Dirt Bike Vs. Atv For Safety

[Chicken Hawk]

Well.....I finally went out and bought the Honda CRF450X I have been wanting and after my second trip out I was going down a basic dirt road and hit a rut going about 40mph and the bike threw me and I skidded on my left side and broke my left arm and two ribs. i have ridden my whole life, but I am wondering now that I am mid 30's if I should have just bought a TRX400EX because are'nt ATV's safer than dirt biks overall?

Thanks,
TJ

 

[Green Horn]

Our resident expert Rich Rohrich is all about quad safety. :)

 

[XRpredator]

. . . are'nt ATV's safer than dirt bikes overall?

Thanks,
TJ

No, they're not. And this will probably go badly. But if someone has a study about it, we may want to see it before we have to shut this thread down.

 

[cnielse5]

Which would you rather have land on you; a 250 pound dirtbike or a 450 pound quad?
saftey has to do more with the rider than the machine.

 

[FruDaddy]

With centrifugal force causing the inside tires to lift off the ground during high speed turns, and having seen how far off the seat the talented riders have to hang to keep the quad down. I would say that the quad is more dangerous, however, the ability of the operator really tells the tale. Armed with the knowledge that I will eventually wreck, and if given the choice, I would rather have the bike land on my head.

 

[tyesai]

This is the way I see it. You tend to fall over alot on dirtbikes, almost everytime you go riding you fall over or drop it. If it lands on you it only weighs a couple hundred pounds and you can generaly kick it off of you. When you hill climb, same thing, you can flip over backwards but I think the tendency is to slow and fall, bikes also tend to slide down the hill and stop riderless more so than quads, ever seen a quad start tumbling? Not to say nasty things don't happen but I would much rather fall off and have the bike above me on a steep hill than a quad. Same things on jumps, I guess when I think about wrecking I worry more about what happens after I would hit the ground with my machine chasing me. Think about could have happened if you hit that rut, got tossed off a quad, skidded down the road and then ran over. Just ride within your limits and don't try to impress anyone, if you do that then they probably both are equal in safety, but I still lean towards the bike just because of the weight issue.

 

[cnielse5]

I went though a dark phase of my life were I had a banshee quad, and I had more tangles with that machine than I ever had with any of my bikes. I don't like to talk about this stage of my life because it is not pretty. I try to forget it, but it comes back to haunt me more often than I like to admit.

 

[wanaride]

I know you can get hurt just falling out of bed, but I'm 38 and there is NO WAY I would own a quad. I know they have their following and I bet they are a ton of fun, but I would rather deal with my 250lb dirt bike than a 400-500lb quad.

We thought about a Raptor 50 quad for our 7yr old son, but that quad weighs as much as my KDX200! Needless to say we dropped that idea. Only DBs or go-karts with roll cages at my house.

Wear the right safety gear, ride confidently but not over your head, and you will do fine on your dirt bike. Lucky dog with that CRF450X, that is what I want...get out there and have fun!

 

[dante]

I think it's equal... motorcycles are inherently unstable... and quads weigh twice as much... However both can get you into trouble when mistakes happen...

 

[gwcrim]

My wife's uncle gave us a quad for my little boy. It rolled down a hill with me once. I promptly gave it back. In many years of riding a dirt bike and not making it up the hill, I never once worried about a 400 lb. quad landing on me.

Our neighbors just bought nice new fast quads. I went for a test ride and was scared silly. The short wheelbase makes them unstable at speed, IMO. I had all 4 corners bouncing like basketballs. That plus they can't follow the tight single track trails we ride.

But then I grew up riding on two wheels. If I had grown up riding quads, I'd probably be dead. Ooops. I mean I'd probably feel more comfortable on them........ if I was still alive. ;)

 

[MX-727]

I flew with a guy who was getting ready to buy his kid a quad. He wanted to get him a bike, but Mom put her foot down. In her mind a quad is as stable as a car and the kid can't fall off or get hurt. By the end of the week, he'd decided to get the bike and he had some ammo to explain the reasoning to her.

Quads are not as stable as people think and riding one is almost counter-intuative. The turning and high center of gravity have been explained above. On a bike, one of the hardest falls is to high side, but people generally slide out to the low side. On a quad, almost every accident is a high side, you get launched and the quad pounces on you.

People also tend to ride quads in a manner that they would never think of riding a dirt bike, usually drunk, no gear and with 2-4 people crammed on it. Too many people equate four wheels with the family car.

Just look at it this way, if you'd been on that TRX you would've been hurt worse.

 

[Chicken Hawk]

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm sure I am just a little shell shocked right now. I really love the bike (CRF450X), but this wreck kinda bummed me out because I have been riding since I was 15 (now 34) and have never broke anything before. I'm sure once I heal I will be back tearing up the trails in no time!

TJ

 

[bud]

DRN is not the place to go for unbiased opinions on quads. I've spent many thousands of hours on both quads and dirtbikes. All my injuries have been on dirtbikes. That doesn't mean I think either is "safer".

 

[AssistSuper]

Quads scare the hell out of me.

I was at the track this past Saturday and there was a guy riding a Banshee, and it just made me nervous. Fast? Yeah. Fun? I'm sure it is. Scary to watch? Darn right. He hit a table top and nearly went over the bars and I had to cringe.

People look at dirt bikes and they're just intimidated by them when they aren't riders. At least around here, there are a lot of places that you can't take a quad due to it being single track or the tracks won't allow quads.