GLACIUS

THE ONLY STUDDABLE WINTER TIRE FOR ATV/UTV

AVAILABLE IN 3 SIZES:

• 26x9-12

• 27x9-14

• 30x10-14

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AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL DEALER by the narrow St. Mary’s River, dividing countries between two separated sister cities both named Sault Saint Marie. (Thanks a lot to the war of 1812!)

If you get too far from the great lakes and you try to reference the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in any sort of conversation, you likely will be greeted with a confused look - as if such a strange sounding place even exists. But for those in the know, its nickname is derived from the “U.P” abbreviation for Upper Peninsula. It is simply “The Yoop” for us in Wisconsin, and local residents are called “Yooper’s”. In this article, when you hear “Yoop” or “Yoop-

For trip planning purposes, if you only rely on hard evidence such as club trail maps or GPS apps (such as the Polaris Ride Command ™), it seems like the opportunities might be somewhat underwhelming in compared to other popular ORV destinations. Sure, there are enough trails to get your miles on when you want a leisurely cruise, but you can’t properly conduct an extreme test of a lifted Polaris UTV, rolling on factory 30” tires, on justmaintained trails. That’s why the “Yoop” was the perfect location for us! The Yoop boasts a staggering 75% of its 16,000sq/ mi (40,000 sq/km) of total land that is open for public for recreation, and it’s loaded with all kinds of different opportunities for any possible outdoor adventure. For us, we wanted to get our new General into the deep mud, and “mudded” on the vast, multi-use off-road network of secret forest and logging roads that are open for travel, and rarely used by anyone. It’s not easy to find these places, and it’s certainly not advertised, but local “Yoopers” can help you.

If you are not familiar with these spots, the only option is to dig into other nonmainstream resources such as the local county and state land websites, or the US Forestry Service MVUM (Motor Vehicle Use Maps). These locate all the ‘cool’ areas and provide details on what type of vehicle you can legally drive on each.

Even these resources can sometimes be confusing though, as a lot of the best spots are specified as ‘roads’, but don’t be fooled with the nomenclature. In fact, when you set out on them, you would think that you are cross country riding somewhere that you shouldn’t be. Expect to find grass, mud, downed trees, washouts, water crossings and extremely narrow pathways that are cringeworthy when riding your brand-new, shiny machine, hearing the trees drag down the side. Long story short, this is the exact terrain that we were looking for, to perform our extreme test of the General T.L.E. We may have cheated a little here, as we hooked up with a few local guides Kyle Bartlett and Steven Chiapuzio out of the Ironwood, Michigan area to show us how the “Yoopers” do it right!

General-ly speaking

The General shares the same WER Velocity series shock package as the rest of the General XP lineup, making it very smooth and easy ride over all conditions. Our vehicle was set from the factory slightly soft, so after the first day, we elected to stiffen up the dual rate springs a bit to dial out vehicle roll. This didn’t have a detrimental effect on the ride quality over bumps, but it did give us more stability in the corners, and also bumped up the ride height while carrying two adult passengers. Paired with its 13.5-inches of ground clearance, we never bottomed out, and left the reservoir adjusters in the middle position for the majority of the time. Rolling on the four 30 x 10–15-inch Pro Armor Crawler XG tires was an absolute pleasure. Having four identical tires allows you to safely carry only one spare tire (which we were able to strap down on the Rhino rack). For long, challenging trips, these tires can be used on any position, rather than riding a long way home on a narrow front tire mounted on the rear, like many of us have been forced to do. Oddly enough, even though their sizes are identical, the front and rear tires have different tread patterns. The fronts feature a three-lug wider spaced design, and the rears have a tighter fourlug pattern. These tires performed great in every condition that we travelled through. Starting the adventure, they traveled smooth and quiet down the pavement, and carried on with their performance over downed trees, large steep washouts, rocky hill climbs, and of course, bottomless mud. We decided to ride it in 2WD for much of the day when we realized that this General doesn’t get stuck. Sadly, in our first two hundred miles of riding, we didn’t get to use the winch, but were entertained watching some of the other vehicles in our group use theirs!

The Ride Command system comes stock with a vast array of technology like front and rear cameras that you can view on the screen while navigating. The backup camera seems like an unnecessary luxury, but most all UTV’s are nearly impossible to see behind, so it really became a feature that we felt is worth every extra dollar. There are just too many options in the instrumentation on this machine to go into detail on everything. However, the GPS mapping and the glove-friendly touch screen were both things that any rider will enjoy.

Of course, no ride is complete without tunes, and this one is Bluetooth and smartphone connection ready We had plenty of AC/DC rocking punch coming out of the Rockford Fosgate stage 3 audio system, with amp and 4 speakers. The Yoop definitely had Thunderstruck reverberating through the pines! The system is extremely powerful, and using the accessory position on the ignition switch, it doesn’t force you to turn off the vehicle, then turn the key back on and re-start your playlist when stopping for a break on the trails. One negative thing we found about this system versus some of Polaris nonRide Command audio options, is its lack of a volume knob which was replaced by two up and down buttons next to the rest of the controls. On most Bluetooth devices, when streaming to a stereo system, you can use your phone’s audio buttons for a quick volume change, but for some reason, having our iPhone paired with this unit, we could not do that. This didn’t allow for any quick changes in volume, and changes were cumbersome and longer than desired, holding down the static buttons, and taking a while to go from our cruising volume to complete silence. A little thing that probably doesn’t run too high on most people’s priority list when deciding on a new vehicle is the steering wheel, but every one of our test riders commented on this during their time with the General. It’s certainly different than what you would find on most other UTV’s as it’s very narrow on the width, but significantly deeper on its depth. Polaris calls it a race inspired design, and after driving it, we now know why!

The wheel just straight up makes you feel like a you are in a race car. At first grip, it seems somewhat awkward and oblong, but after a few miles of getting used to it, the powerful grip and control it provides is just something that you want on every vehicle.

One comment that was repeated multiple times by our riders is that this General XP rides almost like a RZR… almost, but it’s not apples-to-apples as far as fast trail performance or dune jumping. There are a lot of little performance differences that the General lacks in comparison to the RZR, such as ten less horsepower, slightly less ground clearance and suspension travel, and the General is quite a bit heavier. But it makes up for these performance downfalls with its superior cockpit and other standard extras. The seats are some of the most comfortable in the industry with their more upright position, and the cab comes equipped with a full roof and standard, fully sealed half doors, so it is ready to withstand the elements. There are no annoying gaps that find a way for any bit of water or mud to get all over you and your passengers, even when riding slow. Bottom line, if you want to stay clean while riding you certainly can, which isn’t possible with many of the other mainstream UTV models. Standard General packages also have a big front bumper that sure comes in handy when needing to ram down things that might get in your way. Compare that with the mainly naked and exposed front end of the RZR. Plus, who doesn’t like a dump box with tons of storage capacity? In fact, this Troy Lee Edition came with almost every accessory that we would consider important; we only elected to install front and rear Polaris glass panels. These installed super quick and easy due to the awesome Lock and Ride design. For an all-day challenging off-trail adventure in pouring rain, like we had on this trip, the General was a much better fit than a RZR.

Customize with more, here’s our top four!

While this Troy Lee package came with almost all of the essential accessories right out of the box, if you have extra money in the budget, here are a few of our recommendations in order of our preference

#1 Front Windshield

You gotta have wind and rain protection, so a windshield is pretty much a mandatory purchase. We love the full glass OEM shield from Polaris. It’s only a few hundred bucks more than a poly windshield, but will last much longer and won’t get scratched up after the first ride. It also comes pre-configured for adding a wiper, either powered or manual. Both are very nice to have!

#2- Rear Windshield

Many new riders elect to skip the rear glass. But in most UTV’s, when running with only front glass, it will cause the dust to swirl back into the cab, so they always get one eventually. You can save a few bucks and get a lock-and-ride poly shield, as scratching on the rear isn’t as big of an issue. But again, for only $100 savings why not just go glass?

#3- Nerf Bars

If you ride a lot of rocky areas, this might be something to seriously consider. The cost of a set of Polaris Extreme Kick out Nerf Bars will be less than cracking the trim plastics over and over beneath the doors. The Polaris nerf bars extend just below the frame, so they don’t take away much ground clearance and give you something to bounce on. If you ride in tight trees, they will keep your doors and plastic protected from collisions.

#4- Bed Covers

Polaris doesn’t make too much in this department as an OEM accessory, but there are a few different aftermarket options. We suggest one that can fit over the Rino rack, and still allows you to fit coolers and other gear underneath. This keeps all your stuff clean and secured, with no rachet straps needed.

Truly limited model

So, what are you getting with the Troy Lee vs a standard General XP? First, you get a fully loaded Command Edition package, plus the custom Troy Lee Designs paint scheme, custom stitching on the seats, a pro Armor 6-inch LED light bar, and a Rhino Rack over the rear bed. So yea, every included standard option available in all the various General packages. With an estimated production of only 1000 total units, this is certainly a limited edition. But at the time of writing there were many of these still up for grabs on dealer’s floors. Some may claim this is due to a somewhat higher price tag, but considering what you get, your all-in cost with the added essential accessories won’t be much different than any other comparable vehicle. e all know someone who just loves their mini-van, maybe it’s even you! These folks know their ride is not a head turner at the stoplight. Even if you do find a way to roast the tires, the guy/gal with a real car will surely give you an eye-roll. However, most of us have probably driven, rented, or been the designated driver in one. The truth is, you don’t earn any street cred when a buddy sees you behind the wheel of a Caravan. In reality, there is a lot of functional reasons soccer moms (and some dads) love their van. You can haul a ton of random stuff, loads of people, and sit up higher and comfortably. But what if you could take away all the humiliating stigma, keep all the functionality, add some good looks, and a lot of serious 4x4 off-road capability? Nothing exists really in the mainstream auto market; what we really need is a “MAN VAN”! However, in the off-road market there actually are options that check all these boxes, and your dealer probably has one sitting right on the showroom floor - The Defender!

Heading out of town after three days of riding, we totaled just over 225 miles, but put in 20+ actual riding hours, which shows just how slow and intense most of riding conditions were. Our General T.L.E. will be a tough one to return as it exceeded our expectations, and carried us confidently on quite the adventure with our “Yooper” friends. Only one thing was left to do on the last day; stock up a dozen deliciously famous Yoop Pasties to take home to the office for the guys who had to miss our epic adventure!

BY JASON KAWCZYNSKI

Note, here’s how we assume DictionaryWebster’s will soon define our new term.

Man Van [man-van] noun – A bad-a$$ people and gear hauling, working machine that can take you pretty much anywhere in complete comfort. See also “smiles-for-miles”, “cake-and-eat- it-too”, and “runs-on-fun”.