whats up. im looking for some input on a couple of scenarios of a dirt bike vs. an atv. until getting my 04 scrambler 4x4, i used to only ride a dirt bike. some guys i ride with still only ride dirt bikes, and when riding now, i wanted to make sure i found out a couple of my limitations on the atv before finding out the hard way.
1. can an atv climb a hill just as steep and with steep bumpy terrain just the same as on a dirt bike or does the bike have an advantage as far as not flipping back or recovering from a failed attempt? im a little hesitant to try what i do on a bike. on the bike, if you fail, you just lay it down and carefully slide sideways back down if your lucky. on the atv im worried i might pop up the front end or lose momentum and watch it tumble down the hill. any thoughts or experiences?

2. on a bike when approaching a moderately deep puddle, i can just throttle at the beginning of the puddle and the front tire practically hydroplanes across. same with fairly large ruts or wash outs...the back tire will just catch the lip of the rut after the front tire clears it no problem. on my scrambler, not the same effect. when i gas it at the puddle, it pretty much just plows in and down. on the ruts and wash outs, im afraid to try anything to big as the front tires go down in it some as opposed to right over, and im afraid some things my bike will make it over, the atv would get caught and flip me. any tips here?
3. any other pros and cons you can think of? thanks

 

dont do anything u do on a dirtbike on ur quad except for wheelies.

 

I think a bike can make it up a steeper longer grade due to the power to weight ratio. At the puddle you just have to plow through. I think most quads will leave you that way. The nice light sport ones will just make it to the middle before they start plowin through it.lol. The quad is stable and can grunt up grades without losing stability while going slow. The bike tends to require a little more skill and work on the riders part. You can bail on a bike very easy, where on a quad when it goes bad quite often you are along for the ride wether you like it or not.

 

I can ride a lot faster and longer on my KTM then I can on the Z. The bike is light enough that it floats over the same ruts and woops that swallow up the Z. For me one big advantage of the Bike is the single track trails you get to ride. They are a lot more fun, and a lot more challenging then the quad trails.

 

The bike is going to be able to do more things and do them at higher speeds, better. For racing, aggressive play riding, trail riding, and hill climbing, I think the dirt bike has the advantage. BUT, there are certain things the quad can do that takes a lot of skill and energy on a bike. Riding over super technical terrain and doing it a low speeds requires almost no balance on a quad, but not on a bike. And some slow, technical terrain would be almost impossible for a bike (except for maybe a trials bike. To me, they are almost apples vs. oranges. Very hard to compare since they are so different. You can have fun on both, but the ATV will be limited to what it can do compared to your bike - especially if you were/are a good / skilled bike rider.

 

I think the things i like better about the bike over the quad are things you guys have already said like being able to bail on a steep hill climb.

I don't know about you guys but i feel a lot better getting big air on a bike vs a quad.

But i'm not quad bashing i love my quads and if I had to give something up it would be the bike.

 

You guys have pretty much covered everything...but I just want to say that I've been riding dirt bikes since I was for..I just got my first quad about a year ago...The only thing I have to say is that I have a lot funner time riding my quad then dirtbikes..thats just my opinion...but yes dirtbikes are more adjile and of course being able to bail on a hill is great..on a quad..your pretty much out of luck when you get in tight situations.

 

Yep pure preference. I started on a bike and went to a quad and I doubt Ill be going back. Others I've ridden with are exact opposite. They like bikes better.

As for what a quad can do opposed to a bike, it pretty much depends on the rider. But you'll never know until u try [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]