By: John Arkwright

I wrapped up my winter with a stellar snowmobile ride in Northwestern Quebec in the final days of March. It was pretty obvious another snowmobiling year was coming to an end because in our last hour of riding we probably met thirty ATVs on connectors leading to the snowmobile trails. While we were loading our sleds in the trailer in front of the Forestel Hotel in Val’d Or, at least another forty 4-wheelers went by us.

One thing about the folks in Quebec: They love their quads and ride them every chance they get. It doesn’t hurt that they have a world class ATV trail system to keep everyone motivated. Back at home, by the end of the second week of March we had finished snowmobiling, so it was definitely time to get out the ATVs.

On April 9th my nephew, Brandon, and I decided it was time to make a run into the camp. I should have known better as the camp is at a higher elevation and usually has substantially more ground snow. Our justification for a run into the camp was, we felt a couple of the culverts might be plugged and should be cleaned out to prevent the camp road from being washed out. Although it was kind of a lame excuse, we never really need much of a reason for an overnighter in the camp. We knew there would be some snow in spots but didn’t see it as a problem (wrong – way wrong!).

Within the first hundred yards of turning off the main trail onto our camp road I was wishing for an Argo or an ATV on tracks. We were in for a challenge as there were still copious amounts of snow with nasty washouts thrown in for good measure. About one third of the way into the camp we actually found a plugged culvert! Thirty minutes later and only one wet foot (not me) and we were on our way. This is where it started getting really interesting as it proved to be a real grind climbing the snow covered hills. No worries. Just back up and take more runs till you make it to the top.

We were about half way in when we came to a long stretch of snow. I told Brandon, “Since I have the lighter ATV (as if it would make a difference), I’ll take a run at it first”. After three attempts, I’m in real good and hung up with all four wheels spinning, throwing nothing but snow, no ground in sight. Did I mention neither ATV had a winch? Wonderful!

After we managed to get the ‘lighter’ ATV out, we thought, “lets go to plan B”. We could see the creek was open and we had a canoe just back a ways on the trail we had come in on. We could just load our gear in the canoe and paddle to the camp. No luck; the creek was open but the pond was still frozen.

At this point we didn’t have many options left. We couldn’t go home. We could pack up our gear and walk the remaining distance into the camp. Naaah! Or… we could leave our gear on the ATVs and walk beside them hoping they would stay on top of the snow. Surprise – they did! The last half-mile was a breeze.

We fired up all three stoves – the wood stove, oil stove and the propane stove to get the chill out of the camp. It was mid-afternoon and we still had time to cut up a big hardwood that had blown down over the road.

I don’t know why, but I find venison always tastes better at the camp. Maybe it’s the fried onions, mushrooms and potatoes (very low cholesterol meal) that goes with the heady aroma of venison steaks and onions simmering away in the cast iron frying pan on the wood cook stove. Cooking time: (2 shots of Appleton Estates rum with Pepsi and a twist of lime.

Since there were only two of us in the camp, Brandon had his choice of beds. Normally, he would slide into Jim Brogan’s vacant bunk but on this night he kinda chuckled and told me there were some awful strange lumps there.

I know I’ll get blamed for this but I have absolutely no idea who filled his sleeping bag, blankets and pillow with duck decoy anchors, nuts, bolts and numerous other camp artifacts. Hey, maybe it was the same person who filled my pillow with lead decoy anchors one night!

The good news for Brandon and I was it dropped below freezing overnight and the trail set-up rock hard, making for a much less strenuous ride back to the truck.

Later that week, myself and one my neighbors, Mark, who had just lost a lifetime friend and ATV riding partner to cancer, went for another ride. This time, most of the snow was gone and the trails where frozen hard. There was no mud and we wished Bill could have been with us. He would have enjoyed it as much as we did.

By: Motorhead Mark Lester

In case you haven’t been keeping up to date on issues in the powersports biz, this winter has seen a tsunami of stupidity coming from overactive safetyniks.

Last January, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) decided to enforce rules regulating the lead content in children’s toys. Sounds harmless, right? The CPSC took a flying leap of faith drawing a line through doll houses and radio controlled dump trucks right into kids size ATVs, dirt bikes and snowmobiles.

What ensued was a terrific outcry from all corners of the powersports industry when the CPSC claimed it would halt sales of children’s motorized products as a result of their “unsafe” lead content. Well, duh!

Who would disagree there’s not lead in the lead acid battery present in every ATV? The bale ends in brake, throttle and clutch cables are made from lead. No debate.

What’s positively stupid, and points to a much more intriguing conspiracy, is why, all of a sudden, the CPSC became obsessed about kids eating their ATVs, dirt bikes and snowmobiles.

In my years of training two sons to safely operate miniature ATVs I never once had to warn Luke or AJ to stop eating them. Not once. I would like to hear from any readers who have encountered their daughter or son chewing on their quad. I just don’t think it’s been a big problem. Honestly, there’s more substantial issues surrounding the safety of kids and ATVs than lead content.

That’s where I suspect this silliness may ultimately have begun. The overwhelming majority of powersports retailers across North America are deeply engaged in a well structured and disciplined program requiring each dealer to go through a complete checklist of responsibilities and potential dangers when a buyer takes delivery of a new kid sized ATV.

Some OEM’s even provide helmets with the purchase of their brand while the purchase regimen makes sure the buyer does, in fact, own a helmet for the child to wear.

Admittedly, there are some gaps in this program but they exist mainly with the sale of off-shore branded kids ATVs through retailers not primarily engaged in the powersports industry. These situations are not the norm but do exist and are of concern to the OEMs and dealers who responsibly retail powersport products for children.

Lets get back to the proposed ban. Reading newslines and quotes from the CPSC I picked up shreds of an undercurrent relating to its dislike for kids powersport products in general. Although this is not literally stated in anything I’ve read, the undercurrent might sound like this: “Okay, we know lead isn’t really a problem but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t protect kids from these vehicles. We don’t like kids operating powersport vehicles so we’re gonna stop them from buying them one way or another”. Cough.

Thankfully, the proposed ban has been stayed, in the short term. The sale of these powersport products goes on. However, I think it’s naïve to believe the CPSC is done. Thanks must be extended to all those in the industry who have spent substantial time and money exposing and fighting this issue. Their hard work ultimately resulted in the CPSC backing off, for now.

Remember this: The price of freedom is and always has been, vigilance. The freedom to purchase a safe powersport vehicle for your child has been assumed a right. Obviously, there are people in powerful places who don’t agree with us. Clearly, if you own or are going to purchase a kid sized powersport product you need to be incredibly vigilant about training your child in the safe operation of the vehicle and never, ever allow your youngster to operate it unsupervised.

Maybe what’s happened here will force those few retailers who are not training buyers to sit up and pay attention. You never know how good you’ve got it until you lose it.

As this issue is very much in motion and new info is coming available weekly, we promise to keep you updated in the next issue of All-Terrain Vehicle Magazine.

Staff Report

The Ranger HD comes with a self-leveling rear suspension generated by two of the biggest rear dampers known to man.

These huge coil-over shocks on the HD will respond to stupid sized loads. It’s shocks actually pump the rear of the XP to a completely static-level after driving about 500 feet.

The self-leveling rear suspension on the HD is amazing technology for hauling heavy loads in the cargo box. Without any feedback from the driver, the system automatically senses the load difference and adjusts height accordingly. It means handling is virtually unaffected when you’re carrying a load.

Any SxS when loaded is a handful to turn as a result of reduced front wheel bite. Our base XP understeered terribly when under a comparable load capacity. The XP HD responded like it was on a trail ride with zero push while EPS negated the weird steering feel the base model generated from the extra weight.

The verdict? This is going to change things in the utility SXS biz.

Photo by: Kyle McDougall