Product Evaluation

A better open face By the staff of Dirt Wheels Arai is a Japanese, family-owned helmet company that believes that helmets are vital and valuable safety equipment meant for long-term use and extended satisfaction. Aside from a deeply held belief in absolute quality, Arai believes in a smooth, rounded shell shape both for intrinsic strength and so the helmet doesn’t have edges that catch during a crash. The Ram-X is innovative in its shape in another way. Even though it is an open face, the shell extends along the jaw,…

The most unique UTV trailer ever By the staff of Dirt Wheels In the early days of four-wheeled dune play, before there were three-wheelers, quads or UTVs, there were lightweight Volkswagen dune buggies. It didn’t take much to haul them, and many folks just used a T-trailer. It was a glorified tow bar that lifted the wheels off the ground. Our sport is much more advanced now. Off-roaders travel in giant motorhomes, massive toy haulers and so forth. We have embraced camping luxury to the point that our rigs may not…

Stay connected By the staff of Dirt Wheels There are many avenues we travel down on our paths while exploring the great outdoors. Experiencing these journeys is best on your favorite off-road machine. Some of us prefer to hear rumbling engines and wind passing around our helmet, while others want tunes and technology to help enhance their experience. We are supporters of staying connected to your fellow riders and the people who want to make sure you are safe, and Sena offers communication systems that do just that.…

Comfort is required By the staff of Dirt Wheels Imagine you are settling your UTV into a hard left-hander, the rear wheels chewing through tacky dirt as you depress the throttle for more power, sending the machine into a controlled pitch. All of a sudden the outside rear tire grabs a rut, and instead of staying in control, your body slides across the stock seat, the stock seat belt allows your upper body to lean, and your grip on the wheel is compromised. Instead of viewing the corner’s exit, you are seeing sky, dirt…

Communicate with your passengers By the staff of Dirt Wheels Rugged Radios is the biggest name in off-road communications applications. When you see serious UTV off-roaders, it is more than common to see an intercom system and/or a radio kit from Rugged. Until you have experienced clear conversation with your passenger(s) without shouting, you don’t know what you are missing. In addition to talking between passengers, you may listen to music with the RRP660 system. All in-car communication is hands-free. You simply…

Get with the protection program By the staff of Dirt Wheels We recently watched a video of a UTV sailing off a vast sand dune in Glamis of Southern California. In the air, the machine turned sideways, and when it landed, it continued to roll end over end violently until it reached the bottom of the dune. Thanks to a well-constructed aftermarket roll cage, the inhabitants of the machine walked away; the machine was absolutely destroyed. Our sport is full of the best of times, but when the fun can get flipped upside…

-- Product Evaluation -- By the staff of Dirt Wheels We have always kept portable compressors on hand to maintain and adjust ATV and UTV tires to the proper air pressure for best machine performance, though we have resorted to tank-less little compressors to adjust our hauler’s tires in a pinch. When you have no tank to store the air, you can only fill a tire at the rate the compressor can handle air. That is usually a rate quoted in CFM (cubic feet per minute) or SCFM (standard cubic feet per minute), and that…

-- Testing a way to carry it all comfortably -- If you have ever watched the insanely difficult and treacherous race that is the infamous Dakar Rally, you will have seen quads outfitted with parts to repair their machine in almost any scenario. Most of us don’t ride longer than a few hours at a time, so we don’t require parts for days of exploration. However, if you are a trail traveler that spends all day adventuring through miles of terrain, Klim has the perfect product for you! Like the additional parts and storage…

 By the staff of Dirt Wheels There is a perfectly good reason that most sport or sport utility UTVs come with a fairly aggressive tire with large, blocky knobs. UTVs are sold all over North America, and it hardly makes financial sense to equip machines headed for different parts of the country with different tires. Economy-of-scale pricing mandates that companies choose a tire that can do everything pretty well. Pro Armor knows that not everyone lives where the stock tires are most effective. For instance, the Dirt…

Since the release of the X-Rex tire from GBC, we have always been impressed with the superior traction and durability of it for sport ATVs. Over the last year, we have been testing a set of the updated and renamed version of the X-Rex, the XC Master. This six-ply tire is available in rear sizes of 20x11.00-9, 22x11.00-9, 20x11.00-10 and 22x11.00-10, and front sizes of 21x7-10, 22x7-10 and 23x7-10. We used the 20x11-9 in the rear and 21x7-10 for the front and put countless hours and miles on motocross tracks, desert trails…