I went and looked at a popular ATV riding area called Rampart Range in Pike National Forest here in Colorado. It was developed by dirt bike riding enthusiasts, and the ATV riders joined the fun.

The trail sections I saw were narrow, tight between the pine trees, and significantly eroded. They looked nothing like I had envisioned a ATV trail would look like.

The main trail was "V" shaped, maybe due to the dirt bike activity. The trail looked more like a drainage ditch than a trail. It is maybe 60" wide and 30" deep in places.

My questions is: How does a guy track his ATV down such a V shaped trail. Do you straddle the ditch? It appeared the angles of the sidewalls are too steep to try to ride on them.

Sorry, I didn't get a picture.

David

 

Whenever I rode through something that was a deep V like that I tried to keep my ATV centered in the V which makes the tires ride just on the edge of the tread. It was always hard for me to keep it balanced that way and in a longer stretch one side tends to drop down into the ditch. Depending on how bad it is one side of the ATV may be scraping on the ground. If that happens you can do whatever it takes to get out of that mess and hope you don't tear anything up. There is no good way to get through it that I know of.

 

Thanks Jumbo: It certainly didn't look too easy to navigate. I even imagine breaking a tire bead. (I don't have beadlock wheels, and I do have low pressure tires.) I guess I might just wait until I can follow someone through that section of trail and see how they do it. In Colorado, you can not just go out and make your own trail around it; you have to go through, or go back.

David

 

Sometimes dirt bikes and ATVs just aren't compatible. People on bikes can easily make trails unusable to to any other vehicle. What I see more often than a V like that is a 2 track ATV trail where the bikes use one track only until it's a big rut and you're way off camber going through it. It's a similar situation but not usually as bad as the big V in the middle. Again I try to straddle the rut and hope for the best.

Technically you aren't allowed off the trail here either but they're maintained so rarely that trees across the trail are fairly common. Since no one is cutting them off the trail, if you can't go over them you have to find a way around. Then everyone else uses the bypass which is usually around the end of the tree that's closest to the trail. That becomes the new trail, sometimes with an S to go around a tree on one side and around another tree on the other side. Other times it's more extreme and you really have to hunt for a way around. In the extremely rare cases that someone does cut the tree out of the trail after someone else makes a way around it there's now a place to pass or stop for a short break.

 

The deep v is typical dirt bike damage, but shhh, they all think only quad and side by side guys cause trail damage. Best bet is to straddle the v where you can. At times you may just have to drop a set of tires down in it and ride it that way. Don't worry to much about the low pressure tires, it takes a herculean effort to break those beads off when there is a little pressure in the tire. Even when there is none and the valve core is out, lol.

 

As others have said, straddle the V. The rims on quads have an extra lip inside of the bead. It takes a lot of effort to de-rim a tire. In fact, I can't think of anyone ever having a tire de-rim. Rollovers are the most dangerous thing on a quad. Straddling the V and keeping it as level as possible is key.

 

David,

Rampart Range is probably one of the worst places for ATVs to go ride. I have ridden, even recently, on the back side of Rampart out of the Rainbow Falls Area parking location. However, you don't see nearly as many MX bikes at Rampart/Rainbow, or none at all, when snow is on the ground. The reasoning behind not going there late spring through early fall is because of the amount of MX bikes and the speed they like to carry. That and it is so close to Denver/Co Springs that it gets very crowded.

There are other locations to go ride near here that doesn't see the pressure Rampart gets. All of a sudden my schedule has got insane with weekend activities but I will certainly let you know when I can get out and hope you are free.

 

Oddly enough, I have rolled a few tires off the bead racing sport quads. Always from a flat tire and always abusing above and beyond what a normal trail rider is going to be dishing out.

 

Thanks fellas for deep V riding advice. I understand this particular Colorado OHV trail area was developed and used by the dirt bike folks. It is one of their favorite areas. And it certainly was crowded. It is about 15 miles from me as the crow flies, but nearly 50 miles by car. So goes life in the mountains.

Thanks for your insight redrocket204: I rather knew this was a "Denver" weekend location, but being retired, I wonder what it is like on a Tuesday morning.

Us retired guys don't have insane schedules! I emphasize with you, hang in there. Give a shout if you get an early Sunday morning free. Family first.
Beware, I'm a rank rookie.

I did enjoy the guys staging their machines in the north parking area. I saw some guys lifting either the front or back of their machines as they put them on the trailer sidewise. So I tried it in my garage with less success. Back to the gym for me until I can deadlift 300 pounds or so with my legs. Must be an ATV requirement.

David

 

Do the sport quads have the extra lip inside the rim? I didn't keep our sport quad long enough to change tires. We got tired of getting stuck or high centered all the time with the 5-6" of clearance. It's all rocks, roots, mud, snow and water holes here.