Whether you call it an ATV or a quad, the end result is the same machine. Basically, it's a motorcycle with four wheels, a shrunken side-by-side, or a jet ski/snowmobile with wheels. A personal riding device that's ready to be the canvas of your dreams, as there's more aftermarket support for these vehicles than some Honda models. And one of the big trends within the industry is making them taller and bigger, mostly to go do stupid-fun things in muddy conditions.
All throughout the South and the East, mudding with heavily modified ATVs is how folks get down. Big lifts, big tires, big snorkels, and big parts lists make it so that you can take what started as a utilitarian farm or woods vehicle and turn it into a mud-flinging maniac. Builds can easily reach toward the sky in terms of cost, though with the right eye, and a spend-thrift attitude, you don't have to sell a kidney to pay for it all.
But what happens when you bring the biggest ATV in the world into the conversation? What happens when you want to pit this Russian behemoth against something from across the seas in the land of the free, home of the brave? What happens when you want to take it to the Ruskis with your own build? How do you compete with all that mass? Easy, you call in the lunatics known as the Cboys.
The start is a Can-Am Outlander that the YouTubers picked up for a cool $6,000 with the goal of competing against the Russian-made Sokol ATV. But the whole idea for the video is a simple one: Build something that's better, cheaper, and more mega than the Sokol mega quad that they picked up for a whopping $40,000. And the Outlander ATV is a pretty solid starting point, as it has one of the largest aftermarket catalogs of any ATV sold.
Included in the build are a set of 6-inch portal axles, along with a 6-inch lift kit, all in the name to accomodate a set of 44-inch wheels and tires. But think about that for a second, as without the bigger wheels and tires, you're already a full foot taller than the stock Outlander. Throw in the tires and you see where this is going.
I won't spoil whether or not they actually succeed, or how much they spent on building a mega Outlander, but this one is worth your lunch-time watch as you snarf your sandwich or poke bowl down and disasscoiate from the monatony of work. Have at it.
