rules relaxed.

I think this is why we are seeing more ATV friendly times but still have a ways to go.

 

Thanks for your insight Old Yeller: I had a part time collete student job back in the early 70s. This little factory was developing and building a "all terrain vehicle" that was a six wheel skid steer. The idea was it would float across the river and then climb out of the water. It had 12hp and seats for four. It was boring at best. We prototyped a hot rod version with a two stroke snowmobile engine. The vehicle went from boring to much fun. It was not a success in the market. AGCO is building a similar vehicle nowadays.

I'm from Minnesota, now living in Colorado. Minnesota is home to Polaris and Artic Cat. I remember when Polaris got into ATVs, and then personal watercraft to grow the company and stabilize the cyclic nature of the snowmobile business. The Honda three wheelers really started it all, but they were darn unstable. I didn't think ATVs had much of a future. Then Honda started building Ranchers and rural folks found the buggers handy for errands around the farm.

In the nineties I remember negative press about ATVs damaging wetlands in northern Minnesota. There were efforts to close trails, impose fines, and steer public opinion against the ATV hobby. Amazing how much damage a few idiot ATV riders can do to the hobby by their irresponsible behavior. You stunt ride in a private ATV park or your own property.

Both Polaris and Arctic Cat are very well respected companies in Minnesota. They, as well as the Japanese and Canadian makers, kept building better and better machines. The extra horsepower is exciting, although not very practical.

David