One thing that contributed to the riders crash, is that he was carrying lots of heavy water (look at the links and see just how DRY this area is!). The heavy load on the racks, made him top heavy and I think that was a big factor. It was an absolute bitch to get the quad turned back over! I don't think one guy by himself could have gotten it back upright.

So, in a sense, what saved him is what also made him crash..............

 

Why would a person want the government to tell them what they can and/or can’t do? It should be left for the person or parent to decide.. If a parent thinks the kid/s can ride a bigger ATV then it is on the parents… In Oregon we have a law “endangering the welfare of a minor” i.e. placing the kids on a bigger ATV and they get hurt. Then you make the parent responsible for the kids… Nobody needs to have the government telling them what to do… be smart and you will most likely not get hurt…..I believe that most injuries happen because a person is riding outside of there ability.. You can’t blame that on the dealership or the manufacture. If people rode with there head and not there EGO we would have far less mishaps.

Of course this is just my opinion… I for one DON’T want the government telling me what I can and can’t do more then they already do…

 

I was going to suggest the extra height and weight were probably partially to blame for the accident in the first place. The funny thing is, as time has gone on, the machines HAVE gotten bigger and more capable. 20 years ago you would have had a hard time finding a machine big enough to haul that much stuff on the racks.

With the recent utility power wars now apparently over or at least calming down, it may be a good time to point out that the smaller utes are still very capable. I have family that still use 250cc mid 80's machines to pack out any white tail harvest. The real upgrade every atv needs is to the common sense center, the one between the riders ears.

 

I am hopeing that there will be a new generation of light hybrid sport 4wd's.....kind of the Wolverine concept, but taken to the extreme. The average rider just doesn't need a huge heavy monster work quad. Most folks just want to have fun trail riding, but could use the security of having selectable 2wd/4wd in case they got into a nasty section out on the trail. These would be way lighter than the current crop of utilities and not top heavy, so the safety factor should be way greater.

I hope the manufacturers can see the logic in this concept. If the manufacturers did it right, these could become the dominant machine for most riders, outselling both sport and utility quads within a short time.

 

recon

Good point on the danger of a roll bar too, that is very true. I guess it would be a gamble either way.

But as you said the lighter 4x4s are the ultimate answer to sport riding. Most people don't need a Polaris 700 to ride on the trails when a Rancher 350 would do just fine. The giant 700-pound monsters are work machines IMO and handle like crap anyway.

 

I own a Brute Force, but on this day I was riding a relatives Rancher 350. I was just tooling along riding ditches when I went up the sheer side of a pretty steep culvert. The machine was going less than 5mph and I was giving it gas when it tumbled over. I dove out of the way and was not hurt. It was my fault and I could have been paralyzed had it landed on me just right. The point is that when an ATV is about to fall on you, my fear level is the same whether it is my Brute Force at 607 pounds plus fuel or a Rancher that weighs less than that. Both can hurt you, both can kill you.

One more observation of mine after driving my 650 and then driving much smaller displacement quads. There have been times when I would have been in a whole heap of trouble without the available power on tap from my big bore. There are riding situations where I have had to extract every cc from the machine to prevent a roll over or a bad situation.

 

In my mind, big engine power isn't the same issue at all as a big huge heavy frame. Look at the 450R. It can make 50 hp, yet it only weights a scant 350 pounds (half of what a big Polaris weighs). I know some small percentage of folks do genuinely need a big heavy work machine, but if you want real performance, keep the weight to power ratio low.

Even if one has big horsepower, you can keep that under control by experience and simply controlling your thumb. But, if you have a 700 pound machine, there is no way to get away from all that weight.

I certainly consider my Rancher to be underpowered, and I also consider it to be overweight. But, most of my utility riding is highly technical stuff, done at walking speed, so I can live with it till something better comes along.

 

Ooh ooh, I know.....we should make safety devices on the quads that won't let them start unless they sense you have a helmet on your head. And then we could make it so if the quad senses it's going to roll over, it uses an ejection seat to throw you off and a parachute to land you safely on the ground. I want mine to talk to me too. I want it to tell me how it feels. if something is going to go south soon, and let me know how it feels about environmental issues. And how about airbags? Maybe some seat belts? No...wait, I want On-Star! And maybe a hands free cell phone system.

 

I think they should make them like Kitt off of Knight Rider....they should be able to drive themselves and talk[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] ....an advanced smart quad with artificial intelligence.

 

What kind of fun would that be?


TPR