Quad advice
 

I am considering buying a Quad for a Africa trip, what I am after is a farm type not a race machine but know very little about them! Do I need 4 wheel drive either semi or permanant?. It MUST be able to carry 2 people and camping gear etc, reasonable fuel consumption and keep up or just lag behind European traffic!, Where do I look to buy one(in the UK) ? Who as used one? any potential pitfalls?
I know this a predominate bike, as in 2 wheeled site but for the benefit of my companion I think 4 wheels are preferable, so my BM basic stays at home:(
Many thanks
dave

Dave, in case you hadn't spotted them here's a couple of sites of long-distance quadders. Welcome to www.quadsacrossafrica.com and Quadtrek.net. I think the Africa people have posted on here, don't know about the quadtrekkers, but I've mailed them and they're hugely friendly. Also here's a UK based quadders forum Quad Heaven - UK Quad Bike Forums, Quad Forum, ATV Forums, ATV & Quad Bike >> might be worth checking out.

Fuel consumption on pretty much all of them seems to be on the high side, and obviously 4WD will take that up further. As for whether you need 4WD, a lot of that would depend on where you'll be travelling, I've seen 2WD quads get through stuff I'd have serious doubts about, and you can also fit a winch as well, to get you out of the sticky stuff. But travelling two up will mean you're more likely to get stuck. Then again, there's two of you to push it out. One thing to look for would be independant suspension, and if possible a lockable rear diff as opposed to no diff at all, like some have.

Speed-wise, again it seems the 4WD's have penalties there, the 2WD's tend to be a bit faster, but all of them will seems slow in European traffic. Then again once you're in Africa that possibly doesn't matter.

One other thought might be to look at some of the off-road buggies which are on the market now, they're that bit bigger than a quad and a bit more car-like, but they'll still go almost anywhere, whilst giving you the open-airness of a bike. We're looking at these ofr our trip to China in 2009. Have a look at road legal quads from QUADZILLA, road legal buggies, ATVs, mini bikes for some examples.

http://www.oxobike.be/IMG_0507.JPG

Hello,
That is great you are thinking of doing it on a Quad, Like someone just said you are gettin into "weird" territory...... it is only weird because Ewan or some other famous person hasn't done it yet.
So I am Josh from Quadsacrossafrica the current co - "Guinness World Record Holder" along with my crazy wife.
So I have traveled across Africa twice - once by BMW motorcycle and once by quad. So which is better for Africa........well without a doubt it is the Quad.
So first defiantly choose a 4wd... I would recomend the Suzuki KingQuad 450 or 700. You wont need the 4wd much in fact only maybe 3 or 4 hours over 6 months but when you do you will really need it.... trust me pushing a 800lb quad plus luggage really sucks.
So the deal with quads is that they werent built to go 20,000 miles so adjusting the valves and maintance becomes very important.
Now my most important advice is fuel. Plan you fuel carefully. A quad only gets about 20 miles per gallon and only comes with a 5 gallon tank...do the math and it isnt very far. So you have to cary allot of spare fuel.
Well I have tons of advice so let me know if you have more questions
Cheers
Josh
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