site looks nice!

havent been on in almost a year! lol site looks real nice! ill try to start coming back more often again and get the activity back up

I POD ?'s

Soon i'm going to be buying a new laptop and an ipod. i want to keep my ipod stuff on my laptop, so could I buy the ipod now and use it on my old computer until i get my new one? or can you use them on multiple computers? or do i just need to wait on the ipod and get the laptop first?

FOUR gloves

ive always been a moose fan, but I forgot my gloves at the last race and had to borrow a set of FOUR brand gloves from a friend and man they were comfy. Ive had quite a few sets of moose and MSR gloves and these FOUR gloves were much much better than any of the gloves I have ever tried. I'm not sure what model they were but i'll be wearing FOUR gloves from now on

Raptor 250: new price, 4,800

08 raptor 250

flex bars
hipers
tireballs
mxprographx
LSR axle
SMS +3+2 LT a-arms
SMS +2 swingarm
SMS rear Blade rotor
SMS Stainles steel brakelines f/r
HLS econ front shocks
SMS gusset kit, PC black fame and other small parts
GYT-R exhaust (not mounted)
while. email bradatv@yahoo.com DO NOT SEND PM"S, SOMETIMES I DONT GET A NOTIFICATION AND I WONT SEE IT FOR A WHILE

I just dont have the time or money to race it anymore, if its just going to collect dust in the garage, i'd rather have the cash from it

4,800 as is, or 5,000 and I'll throw in about 30 gallons of 110 octane race feul

theres nothing serious wrong with it, a dent on the bottom of the frame where a rock hit it

Suspension 101

I'll occasionally be posting FAQ and common misunderstandings with regards to steering/suspension set ups. If you have a question i'll do my best to answer it. Please keep it to general questions, if you have a specific question about your quad, please make your own thread. If you see something you dont agree with, do your research and challenge me on it. A good disussion can help everyone and one of us might learn something in the process. Look back every now and then as i will not start new post with new info, only edit this one. I'll try to keep everything dated so you can see quickly if I have added something new. If i have to edit something I have typed previously, i will edit the original passage, and will also add the same passage with the new date to the bottom of the page.

Frequently Asked Questions

4/24/08
Where should my ride height be?

You will need a friend to help but here are step by step directions. Make sure you are on flat, level ground to get accurate measurements.

1. Get your quad completley together first so your quad is the correct weight. Also check your air pressure so they are just how they will be when you start your race/ride.

2. Put on all of your gear and sit on your quad. Jump up and down a few times on the foot pegs, this helps the suspension "settle". Then sit down how you would while you are riding.

3. Have your friend measure from the axle to a grab bar bolt, this is your rear compressed length (measurement A ).

4. Now get off your quad and lift on the rear grab bar until the shock wont extend any further and the tires are about to come off the ground.

5. While you hold the rear grab bar all the way up, have your friend measure from the axle to the same grab bar bolt from step 3. ( B )

6. Now subtract B - A = rear rider sag. Your rear rider sag should be half of the rear travel. Adjust the preload ring to adjust the sag. If you need more sag, adjust the preload softer, if you need less sag, adjust the preload stiffer.

note: if you have the preload full soft and still dont have enuff sag, the spring is too stiff. If you have the preload full stiff and still dont have enuff sag, the spring is too soft. call your shock builder and explain this and they can decide on new springs to send.

Adjust until you have the correct amount of sag, then follow on to #7

7. Get back on your quad and settle the suspension again

8. Have your friend measure from the frame under the footpeg to the ground, this is your rear ride height. ( C )

Note: Just go with whatever number the rear ride height is, if the rear sag is correct, the rear ride height will be correct also.

You will measure the front ride height at the frame under the lower, rear a-arm bolt.

9. To find what your front ride hieght should be use this:
For a Yamaha C + .75 inches = front ride height
For a Honda C + .25 to .5 inches = front ride height

Stiffen the front shocks to add ride height, soften to subtract. Remember to be on the quad every time a measurement is made.

4/24/08

Why did we do the front ride height but, dialed in sag on the rear?

There are few reasons. First, the rear shock is much more important than the fronts, remember it takes every bump, where each front shock only takes half the bumps. This is what makes the rear shock so important. The other is tire size, since they can vary between setups, your ride height can change alot. The sag is a much more accurate way to set the rear because of this. If the sag is correct, that means you have the correct amount of travel for compression and extension. If you just did the ride height, this could be off because of tire sizes, but the tires wont effect the actual shock, so the sag is the more accurate measurement for the more important shock.

4/24/08

Why do Hondas need less front ride height than Yamahas?

It has to do with the way the frames are made. You have probably noticed the Honda frames have the a-arms tilted back alot. This is called "rake" and it helps the suspension hits objects at a angle instead of head on, this helps the quad ride smooth. The Yamaha's dont have hardly any rake, so you add front ride height to add rake to the a-arms.

4/24/08

What are the Pros and Cons to the Yamaha not having any rake?

The pro would be having the weight bias furthr towards the rear, which puts more weight on the rear tires, for better traction. There are many other factors here tho, such as swingarm length and any benifit is out weighed by the cons IMO.

The con would be needing to add extra front ride height and this has many effect having to do with weight bias. With the whole frame tilted back farther ( instead of just the a-arms like on a Honda ), the front of a Yamaha has less weight on it. This means the tires wont bite as well in turns, and when braking.

5/2/08

Is piggyback or remote rezzy better?

Piggyback for sure. The purpose of the rezzy is to hold extra oil so the shock stays cool. The hot oil is pushed into the rez during compression and cooled, the sucked back into the shock body during extention. Remeber though, the shock will only move so far ( the stroke ) therefore it can only move a limited amount of oil, say 100cc of oil. But what if your rezzy hose holds 300cc? That means the same oil that is being pushed to the rezzy, isnt making there, and then being pulled right back in to the shock. Some companies ( Elka, 450r rear shock specificly ) have completly ridiculous hose lengths that stretch from the rear all the way to the front of the quad. This might look cool and make for easy adjustments and a convienent mounting location, but how much oil do you think is actually getting from the shock to the rez? Even in a full day of riding, the answer is not very much. If you do want remote rez shocks, request you get the absolutly shortest hose possible. With a piggyback rezzy, the oil has almost no distance to travel from shock to rezzy, so you know for sure your shocks oil is moving well, and staying cool.

5/2/08

What is the difference between a gullwing, straight and reverse gullwing a-arm design?

Performance wise, nothing at all. The point of the gullwing design is so a builder can move a shock mount for an LT set up, and still have the shock mount on top of the a-arm where is is a little stronger. Theoreticly, a gullwing design will make the quad sit lower, but you know from what you have already read the ride height is done by rear sag and if the ride height is lowerd in the front by these a-arms, you would raise it back up to get the front vs. rear variance correct.

5/2/08

question from Adam: I've heard it debated hundreds of times, but what are the pro's and con's of using a 400ex/250R front end on a 300ex with the relocator bracket??

Well the pro would be more witdth. There are lots of other issues tho, and IMO i think the con's out weigh the pro's. The main, unfixable issue would be the position of the tierods. The 400ex spindles have the tierod end in a different location than the 300ex, which will cause bumpsteer. The thing to do here would be to use 300ex spindles which is possible, but the 400ex a-arms move the 300ex spindle from where they are stock, so you still have a bumpsteer issue as well as a possible caster issue.

Too little caster gives great steering response, but at the cost of steady bars. Oppositely, lots of caster gives very little steering response, but great stability. Caster is a compromise, and unfortunatly, one you can't play with, with stock a-arms.

There could be a camber issue but i'm not sure.

Since you would be using a relocator bracket to put the upper shock mounts in the 400ex location, a positive would be that you know the shocks are right.

In all, i wouldnt recomend anyone doing this, but it is probably the best of the jerry rigged set ups. Although not horrible, you can do better with stuff made for a 300ex.

The only desing that can really have an advantage is the reverse gullwing, as it does provide more ground clearance. But for anyone besides GNCC and maybe WORCS racers, ground clearance is'nt an issue anyway

5/2/08

question from Adam: What is the best way to get the most travel out of a 300ex Front end using components made for this particular quad?

This is another misconception, but also a FAQ, so i thought i would put it in the FAQ post, i'll expand a little bit with a post in the myth section

There is only one way to gain travel on a quad and that is to make the a-arms longer. LT is another myth i will explain elsewhere. By making the a-arms longer, you are extending the distance between the a-arm pivot and the balljoint, whch extends the arc of the travel. The limiting force is the balljoint, regardless of what you do to the shockmount, the balljoint will only move so far.

An experiment you can do is draw a 45 degree angle on a piece of paper, makie each line say, 6 inches long. Take the point where the two lines meet and this is your a-arm pivot. Now measure out 3 inches on each line and make a dot. Each dot is your balljoint at full compression and extension. Use a protractor to make a arc from dot to dot. Then measure 6 inches and do the same. If you measure the arcs you drew from dot to dot, that is the travel. You will notice the balljoints never changed ( you kept the same 45 degree angle for each test ) but the measurement from 6 inches has significantly more travel. Notice also, that you can draw a shockmount anywhere you like, but does drawing the shockmount change that 45 degree angle? Of course not.

Some companies will change the balljoints angle to change where to balljoints sits in its travel at a certain part of the suspensions movement, but the balljoint still doesnt have any more travel

What your real goal is, is to make better use of the travel you have. The best way to do this is aftermarket shocks. They will give you a little extra travel because they will usually compress and extend a little farther, why? When someone makes shocks fora stock quad, they need to play it safe. Say the stroke of the geometry is 7 inches, they may make the shock travel 6.5, this gives you a cushion of a qaurter inch before the balljoints will bottom during compression and extension. Aftermarket shocks are more prefromance orienented, so they may only use an eighth inch cushion.

The benefit of LT ( really LS for long shock ) is that with a longer shock body, you can use more shims for valving, meaning you can have a more plush front end, that still has enough room to ramp up the progression so they keep the bottoming resistance you need.

In short, LT ( LS ) is nice, but not for the reasons you think. Its the best way to go to get the most out of what you have. If more trvel is really what you want, you need longer a-arms, which never hurt a 300ex anyway.