Quads??? - Horizons Unlimited

**Scoobie Doo** · #1 1 Aug 2005

Hi,

Just curious, but has anyone done any serious overland trips on a quad?

Cheers,

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Scoobie Doo

**lepium** · #2 1 Aug 2005

First of all, I have not done any serious travelling myself on quads (just the occasional beach blast). However, I have seen a few sites when browsing options during a trip to South Africa where they were offering quad alternatives on some tours. This tours were not RTW not even round Africa, but some were about 1 week long or so, mainly on dirt tracks, sand, etc. I do not have the sites addresses as my computer crashed since, but a good place to start would be www.google.co.za and use the miss & hit method with different keywords.

IMHO, quads are much easier to handle off-road on soft stuff, specially if you do not have MX or enduro experience, but they are much worse on tarmac and I would not recommend entering a motorway on one of them. There are also speed restrictions in comparison to any trail bike, as they are geared towards acceleration rather than high speed, more like MX bikes. It seems to me they can become unstable at higher speeds, either on road due to grip not allowing the back end to slide as needed or off road where you would not want to go above 60 - 70 mph anyway.

Hope it helps.

Cheers.
Luciano.

**Bill Ryder** · #3 2 Aug 2005

In montana USA you can buy a street license for just about any quad with lights. You need an electric horn and a rear view mirror and thats it. People ride them on the fast roads and the slow tracks. Is it safe? maybe not but it is being done and at the shop where I work we have yet to see a crash repair from an accident on the street. Another nice thing is that montana sells a permanent license for your motorcycle or quad.

**Scoobie Doo** · #4 2 Aug 2005

Hi,

Thanks for the replies guys. I know in England that the quads I would be interested in, ie: have racks front and back, tend to be only allowable on the road as agriculture equipment. There are more road-oriented quads, but they are not set up with the racks etc as are the former, although I'm sure a bit of welding work would sort that.

Not sure of the legalaities of riding one on the road in most of Europe; I know France is OK.

Cheers.

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Scoobie Doo

**andygray** · #5 3 Aug 2005

Hey Scoobie,
If you do find any info be sure to post it. I have seen quads registered on the road in Germany, Namibia and here in Holland aswell so it looks like it may be legal in a few countrys.
Its certainly looks like a fun way to travell although a few wear items are doubled.
Imagine how easy it is to drag a trailler with food water and petrol for those trips into the wild places.
Always looking for ways to make the ride a bit more interesting.
Andy