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Garrett Rang
English IV
Mrs. Froiland
11 October 2010
Recreational Vehicles
Have you ever wondered what they use for emergency rescue in the far north where
plowed roads rarely exist? How they get to those people who get stranded in the wilderness?
Well they use one form of a recreational vehicle, the snowmobile. They also have used modified
versions of ATVs to reach people in these emergency situations. Recreational vehicles are used
everyday somewhere; examples of these are snowmobiles, ATVs, and motorcycles.
First some snowmobile history, uses, and the economic effect they have. Many thought of
building a power-driven sled, especially when heavy snowfalls often meant the difference
between life and death when attempting to transport an ill person to emergency care. The first
recorded attempt of a mechanized snowmobile was at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
It consisted of different types of tracks, mounted with skis, with an engine for the power source.
In 1935 a vehicle was developed with skis in the front and a sprocket and track drive
system on the back. The sprocket drive system consisted of two or four sprockets on a drive
shaft, that was driven by a chain from a jackshaft, a shaft that runs across the machine, that was
drive with a belt and two syntrifical clutches, one being the drive clutch coming out of the engine
and the other the driven, attached to the jackshaft. One is syntrifical in the fact that there are
weights inside the clutch that force it closer together as the engine speed increases. This then
makes the belt pull together forcing the driven clutch to expand letting the belt further down into
clutch, changing the drive ratio, making the sled move faster or slower based on engine speed. It
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was designed to transport doctors and medical professionals to remote locations as well as bring
back medical patients. It could carry a maximum of 12 passengers. A version very similar to this
one was produced and found a home in the logging industry.
The single and two passenger snowmobiles we know today didn’t appear until the 50’s,
when smaller gasoline engines had been developed and made the small chassis snowmobiles
possible. A few years later there were many manufactures of these snow machines; most sold
new for a few hundred dollars, unlike today’s that sell for several thousand. Today’s
snowmobiles bear very little, if any resemblance to the first snow machine, and even ones built
in the 70’s are considered antiques.
Snowmobiling as a recreational activity started in Northern Minnesota where Polaris
Industries introduced the first modern version for sale to the public in 1955. The first Polaris
snowmobile was developed by David Johnson and Alan and Edgar Heteen. They were all
partners in a farm equipment business, but snowmobiles caught on so well they redirected their
efforts to building Polaris snowmobiles. Ralph Plainsted of St. Paul made history when he and a
small group were the first to reach the North Pole on a mechanized vehicle.
Today more than four million people enjoy riding snowmobiles or “snowmobiling” every
winter. This has caused the winter tourism industry to climb in Canada and the Snowbelt of the
United States. The top five reasons people snowmobile are: scenery, friends, get away from life,
family, and be close to nature (ISMA). 94.5% of snowmobilers call it a family activity and most
snowmobile owners are married and have children (ISMA). Snowmobiling appeals to everyone,
most riders stay close to home and just go out for the day, other take the weekend off and travel
to locations to snowmobile.
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Snowmobile has generated over 90,000 full time jobs, these included manufacturing,
dealerships and tourism. The average age snowmobile is 43 and there average income is
$75,000. They ride 1402 miles per year and spend about $4,000 each year on snowmobile related
things. 80% of riding is done on trail; the other 20% is for transportation and ice fishing. There
are over 225,000 miles of groomed, marked trails in North America (ISMA).
Although it is primarily recreational, snowmobiling is used in remote portions of Canada
as the primary source of transportation; law enforcement uses them for search and rescue
missions. Some facts about snowmobiles are that there are four major manufactures left of the
dozens that were formed in the 50’s, these include: Arctic Cat, Polaris, Yamaha, and Ski-Doo.
Roughly 80% of snowmobiles sold worldwide are sold in the upper United States and Canada
(MNHS).
Snowmobilers spend over $28 billion each year. This includes: equipment, clothing,
accessories, and vacations costs such as hotels. Snowmobiling has revived the economies of
many small communities. State travel bureaus actively promote snowmobile tourism with
information guides, maps and toll free helps numbers (MNHS).
There are three thousand snowmobile clubs in the world. These clubs are non-profit and
function on volunteer work. They are formed in local communities as well as state associations.
These clubs take care of constructing, maintaining, mapping and land use negotiating (ISMA).
Although trail riding is the most popular form of riding, mountain riding off-trail is a fast
growing form of riding as well. With the added challenge there is added danger, it is
recommended that you have an avalanche safety course and have all the proper equipment in
case of an avalanche.
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All Terrain Vehicles, like snowmobiles, have a big role in search and rescue missions to
remote areas. Unlike snowmobiles, they can, with the right accessories, be used year around.
ATVs typically have four wheels; however, many different variations have been
produced having three, five and six wheels. The ATV was invented in Japan, primarily as a form
of farm-to-town transportation. During wet seasons the ATVs could be used to travel roads
normal vehicle could not access. Aside from there practical uses it didn’t take them long to
realize its recreational uses, and that Americans would buy them. When the ATV appeared in the
US in the early 70’s it was sold as a RV or Recreational Vehicle. The advertisements said it to
provide “thrills” to the rider, and this is still a major use for it. It did not take hunters long to
figure out that it was a great tool for accessing remote hunting regions and to transport dead
game out of area that cannot be accessed by motorized vehicles.
Now that you have some background, let us follow one manufacture through the
evolution of the ATV, and the manufacturer is Honda. Thirty years ago Honda built the first one,
the US 90, and it had one purpose, recreation. The ATV has gone down in history as the most
versatile, hard working, practical vehicle ever produced, specifically the Honda 300 Fourtrax
series. These lightweight, powerful, versatile, maintenance free machines single handedly went
down as the best ATV, bringing ATVs in general into the record books with them. Along with
their versatility and power, it had a light foot print that left wherever it drove almost untouched.
Necessity was the mother of the ATV, and Osamu Takeuchi was its father. Honda wanted
another product to sell when motorcycle sales dropped off during the winter months. Takeuchi
was assigned to the task of developing something. Takeuchi skipped the drawing board and went
directly to the shop with a head full of ideas and tons of parts. He tested two, three, four, five and
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six wheel versions, but three proved to be the best. Three wheels were the best for handling mud,
snow and other slippery conditions.
In the early stages, one of Honda’s dirt bikes gave up its 70cc engine, as well as parts of
the chassis to build the three wheel version. The tires to use became a sticking point, motorcycle
tires were not an option, and he didn’t come up with a design until he caught wind of an
American invention called the “Amphi-Cat” This rolled on a set of six balloon type tires and was
design for all terrain use. So he set out designing his own tire using the design from the “AmphiCat”. With the bigger tire design the 70cc dirt bike engine lacked the power needed to pull a full
sized rider through soft terrain. A 90cc engine with a dual range-four speed gearbox, offered the
flexibility needed to drive through mud or snow, and also move along the highway. Though
suspension is a necessity in an application like this, the big balloon tires absorbed the rough
terrain better by themselves.
Lots of tests revealed that the thumb throttle versus a normal dirt bike twist grip made
more sense. It allowed the rider to shift and maneuver their weight while keeping precise throttle
control. A rear differential was considered, but it was determined that a live axle performed
much better. With the big balloon tires the ATV actually was better than walking, because it left
less of a foot print then a human would, making it able to travel on more terrain and leave it
undisturbed. You could say it was ahead of its time, there are more applications in today’s
regulations for a vehicle that doesn’t disturb the environment then there was back then.
All this added up to be the first three-wheeler that was mass produced, it was the US 90
and sold for about $600. The US 90 was renamed later on to the ATC 90, which Honda had
trademarked. Three models of this were produced, the ATC 70 gave the same experience of the
90 to younger riders, and requests for power gave birth to the ATC110 in the late 70’s. The light
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tires proved to have their faults; they were very vulnerable to puncture from stubble in crop
fields. So a new tire was designed with hubs to make replacement more easily done.
Though mainly used as a recreational vehicle, farmers began seeing the ATC as
something to make day to day chores easier. Engineers went to the field to see how their product
was being used so they could adapt it more to the uses that people wanted to use it for. Entering
into the 80’s there were two places ATV were being used most, utility and racing. It was cheaper
to buy and use then a tractor for chores around the farm. In 1980, the ATC 185 was introduced as
a utility ATV, but again it was found to be used as much as a utility vehicle as a recreational
vehicle, because it satisfied both sides need to be bigger, better, and have more power.
The introduction of the ATC 250R in 81’ made everyone else aware the Honda was
serious about winning on three-wheels. The 250R was designed for a racing machine, it surprised
racing legend Mickey Thompson by passing him well pre-running in the Baja 1000 in 1980, and
by 81’ there was a three-wheeled class added to the Baja 1000. In 1984, two 250R’s placed first
and second, taking fifth place overall, and coming in behind two Honda dirt bikes.
Lastly, motorcycles and dirt bikes, motorcycles were designed from the “safety” bicycle,
or a bicycle with front and back tires of the same size and a pedal, chain mechanism to drive it,
or just a normal bicycle that you know today.
The first motorcycle was built in 1868, and was not powered by a gasoline engine, but by
a steam engine. It was built by Sylvester Howard Roper and he demonstrated his bike at fairs and
circuses, but it did not catch on. It did, however: include many features which even modern day
motorcycles still use, like the twist grip throttle. In 1902 the Triumph motorcycle manufacture
was formed and became the first manufacture build motorcycles that still exist today, Harley
Davidson being second forming in 1903, and Honda coming in third, forming in 1946. The
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motorcycle market came out just right, hitting the baby boomer generation. Servicemen
returning from WWII wanted to try them, and they did, in good number to. The major effect the
baby boomers had didn’t come until the 1960’s, and then sales took off like a rocket. The most
famous and successful motorcycle campaign was launched in 1962 by Honda and it was the
“You meet the nicest people on a Honda” campaign. The amount of registered motorcycles in the
US went from about 650,000 to 5 million in 10 years.
Another motorcycle manufacturer, Yamaha, dates its impact on the dirt bike scene back
to 1851 with the birth of Torakusu Yamaha, who founded Nippon Gakki Co. in 1888. Yamaha
bikes were not on his agenda though, the company produced musical instruments. After the
Second World War the current president, Gen-ichi Kawakami, decided to use the tooling and
production line from producing air plane propellers to make the forerunner of the Yamaha dirt
bikes produced today (Motocross 101).
The two companies separated and became Nippon Gakki Co. and Yamaha Motor Co.,
named, obviously, after it founder Torakusu Yamaha. The first motorcycle, the YA1, came off
the line in 1954. The company only moved forward from there, making new designs like the first
Autolube System. The Autolube System was a new way for two-strokes to mix fuel versus the
old way of mixing before pouring into the tank. Now you just added oil to the oil tank, and gas to
the gas tank, and the bike did the rest (Motocross 101).
The first dirt bike was the legendary DT1, this 250cc two-stroke was the first Yamaha
purpose built dirt bike, and it made a huge impact on the North American off road scene. They
continued to break ground with the introduction of the YZ250 in 75’; this was the first dirt bike
to feature a single shock rear end design. Yamaha dirt bikes came to the fore again in 98’, with
the YZ400F, at its release time it was the only serious mid capacity four stroke motocross bike
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on the market, and it set the benchmark for all other manufactures, and sent them on a game of
catch up (Motocross 101).
A manufacturer from closer to home, Harley-Davidson, was the second manufacturer on
the motorcycle scene and they were formed in 1903 by William Harley and the Davidson
brothers William and Walter. The result they came up with was very similar to any other
motorcycle at that time. A crude belt transferred power to the rear wheel from the engine that had
to be started by pedaling. Modern engineering techniques had not yet been developed so each
part of the 10.2 CI (cubic inch) engine was handmade. It had a vacuum overhead intake valve,
and a mechanical side-exit exhaust valve. This little engine managed to churn out a whopping
two horsepower and managed to propel the machine at a brisk walking pace (Pg 6).
Now it doesn’t seem possible that a form of transportation like this could be sold, but as
they say if you build it, they will come. A second machine was built later on that same year and
it formed the early prototypes that lead to the modern motorcycle. Production for the following
year total two and they thought they were in business. The year after that, sales quadrupled and
they sold eight units in 1905. They decided to double there factory size, to 300 square feet, which
is equivalent to a typical sized family room. They added a second color option, instead of the
standard black customers could now get “Renault Grey” and each were dressed with hand
painted stripes. Output then rose to fifty (Pg 7).
By now many motorcycle manufactures were dotting the country, but Harley-Davidson
was quickly earning a reputation for quiet, reliable machines. They were now ready to take a
monumental step. Now that motorcycles had been proven as a form of transportation, the
demand for more speed grew, and they introduced the legendary V-twin, a modern form of
which is still used by nearly every manufacturer around the world. Introduced at a show in 1907,
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the first version was not a completely successful design, still relying on the vacuum valves, and
the belt drive not being able to transfer the power efficiently. Lasting only a one year production
run, the engine returned in 1911 with mechanical IOE valves or Intake-over-Exhaust and a belt
tensioning system to get the power to the wheels (Pg 7).
With technology advancing at a rapid rate drastic changes were being made each year,
with the addition of a clutch in 1912. Then, adding a chain drive system in 1913, a two speed hub
in 1914, and a proper 3 speed sliding gear transmission in 1915. A single and V-twin were both
available, the twin not as popular at first but phased out the single rather quickly. By 1921 the
engine had grown to 74 CI and was famed as the “seventy-fours”. In 1926 a 21 CI single was
reintroduced and was available with either a flat head or OHV (over-head valves). These were
more successful on the race track then on the highway and quickly became known as
“Peashooters” because of the exhaust sound (Pg 7).
Strange as it would be the flathead, the crudest of the four-strokes, proved to be the most
popular due to their serviceability which was way more popular then than today. Harley decided
to introduce it to their V-twins and it was an instant success, proving to last more than four
decades and would permanently replace the IOE design (Pg 7).
The name of a small town nestled in the hills of the Black Hills of South Dakota has had
it name partnered with motorcycling and this town his Sturgis, host of the world’s largest
motorcycle rally (Pg 2). In the 1930’s motorcycles were fairly common in the Northern Black
Hills, and the trip to Rapid City for the nearest Harley dealership became tedious and the need
for a lock shop arose. Two men recognized this need and Clearance “Pappy” Hoel, contacted
Harley in Milwaukee to try and get a dealership. At the same time Roger Satterlee had purchased
an Indian Scout and was contemplating a dealership, when Hoel received a letter denying him
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the Harley dealership. So he then contacted Indian Company and was granted a dealership. In
1936 the local boy, in a post-depression era, decided to form a club and Hoel was able to
establish a business leaving Satterlee as just a club member. The boys immediately rallied
around him ordering new bikes, parts accessories, and service. The group was officially
chartered in 1936 as the “Jackpine Gypsies Motorcycle Club” (Pg 17).
This group held field activities and events that included races, the first of which was held
on August 1, 1937. The word first got out in early July of the events to be held, the Sturgis
Tribune had a front page article advertising the events of tricks, stunts, and races that were sure
to incur a few accidents and that was sure to attract a crowd. The Jackpine Gypsies and several
other local clubs from Rapid City and the area joined in the events. With the success of the 1937
even, they could not wait to begin planning the 1938 festivities. August 12-14 or the second
weekend in August was set as the next date, and is still recognized today as the official rally even
though Sturgis now spans over nearly three weeks of August (Pg 18-21).
Snowmobiles and ATVs have found a niche in the search and rescue industry, as well as
farming, ranching, and general utility use. They are even used by landowners to reach remote
cabin locations. Motorcycles stand right along beside them in the racing and recreation
industries. These forms of transportation are used everyday somewhere either saving a life or
cruising down the highway. We all like to have fun and this is just one of the many ways to do it.
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Annotated Works Cited
Bellis, Mary, “History of the Motorcycle.” (2010): n. page. Web. 6 October 2010.
I hoped this source would have more detailed information about the motorcycle instead it had a
more general history, a quick description of where it came from how it was built. The brief
history and generalness of the story helped make a great lead in to the rest of the topic. I didn’t
use everything I expected to but most of it.
Edeburn, Carl. Sturgis: The Story of the Rally. Brookings: Dimensions Press. 2003. Print.
I was expecting this source to have information on the Sturgis Rally. This source had excellent
information on the rally and its history. It had everything I was expecting and I used all the
information I was planning on.
“International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association.” n. d.: n. page Web. 20 September 2010. (ISMA)
This was an excellent source for information on the history of the snowmobile, as well as great
information about the economic effect it has, and also the uses of the snowmobile. This source
had tons of information about everything I wanted to know about snowmobiles. This was by far
the best source I have ever found for writing a research paper.
“Minnesota Historical Society.” (2010): n. page. Web. 20 September 2010. (MNHS)
<http://www.mnhs.org/library/tips/history_topics/11snowmobiles.html>.
This site was a good source for the history of the snowmobile it did not go into great detail but it
covered the basic’s. The basic information this source had helped me from my attention getter
as well as lead in to the snowmobile topic. They had good information about snowmobiles and
one of their great accomplishments.
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Mitchel, Doug. Harley-Davidson: An American Classic. Lincolnwood: Publications International, Ltd.
1996. Print.
I was expecting this source to have information on the origin of the Harley Davidson motorcycle.
This was an outstanding source for the origin of the Harley-Davidson Motor Company. I used
detailed technical information all the way to basic history of the founders from this source.
Tank, Jeffry L.H., “History of Motorcycles Part 1.” (2008): n. page. Web. 6 October 2010.
This source had excellent, detailed information on the history of the motorcycle, as well
information on more modern and uses of the motorcycle. I used information on the first
motorcycle and how a Bicycle became the motorcycle. This was a good source and had good
information
“The History and Future of Motorcycles and motorcycling.” n. d.: n. page. Web. 6 October 2010.
This source had excellent information on the history of motorcycles and the future, as well as
lots of information on the uses of motorcycles. I used information about the first motorcycle and
the history of the companies from this source. I used everything I expect from this source from
information about the design of the first bicycle to the first motorcycle.
“Yamaha Dirt Bikes.” (2010): n. page. Web. 10 November 2010. (Motocross 101)
<http://www.motocross-racing-tips.com/yamaha_dirt_bikes.html>.
This source had excellent information on the history of the Yamaha Motor Company. The
information I gathered from this source was used to explain the history of the Yamaha motor
company and where its product originated from. They were a great source and I used
everything I expected to.