Director’s Welcome Message
Welcome to Cowichan Valley ATV Club’s Website.Prospective Club Members routinely ask:
- What is the Club all about? Who runs it?
- How much does it cost?
- Are there Club meetings?
- Where and how often do they ride?
- Will the club give me a set of maps and trails?
- Can I get a key to some of the gates that block the access routes to the outback territories?
Our Aim is simple…”To Ride Quads”. The Club is an affiliate of a Provincial ATV association, ATVBC. There are five other ATV clubs on Vancouver Island (Port Alberni, Ladysmith, Sooke, Nanaimo / ‘Mid-Island’, Comox, and Campbell River), and 37 more ATV Clubs on the mainland. Altogether we form an organization that
- Meets regularly to ride ATVs, and organize ATV rides & related events;
- Provides a forum for social interaction between like-minded outdoor enthusiasts;
- Educates other riders on useful ATV ideas, safety and environmental diligence;
- Is united in its approach to private landowners and government leaders to gain ATV access to private / restricted lands; and
- Promotes sustainability of the ‘sport’ for Members and future generations
The CVATV has approx. 330 Members. The Executive (for 2024/2025) consists of:
- President – Matt Cottier
- Treasure – Sue Christison
- Secretary – Kathy Reid
- Directors –
- Ian Brethour
- Jack Gibb
- Jim Bolin
- Steve Taylor
- Mark Richards
- Steve White
- Ken Karpick
One must be a Member of ATV BC in order to be a Member of the Cowichan Valley ATV Club.
The cost of an ATVBC membership (2022/23) is:
- $50 Primary & $85 family;
- Plus – The cost of a CVATV Club membership – $30 Single; $40 family
Memberships can be purchased online at the ATVBC website.
Meetings are held when necessary(approx 4 per year) They are always on the Second Thursday of the Month. 7:00 pm start and run approx 2 hrs.
Club Members organize rides, mostly in the Cowichan Valley area, and mostly during the months of October thru June (outside of the ‘dry-forest season’). The Club facilitates ride events by establishing the venue for organizing rides, by training & outfitting Ride Leaders, and by establishing land-access agreements with landowners and civic governments.
Members explore upcoming ride opportunities by participating in the Club meetings and by signing on to the club’s closed group Facebook page and reviewing the rides listed in the Events section. Note – you have to be a member of the CVATV club in order to view the Facebook page.
There is no single-source map-of-trails that is used by the Club. Rides are routinely sponsored by Club Members that know the areas and volunteer to lead. Over time, many Members build and maintain individual GPS tracks. These are routinely shared between riders. However, routes change regularly due to logging operations and/or dangers such as high fire-risk. The Club monitors these events and advises Members on what areas to avoid.
A Club Member can become a Ride Leader;. However, there are training and equipment prerequisites, and there is a need to provide a commitment to lead other Members on rides.
Hope this helps to clarify what the CVATV Club is about and we look forward to seeing you at the next meeting. Till then…
NOTE: If you want to ride with a passenger you will need to have a 2-up ATV
Have a safe ride.
The Directors of Cowichan Valley ATV Club
Cowichan Valley ATV Club 
closest “club” to Victoria, would like to join but have to acquire an ATV first
You can join the club by going to:
https://atvbc.ca/become-a-member/?
Cheers
Jack
I was thinking of getting into this sport by joining your club and getting into riding with my wife and grandchildren.
I’m going to need some advice on what would be best suited for me to buy and where. Any good leads or pointers would be appreciated.
Rick, There are a couple of different models that may work for you. One is the 2-up with a seat behind the driver. The other is a side by side. For sxs you have 5 manufacturers (Polaris, Canam, CFMoto, Arctic Cat and Honda). Look for a 50 inch wide model for our trails. Most popular is the Polaris RZR and the least expensive if the CFMoto Zforce. The sxs are safer as you have a roll cage and your strapped in.
Dealers in area are:
Ignition Sports in Duncan (CFMoto)
Ladysmith Sports (Canam)
Moniti Duncan (Polaris)
Wouldn’t buy Arctic Cat as the have a poor repair record. Like Honda but nobody out here seems to ride their sxs.
Hard to buy a good used one at a reasonable price as you don’t know how they were riden
Great thanks. Good food for thought. I’m probably going to be looking for a good used comfortable 2-up for me and the wifey and not a sxs. Granddaughter already has an ATV. Hoping someone in the club may have something or know someone.,
Do you get access to gate keys once you’re a member? Or is access to key specific for group rides?
Justin,
The Alberni, Mid-Island, and Comox ATV Clubs have agreements with Mosaic to ride on their lands in certain areas if you have a sticker on your quad and on your truck. They are now working on a agreement with our club and the thought is one sticker would cover all the areas. I think the key will only be for group rides but will confirm and get back to you.
Cheers
Jack
Just joined the cowichian lake club my name is Ross Kowalyk 741Larendo v8y2n4 victoria bc canada phone 250 8834814 cel send info about the rides cuming up could be fun in the snow
Welcome to the CVATV Club Roscoe. There is no club ride this weekend but watch our facebook page for details of upcoming rides.
No reply of any about rides coming up around cowichan lake
Roscoe,
With all the snow may not be a ride for a little while. Keep checking our Facebook page for any forthcoming rides.
Jack
Hi,
My wife and myself are considering joining. We have a 2 up ATV. Are there women in the club who ride/ride along on the group rides?
Peter
Peter,
We are having a ride this weekend and having a fire and hotdog roast. There probably with be 4 to 5 women on this ride. You can join the club at https://atvbc.ca/become-a-member/.
If you do join I can send you the details on the ride.
Cheers
Jack
Jack, Is the ride Sunday,? If so we are free that day. Peter
On Thu, Dec 5, 2019, 5:33 PM Cowichan Valley ATV Club, wrote:
> jlebear commented: “Peter, We are having a ride this weekend and having a > fire and hotdog roast. There probably with be 4 to 5 women on this ride. > You can join the club at https://atvbc.ca/become-a-member/. If you do > join I can send you the details on the ride. Cheers Jack” >
Peter,
We would love to have you on the ride but for liability issues everyone on the ride has to be a member of the club. The ride is this Sunday and we’re expecting 20 to 25 rides. As soon as you join I will send the details for the ride.
Jack
Jack, Went to Monti’s this morning and signed up. 13527 Peter
On Thu, Dec 5, 2019, 8:47 PM Cowichan Valley ATV Club, wrote:
> jlebear commented: “Peter, We would love to have you on the ride but for > liability issues everyone on the ride has to be a member of the club. The > ride is this Sunday and we’re expecting 20 to 25 rides. As soon as you join > I will send the details for the ride. Jack ” >
Well welcome to the club Peter. We have sent your name into the administrator for the CVATV Facebook page and you should get access soon.
The president of the club and a lot of the members will be at the Superstore from 2:00 to 4:00 ringing bells for the Kettle drive if you want to drop in and visit or join us.
Cheers
Jack
hello a friend and i were thinking of joining the club and we hunt and fish alot and would like to get behind some gates in lakecowachan we hunt and fish mainly during the week sometime weekends we love to ride our atvs alot can you get access with a key if they are not logging in that area?i was also told that if they is a trail around a gate you may go around it if it was allready there any help would be nice just a 61 year old guy who just wants to hunt and ride without getting horassted
mike
Mike,
As a club we very seldom go out during the week when there is logging going on. Most of our rides are on Sunday. We are in discussion with Mosaic to get access to areas in the Lake Cowichan area. We would then pay so much a year and get a key to some of the gates. As of now we are in the same boat as you with ditching and gates closed.
Hi, hubby and I just bought a SXS and would love to meet other couples who love to atv together. We’re in Brentwood Bay (victoria) and don’t mind driving to get out into the Bush. I’m not sure if we should join this club or the Sooke one as it’s a bit closer. I would love to be part of a FB group.
Can you belong to more than 1 club?
You pay $45 to below to ATVBC and then just pay $15 for each club you want to be a member of. If you both join the CVATV club the fee would be as follows: $45 for one; $25 for second member and then $15 for each for a total of $90 a year. Our club has about 180 members while Sooke is a new club with about 10 members. There is a member that leaves quite near you that comes out regularly and if you wish I could put you in touch with him.
Ok thank you! Does hubby and I both have to be a member of ATVBC to join CVATV? I’ll sign up tonight and yes put your member that lives close by in touch with us. Thanks! Looking forward to some meet ups
For club rides you both should be members for insurance purposes. If you could send me your email I will forward it to the person living in your area. You can send your email address to jlebear@gmail.com
We have a place on Pender Island and would like to ride. We figure your club is closest, is it possible we could stay in a hotel or motel nearby your riding area? Or are staging areas too far away ? Cheers
Joel,
We have 2 staging areas we use. The first one is: 48°47’29.9″N 123°51’06.7″W; the second one is: 5818 Mayo Rd
Lake Cowichan
Cheers
I just bought a RzR170 for my sons, 11 and 4 years old. Can they join the clubs with me and my wife? It they do, we are thinking buy another full size RZR or 2 up. Thank you
When you join the CVATV Club with the Family Plan ($90/year) your wife and two sons are all considered members.
Whats going on with Mosaic logging are they stopping ATVing in cowichian lake area with rangers all over the place reporting riders to the R C M P
Roscoe,
ATV Clubs north of us have agreements with Mosaic and we are currently working with them to have an agreement in our area. The rangers will stop and ticket people that ride through a park on a “trail” that is not part of a designated road through the park. As far as I know none of our members have been ticketed.
Just got a RVR170 for my 11 years old boy. Anyone knows where he can have some practice before getting into the real thing. I searched some provincial parks, seems non of them are ORV allowed. Thank you very much.
My husband and I are new members and are wanting to take our ATV for a ride. This will be our maiden voyage. Does anyone have a suggestion as to where we can find trails to ride. We are in Saanichton. It are wanting to go up island for a mini holiday. Thanks very much
All the trails are closed now due to fire season and all the gates are locked. Fire season could last until the end of September or even longer. We will be having a club ride as soon as fire season is over and that is the best way for you to learn where the trails are and ride safety with a group of people.
How does one confirm their membership went through? I joined ATV BC back in Nov/Dec last year and haven’t received any information from Cowichan Valley ATV Club that I’m a member yet?
Thanks in Advance.
Will reply through Cowichan Valley email.
I would like to join, but would like to know if there are any rides happening with Covid going on right now.
Hello Dave, We have cancelled all rides and are waiting until the Covid cases decrease. Hopefully that will happen soon.
What’s the riding like around Nixon creek like these days? Heather Mountain !
Dennis,
We haven’t been out that way for a number of years. Last time we were out that way was 2 years helping Search and Rescue locate a missing person.
Looking at picking up a ATV/UTV this week. The only available brand that I can find with stock is CFMOTO. Depending who you talk to.. they are either Chinese Junk.. or a decent machine.
Right now my big problem is picking a model. I need it for some work around the property… but I also want to do some exploring the local area… and starting the Grand Daughter into slowly getting used to riding one (She is only 3, so not driving yet), when she gets older I will buy her a small one.
So, I need some suggestions and comments with my 3 choices:
UFORCE 800 EPS LX
CFORCE 800 XC EPS LX
CFORCE 600 EPS Touring
P.S. I have reread this a few times.. but there are bound to be spelling errors.
Hello John,
CFMoto have been big in Quebec, Ontario for years and making inroads out west as more dealers come online.
They are a very large world wide company.
CFMOTO is a world leader in the production of liquid-cooled engines for quads and motorcycles. Distributed in over 70 countries, CFMOTO has an annual production capacity 800,000 engines and 600,000 vehicles.
I almost bought one of their sxs’s but found the seating cramped as I’m a fairly large man. The reason I was going to buy from CFMoto was the money value first of all. Would have saved around $5,000 once you include adding winches, etc. They also have the best warranty. Have been reading good reviews and some bad reviews but every manufacture gets the same kind of reviews. Some people say that they would never buy a Chinese product but other manufactures use Chinese parts also.
Now on what CFMoto to buy. On ATV’s, 600cc is all you really need. I had a Canam with a 570cc and that was enough power to do what I wanted. There is quite a movement from ATV’s to sxs latterly as I’ve noticed that on recent club rides there are just as many sxs as atv. I do feel a lot safer in a sxs on difficult trails and my wife likes it a lot better then riding on a 2up ATV. Most of the sxs’s in the club are trail models and are 50 inches wide but we do get sxs’s that are 60 inch wide that can make it through most trails.
These are just my personnel thoughts on this and hope to see you on a club ride in the near future.
Jack
Thank you Jack… I am leaning towards the UFORCE 800.. it is the Logical Practical choice for what I need. Now that I know the 60″ can make it through most trails, that adds to the positive side.
Probably the place to start, I’m not young enough or crazy enough to try to go up the side of a rock bluff.
As for the Club rides.. from what I am reading… I need to buy it, register it, get insurance, then a tag from the Duncan RCMP… then join the BC ATV club, and then the Cowichan ATV. Gotta love the paperwork side.
Hi, I’m looking at maybe getting into the sport but I’d love to go out and see what it’s all about before going too far 🙂 Are there opportunities for people to get in on a ride without equipment? I’d likely feel more comfortable in a SXS rather than a 2up 🙂 I’m an easy going 48 year old semi-retired guy.
Russell, I’m sure you would enjoy it. We are pretty regualted as we have to have stickers on your tow vehicles and ATV’s. Plus sign waivers for Mosaic and for ATVBC. Also have to be a member of a club to ride. What I would suggest is to contact https://atvadventure.ca/ and go for ride in Campbell River area to get a taste for it.
jlebear: I just saw a comment that said you have to have stickers on your machine and trailer… and sign waivers for Mosiac. I have two memberships, I don’t have stickers… nor am I aware of signing a waiver for Mosaic?
Hello John,
There will be an annoucement in a couple of weeks. We are working on a tracking system for stickers, waivers, etc
Hello Kathy and Jack we just purchased our atv 2 op can amm 850 when is the next meeting as wee need to hand in our reminder of our forms and can we get our decals at the meeting as well as your fob ?
Replied to your email address
Jack
If you can send me your phone number to jlebear@gmail.com I’ll call you this weekend.
Hey how are you heres my phone number 250 732-7197
Regards Steven walker
Hello,
I am interested in joining, please advise as the link to join is not working
Thank you
Michelle
You have to join ATVBC first, then apply for decals for your tow vehicle and ORV
Go to https://atvbc.ca/join-atvbc/ first
Then
Jack
Hi, I’m looking for Ray Sauriol. Ray, would you please drop me a line. I’m investigating a historical missing person file from 1967, and just want to talk to you about it. Thanks!
Margo Downey, R/Cst. RCMP
I’ve passed on this message to Ray. If you send me an email to jlebear@gmail.com I will give you his contact info