I ride my arctic cat utility quad at local offroad parks just for recreation. Dirtbikes have left me black and blue on more than one occasion. Flipped the Cat one on its side but it has never hurt me or my passenger and I have well over 40 hours of seat time. Dirt bikes are too unpredictable for me

 

I've got a modded raptor 700 and the only time I go fast is when it is wide open and flat.

 

That would still fall under the driver's fault. You can't jump a Kawasaki and expect it to hold up.

 

Depends on what you are doing with them.

In certain situations, you can lay a dirt bike down and get away from it where an ATV will just keep coming after you (as in a hill climb gone bad in the area Captain Morgan mentioned).

I sustained far worse injuries back in my bulletproof days on ATVs than I ever did on a dirt bike for just that reason.

I now just use my ATV for hunting, utility and the occasional light joy ride.

 

Article sounds like a plea for the government to come in and protect the stupid from themselves...

I say "Hey you! Out of the gene pool!"

 

I thought that too. lol... That bitch went SNAP and *** end just dropped.

 

Somewhat related....

the accident mentioned in that article in Centertown, KY had people that know me worked into a froth the day that it made news. The driver of the truck (who also was in pretty bad shape) and I happen to have the same name... 1 out of the 4 including me in the entire United States that I am aware of.

The accident happened over two hours away but the local news was reporting it to have happend about 20 miles from my house.

I started getting phone calls at 6 am and had friends searching hospitals looking for me when they couldn't reach me later in the day.

It took me a while to get that whole thing straightened out and I'm sure there are still casual and out of touch acquaintances out there that think I killed 2 people on ATV's.

 

I think the problem is people want to have fun and push it sometimes and when these things land on you it’s 400 pounds. I am sure not all the people injured are irresponsible. However people should be aware of the risk, and if they do it anyway, that’s the individual’s choice.

 

I have been bucked off a couple times on my 4wheelers. Been lucky nothing happened to me. But my dad some how I don't know he doesn't know. He was in a mud hole on the way back to the truck in the dark. Some how he ran over his one leg????? popped his knee out of place. But I have seen many of roll overs and crashes. I have had my share off them too.

 

I rolled my quad 400 feet down a steep hill last august right before deer season. I knew what was happening. I walked away with a small scratch on my arm. I have a few pics in my gallery of my quad.

 

IMO quads are more dangerous than bikes on steep inclines. I've seen two cases of 4-wheelers flipping backwards on experienced riders at less than 10 mph. One guy died from a broken back. The second almost died (6 titanium plates and 20+ screws in his face). However, the second guy would have had only minor injuries if he had been wearing a helmet. Neither would have been seriously hurt on a bike.

Grim

 

My uncle flipped his backwards going up a hill, busted his face up pretty bad too. 2 years of plastic surgery and he was back to normal except lost his ability to smell anything. He might have been fine if he didnt have my aunt on behind him. 1. It might not of flipped. 2 he wouldnt have tried to stand and hold it to keep it from landing on her. but the ywere only going about 2 6-3mph. He was in 4lo loaded with hunting gear going to thier hunting camp. Same ride theyd made 1000's of times for the last 15 years. Just one time it went bad.

 

I would say that I have put 1000's of miles on the wheelers that I have owned over the years. But there are 2 times that I endedup being very lucky that I wasn't seriously hurt.

1. I was woods riding on a family friends land. The owners son has a few jumps in various places around the property. I was riding a Polaris Scrambler 400 4X4 (I know that is my first mistake, riding a Polaris) I hit one of the jumps, about 5' tall when I landed the front left suspension completely collapsed. All that I endedup getting out of the deal was 3 brusied ribs and a $1000 bill for the parts to fix it.

2. I was riding my Yamaha Raptor 660R(that I have now sold). I was on a section of the 90 miles of trails that our ATV club has. I was going up a rather steep clay and rock hill that is about 400 yards long, with a sport quad if you stop and the hill you have to back all the way down and try again, 4wd's with questionable tires have a hard time on this hill also. I am use to riding my Banshee up this hill with it I just drop to 3rd gear and peg the throttle at the bottom and basically just skate up the hill without any problems. But on the Raptor I started in 3rd at the bottom but the gearing just wasn't right so I dropped to 2nd gear and hit the throttle the front end came up off the ground so I let off the throttle moved up over the bars and hit the throttle again. This time it really hooked up and went straight up into the air and threw me off the back. The wheeler would have cartwheeled down the hill but when I went off the back I must have pushed it to the side just a bit and the front bumper hit a tree and stopped it. I was unhurt and all it cost me that time was 2 cases of beer for a couple of my buddys that helped winch the Raptor out of the woods and a $100 front bumper. After that I rode the Raptor only 2-3 more times and put it put for sale, I just didn't like the it. I am just to use to my Banshee and didn't like all the torque of the 660.

 

I agree! I rode a quad when I was younger. Broke my Scapula, then about crushed myself to death on a big climb. Been riding Dirt Bikes Ever since.

Quads are just Way too big and heavy to do the things and ride the trails I want to....

 

I agree with the guys talking about how bad heavy ATVs are. If you flip a utility ATV backwards on yourself, you're screwed. It doesn't take much to flip one.

Grim