What does PH know about riding quadbikes on the road?
Discussion
Hi all,
the missus does competition endurance horseriding events, and as part of that activity I'm sometimes asked to "crew" for her.
This basically consists of driving from checkpoint to checkpoint (often without much time to get to the next one, since I have to use roads and she goes in straight lines across countryside) to provide liquids for her + horse (the horse need to be soaked in water every few miles to keep his temperature and heart-rate down).
I find the whole thing a bit of a mix of stress and boredom. It's like a poorly organised tarmac rally at times.
She suggests buying a quadbike to make it a bit more interesting for me, with the side-effect that we could dispense with a crew-car by simply parking the quadbike in the empty side of the horse lorry.
What are prices like for insurance and road tax/MOTs on road-legal quadbikes?
Am I right in thinking that a car license is sufficient?
(Insurance info -> Class A address, garaged, 35yo male, 9yrs NCB, car license since dinosaurs roamed the earth).
I'm looking at a Yamaha 700 grizzly, since I've already done a fair bit of quadbiking on the 670 version during working holidays on Snowdon.
Thoughts on whether this is too much quad for my purposes (I know from experience it can tow huge amounts for what it is, so it must be really strong).
Anyone on here drive a quad about on the road?
C
the missus does competition endurance horseriding events, and as part of that activity I'm sometimes asked to "crew" for her.
This basically consists of driving from checkpoint to checkpoint (often without much time to get to the next one, since I have to use roads and she goes in straight lines across countryside) to provide liquids for her + horse (the horse need to be soaked in water every few miles to keep his temperature and heart-rate down).
I find the whole thing a bit of a mix of stress and boredom. It's like a poorly organised tarmac rally at times.
She suggests buying a quadbike to make it a bit more interesting for me, with the side-effect that we could dispense with a crew-car by simply parking the quadbike in the empty side of the horse lorry.
What are prices like for insurance and road tax/MOTs on road-legal quadbikes?
Am I right in thinking that a car license is sufficient?
(Insurance info -> Class A address, garaged, 35yo male, 9yrs NCB, car license since dinosaurs roamed the earth).
I'm looking at a Yamaha 700 grizzly, since I've already done a fair bit of quadbiking on the 670 version during working holidays on Snowdon.
Thoughts on whether this is too much quad for my purposes (I know from experience it can tow huge amounts for what it is, so it must be really strong).
Anyone on here drive a quad about on the road?
C
doogz said:
No. Because they're deathtraps. And they're not very warm on miserable days. And you get wet when it rains. And they're loud. And depending on what type of quad you get, your right thumb will feel like it's about to fall off if you've been riding for more than about 10-15 minutes.
- nod* *nod* *nod* *nod*
I dont think they are that bad on the road. I just got back from Rhodes and had one for the whole week to get around. One day I did over 100km on it (Ixia to Lindos and back) and although I would rather have had a car for the dual carriageway (lol) it was a good laugh even though it was 34 degrees. Whizzing around town on one is actually quite a bit of fun. The mrs loved riding it too. After getting back, I'm considering getting one since I live in the middle of nowhere theres plenty of byways to play on.
I bought a road legal 250cc quad off my brother a few months ago.
I wouldn't have bought one otherwise, but he wanted rid of it and I thought I'd give it a go for one summer before moving it on.
I don't think they're quite as bad as people make out on the road, although I do ride it sensibly (aware of their reputations as death traps).
Even my little 250cc will do 50 - 60 mph. (Which is plenty fast enough as far as I'm concerned)
Mine is kept around my parents house, locked with a disc lock but not garaged. I'm 32 and paid £220 to insure it TPF&T.
I wouldn't have bought one otherwise, but he wanted rid of it and I thought I'd give it a go for one summer before moving it on.
I don't think they're quite as bad as people make out on the road, although I do ride it sensibly (aware of their reputations as death traps).
Even my little 250cc will do 50 - 60 mph. (Which is plenty fast enough as far as I'm concerned)
Mine is kept around my parents house, locked with a disc lock but not garaged. I'm 32 and paid £220 to insure it TPF&T.
EDLT said:
Do you have to carry the water on the quad? The sloshing from side to side will make it even more likely to roll over.
Yeah. By the way, there are other people in the same situation who do exactly this.The quad I'm talking about weighs about 250Kg not including rider. Having 10Kg of water in a drum doesn't make a massive difference.
C
I know it looks a bit silly. Filling up at BP few weeks back heard a huge noise and appeared a middle aged balding man pulling in for fuel, revving his quad in an attention seeking manner. He even said to an attractive young girl 'do you like my ride?' 
She just did an awkward laugh and shuffled back into her car. The man looked like a bit of an idiot!
She just did an awkward laugh and shuffled back into her car. The man looked like a bit of an idiot!
XJ84 said:
Sounds like a reasonable enough idea to me. Would it really be that much quicker point-to-point on the road than a small car though?? Although being able to put it into the lorry is a bonus....
It'd likely be slower, actually. The car I currently crew in is the missus' run about: an Ignis 4grip. Looks a bit noddy but I can vouch for it being quite willing.The plus points of the quad idea for me are more along the lines of practicality and fun. It's practical (don't care if it gets muddy, don't need to unpack anything out of a car boot if it's strapped to the front or back rack of a quad). Fun, as in it can be driven offroad to some extent, depending on what rubber is fitted. Certaintly the one I punted about on up near Snowdon was easy enough to do lots of stuff on, off road and on (private) tarmac.
C
Paul_M3 said:
I bought a road legal 250cc quad off my brother a few months ago.
I wouldn't have bought one otherwise, but he wanted rid of it and I thought I'd give it a go for one summer before moving it on.
I don't think they're quite as bad as people make out on the road, although I do ride it sensibly (aware of their reputations as death traps).
Even my little 250cc will do 50 - 60 mph. (Which is plenty fast enough as far as I'm concerned)
Mine is kept around my parents house, locked with a disc lock but not garaged. I'm 32 and paid £220 to insure it TPF&T.
Most helpful post so far!I wouldn't have bought one otherwise, but he wanted rid of it and I thought I'd give it a go for one summer before moving it on.
I don't think they're quite as bad as people make out on the road, although I do ride it sensibly (aware of their reputations as death traps).
Even my little 250cc will do 50 - 60 mph. (Which is plenty fast enough as far as I'm concerned)
Mine is kept around my parents house, locked with a disc lock but not garaged. I'm 32 and paid £220 to insure it TPF&T.
The 700 isn't all that fast - from memory the speedo wouldn't go past 45mph. On the other hand, and as I'm sure you're aware, you probably wouldn't be all that bothered with going much faster.
The insurance quote is very helpful - thanks.
C
Having lived on a farm in the hills and driven quads (large capacity utility and sports models) for years, my opinion is that they are fantastic and supremely competent offroad (especially after you've been riding them a while and developed a bit of technique) but not great on the road. They're thirsty, handle poorly and just aren't any fun. Most of the older utility bikes had live rear axles meaning they were a handful at speed on tarmac but I believe new high end bikes like the Grizzly 700 have pretty trick diffs these days which should improve things somewhat.
Stick with the car!
Stick with the car!
doogz said:
Really? I get 40 out of my 350, and that's only because it runs out of gears.
Yeah, the 700 is all low-down grunt and runs out of revs rather than power.IIRC the one I was punting about on had a conical transmission?
Looks like this: http://www.yamaha-motor.com/outdoor/products/model...
C
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