This past Friday we had arena cross racing here. My brother entered the Biggining quad class on his Raptor. It was his first time ever. In the first lap he landed a bit wrong and hurt his hand. he finished the race and took second. Later we found out his hand was broken. I think he did pretty darn good for his first time and to do it with the break. Anyway we were watching the videos of his race as well as the other quad races and it was very evident of where a severe advantage could be had. It was in the whoops. No one could really fly through them at all. The motorcycles could skim right through them. Do any of you have any suggestions on how to tackle whoops? How to sit, speed, shock settings, anything that might help? I might try it next time on my DS if I can get my new tires by then. If not then I will try the out door races when they start.

Demon

 

Demon, I heard about the races after the fact, do you know when the next races are?

I would have loved to go see them. They need more advertising, or maybe I just missed it.

Later
Bat

 

Bat they should be a month from now and then they will be outside and every Wed night I think. When they are going I will write ya and let you know before hand if you want to come and watch with us that would be great. If I am racing I might need a camera man[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img].

 

Demon,

From what I have heard, some good aftermarket shocks will double your speed through the whoops. (Maybe not literally, though it sounds almost that good!) I've pretty much decided this is what I'm going to snag next, for my own ATV and I'm hoping the rumors are true. After that you might see if you can ride a DS with the after market A-Arms to see how much difference those make. I believe it was 3TV saying something about blasting through whoops in 4th or 5th gear - if you could do even half that well on an MX course, I think you'd pretty much dominate the track, passing people every time you hit them.

 

I have to agree on the shocks being the difference. Before the works up front I could go through the whoops in maybe third gear but 1 mistake and it was all over but the hurting. After installing the works shocks and resetting the rear to work with them, I can plow through the whoops in 4th gear without worry. In fact,the last time out there were a couple of bikes with the group and every time the whoops came up they would fly past us and wait on the other side. When the next set came up I broke from the pack and kept pace with the bikes, flying through the whoops. Well, Works performance should thank me because after seeing this 2 of the guys are buying new shocks. Oh, and I have stock a-arms...for now anyway.

 

Thanks JS, How do you even do it third? when I tried them as well as my brother we were like in second and basically just rolling over them. I just cant seem to find the sweet spot as to where to position my body, how to postion it and so forth. What adjustments did you make to the rear shock? I still have stock fronts so how should I set the spring, on the hard side or the soft side? I know this what the pro's deal with, trying to find the right settings for whoops, jumps, and still have great handleing with out it beating you have to death. Can you describe how the shock feal and react when you are riding compared to stock?Are the stiff in the first few inches of travel then soften up or opposite? I have no experience with them at all. Cant find any to try out either?


Thanks Demon

 

Both explanations are spot on, I couldn't have explained it better myself. The term "total commitment" is one to remember cuz if you freak in the middle....well it hurts. Its speed, rythm, commitment and keep the front end light. Once you learn how to ride the whoops, the suspension adjustments will be easier and make more sense.

Like 3tv, I'm not a pro rider, just been doin it for a long time.