Don’t Sweat It

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Are you a person that sweats a lot even in cooler weather?  Who doesn’t hate the sting of sweat in their eyes when riding, doing yard work, training…  I know I do.  That why I had to blog about this nifty little item I came across while attending the Hotter’n Hell Hundred (HHH) bicycle race/ride expo this year.  [Read more]

Preparing Your ATV for Transport

With the holidays right around the corner many of you are gearing up for a winter vacation, and whether that means a hunting trip to Montana with the boys or a family excursion to George Washington National Forest, either way you’ll be hauling out the ole’ ATV for a little fun. As weather conditions make roads slick and travel precarious at times, it is important to adequately prepare your ATV for shipping in order to minimize the opportunity that it is damaged, an ensure that you will be compensated in the event that it is. While these steps are designed to help you prepare your ATV for a shipping company, they can also be useful if you are planning on hauling the vehicle yourself.

The first step in preparing your ATV for transport is full-body wash. As you scrub, note any existing scratches, dents, dings or other imperfections and document them with both a written account and by taking photos. Be sure to date this documentation. Next, gather any records you have of past body work that has been done to the vehicle and assemble this information into a comprehensive description of the vehicle’s current condition. When you hand over the ATV to the carrier it is a good idea to briefly go over this information with him so both parties are aware of the condition.  

[Read more]

Flipping Amazing!!!

Two wheels or four, the world of freestyle motocross has come a long way from the days of Jeremy McGrath and the nac nac. I realize this is an ATVBlog, but then again my area of expertise as they call it is “lifestyle” so I figure that encompasses all aspects of the motorsport world. This past weekend I had the opportunity to visit the home of Justin Homan a freestyle MX rider from central Oregon. Depending on which day of the week you catch him, you’d probably never place this guy as one of the founding fathers of freestyle motocross. [Read more]

Harvest Time

Assuming the demographic of a lot of ATV riders I’m sure a lot of you are gearing up for long days and short nights.  That’s right, it’s harvest time again!

 

I wasn’t lucky enough to grow up on a farm; my dad is an accountant so I spent my childhood in Iowa City, IA, an average sized city.  We lived in a good size home in a great neighborhood and I certainly had no shortage of toys, just a shortage of space to use those toys.  Luckily, my dad grew up on a farm no more than an hour away.  I always enjoyed going to visit my grandpa and my uncle (he helped my grandpa run the farm) and help during harvest time.  We would always make it once or twice a year, usually during the corn harvest since that’s when they could use the most help.  I started riding with the adults in numerous machines, and then began helping them drive trucks when they had to switch fields.  One time, when I was 12, I even drove the truck down the wrong lane on the highway for about 2 miles before realizing it.  I quickly graduated up to pulling the grain cart by the time I was 16, even traveling the hour from home without my dad a few times. 

I always loved going to the farm and have always envied people that could make their living doing it.  I still remember being at the University of Iowa, where ironically half of the students are from Chicago, and having to explain to them what hard work is actually like and that farmers aren’t just dumb hicks.  I remember one guy bragging about his $100,000 Mercedes his daddy bought him, I quickly shot back with “Oh yeah? We have a $250,000 combine we use 2 months out of the year.” That shut him up.

 

Two years ago my grandpa passed away leaving the farm to the family.  Although his four children (my dad included) still own a chunk of the farm, my uncle runs the day to day operations of the 2500 acre farm with the help of one employee.  This year the weather has been bad, causing a late planting and thus, a late harvest with a shorter amount of time to get the crops out.  Because of this I have decided to live at the farm for a month and help with the harvest.  I am lucky to have the flexibility in my life to this, although I will have to try to find some way to set a laptop up in the combine! Most of my decision was based on how much I enjoy being out there.  I get a sense of zen from cutting rows of corn, or busting across a field in an 8330 pulling a 700 bushel Kinze cart, or just jamming through 18 gears on my way back to the field to pick up another load.  Call me crazy, but I love it!

 

So many times the farmer goes unrecognized, when most people know that the farmer is the beginning of most product cycles.  So if you are a farmer or even have a family farm, thank you! It is because of people like you that our country runs, I am truly envious that you have found a way to make a living doing something so important that you obviously love. 

 

If you haven’t already hit the field take a few days to relax, go for a long ride, or just spend some time with some loved ones, it’s going to be a long 8 weeks!

 

On a side note, I may not be blogging for awhile unless I can get that laptop hooked up in the combine!

 

And of course, as I mentioned in my first post, I plan to include a cool ATV video from the web in each blog.  So here you go, courtesy of ATVonDemand.com

 Testing Dustin Wimmers Championship Winning LTR-450

 

Catch you on the flip side!

 

-Brad Phillips

2008 High Lifter Mud Nationals Slide Show

High Lifter’s annual Mud Nationals is the largest ATV event you’ll find anywhere across the country. More than 14,000 racers, riders and fans converge on the sloppy grounds of the Mud Creek Off-Road Park in east Texas every April. 

Take it from us, the Mud Nats has an enormous, wild crowd and it’s hard to wrap one’s mind around all of the unbelievable things you’ll see on the grounds. Crazy modified machines, a variety of different mud bogs and even crazier people, and everybody’s driving some form of all-terrain vehicle.

Everything about the Mud Nationals is big, and that¹s why we’ve called it the World Series of the ATV world.

CLICK HERE FOR SLIDE SHOW

Fortunate Son: A Summary of 2008

I’ve had a good run, though, as far as summers go. And, allow me to introduce myself. My name’s Tom Kaiser and I’m the managing editor of ATV Magazine, and an associate editor for ATV Sport and UTV Magazine. I ride, write, edit and shoot photos for our publications, and get to do an almost criminal amount of fun things for my job. This is my first contribution to our new, first-rate blog site, so I’m just going to ramble on to my heart’s content.

From this spring through the end of June, I’ve been a traveling madman: Texas for the wild Mud Nationals, returned a month later to hang out with Ted Nugent at his Waco ranch, attended the Polaris new model introduction in southern Minnesota, rode California’s magnificent San Bernardino National Forest for the Yamaha Grizzly 550 FI intro and attended the Elko ATV Jamboree in northeastern Nevada - a very beautiful place. I’d say that counts as a good few months, for sure! Click here for Ted Nugent slide show.

Each trip was a lot of fun, all in places I had never been before. I was really looking forward to July, though. My closest friend Cliff Shierk, who I’ve been pals with since I was two years old, was making the big move from Minneapolis to Chicago to attend grad school at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Congrats Cliffy. Anyway, in celebration of his move, we decided to go on a 10-day road trip out west.

We loaded up his elfin, white Scion xA with the bare necessities and headed west on I-94. Heading through wild-and-crazy North Dakota, we made it as far as Billings, Mont., on the first night. Then it was northwest to Glacier National Park, near the Canadian border. So many people had told me it was the most beautiful place they’ve ever been, and I’d have to agree. I especially recommend driving Going To The Sun Road and having a drink on the porch at the Many Glacier Hotel.

From there we headed west to Bonners Ferry, Idaho, and then south to Coeur d’Alene - arguably one of the most beautiful towns in our country. We came to potato land to do some riding, and met up with the friendly folks from Mt. Spokane Adventure Sports and Mark and Tera Magill of Teramark Films.

Surrounded by wooded mountains and enormous, meandering valley lakes, northern Idaho is where it’s at. The trails are some of the best I’ve seen, with a lot of variation and stretches where you could really open it up. There were just as many stretches where you just had to slow down and take in the incredible view. And, I saw a moose on the side of a trail.

Before we were done, we stopped at an overlook at sunset where you could see all the way into Washington. Check out the photo gallery HERE. We’ll have a feature story about the trip in an upcoming issue of ATV Magazine.

After being blown away by Idaho’s scenery, Cliff and I journeyed on to Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Salt Lake City, where we followed the rules, but still managed to have a wild night on the town for his birthday. If you haven’t experienced the strange, members-only bar scene in that city, I’d recommend checking it out. Weird. And then we were done, 2,600 miles added to the odometer. That took me through the month of July.

Other attractions for the summer included ATV racer Cody Anderson’s bachelor party back in Minneapolis, a whitewater kayak trip with friends in Wisconsin, a 70 mph thrill ride aboard Daryl Rath’s race-spec Polaris RZR and my second visit to the Rocky Mountain ATV Jamboree in central Utah - a great ATV gathering with amazing guided rides.

This year isn’t over yet, though, and there are more wild times to come: heading back to Texas to ride some mud bogs with Arctic Cat and our annual ATV Trials event, which is being held in western North Carolina. It’s all coming your way in the magazines, but I’ll try and give you the real deal on the blog, too.

So you see, it’s been a good summer and it’s okay to turn on the heat, to start spending some more weekends at home and trade in summer’s nonstop action for the leisurely rumination of fall.

Click here for Tom’s Idaho slide show.

Tom Kaiser can be reached at tkaiser@affinitygroup.com.

 

 

 

 

 

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

Greetings,

Maybe you have come across my column “Survival of The Fittest” in ATV Sport Magazine.  Maybe not due to it being stealthily tucked away in the back of the magazine, but either way I wanted to use this opportunity to introduce myself as a contributor to our bloggazine (new word).  As a ATV enthusiast and a person that is fairly obsessed with riding and racing I felt it was my duty to volunteer my time and expertise to give you the latest and greatest information available on the topic of sports nutrition and fitness.  This information should be especially helpful for you non-couch potato types or those trying to shed the shackles of the sofa or love seat.  As that implies, I will give you the info, and it’s up to you to the take the action.  I would also like to invite you to post me or e-mail me (nutrineal@yahoo.com) on what you have seen, do, or use to improve your fitness or riding skills and abilities.

Father of the Thumb Warmer

“Dude did you put your snow tires on yet?” What? Winter is still a couple of months away. “Yeah but you can’t be too ready… it’s going to be a killer season!”

OK I’ll admit I get pretty excited about the upcoming winter too. When the majority of riders are tucking their quads away for the winter we’re out there racking up the miles. Riding in the snow brings on a whole new set of challenges. It’s man and machine against the power of mother nature. Take the most mundane, boring trail add a couple of feet of snow and you have yourself nothing but pure white fun. When else can you ride in 4×4 Low for hours and hours. It’s like a never ending mud bog only you don’t get dirty.

Serious snow riding takes some serious planning and equipment. Safety is a major concern and should always be first and foremost in a riders mind before heading out on a great white adventure. My single most import piece of equipment are my grip heaters and thumb warmer. Riding in cold weather seriously affects the riders ability to control the throttle when your thumb and hands get cold. Without throttle control, you ain’t getting very far.

Enter Roland Knapton inventor and father of the thumb warmer. Roland’s invention has affected more snowmobilers, motorcyclists, and ATVers than any other single piece of equipment. A former 3M engineer Roland knows what it takes to build a quality product and in 1989 he founded Symtec. The company soon got into the handlebar heating business for snowmobiles. In 2002 new decisions were made regarding expanding the technologies and growing the company. New heater and electronic technologies were developed and those products are paving the way into a new exciting future with many more products on the drawing board.

I know this sounds like an advertisement for Symtec…. But I’ve tried the other brands and they just don’t deliver. Symtec’s kits are well thought out, easy to install, and reliable. Plus they stand behind their products 100% with first rate customers service. Now there’s something that is not easy to find these days.

So if you decide to brave the winter on your quad this season the first thing you’ll need is a set of grip heaters. Why not from the guy who invented them?

What Am I Doing Here?

It’s a simple question; I’m sure people think of from time to time.  Whether you are stuck in a career you hate, have entered a race class that is way over your head, or, in fellow blogger Zac Willett’s case, waking up from a “long” night in an unfamiliar place.  So what am I doing here? Heck, I don’t know! I’ve contributed to a book, other than that I have very little writing; let alone “blogging” experience.  I hated English class in College, I already speak English.  Can’t I just test out of this class! E-mails can even be tiresome to me, although I seem to be great at texting. I can only assume I made some comment to ATV Sport Editor, Jerrod Kelley (J-rod) during a late night in Indy last February.  Or maybe ZW47 or Chuck D (side note: I need a nickname!) recommended me.  Either way and for what ever reason, I’m still glad to be here!

My goal with this blog is to inform you, the reader, about the goings on within the ATV media with an emphasis on ATV film and video.  I have over 16 years in the ATV industry as an enthusiast, a racer, and now a business owner (Premis Industries).   I tend to be very opinionated but also open-minded about the topics I discuss, so I am all for friendly discussions about it in the comment section below.  I plan on picking a topic within the industry that interest me to talk about and find a cool video clip or some other piece of media to end my blog with.

So what am I doing here? I’m still not totally sure.  Hopefully as I blog it will become apparent to me, and you.  For my first blog I’m sticking to a simple introduction and a little self-promotion (I promise, it won’t happen too often).

We have just finished production on our new film, The Factory.  We have always been very proud of our company’s ability to innovate and this is no exception.  The Factory is a documentary film about the Can-Am ATV MX Race Team.  It is a full length feature film shot entirely in HD.  Check it out when you get a chance; I’m sure you will be intrigued at the very least.  I have included a teaser below.

Keeping with my opening question, I feel I should leave you with this quote I picked up from a friend and fellow business man, Jim Lobaito.

“Be happy with where you are at in pursuit of where you want to be”

I know I’m happy with where I’m at, Are you?

 

Catch you on the flip side!

 -Brad Phillips

Tools, what you need and what you should know

Ride ATVs long enough and eventually you will have to do some maintenance or repairs to your machine. If your a take it to the dealer to tighten a loose bolt then this article is not for you, as a matter of fact maybe you shouldn’t be near an ATV. For the rest of us here is a short list of recommended tools that should be in your toolbox if you plan on doing any minor repairs or maintenance. Of course depending on your skill level, machine type and desire your needs might be slightly different in the array of tools needed. In this article I am going to shy away from “special” tools designed for specific jobs or machines, for example a flywheel puller. If you already have one of those generic tool kits thats a start but you will soon find out that most of the tools contained in that “kit” will be of little use or no even usable on an ATV due to certain factors.

The first and most important (in my opinion) is not a tool at all but a resource, a service manual, even if you don’t plan on doing complete engine/transmission overhauls ever it will serve as a good basis to understand what it takes to disassemble a particular part of your ATV. It also contains all the specs on your machine everything from fluid capacities to torque values for every fastener on the machine.

3/8″ and 1/4″ drive socket and rachet set in both shallow and deep sockets. You will use the 1/4 drive most of the time and I like to use a 1/4″ drive socket handle/extention which makes quick work of body and engine case bolts. Also a good assortment of extensions is a good idea.

Open and box end combination wrenches ranging from 4mm-30mm you should have 2 sets on hand because you will need two of the same size at times to break a bolt and nut loose (the suspension linkage for example)

Screwdrivers both philips and flat bladed kinds in various lenghts.

Pliers either lineman or slip joint are suitable in various sizes also a set of different sized needle nosed type can be helpful also.

Locking pliers (Vise-Grip) I almost didn’t even list these because many a ham-fisted mechanics have tried to substitute this one tool for all of the above, but they are a very handy tool if used with discretion.

Allen wrenches the basic of sets will do, if you use them a lot I recommend T-handle type as well as ones that will fit on a ratchet wrench as well.

Impact driver One tool that is commonly overlooked but can be a life saver on stubborn bolts and especially philips head cap screws that are found on older and vintage machines.

16oz Hammer this is a good compromise for many jobs when you have to persuade something to get into place. Its small enough for light jobs but big enough to do some real damage. If you need a hammer bigger than this when working on an ATV then you have other issues.

Pry-bars a good assortment can come in handy when things need a little coaxing.

This short list is the bare minimum for someone that wants to do routine maintenance and minor repairs and upgrades. Of course depending on desire and skill level there are more tools that one could or should have in their tool box but this could fill a book. As a matter of fact there are several publications available at bookstores that would be good reference for the at home mechanic, some of which was used to write this article.

A quick word about tool quality, brands and where to spend your money. Of course if we all had our way we would all have fully outfitted toolboxes and garages with Snap-On, Matco ect…. and be done with it. Well in the real world money spent on tools is generally on the lower end of the priority list, so here are a few guidelines to follow.

Where to spend money: spring for a good quality name brand 1/4″ and 3/8″ drive ratchet handles, one set of open end wrenches, pliers or any other tool that you use quite frequently.

Where not to spend money: all other tools fall into this category. If your not doing ATV and motorcycle repair as a business it is really not necessary to have a $50 set of screwdrivers for example when the “tool show special” $9.99 will do just fine. The second set of combination wrenches can fall into this category also since they will only be used when two of the same size wrenches are necessary. Of course the no name brands won’t give you the prestige factor of a factory mechanic but they will get the job done. As a matter of fact I have plenty of “made in china” tools that have lasted and served their purpose well past the $9.99 price tag.

In the future I will go into more depth of “special tools” used for special jobs. This preliminary article is aimed at starting from scratch and building your tool box. As it has been said before no man can have too many tools.

Next Page »