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newshound

On 05/12/2018 15:44, wrote:
On Wednesday, 5 December 2018 14:12:22 UTC, GB wrote:
On 05/12/2018 14:05, Bill Wright wrote:
I have a 2 acre garden and it's very steep in places. At the top I'm
well above the roof of the house. The path/lane/track is about 1 in 7 at
its steepest. I call it a garden but it's mostly grass field and trees.
As time goes on I'm finding it more and more tiring to get about. I've
just planted some apple trees (with sheep-proof tree guards) and I ended
up using a Transit van to convey me and materials to and fro. That's
ridiculous really. I'm wondering about getting a quad bike; most likely
second hand. Actually I'm definitely going to get one. Trouble is I
don't know anything about them. What size engine would be reasonable to
carry me and a trailer with, for instance, two or three bags of top soil
and a few tools on it? Petrol, diesel, or electric? I'm assuming it
would have to be four wheel drive.

Bill

Are quad bikes a bit risky on steep slopes?

1:7 is nowhere steep enough to be a serious stability problem.

NT

As long as you are sensible, and if it really is a uniform slope. It
helps if you don't have to turn on the slope itself.

I rent a field about twice this size for my wife's equines. We did have
a small tractor (with a proper cabin and roll cage) which was good for
some stuff, less good for others. We now have an all terrain vehicle
(ATV) rather than a quad, this has two seats side by side and again a
proper roll cage. Ours is a Cub Cadet but there are lots of others. Not
as fast as a quad but that is no disadvantage if never going on road. It
has a tipper back which holds 400 kg. Significantly more expensive than
a quad, though.

I use it to: take fence posts and tools around the field: really saves a
lot of effort. Collect horse poo. Transfer perhaps 100 litres of water
at a time when required. Tow a roller or a chain harrow. Tow a
separately powered "topper".

It has switchable 4WD, and also a diff lock. Three cylinder Japanese
diesel, though branded "Caterpillar" (so can run on red diesel).

The livery yard where I keep my horse has a large quad which will
happily tow a trailer containing a few hundred kg. I have driven it but
never feel completely safe: it has a bizarre thumb-trigger throttle
which is not very easy to control, I can't understand why they moved to
these instead of a twist grip.

Quads seem to come in three sizes: toy, small, and large. I'd have
thought a small one would do what you need. I wouldn't have one if I had
children at home, though.