Well i went and looked at it and i am still drooling. Even though everyone tells me how bad the ds sucks and not to get it, I am gonna get it anyways! Probably in another weeek or so.
I have a question. In the honda forum there are guys talking about how the ds can't handle big sand hills due to its weight. I seen that someone with a 426ex said he can beat ds's with the wood stage 1 kit up the big hills. He also went on to say that the stage 1 kit doesn't help in sand at all. I think he also said that he can beat ds's with stage 2 kits. Tell me your guys experiences with the ds's in the sand, and big hill climbing.

 

Like I said before, those guys are jealous. I haven't personally had mine in the sand but I will shortly. My buddy in arizona has a stock ds he took it to glamis on Easter weekend and he raced a lot of banshees and beat them all, most of them were stock, but he did race a banshee with toomys and porting I think. They were neck and neck and the ds was just starting to pull on the shee but they were at the top of the hill so he lost that one, but he would have won if he had more room. As far as the stage I there is no way a stock 400 or shee can beat it. That if it is properly running. I ride with 2 piped 400 and a stock banshee they can not beat me in a drag, but in some of the tight trails I do get beat by them. DS is way to wide for some MI trails. By the way I had a 96 stock banshee and a built 500- now I ride a stage I DS. And I LOVE it. I think you will be happy if you buy it. Good Luck!

 

Luba you ever ride up at bull gap in mio? I plan on making several trips up this year. If so let me know about what it's like up there.Also you ever come down and ride at the mounds orv park in Mt. Morris? If so maybe I'll seee you out there sometime. As for the trashin on the ds, i think a 426ex would hang with a stock ds, but not one witha stage one kit. I don't know man, some people just have to lie about everything. Gets pretty old after a while.

 

A lot of people bench race,that's the way it is. I like to know first hand so I raced everyone that wanted to today. It was pretty bad early on until I started getting a good launch,and figured out shift points.My stock ds(with paddles) was flying no losses until team green showed up.This guy had a very trick sand drag only machine and he was a good racer.I went over to him and asked if wanted to run(duh!) on my best run he beat me by 20 feet, then I asked him if he wanted to ride the ds (oh hell yes,only seen em in magazines) he reciprocated so I got to race against my own bike
I didn't do his justice it took 5 runs before I finally beat him,(not by much). I traded off with a bunch of good people a lot of 400ex guys EVERYONE who rode it was very impressed not just power but mostly comfort and handling. before today I wouldn't have endorsed the DS but after a full day in the wide open spaces nothing can compare(my opinion) and now there is alot more believers around here
GO FOR IT its only money

 

rnl-No haven't been to bull gap yet, we were suppose to go last weekend but we went to Leota instead. Leota sucks way too narrow. I have not been to mounds yet either. I thought they closed that down. When I get paddles I will go to silver lake can't wait. We usually ride at m-61.

 

I FINALLY got my DS yesterday. The first thing I noticed is how this thing conquers hills! I'm not a small guy either (6'2" 280) and hills that were difficult for my other bikes the DS walks all over! This bike is perfect for us big guys that don't want to buy a utility vehicle. So far the two friends that I've ridden with want a new bike after seeing my DS!

I was riding my girlfriend around and I was taking it easy, shifting early and bogging gears, and all it takes is a bit of throttle and the DS comes alive!

I was side-by-side with my friend and his 250r 3-wheeler, about 20mph and we both gunned it, he said the DS sounded like a super diesel! LOL BTW, it kept up with his Honda, I didn't push the bike too hard though, I'm still in the break-in period.

'87 Mojave
'87 Tecate
'00 DS650 [Bigger IS Better]

 

Bull Gap was pretty cool (did it last weekend). Didn't get the hang of running to the top right away (don't get out of 2nd gear or you'll bog). There are some fallen trees on the smaller side trails leading up/down (maybe tree huggers cut them down, who knows?). You have to watch out on your way up/down or you'll whack your head for sure (some are too low to duck under). The main hill was cool. There had to be at least a dozen 2 wheelers and about 6-8 banshees. They did pretty good getting up the hill. BTW, the narrow trails around Mio and Luzerne are friggin nasty. If you've done 50" or less trails with your DS, then you know what it's like already (and have increased your vocabulary of curse words to inclued "DS"). That's where everyone was killing me last week. I just can't get through narrow 48"
- 52" trails with 3 foot sides. I couldn't get anyone but the brother-in-law to ride the DS. He got off after 3 minutes when he tapped a stump and went 90 degrees to the trail (happened to me at least 4 times) This thing needs a steering damper bad. I can't count the number of times that the bars got ripped out of my hands when I hit a little stump or rock. Never had that happen with my '88 Banshee. Maybe I'll do the Mounds next weekend and see how it handles there.