Recently I’ve been thinking about starting a new trail club to maintain the local OHV trails in my riding area.

The local clubs in the south have been around for a long time and do a lot of great work, but the active members are fewer than ever now and I just wonder where they’ve all gone.

Keeping a good trail system alive is most definitely a task that requires a lot of work and dedication. Is the new, younger generation taking the trail systems for granted?

Older generations seem to understand the importance of volunteering at the club level. However this same pride has not carried into this next age group.

Starting a club can be done relatively easily, but how do you get people to join? Its unreasonable to think you’ll get a free ATV with every membership and at times the incentives may not match the amount of work expected from each member.

So how can we make this younger generation understand that if they want a place to ride they will have to contribute to making it happen and to maintaining it?

Grants are available to subsidize trail maintenance and companies like Yamaha and Polaris as well as other have donated millions of dollars to make the bitter taste of hard work just a little bit sweeter.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t get people out of bed on Saturday ready to work when all they want to do is play. It has to start somewhere though and sadly it’s unclear at this point where that is.

Thinking back to September of last year I figured there was bound to be a leap in displacement by someone one year forward.

Manufacturers are making the ideas and desires of consumers everywhere a reality and I have to wonder where we will be in another year or two?

Big travel suspensions really need good power all the way through the RPM range to propel the machine along should you drop yourself into something and need to mash the go pedal in a hurry.

This amount of fully usable power sometimes gives the driver confidence to take his driving skills to the next level.

When Polaris introduced its RZR XP900 I knew I’d found pure pedal-to-the-metal power the industry had not seen up to that point and this very type of power gave me the confidence to launch through the first set of ultra-deep rutted whoops I had ever driven through.

So with the release of Can-Am’s Maverick and its inconceivable 101 horsepower rating where will we be in another couple of years?

It’s an indication of the start of an uphill battle for full segment domination and if this is the case, the horsepower war may have just begun.

Getting into the fall riding season I have been inundated with requests for how to keep an ATV alive for another season.

The big question on everyone’s mind being: Should I make huge repairs and spend countless dollars on a machine that may only make it through another year of riding? Or should I just sell it and buy a new machine?

Here is my take on the subject of reviving and older machine and the value I see in it. In this day and time when finances are better suited for things like food and rent it’s hard for me to just give up on a machine that only needs minor repairs or seasonal maintenance. Some think it’s just throwing money away to invest year-to-year, but if I spend $300-$400 each season to keep a good machine running then I think it’s well worth the cost.

On the other hand, if there are major repairs such as frame damage or something safety related I’d be hard pressed to spend the cash on it. If you grenade the engine it could cost you as much as a new ATV just to fix it.

I recently had a friend tell me about an older Honda ATV with a counter balance issue in the motor that had detonated inside the cases. After a spending $500 to repair it, the transmission failed only a few rides later.

This was the owner’s first and favorite ATV, but after realizing he could get an updated version for what it would cost to repair this one he simply hauled the machine to the salvage yard and left it.

If your machine needs basic maintenance and still gets the job done I’d say just hang onto it. If you have money exploding out of your bank account and just have to have the latest and greatest thing on the trails, then just get your butt down to your local dealership and do it.

Hatfield McCoy Trails has been a valued sponsor of Dirt Trax Television for years and any loyal viewer of the show has seen many of the wonderful adventures we’ve had in the State of West Virginia. However, for this writer, late August marked my first opportunity, thanks to our good friends at Kawasaki USA, to sample the beautiful ATV trails weaving through the countryside.

Two things we love about our work is meeting great people and riding good equipment. For this adventure, Kawasaki parked a trailer loaded with Brute Force 750 ATVs in the quaint and historic town of Bramwell, WV, our home base and launch point.

At one point during the 1800’s, Bramwell, a former coal-mining town, hosted the most millionaires living in one location in all of America. However, the Great Depression had an enormous impact on the town and the economy quickly dried up. People moved away and the population today sits at a mere 400 or so locals. It’s a clean and quiet little community (seriously, you could hear a pin drop in the middle of town) with a few local shops and a proud heritage.

The reason HMT and Kawasaki USA selected Bramwell is because it hosts the trailhead for the new Pocahontas trail system, which we think must have been named for the Pocahontas coalfields that employed 100,000 miners during the 1800s. The Pocahontas system connects the Indian Ridge and Pinnacle Creek systems and the connection of the three trails makes for the largest continuous legal system of trails east of the Mississippi River.

Bramwell is on the cusp of becoming a major off-road tourism spot and plans are already underway to invest nearly half a million dollars into a new tourist center, formerly the local school. This facility will accommodate trailer parking and act as the perfect launch point for riding. Opening day is scheduled for some time in 2013.

We’ve said it before and it’s worth repeating: Nothing beats riding good equipment. Every squeeze of the throttle aboard the Brute emits a glorious bark from its smooth 749cc V-twin. It is easily one of the best sounding mills on the market and puts out generous power while winding through the Pocahontas system. Whether climbing the rock strewn and hilly advanced-level trails, careening though winding tree covered sections or grabbing a handful of diff-lock lever to get you through chocolaty goop, the Brute has what it takes to get you there.

Last season, the Brute took on some changes to the bodywork, headlights and moved to a more rugged and durable rack system. The most notable improvement for MY12 was the addition of power steering and it made a big difference to the amount of steering effort required to maneuver through tight trails. There are times when bar whip is still noticeable and we think more input from the power steering would make a significant improvement to the amount of trail feedback felt up through the bars.

We also found the stock settings on the coilover shocks to be set a bit too stiff out of the crate. For average sized riders this can be fine-tuned with an adjustment to the shock preload, however the extremes of heavier or much lighter riders may have a bit more difficulty finding that sweet spot.

By no means is this a deal breaker because the Brute does a tremendous job adapting to all kinds of terrain and almost never bottoms out in the gnarliest stuff. We do think some minor recalibration to the stock damping settings at the factory would make the ride more compliant in washboard and low speed conditions, though.

The seat is plush and comfortable and rider ergonomics are bang-on right from the digital display down to the floorboards that deliver excellent grip when climbing or descending slopes and clear our well when the mud is at its thickest. Without question, the Brute Force drips quality from every pore and Kawasaki’s engineers have done a fine job on the company’s flagship offering.

When you’re planning your next annual outing, make your next trip to West Virginia to sample the first class trails of Hatfield McCoy and before you do, make your way down to your local Kawasaki dealership to pick up a 2013 Brute Force 750 4x4i. The combination will provide great memories and leave you hungry for your next ride.

Visit:

+ Trailsheaven.com
+ Kawasaki.com
+ Facebook.com/townofbramwell

Its been just a while since I’ve climbed up on my soapbox to rant, but in the past few days I’ve had more than one person complain about some of the riders on the trails near my home.

In Northern Georgia where I ride the trails are packed with a variety of riders with varying abilities. Fast riders will without a doubt come upon slower groups of riders while winding through the trails. Remember this though, some people just can’t compete with your super-human abilities aboard an ATV, so slow down!

If you encounter slower riders do yourself and them a favor and slow down your approach, pass respectfully when its safe and don’t be the crazy, oblivious idiot that runs children, families or amateur riders off the trail.

Remember, these people are the same ones parked next to you in the loading area at the trail head and you might just have to face them at the end of the ride day.

One last thing, I’m out there too and if you think you can ride wide open on my side of the two-way trail, you’ll have to haul that wadded up junk that used to be your ATV out of the 45 foot drop in the ravine from the middle of the trail system all by yourself.

It pays to be courteous!