I am back from a weekend of riding the hell outta my bike. Unfortunately I was not able to go to Glamis as everyone I was going with backed out at the very last minute. Soo instead we went to Bowie, which is a small riding area with mostly sand and a few "decent" hills.

I ran Gecko's on the back the whole weekend. These seem to be an okay tire. A little heave, with some aggressive paddles, but overall very good traction was gained from these.

I ran everything from stock raptors and 400ex's, to drag banshee's. I even got to race another Pred. with the stock tires on the rear. Let me tell you this quad (at least mine) is NOT down on power when going up hills. I consistanly pulled piped Raptors by 1-7 bikes (different bikes, different riders). My only good run with a DS650 Baja, I was able to stay ride beside him all the way to the top of the hill. I got spanked by the drag banshee's but not as bad as expected. My very last race was a piped banshee, and the guy could not ride for shyt! I pulled him by about 6 bikes then at the very top I ran out of gas!![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img] My bike was very hot, soo I got it back to camp and let it set for the rest of the evening/night.

Now my complaints. I am very light. 135ish lbs. The rear suspension on my bike felt like it had a log of wood instead of a rear shock!![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/img] One of the hills that people were racing on had some very bad whoops at the beginning, and every time I hit them, my rearend would fly into the air, and I would have to let out. I also tried running down one of hills that had whoops all the way up it, and my rear end would do the same exact thing!! I tried softening up the preload, and it did not help. I messed with it all weekend, and I am very dissappointed. I let one of my buddies who is about 25-30lbs heavier than me ride it and it did the exact same thing with him! I have tons of droop, but the compression and the rebound SUCK! I am thinking about taking my shock out and having a local bike shop revalve my shock. This thing feels like it needs to be in the back of a sportbike and not a quad. Who knows maybe just a spring change is needed.

My front suspension is awesome, it soaked up every bump and steered like a dream!

Pictures. I took some really good pics with my digi, and I will upload them to my photo album in the next hour or soo!

Not much else to say except that I am going to take my bike in for a tune up as it seems to be running just a little "off" plus I need to change the oil and make sure everything is tight.

TireFryer

 

I thought the compression and rebound was adjustable on that shock?

Here is something I read on another forum:

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The one in the Oregon Dunes on Saturday was probably me My son and I went out, and I can say that it took a while to get used to the steering. It steers great, but it is like haveing power steering, and climbing up through trees, you have to be careful not to over-steer. The suspension is great, flew through the woops, and left my son way behind on his Banshee. I have 8 paddle haulers on it, and it does need to be geared down probably 1 tooth on the front...........but nobody makes it yet My son was riding a 2003 Banshee, bone stock with 8 paddle haulers on it. In a flat drag race, I could leave him off the line and pull further ahead until about 4th gear then he would start to pull on me and as I went to 5th he would pass me, but only by about 2 bike lengths. We then switched riders and had the same results. I am a terrible judge of distance, but in a shorter race, the Predator will win, but in a longer race, the Banshee will win, but I really dont care cause I like climbing, and the trails, not drag racing. The seat really forces you right up to the tank, and longer legged people will have a problem with the shift lever being to high like I did, and you cant move it down a little because on the next spline down it hits the frame. I'm sure this will be taken care of quickly by the aftermarket crowd, as I saw another post already with the same problem. The only problem I had on the first day out was a loose radiator hose clamp, but the Leatherman took care of that because there is no screwdriver in the tool kit. I was disappointed in the tool kit, not even the tools to tighten the chain! A few last notes, to change the spark plug you have to remove the front plastic and the gas tank, and for breakin the manual says to change the oil and filter after the first hour of riding, and to use Polaris synthetic oil but the dealer doesnt even have the oil or filters in yet Well that is my long winded report, still if anybody wants a specific picture of something let me know.

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sounds good so far!!! whats the link to your photo album?

 

Before you bash the shocks too badly, give it time (like a month) to soften up. Even shocks have to break in. A great example is my new Arctic Cat 400i... it was VERY stiff for the first month I had it. Then it softened up nicely.

I don't weigh much more than you (150#) so I will likely experience the same thing. Still, I don't see it being worse than my old 400EX. That thing was STIFF. It was the #1 reason I didn't keep it around as a second sport quad... I didn't want to have to spend $1000+ in custom shocks for it.

Rob

 

I have to agree that the rear suspension needs some fine tuning, riding my 400EX and my buddies Predator through the same section of woops my Honda handled them better. I think the potential is there with the proper adjustments. I also agree that by changing the counter-sprocket (one less tooth) will make the power much more usable, same situation as my 400EX.