Quad bike

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A Quad bike is one of many types of powered quadracycle. UK law recognizes a vehicle to be a quad bike if it has four wheels and a mass of less than 550Kgs^[1]. To drive a quad bike on a public road requires a B1 licence as well as tax, insurance and registration.

Contents 1 History 1.1 19th century 1.2 20th century 1.3 21st century 2 Usage 3 Safety 4 Controversy 5 References 6 See also

[edit] History

[edit] 19th century

Royal Enfield built and sold the first powered quadracycle in 1893. It had many bicycle components, including handle bars. The Royal Enfield resembles a modern ATV-style quad bike but was designed as a form of horseless carriage for road use.^[2]

[edit] 20th century

In the 1930s and 1940s manufacturers in the USA and Japan began to design and build vehicles to traverse rough ground and water.^{[citation needed]}

After the Second World War the off road market for quads was contested by purpose built trucks. Before this point there were many quad bikes that were laid out in a similar fashion to conventional cars. The post war period saw the introduction of the microcar in Europe, many of which were classified as quadracycles in the UK. Some were right-hand drive three wheeled versions without reverse gears for the UK market. These were classified as motorcycles and thus incurred less tax.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1970s Honda started to make trikes and quad bikes based on their motorbikes which became the modern UK quad bike.^[3]

[edit] 21st century

The turn of the millennium saw the importing of many small electric vehicles made in India and the far east. Many of these vehicles were small and slow by design because of the limitations of the technology. To make many of these vehicles viable the manufacturers reduced the quad bike's weight, at the expense of safety and comfort.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Usage

Most straddled quad bikes are designed and used off road in situations that would make using a larger vehicle difficult. Quad bikes are used for such varied tasks as herding animals and lifeguarding on beaches.^{[citation needed]}

Many specialist quad bikes exist such as golf carts and airport baggage tractors.^{[citation needed]}

Most quad bikes are designed to perform in a similar manner to dirt bikes or tractors.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Safety

The safety regulations for quad bikes are more permissive than those for cars or motorcycles. For non-road use vehicles, the legislation to register a quad bike for road use is similar to that of motorcycles. This means that noise protection is not addressed and devices such as seat belts are not required.^{[citation needed]}

Quad bikes are not required to comply with the terms of the EU Directives for safety that cars would have to pass. They normally do not have Euro NCAP safety ratings.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Controversy

The safety issues of cars classed as quad bikes are illustrated by the case of the G-Wiz (REVA). This neighborhood electric vehicle is seen by some within British motor journalism as a symbol of Champagne socialism^[4] because of its popularity with some celebrities and its poor performance in almost all fields. The vehicle was given a Euro NCAP specification test. The results showed that the vehicle's occupants would suffer "serious or life-threatening" injuries in a 64km/h (40mph) crash ^[5]. The UK Department for Transport concluded that there were serious safety concerns when the REVA was crashed at 35 MPH.

In the UK, quad bikes are not as poorly viewed as ATVs are in the USA. Most straddled quads are used by farmers, game keepers, parks officers and other similar occupations.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• All-terrain vehicle