Good topic, but I think the scope needs to be defined. 'Grow this sport (UTV)' is VERY broad. Are we trying to address the hunting market? Mud? Pure utility? Plus there is an amazing number of customers who justify a UTV for work, yet want to play with it several times a year. Or are we just talking pure recreation UTVs?
1st: to point at the 'manufacturers' and imply that they are not doing enough on the political and land use fronts is comical. I know first hand of the millions that are spent doing these exact things. From supporting ROHVA, ORBA, Blue Ribbon Coalition, the ASA, to working with state and local governments to keep land open. Keep in mind that 'everybody' seems to have their hand out and the OEM's have to choose their battles very carefully where they will have the most impact. Yamaha has their 'trails' program and Polaris has their 'grant and aide' program to support opening and maintaining trails and riding areas. And don't forget that there are legal issues with an OEM supporting a PAC. But the employees of a certain large UTV manufacturer are actually writing personal checks our of their own pockets to support PACS in Washington that in turn support our cause(s). This isn't reimbursed by their employer and if it is an individual contribution it is completely legal. That is going pretty far to support the sport. So I honestly believe that the OEM's are supporting the sport on many levels, but they can't do it all. Where I am disappointed is that the dealers and the aftermarket companies don't do more collectively. Don't get me wrong, some are very active local issues, clubs and land use, but the majority do nothing. Finally, we riders need to be careful who we are pointing fingers at. You have to ask yourselves, how many letters have you written in the last year to your congressman? How many checks have you written in the last year supporting the ASA, Blue Ribbon, etc? How many trash bags of litter have you hauled out of Glamis, Dumont, etc that some goon left? If you have done all of these things then I commend you. If not, just remember, when you point your finger there are three fingers pointing back at you!
2nd: As Joey and Rusty have previously stated, there ARE lower cost UTV alternatives to a XP1000 and there should be. And quite honestly there are a lot of people that don't have the skills to drive a 107 hp UTV, just like they probably shouldn't ride a GSXR 1000 that has 180 hp. They should get a RZR S or a Comm 800. Lower priced, yet still fun and it will allow them to work up to the faster models over time as their skills get better. I have personally witnessed how the 'horsepower war' or displacement war hurt the snowmobile market, the PWC market and the ATV market. For example in the mid-90's you could get two PWC's and a trailer for $12k-$14k. They would go mid-40 mph and were a lot of fun. But top speed, horsepower and the four stroke thing came into play and now, to get two PWC's and a trailer would cost $28k-$35k. Their are similiar examples for rec/ute 4wd ATV's and for snowmobiles. The OEM's have tried to reintroduce a broad line or entry level models but if nobody buys them, they stop offering them. But if the OEMs stop offering lower priced units (because nobody buys them) what happens is that the only lower priced units that are available in the market are 'used' high horsepower units. And these will scare off a lot of people thus hurting the growth of the sport. But I do give credit to Polaris for coming out with the lower priced RZR 570 and Ranger 500 and also to Sea Doo for coming out with the new Spark PWC for $4999. We as riders need to encourage new riders to get into the sport first with whatever they can or want to afford.
3rd: Growing the recreation side of the sport. Personally I think that it is already growing at an amazing rate. If you take a 10 year period and looked at the number of UTV's recreating at Coos Bay, Moon Rocks, Sand Mountain, Lucerne Valley, Pismo, Moab, Dumont, Glamis, Ocotillo, etc you would be amazed at the growth. This sport and industry are in it's infancy and will continue to grow. We do need to keep our public lands open by being active and I think for the most part we have done a decent job over the last several years despite an administration that is not friendly to our cause. For example we have opened up more land at Glamis and saved the majority of Johnson Valley from military take over. But there are continuous threats. We also need to encourage the OEMs to not only offer top of the line high zoot models, but also to continue to offer smaller and more affordable UTV's. I love racing as much (or more) than the next guy but this is a pretty small part of the market. Where the growth will happen is with trail, desert and dune riders. But the biggest question I get, is 'where do I ride?' I think there should be section on UTVUG with rides spots, GPS exchange, UTV-only Geo cache, group rides, etc. Their are a lot of places to ride, but people need to know about them. I think Joey's idea of informal rides and ride leader is a great and it would work all over the country. Locally, there are a lot of fun 1 day, 2 day and 3 day rides. Slash X, Landers, Randsburg, Cal City, Barstow to Vegas, etc. People could lead these rides, or they could down load the GPS route from UTVUG and do it themselves. The website Advriders.com does a good job with this. There is also a free app offered for Android and I-phone called ORV trails offered by Polaris.
My 2 pesos. Sorry for the long post, but I am bullish on the future of the sport!
