Throughout North America there are thousands of miles of trails where you can experience the off-road freedom only an ATV can deliver. When ridden properly and after taking an ATV or 4 wheeler riding course, these vehicles can be enjoyed by riders of varying skill levels. So, which one is right for you? Along with individual designs and features, most ATVs or four wheelers offer a broad range of power options.
How much power you want or need is dependent upon how you want to use the ATV, what kind of rider you are, your experience level and how much you want to spend. While youth 4 wheelers are powered to match the age and skill level of the rider, full-size models are available in a wide range of power offerings.
For other buyers who are more concerned about price or rideability for a wide swath of skill sets, a smaller displacement ATV, like the incredibly popular Polaris Sportsman , is probably the right choice. Utility quads are arguably the most popular ATV in the industry.
In some ways, nearly every ATV available in the market today is designed to deliver some degree of utility, yet these four wheelers are engineered to do more work and still deliver a great trail ride when the job is done.
Polaris has all the bases covered in this category starting with the Sportsman HO and Sportsman The popularity of Sportsman is especially evident with the Sportsman - the best-selling automatic 4 wheeler of all time. For those who want more by every measure, nothing compares to the Sportsman and Sportsman XP Delivering the hardest working, smoothest riding performance with a rider active design, this duo delivers unstoppable power and capability. These are performance first machines built to deliver key performance attributes:.
Sport quads range from four-wheel drive models designed for trail performance to rear-wheel drive models geared towards racing on motocross tracks or in wide open deserts. This class once only contained pure-race type ATVs with clutches and manual shift transmissions. The final requirement to let you ride your quad on the road is a full car drivers licence.
Despite having a saddle and handlebars a motorcycle licence won't do the job, a full car drivers licence or a category B1 licence if it was issued before January is the only licence that counts here. Obviously, none of those things are required if you just want to use your quad bike off-road or for agriculture without venturing onto public roads, but it can be useful to be able to use those roads if the need ever comes up.
Finally, unlike motorcycles, it is not required that you wear a crash helmet. However, I would strongly recommend you do so as I can tell you from experience on a motorcycle - accidents can happen and a crash helmet could save your life!
If you're after more information on quads and the requirements to ride make sure you check out our guide on all you need to know! Yamaha have been one of the most respected names in the motorcycle industry for many years and are having a similar impact in the quad and ATV world.
Yamaha's Raptor series is one of the biggest selling and most popular quads of all time although here in the UK, the Raptor moniker has been dropped in favour of a three letter system more in line with their motorcycles. That isn't the only thing they have in common either, the latest models are all benefitting from Yamaha's years of motorcycle engineering with advanced features you would normally find on cutting edge bikes.
Adjustable suspension, high torque performance, fuel injection systems and even a slipper clutch are available on some of these modern Quads! Yamaha's ultimate sport model the YFMR is an impressive bit of kit. For starters the fuel-injected cc engine offers a high performance ride and the latest version has been tweaked for even more torque with increased fuel economy and lower emissions.
The YFM has fully adjustable suspension and benefits from a reverse gear - a feature not always present on a quad bike that could come in handy for road use! An upgraded SE edition of this ATV is also available and aims to be the last word in high performance quad bikes and both versions look phenomenal. The YFZ has been designed from the start to win races on the track. I mentioned earlier some of the motorcycle know-how that Yamaha have been adding to their quad bikes and this model comes fully loaded.
Perhaps most noticeable is the addition of a slipper clutch in the SE version - the first ATV in its class to utilise one. If you aren't sure what a slipper clutch actually does, it basically eliminates the effects of engine braking on downshifts, making for faster gear changes and more control.
An automatic gear system with a reverse mode, the ability to carry kilo payloads plus rider and tow up to kg are some of the standout features here. Tasks such as checking stock, fencing repairs, helping sheep farmers during the lambing period, checking water supply, moving cattle and bringing them in for milking and of course monitoring grass growth in paddocks.
Using an ATV or quad bike makes these previously time-consuming farm functions more easily accomplished in just a fraction of the time. For so long, quads have been considered a secondary device for farm work after the trusty tractor, but that is no longer the case. This is why they are so popular. They provide farmers with a handy way to get around their farms performing their duties quickly.
If you need to mend a fence, just grab your helmet, hop on the quad, drive across to your task, hop off to fix the problem and then hop on again to drive to the next mission.
There are many things you can do in an ATV which would take much longer in a tractor. Though, primarily used a recreational vehicle, throughout the s, farmers were beginning to see the ATC as a tool to make their lives easier.
Those will make a world of difference for the new rider as the ride will be easier and the rider less sore afterwards. If you are looking for an ATV that your wife, or older children will feel comfortable riding for the first time, we strongly recommend cc to cc.
Now, if you are purchasing an ATV for work, and employees are likely to be riding it, you will again want an all-around use ATV. On the other hand, if you are an experienced rider and are mainly going to be riding with other experienced riders, it is important to consider their riding style.
Are you going to need a cc ATV to keep up with them and through the kind of terrain they like riding in? Depending how you look at it, picking the right size ATV either becomes easier or harder when you are dealing with children.
While that may be very helpful to some extent, there are so many other considerations to put into determining the riding ability of your child. See our article on getting children started on ATVs. You should also be aware that certain states have legal requirements about what size ATV children may ride. Check out our guide to ATV laws for every state to see if your state has legal restrictions. Youth ATVs are basically smaller, lighter and less-expensive versions of the adult models.
Nearly all of them are designed for play and recreational trail riding with the family, yet some models can be quite competitive in the youth division racing. Most of the youth ATVs range from cc and tend to consist of lesser-known brands that are designed and built in foreign countries. As you would expect, this means the price range and difference in quality tends to vary more than other categories.
If you want to start with the CSPC guidelines, they are very broad as you will see. Have your child stand on the foot rests of the ATV and grasp the handlebars. Your child should be able to move the handlebars all the way to the right and to the left.
They should also not have a problem operating the throttle and squeezing the brake lever with one hand as these controls are intended to be used.
Finally your child should be able to shift their weight from side to side and from front to back and maintain their balance. You will only learn this by actually putting them on different ATVs and testing for yourself. Also, do yourself a favor and check out our safety guide, as a huge majority of ATV injuries and deaths involve children, and many of those are due to children riding ATVs that are too big for them.
For some, this may be a better alternative than any size ATV. You will want to stick with an ATV if you meet any of the following:. You may want to consider a UTV if you meet any of the following:. EFI allows the ATV to adapt to whatever elevation you are riding at and minimize any performance issues that come along with changes in sea level. This means that a rider can go from riding down the beach to climbing a mountain without adjusting anything on his or her ATV.
However, there are still Carbureted ATVs on the market and they typically run a bit cheaper. However, you should keep in mind that the initial money savings comes along with more opportunity for future repairs and maintenance. Because of these issues, it is smart to get the EFI unless you really know what you are getting into.
Power steering is a very nice addition on an ATV and you should probably get it unless you are an experienced rider that likes not having the feature.
If you are going to be riding long days, this may be very worth the money to save your arms and shoulders. The majority of four-wheelers sold today feature completely automatic transmissions.
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