Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Off Road Vehicle shopping experience:
1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Off Road Vehicle offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Off Road Vehicle at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.
2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about
3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Off Road Vehicle? Wrong! If the Off Road Vehicle is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.
4. Questions - Got a question about Off Road Vehicle then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....
5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Off Road Vehicle? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Off Road Vehicle and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.
6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Off Road Vehicle wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.
7. Feedback - happy with your Off Road Vehicle then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.
8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Off Road Vehicle site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site
9. Contact - got a question about Off Road Vehicle, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.
10. Payment - ready to pay for your Off Road Vehicle, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.
in the Dunes of Erg Chebbi in
Morocco. Note the high ground clearance due to
Portal gear axles
An
off-road vehicle is considered to be any type of
vehicle which is capable of driving on and off
paved or gravel surface. It is generally characterized by having large tires with deep, open treads and a flexible
suspension (vehicle), or even
caterpillar tracks. Other vehicles that do not travel public streets or highways are generally termed off-highway vehicles, which would include
tractors, forklifts, Crane (machine)s, backhoes,
bulldozers and
Golf carts.
Off-road vehicles have an enthusiastic following because of their many uses and versatility. Several types of
motorsports involve racing off-road vehicles. The three largest "4 wheel vehicle" off-road types of competitions are Rally,
Desert Racing, and
Rockcrawling. The three largest types of
All Terrain Vehicle (
All-terrain vehicle) /
Motorcycle competitions are
Motocross,
Enduro, and also Desert Racing like Dakar Rallye and
Baja 1000. The most common use of these vehicles is for sight seeing in areas distant from
Pavement (material). The use of higher clearance and higher traction vehicles enables access on trails and
forest roads that have rough and low traction surfaces.
History
with Kégresse track
One of the first modified off-road vehicles was the Kégresse track, a conversion undertaken first by
Adolphe Kégresse, who designed the original while working for Tsar
Nicholas II of Russia between 1906 and 1916 MiG-registeret. The system uses an unusual caterpillar track which uses a flexible belt rather than interlocking metal segments. It can be fitted to a conventional car or truck to turn it into a
half-track, suitable for use over rough or soft ground. Conventional front wheels and steering are used.
After the
Russian Revolution of 1917 Kégresse returned to his native
France where the system was used on
Citroën cars between 1921 and 1937 for off-road and
military vehicles. The Citroën company sponsored several overland expeditions with their vehicles crossing
North Africa and
Central Asia.
After
World War II a huge surplus of light off-road vehicles like the
Jeep and heavier lorries were available on the market. The Jeeps in particular were popular with buyers who used them as
utility vehicles. This was also the start of off-roading as a hobby. The wartime Jeeps soon wore out, though, and the Jeep company started to produce civilian derivatives, closely followed by similar vehicles from
United Kingdom Land Rover and
Japanese Toyota and Mitsubishi. These were all alike; small, compact four wheel drives with at most a small hardtop to protect the occupants from the elements.
From the 1960s more comfortable vehicles, later called
SUVs, were produced. First they were popular for many years with rural buyers due to their off-road and load-lugging capabilities. The U.S.
Jeep Wagoneer and the
Ford Bronco, the British Range Rover and the station wagon-bodied Japanese Toyota Land Cruiser were early SUV examples, essentially a station wagon body on a light truck frame with
four wheel drive drivetrain.
Technical
with wide rubber tracks
To be able to drive off the pavement, off-road vehicles need several characteristics: They need to have a low ground pressure, so not to sink in soft ground, they need ground clearance to not get hung up on obstacles and they need to keep their wheels or tracks on the ground so as to not lose traction.
Wheeled vehicles accomplish this by having a suitable balance of large or additional tires and tall and flexible suspension.
Tracked vehicles accomplish this by having wide tracks and a flexible suspension on the road wheels.
The choice of wheels versus tracks are one of cost and suitability. A tracked drivetrain is more expensive and costly in terms of maintenance. Wheeled drivetrains are cheaper and give a higher top speed. For pure off-road capabilites the tracked drivetrain has the edge.
Most off-road vehicles are fitted with especially
gear. This allows the operator to make the most of the
engine's
power, while moving through challenging terrain slowly. A combustion engine coupled to a normal
gearbox often has a too high output speed to be usable. The vehicle often has one of two things; either a very low ("granny") first gear (like the all wheel drive
Volkswagen Transporter versions) or an additional gearbox in-line with the first, called a reduction drive. Some vehicles, like the Bv206 in the picture on the right, also has a torque converter to further reduce the gearing Pakistan Military Consortium.
Common off-road vehicles
Common commercial off-road vehicles include four wheel drive
pickup trucks like the
Chevrolet Silverado, Ford F-Series,
GMC Sierra, Toyota Hilux,
Dodge Ram and similar. Also common are light trucks with station wagon-like bodies, which have been very popular since the 1980s. These include
Chevrolet K5 Blazer,
Dodge Ramcharger, Ford Bronco,
Jeep Cherokee (XJ), International Harvester Scout,
Land Rover Defender,
Land Rover Discovery and
Range Rover and Toyota's Toyota Land Cruiser and Toyota 4Runner.
A number of
military vehicles have also seen civilian use, including the Jeep CJ and AM General Hummer. Some, like the early
Land Rovers, were adapted to military use from civilian specifications.
Specialised commonly available off-road vehicles include All-terrain vehicles, or All Terrain Vehicles, dirt bikes, dune buggy, rock crawling and
sandrails.
Image:Four wheeler.jpg] sceneImage:Rockcrawling.JPG|
Jeep Rubicon Rock Crawling.Image:Sandrail.JPG|Sandrail at Silver Lake Sand Dunes.
Commercial, military and less common off-road vehicles
European militaries and utilities have used
Land Rover Defenders,
Haflingers,
Pinzgauer High Mobility All-Terrain Vehicles and Mercedes-Benz Unimogs for all-terrain transportation. Less common is the
Portugal UMM Alter.
The military market for off-road vehicles used to be large, but since the fall of the
Iron Curtain in the 1990s it has to some extent dried up. The U.S.
Jeep, developed during World War II, coined the word many people use for any type of light off-road vehicle. In the U.S., the Jeep's successor from the 1980s on was the AM General HMMWV. The Eastern Bloc used the GAZ-69 and
UAZ-469 in similar roles.Image:Mercedes Benz Unimog Turkey exhibition side.JPG] at IDEF'07 Arms FairImage:Wojsko Polskie Irak DA-SD-05-12334.JPEG]
Tarpan Honker in
IraqImage:Umm-alter-00.jpg]
Criticisms
Sport utility vehicle are built with higher
Ride height for
Off-roading use and have a higher
Center of mass, therefore increasing the risk of rollover. Research has shown that whenever an SUV turns, the vehicles mass resists the turn and carries the weight forward allowing the traction from the tires to create a lateral
centripetal force as the vehicle continues through the turn. The conflict between the top weight of the SUV's desire to go straight while the friction of the tires on the
road cause the bottom of the vehicle to move away and out from under the vehicle during a turn.
Pickup truck and SUVs are more likely to be in rollover Car accident than
Automobile. Pickups have twice the fatality rate of cars and SUVs have nearly triple the fatality rate in rollover accidents.Of vehicles in the
US, light trucks (includes
SUVs) represent 36 percent of all registered vehicles. They are involved in about half of the fatal two-vehicle crashes with passenger cars, 80 percent of these fatalities are to occupants of the passenger cars.
Sustainable Management of
Wilderness has been the subject of
scientific study and government
legislation since the 1800s. Trails and off trail activities impact the vegetation leading to erosion and to invasion of non-native plant species that decreases the
environment's ability to maintain
homeostasis. ORVs cause greater stress to the environment that hiking alone. Some ORVs operators like to test themselves and their vehicles against natural obstacles and do significantly more damage then driving the established trail. Most operators stay on designated areas but some who do not cause severe damage. Illegal use of off-road vehicles (ORV) has been identified as a serious land management problem ranked with dumping
Waste and other forms of
vandalism.{{cite web ] some of the more active are Tread Lightly and Sierra Club. In 30 years the number of U.S. ORV users has climbed sevenfold- from five million in 1972 to 36 million in 2000. In 2002, the U.S. EPA adopted emissions standards for all-terrain vehicles that "When fully implemented in 2012...are expected to prevent the release of more than two million tons of air pollution each year -- the equivalent of removing the pollution from more than 32 million cars every year." {{cite web | title = Final Rule for Cleaner Large Industrial Spark-Ignition Engines, Recreational Marine Diesel Engines, and Recreational Vehicles | work = | publisher = US Environmental Protection Agency | date = March 6th, 2006 | url = http://www.epa.gov/otaq/cleanrec.htm | format = Web | doi = | accessdate = June 24, 2007 -->
See also
- Off road park
- Tread Lightly!
- Ramp travel index
References
in the Dunes of Erg Chebbi in Morocco. Note the high ground clearance due to
Portal gear axles
An
off-road vehicle is considered to be any type of
vehicle which is capable of driving on and off
paved or
gravel surface. It is generally characterized by having large tires with deep, open treads and a flexible suspension (vehicle), or even caterpillar tracks. Other vehicles that do not travel public streets or highways are generally termed off-highway vehicles, which would include tractors, forklifts, Crane (machine)s, backhoes, bulldozers and Golf carts.
Off-road vehicles have an enthusiastic following because of their many uses and versatility. Several types of motorsports involve racing off-road vehicles. The three largest "4 wheel vehicle" off-road types of competitions are Rally, Desert Racing, and Rockcrawling. The three largest types of
All Terrain Vehicle (
All-terrain vehicle) /
Motorcycle competitions are
Motocross,
Enduro, and also Desert Racing like Dakar Rallye and Baja 1000. The most common use of these vehicles is for
sight seeing in areas distant from Pavement (material). The use of higher clearance and higher traction vehicles enables access on
trails and
forest roads that have rough and low traction surfaces.
History
with Kégresse track
One of the first modified off-road vehicles was the
Kégresse track, a conversion undertaken first by Adolphe Kégresse, who designed the original while working for Tsar Nicholas II of Russia between 1906 and 1916 MiG-registeret. The system uses an unusual
caterpillar track which uses a flexible belt rather than interlocking metal segments. It can be fitted to a conventional car or truck to turn it into a
half-track, suitable for use over rough or soft ground. Conventional front wheels and steering are used.
After the Russian Revolution of 1917 Kégresse returned to his native
France where the system was used on
Citroën cars between 1921 and 1937 for off-road and
military vehicles. The Citroën company sponsored several overland expeditions with their vehicles crossing North Africa and Central Asia.
After World War II a huge surplus of light off-road vehicles like the
Jeep and heavier lorries were available on the market. The Jeeps in particular were popular with buyers who used them as utility vehicles. This was also the start of off-roading as a hobby. The wartime Jeeps soon wore out, though, and the Jeep company started to produce civilian derivatives, closely followed by similar vehicles from United Kingdom
Land Rover and
Japanese
Toyota and Mitsubishi. These were all alike; small, compact four wheel drives with at most a small hardtop to protect the occupants from the elements.
From the 1960s more comfortable vehicles, later called SUVs, were produced. First they were popular for many years with rural buyers due to their off-road and load-lugging capabilities. The U.S.
Jeep Wagoneer and the
Ford Bronco, the British
Range Rover and the station wagon-bodied Japanese Toyota Land Cruiser were early SUV examples, essentially a station wagon body on a light truck frame with four wheel drive drivetrain.
Technical
with wide rubber tracks
To be able to drive off the pavement, off-road vehicles need several characteristics: They need to have a low ground pressure, so not to sink in soft ground, they need
ground clearance to not get hung up on obstacles and they need to keep their wheels or tracks on the ground so as to not lose traction.
Wheeled vehicles accomplish this by having a suitable balance of large or additional tires and tall and flexible suspension.
Tracked vehicles accomplish this by having wide tracks and a flexible suspension on the road wheels.
The choice of wheels versus tracks are one of cost and suitability. A tracked drivetrain is more expensive and costly in terms of maintenance. Wheeled drivetrains are cheaper and give a higher top speed. For pure off-road capabilites the tracked drivetrain has the edge.
Most off-road vehicles are fitted with especially gear. This allows the operator to make the most of the engine's
power, while moving through challenging terrain slowly. A combustion engine coupled to a normal
gearbox often has a too high output speed to be usable. The vehicle often has one of two things; either a very low ("granny") first gear (like the all wheel drive Volkswagen Transporter versions) or an additional gearbox in-line with the first, called a reduction drive. Some vehicles, like the Bv206 in the picture on the right, also has a
torque converter to further reduce the gearing Pakistan Military Consortium.
Common off-road vehicles
Common commercial off-road vehicles include four wheel drive
pickup trucks like the Chevrolet Silverado,
Ford F-Series,
GMC Sierra, Toyota Hilux, Dodge Ram and similar. Also common are light trucks with station wagon-like bodies, which have been very popular since the 1980s. These include
Chevrolet K5 Blazer,
Dodge Ramcharger,
Ford Bronco, Jeep Cherokee (XJ),
International Harvester Scout,
Land Rover Defender, Land Rover Discovery and
Range Rover and Toyota's
Toyota Land Cruiser and Toyota 4Runner.
A number of military vehicles have also seen civilian use, including the Jeep CJ and
AM General Hummer. Some, like the early
Land Rovers, were adapted to military use from civilian specifications.
Specialised commonly available off-road vehicles include
All-terrain vehicles, or All Terrain Vehicles,
dirt bikes,
dune buggy,
rock crawling and
sandrails.
Image:Four wheeler.jpg] sceneImage:Rockcrawling.JPG|
Jeep Rubicon Rock Crawling.Image:Sandrail.JPG|Sandrail at Silver Lake Sand Dunes.
Commercial, military and less common off-road vehicles
European militaries and utilities have used
Land Rover Defenders, Haflingers,
Pinzgauer High Mobility All-Terrain Vehicles and Mercedes-Benz Unimogs for all-terrain transportation. Less common is the Portugal
UMM Alter.
The military market for off-road vehicles used to be large, but since the fall of the
Iron Curtain in the 1990s it has to some extent dried up. The U.S. Jeep, developed during
World War II, coined the word many people use for any type of light off-road vehicle. In the U.S., the Jeep's successor from the 1980s on was the AM General
HMMWV. The Eastern Bloc used the
GAZ-69 and
UAZ-469 in similar roles.Image:Mercedes Benz Unimog Turkey exhibition side.JPG] at
IDEF'07 Arms FairImage:Wojsko Polskie Irak DA-SD-05-12334.JPEG]
Tarpan Honker in IraqImage:Umm-alter-00.jpg]
Criticisms
Sport utility vehicle are built with higher
Ride height for Off-roading use and have a higher
Center of mass, therefore increasing the risk of rollover. Research has shown that whenever an SUV turns, the vehicles mass resists the turn and carries the weight forward allowing the traction from the tires to create a lateral
centripetal force as the vehicle continues through the turn. The conflict between the top weight of the SUV's desire to go straight while the friction of the
tires on the road cause the bottom of the vehicle to move away and out from under the vehicle during a turn.
Pickup truck and SUVs are more likely to be in rollover Car accident than
Automobile. Pickups have twice the fatality rate of cars and SUVs have nearly triple the fatality rate in rollover accidents.Of vehicles in the
US, light trucks (includes
SUVs) represent 36 percent of all registered vehicles. They are involved in about half of the fatal two-vehicle crashes with passenger cars, 80 percent of these fatalities are to occupants of the passenger cars.
Sustainable Management of
Wilderness has been the subject of scientific study and
government legislation since the 1800s. Trails and off trail activities impact the
vegetation leading to erosion and to invasion of non-native plant species that decreases the
environment's ability to maintain homeostasis. ORVs cause greater stress to the environment that hiking alone. Some ORVs operators like to test themselves and their vehicles against natural obstacles and do significantly more damage then driving the established
trail. Most operators stay on designated areas but some who do not cause severe damage. Illegal use of off-road vehicles (ORV) has been identified as a serious
land management problem ranked with dumping Waste and other forms of vandalism.{{cite web ] some of the more active are
Tread Lightly and Sierra Club. In 30 years the number of U.S. ORV users has climbed sevenfold- from five million in 1972 to 36 million in 2000. In 2002, the U.S.
EPA adopted emissions standards for all-terrain vehicles that "When fully implemented in 2012...are expected to prevent the release of more than two million tons of air pollution each year -- the equivalent of removing the pollution from more than 32 million cars every year." {{cite web | title = Final Rule for Cleaner Large Industrial Spark-Ignition Engines, Recreational Marine Diesel Engines, and Recreational Vehicles | work = | publisher = US Environmental Protection Agency | date = March 6th, 2006 | url = http://www.epa.gov/otaq/cleanrec.htm | format = Web | doi = | accessdate = June 24, 2007 -->
See also
References
