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Quad bikes or all-terrain vehicles (ATV) are machines which often have 4 wheel drive capabilities which you ride by straddling them and using handlebars for steering… basically a motorcycle with four fat low pressure tires!

Quad bikes are designed to handle all types of terrains and are typically used by farmers, landowners, hunters, construction workers and the military. In most countries, quad bikes are strictly off-road machines only…

But in countries such as the UK, you can ride road legal quads on the public highways if you possess a full driving license.

The Early History of the ATV

As early as 1893, Royal Enfield created and released to the public the Quadracycle which remarkably resembles today's modern quads. Unfortunately for Royal Enfield, the production of the early motorcar soon replaced their Quadracycle.

Today, the quad market is dominated by Japanese manufactures…

Honda were the first manufactures to build and produce a three-wheeled ATV called the ATC90 in 1970, this machine was solely a recreational vehicle.

It was made famous in films such as 'Diamonds Are Forever' and popular TV shows such as 'Hart 2 Hart' and 'Magnum PI'. In 1982 Honda released their landmark ATV model the ATC200E Big Red…

It was the first utility three-wheeled ATV due to it having both suspension and racks. It became very popular with US and Canadian hunters due to its all terrain abilities. This model was the inspiration for other manufactures to enter the ATV market.

Later, Honda dominated the market with their sports models the ATC250R and the ATC200X. Other producers followed Honda in this market but found it very hard to compete with Honda's dominance.

The Beginnings of the Quad Bike

In 1982, Suzuki was the first ATV producers to produce a 4-wheeled ATV… QuadRunner LT125!

The QuadRunner LT125 was designed purely as a recreational machine for beginners.

Later in 1985, Suzuki became the first to produce a high-performance quad bike called the Suzuki LT250R QuadRacer. It had a liquid-cooled two-stroke motor and a sophisticated long-travel suspension. Early models came with a fully manual 5-speed transmission, whilst later models had a 6-speed transmission. The Suzuki LT250R QuadRacer was specially designed to be raced by highly skilled racers.

Both Honda and Kawasaki responded to the Suzuki vehicle by producing the Honda FourTrax TRX250R and the Kawasaki Tecate-4 250.

In 1987, Yamaha created the Banshee 350, it was a high-performance vehicle with a twin-cylinder liquid-cooled two-stroke motor from the RD350LC street motorcycle.

Later, Suzuki released the very fast LT500R QuadRacer, also known as "Quadzilla". It had a 500 cc liquid cooled two stroke engine with a 5-speed transmission and is believed to be the fastest production ATV ever produced.

Today's Quad Bikes

Today's quad bikes are split into two camps… sports and utility!

The sport models are often light, small, two wheeled drive machines with manual transmission, quick acceleration and can go as fast as 90 miles per hour. These machines are built with performance in mind. They must be light weight, with good suspension, high power and have a low center of gravity.

On the other hand, utility models tend to be vehicles which are bigger, heavier with 4 wheel drive with a maximum speed of up to 72 miles per hour.

Source: http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1187179