well i know its not illegal to have anything, but i was pretty sure its illegal to make a three wheeler and i thought they stopped making 250r's cause of lawsuits and stuff. IF not, then what happened to 250r, tecate, quadsport 250, 500, etc. Why would they all just stop makin them? The 250r is supposed to be amazing. WHy would they end a success? something is missing from this equation.

 

When they stopped making the sport quads it was because the market was soft at the time and Utilities and 4x4s were selling ten times the amount. They went where the money was. Only a very few manufactures make two strokes anymore. One reason is because of emissions and the other is because of durability. A four stroke is much easier to maitain than a two stroke. The selection of sport quads is the best it has EVER been.

 

warrior86

Thank you for bringing up this topic as it is a very interesting one for me. I do have a question for you though. You brought up very valid points regarding the ignorance of banning sport atv's, what do you think should be done about the stupid people who have no right having such powerful vehicles in their possession? Around here where I live there are kids going down the roads on their sport ATV's doing in excess of 75 on a 35 mph roads and they don't even have helmets on. Sure it's not the atv's fault, but in the eyes of the law or even a bystander, if you take away the atv, you take away the problem.
In my opinion, they should do the same thing as they did with the problem of the skateboarders who skated in the parking lots annoying people. Instead of outlawing skateboards, they alloted areas for the kids to skate. There are skate parks all over the place with happy kids practicing their techniques. I think there should be more atv/off road parks for people to ride at. That way atv riders don't endanger the safety of the public and they still have a place to enjoy the great sport we all love.

 

thank the liberals and the lawyers

they are trying to protect us from ourselves

 

well, i have spent lots of hours in calculus class pondering this too. And trust me, i have that same problem. Look, weather it be quad or car, if theres an empty road and its late at night i really wont have a problem doing 90 in a 40 or whatever. But when theres fathers out with their little kids and u fly by them...thats when they get pissed and i would too. And if i am flying at the time of day when there out, i bring it down when i approach a house and/or people.

As much as those little punks (not that im so old, 18) pi$$ me off and i would love to say make it be 17 or whatever age as long as u have some form of drivers liscense, its not fair for the good kids. Whenever it comes to something controversial where little kids are abusin the privelage, even i want to just take the easy way and make it even more strict. But then i think of myself when i was that age. I remember how i found it annoying enough with existing laws where i would have to get waivers signed...may it be anything from paintball to renting jet skis with my dad. Not all kids are wild and destructive and stupid. And you know what, we like to call those kids dumb and just youthful or immature, but there selfish. I have went to many kids and said, "why they hell are u doing that, you gonnaa get quads banned" and they were like, "what do i care, im getting a car soon" Meaning as long as they dont ruin it for themselves they dont care if they ruin it for everyone else. As long as it lasts til there finished with it, they have nothing to lose cause they effect will be delayed and will hurt the younger gen. And although i can be shy at times, i have no problem calling someone i just met an a$$hole to their face and thats what i usually do...and then i explain why. lol

So you cant take it away for the kids, dont punish the good ones just to spite the bad. A large part of racing in general depends on the youth, just like almost all sports. If people arent getting a dirtbike til there 18, itll be possible, but not as frequent that someone does a backflip no hander on a dirtbike. Ya know, it kinda hard when your 40 and have kids and arthritis all over. What would happen if i rode a horse down the road and ran from the cops with it. Would they ban horseback riding?


As far as the "if you take away the quads, you take away the problem" and thats not true. You have to catch the kids on the quads and fine the parents. And if they run, make it be the same penalties as an adult. put the blame on the parents. Make it a state law, that if someone under sixteen is riding a quad, the owner it responsible for that persons behavior. This will make those irresponsible parents a little more antsy when something goes down cause itll be their azz takin the heat. Just because someone doesnt have a liscense doesnt mean u cant regulate and hold someone accountable. ITs not blaming the innocent, its making owners be more careful on who they let ride it cause even tho the parents didnt do it, they are giving their children the means of going about this trouble making. Ill go on about this later...im tired.

And!!!, if you take away the quads you dont take away the problem. Because a little while from now when these kids dont have anything to ride and finally get a new machine (car) a real weapon, there gonna be turbochargin their toyota corolla's all the way down teh road. This time instead of not wearin helmets, they wont be wearin a seatbelt and will have too many people in the car and instead of the noies of the quad your gonna hear one of those maxwell house coffee can mufflers speed by. This time with something much more capable of damage that a quad. THe only reason their might not be as many cars speeding like the quads were because people think there immune to the law on a quad. Although these kids on quads are stupid, not all of them are that dumb. They might speed on atv's because they dont feel they have much to lose, but they wont on cars cause that is much more to lose.

To those of you in the legal know how, is it possible for them to ban atv's all together? or at worse, just make you have to be of age of a motorcycle?

 

you know this is all really complicated and there is no one answer that solves every problem related to quads, each one has to be dealt with individually. i do think some of the laws (not really laws, but they seem to be getting much more strictly enforced) such as the reccommended rider age for atvs, although they can be somewhat rediculous at times, are a good thing. i do think its a bad idea to have a 10 year old on a banshee. but i also think that there need to be more case specific regulations. as in, there really arent that many quads being produced at a time, (different models) therefore, it really wouldnt take that long to go through and rate each quad on a scale, and rate it as such. maybe a scoring system, with a number of different categories. engine size, engine type, intended age of rider, top speed, etc.

instead they have this system with one and only one rating. engine displacement. lets think about this for a second. lets try 350cc. lets take an average yamaha wolverine 350 4x4 rider. would this rider be just as safe or comfortable on a yamaha banshee? after all, it is still only 350cc. how about a honda fourtrax 400 rider. can he just as easily ride a kawasaki kfx 400? kawasaki prairie 650 to a bombardier DS650? you see my point. equal engine displacement does not necessarily mean equal performance.
i do understand the need for some kind of safety regulations, but i dont think that the regulations should have the power to modify the sport.

also, age has nothing to do with rider ability. although this may seem like a strange and possibly irrevelevant comparison, lets look at this.

a few weeks ago i was only 15 years old, this means that i, by the existing regulations, could not ride any atv with a displacement larger than 90cc. my great grandmother is about 92 years old this year. she of course qualifies to ride any and every atv currently existing, according to the regulations. ive been riding since i was about 4 years old, while my great grandmother has never ridden a motorcycle or atv. yet somehow the regulations permit her to ride anything she wants. do they really think that she is in less danger of being harmed on an atv than me? or for a more practical view, take my uncle. he doesnt ride quads, or motorcycles. hes about 45 years old. is he safer on a quad than me? although there is always the implication that with age comes wisdom, i can personally garuntee that this does not always hold true, ive seen some very stupid things done by people who "should have known better" because of their age.

i think there should be an experience rating system, although i can see how such a system could be hard to conceive, they seem to have a lot of time and ideas about such things. or possibly making the optional atv safety courses manditory. that way every atv rider would be educated in how to preserve and protect the safety of people they seem to be so concerned with.

this may come off as a little extremist, which it very well may be, but if things keep going at the rate they have been, it wont be long before we will be riding atvs with roll cages or something like that. or maybe they will decide that atvs are just too dangerous, and make new regulations so that the largest atv any manufacturer can make is 90cc. at a certain point, you lose the fun. there is no point in preserving life if it is not to be lived. theres no reason to ban things that bring people happiness, whether its through speed, danger, or other things that can bring about an adrenaline rush in people, if they are expected to sit around in a home playing board games in its place. life is to be lived.

ok, im done. lol. sorry to waste everyones time, but im just like all of you, certain things just make me wanna vent.

 

Yeah its possible for them t ban Quads if the do it legislatively according to the law. If a law is made is will be enforced. It would then be up to the people to challenge the law in court and or change the law. A law that would affect the whole country would have to pass both houses in Congress and the be signed into law by the president, not very likely though. Other laws could be made statewide,coutntywide or locally. Lets hope that doesn't happen

 

if they ban quads, ill see you in mexico! lol.

 

good post!

 

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