Winter means cold temperatures, snowstorms, gray skies, and—if you’re not prepared—a whole lot of letting your side-by-side sit in the garage while you’re inside doing nothing. What a waste!
Riding in the winter is a whole different experience from riding in any other season. Just a light coating of snow can make even the most familiar trails feel new again. Don’t let the cold months slip by without giving winter adventures a try.
Whether you’re tackling the trail or just clearing the driveway, we’ve gathered all the info you need on the best accessories and upgrades for your UTV to prepare for winter. We also discussed personal safety with XMARGH’s Shawn Larabee, a snow-riding expert. With just a little prep for you and your rig, you can keep riding even on the coldest days of the year!
Get Protection with Windshields, Roofs, and Doors
What If I Don’t Want to Ride This Winter?
We’re starting with the basics here—get a winch! You should have one all year round, and you should never go riding without one. That’s doubly true in the winter when everybody (including you, maybe!) starts sliding into ditches and getting stuck.
Speaking of good winches, SuperATV’s Black Ops Winches can’t be beat. We’ve got 2500, 3500, 4500, 6000, and 12,000 lb. winches to meet whatever demand you have. They’re compact and powerful, with motors ranging from 1 HP to 6 HP.
They also use synthetic rope because synthetic rope doesn’t wreck your hands, doesn’t weigh a ton, is super flexible, and can handle nasty winter weather better than steel cable.
Riding in winter will always suck if you’re not keeping warm. Flying down the road in 20° weather without something to stop the wind is the number-one recommended way to get frostbite (the second is visiting your in-laws, in case you were wondering).
So how do you stop the cold from killing your coziness? You get a cab enclosure! Get front and rear windshields, full cab doors, and a roof to ride in comfort and keep the cold out.
We’ve got you covered with a selection of cab enclosure components for all the most popular UTV models.
Now that your cab keeps out the cold, it’s time to bring in the heat! Get a cab heater for your machine to divert that engine heat where it helps most—your body.
Staying warm isn’t the only reason you should get a heater—they double as a windshield defroster! Imagine riding without a heater. You won’t be able to ride for long with snow blocking your view.
A cab heater makes a world of difference, but let’s clear up a misconception. They don’t generate heat. Instead, they pull the heat from your coolant lines and blow it into your cab, just like your car heater.
However, UTVs lose their engine heat more quickly, so simply turning one on and letting it idle doesn’t generate enough heat to warm up your cab. Cab heaters work best when you’re actually driving around and keeping your engine warm.
Maybe best of all, you won’t have to spend a fortune on our heater. That means you’ll have some money left over for some doors and windows—or at least a pair of long underwear.
If this sounds like something you need (and trust us, you do), here are some SuperATV cab heaters that might suit your fancy.
This one’s obvious, right? If you live where it snows enough to make getting out of your neighborhood dangerous, or you live far enough in the country that it takes two days for your road to get plowed, then you need a snow plow. When SuperATV’s parking lot gets covered, you better believe we’ve got a couple of Rangers out there clearing it first thing in the morning.
Grab one of our Plow Pro Snow Plows. They’re designed with a mount you can leave on year round and a quick connect for the plow blade. All you need is a winch to operate.
Don’t forget to equip your body for a winter ride! We chatted with Ontario native Shawn Larabee, creator of the excellent YouTube channel XMARGH, to give us the low-down on how to survive brutal winter conditions.
Shawn lives where winter temps in January and February can hit -50°C with wind chill. He rides through it and still has all his fingers and toes. So when it comes to keeping frostbite at bay, you should pay attention to his winter weather safety advice.
“For clothing and safety, we generally wear a full snowsuit along with well-insulated boots and gloves.”
We’re not talking “good enough” insulation. You really need to go with the good stuff. All parts of your apparel need to be thick and waterproof. And don’t forget to have a nice thermal undershirt and underwear to keep heat close to the body.
Don’t yell, “going for a ride! See you later” to your family as you’re driving off with your UTV in tow either.
Instead, leave a detailed plan of where you’ll be and when. Have them monitor the weather and stay in touch if you can. If you’re stranded or stuck, the folks at home will save you from spending the night out in the cold.
There’s more to winter riding than just snow! Even the hottest sand dunes cool off come winter, giving you some relief from soaring temperatures and the sun’s beating rays. If you’re not in the mood to deal with snow and ice, consider making a trip to the nearest dune park. The cooler weather will allow you to rock crawl and desert race to your heart’s content without even breaking a sweat.
Whether you’ll be taking on snow drifts or sand dunes, SuperATV has everything you need to get your rig trail ready!
