Well we had it all planned out... A new 850 esp for me and a new 550 esp for my wife. My 10 year old daughter would take over full time on the Sportsman 500 and my 3 year old would ride with me on the new 850... We would load all of this into our 40' fithwheel toy hauler and camp for long weekends at the "world famous" Hatfield & McCoy trails that's 3-4 hours from home. The trails we would ride as a family would be the easier green ones and we'd be going slow and looking at all the scenery. A nice leisurely ride. Then if the wife and I wanted, we could go sometimes by ourselves and ride a little more aggressive while leaving the kids at Grandma and Grampa's...

Well, apparently my idea for a fun easy family ride is totally irresponsible and I'm endangering my kids if I allow them to participate. I knew the written rules for H&M said "no passengers on 1-up ATVs" and "children must ride an ATV of appropriate size recommended by the manufacture", but this is West Virginia! The "Wild and Wonderful" state. I thought those rules were written to cover their butts, but.. apparently not. According to what I've been told by several locals. The "rangers" are out in full force and enforce all the written rules to the "T"!

So now my 10 year old, who has grown up racing Hair Scrambles on dirt bikes since she was 4 and now races a KTM 65, is supposed to ride a little 90 ATV until she's 16?..... That's so ridiculous, I don't even know what to say...

With my 3 year old, we might be able to get by if she's on the back of a 2-up machine, but even that's iffy, because the rules technical say she must be able to touch the floor boards. Guess I can rig some kind of extenders or something...

For anyone who doesn't know, The H&M trails are awesome to ride, but it's been years since I've been down there. It sounds like they've really tightened up on the "laid backness"... I don't want to give up on getting the family into Atving, but this is making it hard.

So now we're looking at getting my wife a 550 Touring ESP to carry our little daughter. I'm not to sure of that. Since I'm a much more experienced rider, I should probably be carrying her around. My wife is fine with the 2-up machine, but I'm not. I'll probably ride 50% of the time without the family and don't want that extra seat in the way. I also don't want to loose the rear rack space. So I makes a lot more sense for my wife to get the 2-up machine instead of me. When our little daughter is riding with us, we'll be going real easy and she should be fine with my wife, but it's just if anything happened....

Not sure what to do about my older daughter.... One of the locals said she'd be ok on the Sportsman 500, but the others said no way. Probably one of those things where we'd get away with it for a while, but eventually we'd have problem....

Any advice?
Anyone local to the H&M trails to give some insight?

 

Honestly, RickB I was a little shocked at the idea of a 10 year old girl riding a Sportsman 500 too. The thing that's tough about a Sportsman is the weight. You have to be able to counterweigh a quad in the corners and off camber situations. Big difference between a KTM 65 dirt bike and a big utility quad. I agree about the 90cc thing. I have a friend who's son is a big horse of a kid. He's now riding a Honda Recon 250. Great size for an experienced pre-16 year old. On the 2-up front you get a more stable quad for when you are riding up and down hills because of the extra length. I ride my X2 (folding seat/dump box combination) mostly 1-up and love the ride. Polaris does have foot risers for people with shorter legs. Pure Polaris : 3" Passenger Foot Risers) I don't know if they'd work for your 3 year old though. I was surprised when they didn't come out with the X2 in an XP version with the 850 this year. It's a great quad to ride by yourself and the dump box is great for carrying gear a little more securely. And it's 2-up only as needed.

 

Your 10 year old daughter should not be on 500 sportsman. No way is that safe, I don't care about the experience level, the weight is the factor. I am a proud dad also, but don't let that put her in a situation to fail. IMO Doc and Father

 

I'd double check the age limit thing. Here in MN they can ride a machine that they can comfortably sit on and reach all controls at 12. Also have to watch a free video/pass a written test and attend a rider's safety course. 500 may be a bit much to start on at 10 even with the riding experience. Looking at starting my daughter out on a new 300sp this year. I know it blows that the fun police are really starting to enforce things,especially with youths, but they have good reason. Here in MN there has been a number of youth fatalities because of inexperience/lack of supervision/riding machines too big for them. Unfortunately, we all end up paying the price because of poor choices and lack of adult supervision. Hopefully things work out!

 

agreed about her on a 500 for the same reason that has been given as the weight factor. hit a rock that throws the handle bars or what ever abd she wouldn't have enough weight or strenght to handle it. of course like everyone else this is just my opinion you are the parent, so you make your own call. hope what ever it is is right anbd safe for noth of you.

 

i was looking at the rules for the h&m trail and there is also a regulation that says no atv over 61 horse power so according to that the 850 is out thats why i wound up with another 550 xp

 

I feel your frustrations........This is control by our government because people are too stupid to control themselves and take responsibility.

 

do you know somebody that you could borrow theres .something with a low seat height so she can touch the footpegs. this spring when we were in MAN,wv there were alot of kids on oversize machines. good fun let us know how it works out

 

my 9 year old rides a poaris trail boss 330 but it steers much easier than a sportsman 500 (my wife and I both own two sp 500s) and weighs much less. I think a sp 500 is too much machine for a 10 year old. what about a hawkeye 4x4?

 

i live in the panhandle of west virginia and the atv laws here are gettin pushed to the max lately. if the law does get you they usually get you with everything they can. police are sayin its mostly out of state riders comin to the creeks and backroads here and riding how they want. lots of accidents and deaths this year...