It's either a 'state' thing or a 'park/trail' thing.....not sure. In California, I've never seen a place to ride with 50" width restrictions. In AZ, there are no width restrictions that I'm aware of, either. Not saying they aren't there, but if they are, I've never heard of it. I do believe there are some of those restrictions in other parts of our country, though. It was the reason RZR was first introduced as a 50" machine.........pure genius on Polaris' part.

I've been told the places that have that restriction put it there to keep full size vehicles out of there (jeeps, landcruisers, trucks, etc....).

 

Just another bureaucratic mess we have to deal with, Here in Arkansas we share most trails with Jeeps ("off highway vehicle") so no width regulations that I know of. We ride in the Ozark national forest up in the northern part of the state while the southern part of the state is the Ouachita forest and is operated by a different branch of the National forest service with , you guessed it their own set of "priorities" .

 

We do have some trails here in Az that have 50" width restrictions. Most of them are up near Prescott and Sedona. One trail system is near Springerville that also has a 50" requirement. The rest of the state is basically wide open. When you street legal your RZR (easy to do here), very few places exist that you cant go! were a little spoiled I think.

 

We have restrictions. Most US Forest Service trails have restrictions. There's lots of restrictions. I just squeaked through a 60" gate on Sunday here. It depends on local / state / federal regulations. There is no general rule. Some areas even have mix of rules where some particular trails may be 50" and others 60+ "

 

The trails that are 50” regulated, do they allow you any variance? I’m wondering about a 50” rzr that had 2” spacers.

When I sold my Commander because it was too wide, I purposely went with the 50” rzr instead of the S because 99% of my riding is tight trail riding and the damn commander was like a bull in a china shop obliviating everything in it’s path.


Mark

 

I moved out of SoCal 12 years ago... but there are some "ATV Only" trails, and even some single track (2 wheel, or hiking) trails. up around Crab Flats in Big Bear Mtn. The "ATV" only trails have probably changed to 50". I think the 50" number was put out by the Feds as a way to split ATV, and Jeep trails.

Here in PA, there are a bunch of 50" trails in the national forest. AND... since our park rangers are all "Hill-Billys"... they give us 2 different registrations. ATV-1 is 50" or smaller, and ATV-2 is wider... so if you have an "S" on a 50" trail... they just look at your plate to see if you are legal.

 

Here in Michigan we have 50" trails for all orv's (ATV/UTV-50" or less/CYCLES)that are 50" at the ground level and handle bar height and CYCLE ONLY trails that are 21" at ground level and 30" at handle bar height, and we also have "MIXED TRAFFIC" trails that include ATV/UTV/CYCLES/BUGGIES/TRUCKS that are mostly two track that are used by almost all modes of transportation. Some of the MIXED TRAFFIC trails are also used as SNOWMOBILE trails in the winter time as they need to be wide enough to fit the trail groomers down them as they are also list as unplowed roads. Add to that we also have ORV areas without width restriction such as Silver Lake Sand Dunes/ The Mounds ORV/ Black Lake ORV areas. Being a member of the Cycle Conservation Club and long time rider of snowmobiles I pretty much have ridden all over the Great State of Michigan on Buggies, Dirt Bikes, ATV's, Snowmobiles, and of course UTV...RZR...what we have here is OFF-ROAD HAVEN for year round motorsports...Sweet :ride:

 

Sounds fabulous! you guys are really fortunate to have such great access.We have so much bush to explore and ride here, but the fun police and f$%#n greenies are hell bent on keeping it closed.Gov't take on it is pretty much..take it over,close it down, geez...we have no money to upkeep it!! Lets let the tracks overgrow so we can't get fire services through!!
I love a good bush fire:icon_rolleyes:
Have fun!!
Mick