Why I'm Buying a Quad

I know, I know.  So what if quads have two too many wheels?  It doesn't mean they can't still be a ton of fun.  You can think about an ATV as a motorcycle's bigger, kinda slow, but friendly and lovable cousin.  When talking to a lot of my motorcycle buddies, quads seem to be as foreign to them as street bikes are to a majority of the non-motorcycling public.  It's understandable when I consider that I probably wouldn't have a clue about them if I didn't learn about them through working at a dealership.  Fortunately, I had the chance to do some snow plowing with a Honda Foreman Rubicon yesterday and am now more convinced than ever that they are the answer to the winter-time blues.. given you have some place to ride one.

First, a bit about the machine.  I was on a 2014 Honda Foreman Rubicon which is Honda's slightly more rugged iteration of the Honda Foreman lineup that features a 500cc single cylinder engine mated to a semi-auto (shift button on the handlebar) transmission and a 4x4 drivetrain.  The machine was equipped with a Cycle Country plow setup attached to a KFI winch for snow plowing duties.  No matter how much snow I was pushing with the 48 inch blade, the quad just kept chugging along as if the snow wasn't there.  So we've established that quads are good for work, but what about play?

After doing a bit snow plowing and a bit of snow drifting, I put the machine away with a giant grin on my face.  Maybe it's the fact that it's small and agile, maybe it's because you're still controlling the machine with handlebars.  I couldn't tell you exactly what it was about rolling around on that machine that gave me this feeling of satisfaction, however, I can tell you that it was close enough to the joy I feel when getting off my bike after a ride that I'm sold.  I may still long for warm and sunny days on two wheels, but this was pretty damned close as far as helping to stave off (if not satiate) the riders' cabin fever.