The Blacks Enjoy Their Polaris RZR

| February 3, 2011

Steve Black's RZRs

By Steve Black, Polaris RZR Owner
I started riding motorcycles in the Anza Borrego Desert as a teenager and then of course there is never any time to ride as an adult.

About eight years ago my wife and I were invited to camp in the desert with a group of friends. We loaded up our trailer and had a great time. I told my wife we were missing the weee! factor of off road toys.

We bought a CanAM 650 2 up quad and started exploring the desert. We bought maps and a GPS. Then slowly our group started thinning out. Soon we were riding alone.

California City Desert Trip

Our jobs allow us to ride most weekends, holidays and 3 weeks winter vacation. Cal City is our favorite riding area but we have also camped and explored Jaw Bone, Dove Springs, and out to the desert borders.

After riding over 6000 trouble free miles, getting hit buy a motorcycle, my wife receiving a broken arm and we are starting to get fatigued from age. So we decided to sell the quad to a friend and ordered a 2009 RZRs.

We had the dealer add a factory roof, front bumper, glove box and rock sliders.

Now we needed more light. H.I.D. s in the stock headlight position, a pair of halogens on the front bumper, red safety light bar in the back, strobe hazard lights, some ground effect and led roof lights for fun.

Freak Winter Storm

For safety I replaced the stock 3 point seat belts with a set of Crow five point racing harnesses and added a fire extinguisher.
A loud electronic horn / siren.
A GPS, camera, cell phone, and maps are kept in the glove box.

Brought some Bling to personalize our ride. Steering wheel, aluminum bed rails, switch panel and threshold covers.

Next I put together a complete tool set, spare drive belt, replacement parts, air compressor and a tire repair kit that fits under the hood.

Reading through the RZR forums made me aware of a few potential trouble spots. I went through the intake system and replaced the stock air filter with an AFE synthetic kit. Next I went over every moving part, re-lubing and torquing to spec. The front end was not aligned right from the dealer and is and easy fix with a small adjustment.

The RZR is the most comfortable off rode toy i have ever rode in. Even after a long ride we are not fatigued.

Over the years some of the desert animals have become used to us camping. Many times foxes have ran around in front of our camp fire chasing after rodents. They don’t seem to mind us as long as we sit in our chairs. We watched a burrowing owl family over a few weekends as they took over an abandoned fox den to raise there young. The wet years really bring the the wildlife out.

We love the desert and all the opportunities to explore and just have fun.