I raced motorcycles for years. Crashed more than a few times, been flicked off the high side at over 120km/h (I still feel that one), but the worst wreck I ever had in my life was on a quad ride home from the neighbors. Innocent visit, no helmet, and a dumb mistake on the way home almost killed me. Left me with a bad concussion, and some debatable lasting effects.....And a wrecked quad.....that wasn't mine. I agree, most people are WAY too complacent on a quad (I was, and I knew better). IMO they're more dangerous than the old 3 wheelers I grew up riding. At least with the 3 wheelers you knew they were going to tip over so you respected them more. Man I miss those
My wife works in a children's emerg and far too many kids come in with some pretty serious injuries from riding them, or worse. IMO the import kid quads are the worst, too narrow, and way too high center of gravity. My kids won't get one (wife won't allow it, and I wont fight her on it), but they do have a pw80
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Things happen fast on a quad at speed. Newer ones are way too high centered and adding liftkits and mud tires makes them even worse and more unstable, add in the power they have, and the speeds they can reach...... You can argue with the laws of physics all you want, but you can't break them.