Over the summer, I had the opportunity to ride at a location that has seen virtually no atv traffic over the past year. I rode by myself for a bit, while waiting for a group of 4x4 riders to show up. As the place had some sizeable ruts from past 4x4ute use, I spent a lot of time picking lines and riding on top of the ruts. All in all, it had been a dry summer, but there were a bunch of wet spots on the trails. For the first few hours everything went fine, and I made multiple loops with little problem. Then the 4x4's showed up. I followed one couple as they first entered the trail, and couldn't believe how much mud and such they were displacing and sloshing around. In some places I began to have trouble staying on top of the ruts as everything was becoming slippery. This couple wasn't even going fast, in fact, I had to keep stopping to give them a lead as I was just above idle in first gear. Now these were open class utes with the big wheel/tire kits on them, but still I couldn't believe how much dirt they were moving. Sure, I could of been spinning and kicking up big roost at will too, but at those speeds you would hardly have known I was there. So what is your opinion. Do sport quads or utes cause more trail destruction?

 

Based on what I saw that first time you and I went riding, I would have to say it's the utes. There's no way the sports could cut ruts that deep. They dont' have the ground clearance and the tires aren't nearly as wide.

 

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True. I was just amazed at how much dirt was churned up relative to speed by those utes with aftermarket mud tires. That, and the ruts were already way bigger than any sport could have made(well, maybe now the Outlaw could)

 

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yeah anytime you let one of those babys rip the $hit is going to fly.

 

Neither. This is tree hugger ammo.

 

No way, I'm not a tree hugger by any stretch. I just think this is a viable topic, especially since the trail in question is closed in large part due to deep ruts.

 

No, that's not what I meant. It's a public forum. They can come on here and cite threads like this in their arguments.

 

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