[the92playboy]

My friends and I have had this discussion a few times, and basically it goes like this. Some of us feel like the roll cage and belts give the rider more confidence to try a steep hill or somewhat sketchy terrain, while some of us feel that the ability to bail off the quad when the going gets tough results in more confidence on the quad.

Myself, my adrenaline gets going quite a bit more when I attempt a fairly steep/tricky ascent than when I rode quads. But perhaps the fact that I still have 4.5 years of payments on it (yah! :rm_thumbdown: ) or that my wife is sometimes sitting shotgun play a role as well.

So what's the general consesus on the forum?

 

[sld386]

I'm getting old I will do stuff in the RZR that I dont have the balls for on a quad anymore.

 

[Squale183]

I think for me its a quad only because of years of racing them, especially in the WORCS series, we have seen about everything on a quad in that program. Hell I've even learned how to crash cooler....:ride::scared2::rofl3:

 

[RzrTheRoof]

Quad. There's something about being able to bail--even if it's a false sense of safety--as opposed to going down with the ship (Rzr).

 

[Rzrluvr]

With age comes a cage:rofl3::rofl3:

 

[RzrStinger]

I agree with Rzrluvr. As a quad rider myself, and Rzr owner, with the correct protective gear its easier to "bail out" with an ATV. With the correct gear in a Rzr, you'll feel just as comfortable staying in it. Plus, as you age, it takes a lot more time to recover.

 

[stretch]

I don't care about the bail out factor but I think a quad inspires more confidence because you have more control. You can shift weight and use other forms of body english to manipulate a quad where on an RZR you are a passenger steering the ride. Far less control of the outcome in an RZR.

 

[08rzrCT]

I agree that you can shift your weight in a quad more and control it better but in some instances I def. feel safer in the rzr. I would not want to wipe out on a quad or even bail at high speeds. If your strapped in good with the rzr you just go along with it. You would have to have a really really bad crash to mess up the cage on the rzr and injure yourself. Even if that cage bends, it needs to bend a lot before it starts to come close to touching you. An if I crash that hard I would not have wanted to bail off a quad because it was probably a 40+mph crash hahah
I feel the rzr can do some stuff I wouldn't even attemp on a quad like climb an extremely steep hill. Maybe a big rock or something. I wish I had some picks of some of the stuff we do that my friends on quads don't even try.

 

[mntbound]

In general the RZR wins out. BUT, when it comes to jumping over it/across it when in a hurry or just for fun on the old Wolverine, as compared to having to go around with the RZR. The quad sure has it's positive points. :ride:

 

[ParadiseRZR]

Young and in good shape I'd be on a bike. Old , I need the cage and harness . To me the Quad is a compromise I would not choose. I guess it depends on your experience and place in life . I'm old and what I try is in a RZR.

 

[MossLager]

I've done terrain on the RZR I wouldn't try on my quad as the RZR handles it in a slow and steady manner and my quad is like a light switch... but I also have a YFZ450 and not a 4x4 type quad.

 

[FunRide]

I agree with Rzrluvr. As a quad rider myself, and Rzr owner, with the correct protective gear its easier to "bail out" with an ATV. With the correct gear in a Rzr, you'll feel just as comfortable staying in it. Plus, as you age, it takes a lot more time to recover.

Man...."bailing" off a quad in a nasty situation is very difficult to pull off successfully on the track or trail. One normally tries to ride it out / recover until the last minute, and by that time it's too late to get away. Things happen so fast too and you don't have time. I find it very difficult to bail successfully without some injury. I guess it a matter of how injured you get. I bailed off my wheeler a couple weeks ago; ended up landing on my shoulder. It still hurts. It's hard to turn around and reach for things. Healing from even relatively minor injury (tendons, muscle rips) is a long road sometimes.

I'm thinking the RZR with harness and quality cage has got to be safer. Plus you've got the extended wheelbase on a SxS. Quads are sketchy on steep, long uphills. However rolling to the bottom of a long steep rock filled hill strapped in going over and over and over doesn't sound that safe. In that situation on a quad, you could get off with limited injury. It's a tough call and depends on the conditions I guess.

-I'm feeling the need to reduce injury these days. A 50% chance of wrecking is not worth it....find an alternate route. That's not to mention the financial cost of plastic and bent a-arms, etc.

 

[kedi]

I've done terrain on the RZR I wouldn't try on my quad as the RZR handles it in a slow and steady manner and my quad is like a light switch... but I also have a YFZ450 and not a 4x4 type quad.

X2

 

[CSG]

I'll do WAY more on a quad. have so much more control & visibility with the quad.

 

[Magnus1]

Interesting discussion. I picked RZR because I do a lot of rocks and steep trails. Bailing on a pile of huge rocks and tumbling 8-10ft down before you stop is not fun. Last I bailed my ATV (Polaris 800) decided to catch and bailed the same way!

While we're on the subject exactly how protected are you with a stock cage? I would assume Polaris puts that on to protect in most conditions due to liability but would they actually handle a couple of flips on the rocks?

 

[FunRide]

Interesting discussion. .....but would they actually handle a couple of flips on the rocks?

That's what I was wondering. The cage won't keep large sharp rocks and corners of boulders from entering the "capsule", for lack of a better term. The idea is to avoid, or have a spotter above with a rope tied to your front end in conditions like that.

 

[Bull800]

In a RZR you are in it till it stops flipping if strapped in good. Learned that last month down at Rockhouse. 120+ yards down the mountain off of trail 2 sucks.

 

[Magnus1]

Interesting discussion. .....but would they actually handle a couple of flips on the rocks?

That's what I was wondering. The cage won't keep large sharp rocks and corners of boulders from entering the "capsule", for lack of a better term. The idea is to avoid, or have a spotter above with a rope tied to your front end in conditions like that.

We always use spotters, go in a group and some safety lines but there's always the unexpected. It appears by Bull800's RZR the cages are pretty stout.
As far as rocks and boulders hopefully a helmet will help if that happens but I would have the same issues in a jeep or buggy.

 

[TJT-Rav]

In a RZR you are in it till it stops flipping if strapped in good. Learned that last month down at Rockhouse. 120+ yards down the mountain off of trail 2 sucks.

Wow, walk away ok?

 

[Bull800]

In a RZR you are in it till it stops flipping if strapped in good. Learned that last month down at Rockhouse. 120+ yards down the mountain off of trail 2 sucks.

Wow, walk away ok?

Yes kinda lol. My buddies backtracked and found me standing in the road without a clue of what was going on and a bloody head. My helmet got ripped off by the seat belt is all I can figure cause it after it came off I took a bad shot to the head. I lost a lot of memory and was airlifted to St. Mary's and that was on July 24th and my headache just left on the 20th of this month. My buddies said I bounced off numerous trees and even clipped a couple 6 to 7 inch trees off towards the bottom. They said I must have been flipping like crazy because some of the marks were over 8 feet up in the trees and the distance between bounces were so far. The roll cage did its job I guess but I really wish I had a 5 point harness on cause the seat belt did a number on my neck.