A quad bike is not just for fun
The fact that ATVs can be positioned as tractors shows the subtleties of their registration. Most quadricycles sold in Lithuania are registered in municipalities as T3B category tractors, so they can be driven on public roads with a B category driver’s license. But can they serve as tractors?
“I can confidently say that a quad bike can be used for a variety of functions. Of course, vehicles are not cheap, but a narrow, light and well-passable four-wheeler helps to get many things done,” says off-road specialist, one of the pioneers of four-wheel sports in Lithuania, well-known traveler Audrius Sutkus.
A single tractor in the field is nobody. It is like a motorized workhorse that is useful when some kind of implement is attached to it. Four-wheeler – as well. On its own, it’s kind of just a recreational vehicle. However, its functionality is extended by a particularly large range of various accessories.
Functionality is ensured by the abundance of implements
In specialized stores for a quad bike, you can buy at least a dozen different types of trailers for transporting various loads: they can even have hydraulic arms. Agricultural implements for sale: for example, plows or cultivators; if you need to mow large areas of grass, you can attach a lawnmower. Various attachments are also mounted on the front of the ATV, such as graders for leveling roads and even buckets for transporting soil.
The latter implements are best suited for larger homesteads located far from the city, while snow blowers will make household chores easier in a country house. If the gravel road is rarely maintained, a salt and sand spreader can be attached to the same grader, which can be useful in winter. Brushes and brooms, garbage cans or blowers will help keep the yard clean.
“In fact, four-wheelers have so many accessories that they can replace tractors in every sense of the homestead. With them, you can work in the forest, farm work and take care of the environment”, comments Adomas Gančierius, the representative of the Motorider company, which sells these vehicles and has at least several hundred different implements for four-wheelers in its assortment.
How is it different from a tractor?
It is true that a light ATV cannot match the specifications and capabilities of large tractors, so you should not expect it to be able to take care of a large farm.
Manufacturer’s photo/Polaris four-wheeler with trailer
“For farmers who have tractors, a four-wheeler is not an option for one main technical reason: four-wheelers do not have a working shaft that gives revolutions to other mechanisms, so the components attached to them need a separate engine,” explains A.Sutkus.
As an example, he gives the lawnmower, which usually has its own engine, while the ATV itself acts only as a towing vehicle. Like a trailer-mounted chipper or log cutter, it will also have its own gasoline engine.
Log trailers can be equipped with hydraulic arms. And for most knives or brooms, a winch is enough. Compared to heavy agricultural machinery, small implements are not even close to it in terms of prices.
“Quarters are popular with farmers as a light and fast vehicle, but they are much more useful for customers on farms. Usually, larger farms have a lot of work to do, but this is not a farm that needs a tractor. This is where the ATV sits in the middle ground, because it can serve as a work vehicle all year round: the accessories allow you to look after all corners of the homestead, and when they are removed, the vehicle becomes a recreational vehicle,” says the representative of Motorider.
How are four-wheelers better than tractors?
However, ATVs also have advantages over tractors. They are much more compact and maneuverable, so they are better suited for forest maintenance. With a quad bike, you can go deeper into the forest, it is easier to maneuver in difficult-to-access areas.
Manufacturer’s photo/Quarter wheels come in handy when doing farm work
“A quad bike surpasses SUVs in terms of good accessibility. It goes further, deeper and better, because it is light”, notes A. Sutkus.
So the ATV is really not just a recreational vehicle. The abundance of accessories allows it to match a tractor in terms of functionality. Of course, a tractor is superior when doing heavy agricultural work, but it is expensive and far from being necessary in all homesteads.
A four-wheeler is better suited for personal farms and larger homesteads, where the scale of work is more modest, where a tractor is not needed. It is not for nothing that this four-wheel drive vehicle is registered as a light tractor.
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