a blog about my adventures with my Polaris RzR, pictures,videos and articles
Category: Destination Spotlights
Destination Spotlight are detailed articles on SxS destinations that I have actually been to. Location and detailed information that will help you should you decide to visit one of these awesome destinations to ride. Includes: Lodging (Hotels,Motels,Campgrounds,Boondocking Sites, Restaurants,Grocery Stores,Gas Stations, Medical Facilities…. etc.
I have had my fare share of (on and off) trail problems with my SxS’s. Over the years i have broken almost everything you can think of that can be broken 0n a Polaris Razor. Diffs.,Axels,A-arms,Trailing Arm,Steering Componets,Shocks,Cracked Frame…etc. I have blown two motors and dealt with ghost electrical problems to include ECU issues. I have been in one trail head on crash and have rolled 2 of the 4 Polaris razors I’ve owned.
After all of that …. and a whole lot of money later …. I can tell you that the best machine out of the four …. the most reliable and the one that I trust the most …. is the one that I have basically kept completely stock, and this machine is our current machine…. The Side Chick.
I truly believe that the Polaris engineers know what they’re doing. Obviously…if you’re going to beat the piss out of a machine…you’re going to have problems…I know…. I did it.
As soon as I started modifying and upgrading things I started having problems. Machine started becoming unreliable and a couple of times left me stranded (which is a whole other problem).
I’m not saying you shouldn’t upgrade or modify…. I’m just saying (for me) these machines are tough right out of the box. It took 3 RzR’s and a boat load of money to figure this out.
The 2021 Polaris RZR XP Turbo blew my mind with a huge “BUCKET LOAD” of capability and its affordability!
The 2021 Polaris RZR XP Turbo doesn’t have a lot of options (pretty plain Jane)…. which is what I wanted. I like adding my own.
She has tons of get up and go, but is just a 64-inch track width, which means I can put all that power to work even in some of our narrow trails.
The 2021 Polaris RZR XP Turbo is the high-performance version of the XP 1000, and has almost 60 more horsepower and has bigger brakes to compensate. At 168 horsepower, the XP Turbo could embarrass a lot of cars.
She has Walker Evans Needle shocks that do fine….but I will probably at some point… replace them.
Coming from the XP 900 platform… the XP Turbo 1000 feels like a zooked up Cadillac. Its way more roomy and is a dream to drive. Adding the soft upper doors and being super creative with sealing up holes…we get about 95% less dust and dirt in the cab. A realistic climate controlled interior cab. And the co-pilot loves it….which is a major bonus!
The only upgrades for performance I’ve done is a Aftermarket Assassins clutch kit to handle the 32″ tall tires. With just over 1000 miles the Side Chick still will reach speeds of 75 to 80 mph in a hurry, the turbo just launches …. and routinely scares me. I haven’t ever been over 80 mph…but I can tell you there was still plenty of skinny pedal to go.
MY VERDICT:
Best money I’ve spent of the 4 RzR’s I’ve owned. This unit just seriously blows my mind…..the power can get you in trouble very quickly…. but that same power can get you out of tricky situations as well. The wife loves the in cab room and loves its stance with the 32’s. She is still getting used to the power the turbo kicks out and she is easily startled when I get on it suddenly.
But ….. I’m not going to lie to you, I will probably not ever buy another Polaris product. There recalls and and there shitty customer service has lost my brand support. If I sold the Side Chick I would most definitely buy a Kawasaki KRX.
So there you have it …. I love this RzR… And its a great product. It does all the things I want and need it to do at the right price.
Almost everyone understands that there’s a reason for etiquette guidelines and rules for good manners in our society. Throughout our lives, people face behavior rules and the consequences of ignoring them.
Without proper etiquette, society would be a mess with free-for-all behaviors that would have rude people dominating those who care and infringing on everyone’s rights by having them taken away.
Bad trail behavior is no different…it makes all of us… including dirt bikers, atv riders, 4×4’s and all other forms of motorized trail vehicles look bad.
Our trails are in danger of being closed due to the irresponsible acts of a few. To stop this bullshit…it starts with YOU…it starts with some good ” Trail Etiquette” while out in the backcountry. Just a little common sense and common courtesy will go a long, long way in helping to protect our available trails for future motorized recreation.
We all know about “Stay The Trail” and “Tread Lightly”….. these organizations are at the forefront. What I’m talking about is behavior. My take on how to handle the Asshats misbehaving and trail raging out on the trail …. First ….”Stay Calm”. Trail Rage …is a real thing!!! Here are a few pointers on how I’ve dealt with these people….
The first step to avoiding becoming the victim of trail rage is to make sure you’re driving safely, calmly, and not provoking anyone else. Examples of aggressive trail driving include yelling at other drivers, excessive horn honking, trail tailgating, bad passing behavior, not yielding to other drivers and excessive trail speed…. In extreme cases, it can escalate into intentionally ramming other SxS’s or even a physical confrontation.
Trail rage is often a cycle (just like Road Rage) — one driver provokes another who responds aggressively until things escalate beyond reason. Even if another driver is doing something dangerous or inappropriate, do your best to calm your anger on the trail and avoid aggressive behaviors and rude gestures.
About 80% of my experience with trail rage drivers is they are usually in a hurry, so get out of their way without engaging. Once they pass, you can go back to driving normally.
If the angry driver won’t pass you but instead decides to trailgate you, avoid eye contact. Angry drivers may want to intimidate you or could be seeking out conflict. Ignoring them and focusing on the road can encourage them to move on.
If the driver insists on harassing you, contact the authorities to report the dangerous behavior if it’s safe to do so. Be vigilant and observe… just in case. take discreet pics and video if you can. Be prepared to provide any identifying information, including a description of the offending vehicle, its license plate number if it has one, as well as your location and direction of travel.
If the other driver follows you or engages in more aggressive behavior like invading your space, ramming you, or continued verbal harassment, don’t go back to your camp (if your camping). Instead, drive to a busy public site with witnesses … like a staging parking lot.
If the other driver is especially persistent, they may follow you to the public place you’ve stopped at. If they get out and approach you, don’t engage directly. Honk your horn repeatedly or do anything to get attention from witnesses.
I think that when some people get into the backcountry, they think it’s the Wild Wild West…. lawless! And they can just act however they want!
———————————— Disclaimer: The above article is just my opinion…I’m not a legal beagle or anything the like…. this is what I agree on from doing research about this topic, stories from other people’s experiences and my own trail rage experiences. I’m not saying don’t defend yourself or your loved ones or your property…what I’m saying is use some common sense…! The other thing I can say ….. in my experience most of these asshats know that most people take pictures and video out on the trail…. they don’t want to be a Star on your social media …. by exposing their behavior. This is how we police this problem ourselves. It starts with each and every one of us!
I personally have no problem exposing dumbass people out on the trail doing stupid stuff… most are uneducated, and I have had tremendous success just having a non-threatening conversation educating them. (When there isn’t a language barrier…I only speak English. Sometimes I have had good luck with someone interpreting). I have also had success stopping bad behavior by simply getting my phone out… video can be a huge deterrent. But like I said…use common sense.
For a quick day ride or to test …. this was my backyard trail.
Bunce School Road to Middle Saint Vrain to Coney Flats.
These 3 linked trails can be a short day trip. In and out … home before dark. I love these trails linked together because you have every type of terrain. Long speedy straight aways, rock crawling sections (mild to wild), scenic sections with plenty of spots for a lunch stop.
The caveat to link these three together is Camp Dick Campground…it has to be open to link Bunce School Rd trail to the other two trails by driving through Camp Dick. This is a little-known fact that only locals would know…… we tried to keep it a secret for a long time.
I will be honest with you…. I boycotted these three trails especially Bunce because the rental companies from surrounding areas had taken over the trail. But that’s not really where it started. It started way before this. It started back in about 2003. At least that’s when we old guys were younger, and I was a part of the same kind of fight for our right to use this trail. We even had a t-shirt that said screw Boulder County Ranger District and the Forest Service. It all started with Left Hand Canyon and that’s a totally different story for another blog and another time.
The inexperienced rental drivers made these trails very dangerous. Most of these companies didn’t care about anything but the money (so most of us thought). They didn’t teach their clients trail etiquette and pretty much just let them run amuck! The trails … especially Bunce … were filled with trash…. no pack in pack out being practiced at all. I was so discouraged and disgusted!
I was super angry. And to top it all off…the rental companies took over the parking lot… I was actually told by a rental company employee that I couldn’t park in it because he had customers coming. This is how bad it got up there. So, a bunch of us stopped riding there. Then I heard through the grapevine Bunce was going to be shut down and closed (I bet I’ve heard this same rumor for 13 years) and every time it was because of a single private property owner.
This private property owner, a fulltime resident up there and evidently, he had enough and was angry. I have had a conversation with someone (not sure if it was him?) more than once in the past and this gentleman hated us (this was 11 or 12 years ago). As far as I know these the trail sections never actually closed down.
The reason ….. because of one rental company owner Andy Hitch …. he understood what that meant not only to his business but also to the rest of the OHV community. For the next 9 or 10 years that man and his outfitter company (Backbone Adventures) did everything including kiss this property owner’s ass to keep him happy. The trail remained opened, and we all benefitted greatly. I encourage you to check out Backbone Adventures website and read this story…. what Andy and his Company did was amazing. Here is the link: https://www.backbonecycles.com/post/bunce-school-road-closed-to-atv-s-what-really-happened
Fast forward to 2023 …..Covid took its toll on all of our OHV trails (just like a bunch of us predicted) …. especially Bunce. The same landowner had his fill and had it out with the Forest Service and Boulder County in the legal arena. Not only did Backbone Adventures loose but the whole OHV community lost. Because it’s a very little-known fact that some of the trials up there are actually county roads and its illegal for unlicensed OHV”s (because Colorado doesn’t have a OHV license) to operate on them. Now it was official. No OHV”s signs were posted and are enforced.
My Son Chase, Bunce (the old playground area)
My first ever trail breakdown was on Bunce (the old playground 2002)
This was one of my favorite local riding spots. My son learned to ride up there… my first real purposely built offroad vehicle I built specifically for this trail. My first real four-wheeler ride was on this trail. My wife’s first ever trial ride was on this trail. So, as you can see this trail has been a part of my family and friends for a very long time, over twenty years. Our club …
The Big Thompson 4 Wheelers and The Wagon Masters Four Wheel Drive Club adopted this trail…we spent countless weekends cleaning and maintaining this trail. Both clubs had an enormous amount of recordable volunteer trail hours. I was the first person through the Trail Patrol Program (supported by the Colorado Association of Four-Wheel Drive Clubs and The Boulder County Ranger District) to patrol this trail.
I went to countless Boulder County Ranger District meetings and Seminars. Spent hours and hours with representatives in a fight to keep this trail open….. hell, we even built and donated a Jeep Cherokee to the Ranger District just so they could better access these trails. But just like back then as it is today….. there answer to everything has always been ” just close it”. It truly makes me sick!
Crossing the river
I want to thank Andy and his company for all their hard work. This thankless act for 10 years may have gone unnoticed and unappreciated back then but not today. Andy if you read this Andy, I applaud you and respect you… few would have done what you did. Please allow me to recognize you and your company.
And this story my friends is one of the reasons I started this blog ….. no sponsors…no bullshit…… I’m an average Joe OHV enthusiast talking about real things that hurt and help my passion for all things SxS. Will my Blog have an impact? Probably not! Most younger generations don’t give two shits about the rights there loosing until it’s too late. Besides …… I don’t have the fight in me anymore. I’m down to writing about it and sharing my experiences with you on this blog.
It starts right here….in our backyard…our very own SxS Mountain Experience…
Climbing steep grades through the woods, race down old logging roads, splash through streams, learn about some Colorado history, sneak a peak at some wildlife and take in a bird’s-eye view from the top of the mountain. The Colorado Mountain Experience in a SxS is the best way to explore sections of our Wilderness backyard that not many people have seen.
Our western states still have free public lands to go explore on. Not many public lands left back east…. its all private parks….pay to play.
The number of friends that I know who have never had the opportunity to explore on public lands just amazed me?
Its what I call true freedom. Its still the wild West out here…but for how long?
If there is one thing I’ve figured out in life…its gotta be….that everything changes. Some places that change is so slow you don’t see it or feel it…in others its immediate and painful.
We absolutely relish our time on the trails. The places we have gone and the things we have seen just blows me away…and the stories…..oh the stories…lots and lots of those….the memories we have created and saved in pictures and video.
As I’ve stated before… not many people our age….at least here locally….are that active…ok maybe thats the wrong description…how about adventurous!
I consider the “Side Chick” as a means to be adventurous…as a vehicle to get me places in relative comfort. Getting older dosent mean quit doing what you love…it means figuring out how to continue to do those things you love but maybe in a different way.
To this point: This is exactly the reason we like to ride Rally’s. We always have a ball meeting new people. And surprisingly… most of those we meet are our age.
We ride Colorado…..our home state. We also ride Wyoming, Uta and, South Dakota,
The “Side Chick” is my 2021 Polaris Razor XP 1000 Turbo. Nice nick name …I know, originally it was “side Bitch” but this offended someone over on the Facebook Blog …. so we changed it.
The “Side Chick” is a 925cc, 168 hp, Turbo Charged offroad trail Side by Side (UTV). She is fast, very offroad capable and super affordable. She is an absolute dream out on the trial. With all that power and torque, she can embarrass a lot of full size offroad vehicles out on the trail.
Coming from a smaller machine (the XP900 platform) the “Side Chick” feels like a super pimped out Cadilac. She is way roomier and more comfortable in the cockpit. She is wearing some 14″ bead lock wheels and 32″ Maxxis Carnivore tires. Her stance is aggressive and definitely intimidating …… but she’s a sweetheart.
So there you have it ……. we love this Razor …… She does all the things we want her to do and with style. She is sassy and loves to ride dirty. She takes on the trail with a direct and promiscuous manner and can routinely scare the crap out of me, she appears rebellious but always shows the aggressive naughtiness at the exact time she needs to and always looks great doing it.
There is nothing else on earth that gets me as stoked as trail riding my SxS. It gives me an indescribable sense of freedom. Owning and driving a SxS adds the ultimate mobility to my life, and I honestly feel like I couldn’t live without it. I’m obsessed with how it helps merge nature with movement. Spending time with family and friends consistently lends itself to creating some of my fondest memories. Each time I set out for a ride I have the choice of how far, how long and exactly where I go. It’s also been a bridge to making lifelong friends. The mobility this machine gave me was amazing. I love exploring and seeing what’s around the next corner or over that mountain. When I’m in the zone and navigating my way down the trail the world’s problems sometimes feel like they can wait. just living in that moment and then trying to relive that moment in my memories because it was so awesome. this my friends is why I’m all in!
This is my very first blog post and I’m not going to lie …… I’m nervous! But excited!
I started this blog because I wanted to share with others my incredible adventures here in Colorado with my Polaris Razor. I also wanted to give information and insight into the world of SxS’s (UTV’s) through reviews of Products, Destinations and SxS Events.
