2018 Sand Sports Super Show

Jace Croshaw, the Event Director for Nikola was excited to display an off-road vehicle like nothing before. Jace walked us through the main points, “Our vehicles are all 100% electric. Our new off-road style vehicle is not your standard ATV or UTV. It will come equipped with a 125-kilo watt battery pack that is good for an average of 120-150 miles. 722 pounds of torque. 590 horsepower.” The Nikola NZT boasts instant torque with almost no noise! Although the batteries are heavy, causing the machine to sit at around 5,000 pounds, they are located low on the machine making it difficult to roll-over.

Jace explained that, “the maximum speed is 120 miles per hour but it comes limited to 80mph from the factory”. With no belt the machine moves thanks to four motors, one on each axle driving each wheel individually. Yes, you read that correctly, each wheel has its very own electric motor driving it. This allows you to choose from front wheel drive, rear wheel drive, four-wheel drive and if you wreck a tire on a ride you can get back to basecamp on three wheels! The Nikola NZT features 13-18” of travel on all four tires thanks to the 3.0 Podium internal bypass shocks from Fox. They come equipped with 7 compression stages and 4 rebound stages along with bottom-out control. Nikola has set the official Production Launch date for April 2019 and they plan on delivering vehicles by the end of 2019 or early 2020.

Nikola also hosted ride-alongs all weekend for fans looking to check out the all-new, not-yet-released, Nikola NZT prototype.Erik Tallo from Sacramento, California went to the show specifically to see the Nikola NZT, “I am a huge fan of Nikola. I think it is super cool that they are going electric on these UTVs.” Erik was one of hundreds who test drove the Nikola at the Sand Sport Super Show over the weekend. Nicole Furnish from Arizona said she’d been coming to the show since she was 14 and thought the Nikola was good but she liked her Turbo RZR more. The Nikola NZT had another fan, Mitchell Haack from Bellflower, California. Mitchell has been coming to the Sand Sports Super Show for a very long time. To get the idea of just how long, he told us he has an old-school sand buggy that was built in 1965. He is still using that same buggy to this day. He’s a diehard and won’t even think about switching to a UTV, however, he did say the Nikola was impressive.

While there was plenty of new machines to see, there was also plenty of new products on display as well, and Mike Jaynes from AIM Sports talked us through their new CV Belt Temp Gauges that monitor your belt temps with a two-stage alarm system, “The alarm system gives you the option to select the trigger temperatures and gives you a color display that turns yellow, or you can set an alarm and it will turn red. It also has an LED you can set to flash. It monitors battery voltage as well and has the same alarm options. It shows the last 54 minutes so you can monitor the history of the belt temperatures. It can also recall the last 25 starts and shows you how long the test was and the highest temperature reached.”

Another new product on the market is a brand-new aluminum trailer that folds in half like a ping-pong table. The tongue also folds down for even more space saving abilities! Marcelo Danze from Assault Industries explains the reasoning behind the trailers “the guys that don’t have a lot of room to store trailers on their yards can now roll these into the garage or back corner.” These American Made trailers are going to cost around $3,500-$5,000 with a 12ft option and 14ft option. Marcelo tells us that the coolest features will be the accessories that they are making, “the floor boards are aluminum and they are all sectioned off where you can remove and replace them with different accessories.” Some of these sections include in-floor storage bins, ice chest, spare tire racks, gas tank and more! Marcelo said they are also looking at coming out with enclosed trailers and a quick release system instead of the standard nut and bolt.

Another product hitting the market that makes our lives a little easier if the new intercom sytem from Rugged Radios. You might be asking yourself what is so special about another intercom system? Well, Greg Cottrell from Rugged Radios had the answers. The new RRP696 Bluetooth Intercom System offers you wireless music streaming, control over your cell phone and the ability to chat with 2 to 8 people through the intercom! Once connected you can put your phone safely away and not have to touch it again! The intercom system comes with a play/pause button, volume control and the ability to scroll through your music. When a call comes through a simple button click links you to your caller. For ultimate performance in high noise environments, the RRP696 also includes Voice Operated Control (VOX). This feature allows adjusting microphone sensitivity to cut out loud background noises. VOX will also lower the music volume when someone begins talking and resume once the conversation has ended.

Bell Helmets shows off their new Qualifier DLX and Qualifier Forced Air Helmets during the weekends events. The differences are pretty distinct between the two models. Danny Chumman from Bell Helmets explained that the DLX comes with a transition lens and an extra couple of vents along with an upgraded interior system while the Standard Qualifier has a bit of a downgraded interior and doesn’t include the brow vent. Another helmet from Bell that hits the market this November is The Eliminator. Danny explains that, “Some people like air vents on the top while others like them on the sides. This is a side vent helmet.”

This year’s Sand Sports Super Show showcased all the latest Sand Rails, UTVs, ATVs, Side x Sides, accessories, apparel and more! Cole Seely from Team Honda Motorcycles & ATVs was on site signing autographs while 4 Wheel Parts was handing out FREE BEER! There was also the opportunity to meet legendary Ivan “Ironman” Stewart! We can’t forget all custom builds by the likes of Monster Energy and Can-Am, Madigan Maverick, TMW OFFROAD and Assault UTV just to name a few.