How does the shorter wheel base of the '04 affect the handling. I saw a picture in one of the latest and useless magazines that had the '04 V-force, '03Raptor and '03DS standing next to each other. The raptor looked A LOT shorter than the other two. I think it has a 49" wheel base. The '03 DS is a little over 50". The '04 DS is 49" like the MUCH shorter looking Raptor. I didn't think 1" would make much of a difference dut it sure looks like a lot in the picture. Any thoughts?

 

The shorter swingarm makes my Baja X a wheelie monster.

 

I figured it would be front end light. How bad is it or is just fun? How about the rest of the handling? Is it "buckey"?

 

the handling in the whoops is phenomenal. The corners are just as good. The wheelies are fun if you mean to do them. I have a problem of wheelying to hard under hard accelleration. I am in th procces of fixing this though. I bought a 17 tooth front sprocket to take a little off the bottom. This should work. This quad is leaps and bounds over previous years

 

I rode a Baja X today...I couldn't believe the power...and I have two DS's! the swingarm is beautiful, the shocks are great, they narrowed it in the rear only, and just a smidge, they must have done it in the hubs.
The look is awesome....I never did like the orange of the Baja, I did so many mods to my '01. They are both for sale. I was going to get a Predator, but now I am going to get that X....My Third DS...What a crack head I am!

 

the raptor is much shorter than the ds, the pic must just be decieving. the new bike is only 1/2" shorter than the original.
does the new alum swingarm use the same bearing carrier and bearings as the old? I want to buy the alum and put it on my '01, along with the headlight!
is the carb the same on the '04 - a mikuni BSR?

 

I just bought my '04 X about 2 weeks ago and love it. I only weigh about 140 lbs. soaking wet. I loosened up the suspension some front & rear and it rides awesome. It handles great too. My best friend has a Raptor, which handles nice also, but he can't touch me on the track we made. Once I pass him, I'm gone. It's stable, fast, rides nice.

 

Thanks for the imput guys. I'm going tomorrow to buy one. I have to find a dealer with one in stock. I want to go trail riding this weekend.

 

i rode the 04 at ds days and it is better the cdi works good it is just great, i think the numbers you were talking about were the width not the length, 49 is how wide they are.

 

O.K. I got it. I'm still in brake-in mode but seems fine so far. The owners manual says 49" wheel base. It actually measures about 50.5". It don't seem to wheelie bad. It seems fine that way. It seems to dive too much cornering though. One thing I noticed was how HUGE it feels sitting on it parked and how you don't notice size or weight at all while driving it. One more quick first impression; This thing has unbelievable brakes. I mean, I almost went over the bars on my first down hill braking corner. No B.S.