Hello, my name is Mike and I'm new to this forum, I've posted on a few other sites but this one seems to have a lot of Bombardier action. My sig. shows the quads I have and I'm fairly new to this hobby. I had a snowmobile when I was a teenager and that is still my first love but I'm about a two hour drive from any snow during the winter so it's not too practical.

I just got the DS650 Baja yesterday but really haven't had much of a chance to ride it except for a few minutes last night when I got home with it and WOW! I'm hoping to get out with it tomorrow. As for the Outlander, I love it, just wish I had gotten the 400 model but this is one tough sucker, actually rolled it over three weeks after I got it, thought it was totaled at first! Re-adjusted the handle bars, fixed some plastic and replaced the front left rack and handlebar cover and you can hardly tell anything happend and it runs like a top.

As for other hobbies, I am an Oakland Raider season ticket holder which is my #1 passion. I actually got to go to Super Bowl 37 in Sandy Eggo, too bad we lost though [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img]( Still, it was an exciting season.


As I stated above, I'm fairly new to ATV's but it's the most fun I've had outdoors since I was a kid! Haven't had a chance to get out to too many places, kind of figured I better stick close to home until I'm comfortable with my abilities before taking on any real journeys and I think I'm about ready. My friend and I took that ATV safety course the manufacturers offer just last week. It was a little mundane but it did offer some things to make you think and the instructor kept it pretty light. The actual riding was a little, well, LOL, a few orange cones in a dirt area at a riding park. Regardless, it was free and I got paid $175 for taking it, so it was a win/win deal for me. My buddy got to take it for free as well and he said it was good for him too. We have all crashed once each already so there was certainely no harm in doing it.

If anyone has any advice on the DS650 and would like to share, I'll listen! Anything that might seem abnormal but is typical I should look for? Any quirks? Anything in particular I should have the dealer look for when I bring it in for it's 20 hr service? I prefer to keep it stock, seems to have more then enough power to me but I am curious about tires, what are the best all purpose tires?
Well, I've asked enough, any and all replies are appreciated.

 

Unfortunately, Desert and Dune riding is even further away.

20 hour - valve adjustment, oil change - about it.

If you are going to ride locally only I would leave it stock. You have more than enough power + don't have to worry about noise regs or lack of spark arrestor.

Lastly, sorry to hear about your disease (not a Raider fan myself.) [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

well ive had my 04 baja x for about 4 months now and the first thing i realized and thought something might be wrong at low rpms the chain made a really bad clinky clang sound but it wasnt hurting anything and still hasnt. I changed my backs soon after and got 22 inch bear claws for the rear and kept stock on front, they say do not mix radials and non radials. I did notice a tiny bit of control difference but i got used to it very fast, i chose those tires because they are a strong rubber good grip and last a good ammount of time, they work well in mud sand and almost everything i did have to go down a tooth on the front sprocket tho to get my close to my stock gearing. Thats about it i would guess, havent had anything wrong on my ds its built as strong as a tank.

 

Welcome to the forums, it you hang out here, you will change your mind about the stock part.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Welcome. I would say stock won't last long. At least a pipe, air filter, jets, and CDI to start. It is very addicting once you start modding the ds because it reacts so well to mods.

 

Welcome to the forums, and if you are free over the labor day weekend stop by Sand Mountain, NV. I'm driving straight through Sacremento to get there! wheeeee

I would suggest keeping it stock for at least 6 months, no matter if you change your mind or not. 6 months will give you time to really get a feel for the machine and know what you might want anyhow. Keep browsing forums here and elsewhere and you'll gain all of the info you need. Honestly there are no problems with the new DS650s, all of the minor details have been fixed; this isn't too say some machines wont have problems, but there are no year/model wide problems. the biggest problem is going to be when you look to buy aftermarket parts and then can't stop buying one after another.

If you decide to get some sand tires and want to keep you ATV close to stock, I'd suggest Skat Trak 22" 8 Paddle Extreme haulers. These are a very good tire which should work well on a DS in stock and mildly modifled form.

 

Raidermike, Welcome to the forum[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Welcome!
Famous 1st words..... I want to keep it stock.

And then it begins.... Tire change.

Leave Now and save yourself, for if you stay I guarantee your bike will not stay stock! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

Here we crave the power, and share advice to acquire such power.

But none the less welcome. With great things comes great change......

You have been fairly warned, and the gloves are off.

22" Maxxis Razr 2 are the tires of choice 22x11x9 to fit the stock rims.
see them here http://www.rockymountainatv.com/home.asp?sid=0005119031

 

there is a guy down there by you his name is jeff, try and meet up with him he is pretty good with the ds. you should come back and read this thread in about a year.

 

Thanks for the responses. Yeah, I hear what you are saying about keeping it stock but the one time I've ridden the throttle seemed to have no limit. I'm curious about tires for the handling aspect, how are the Ohtsu tires? They seem relatively inexpensive at about $60 each (front anyway).

The one thing the dealer suggested to me was to keep the battery fully charged as turning over that 650 takes some amps which I found out the hard way. I let my buddy start it in the garage to listen to it, he shuts it down, well I never use the kill switch so I'm trying to start it yesterday and it just won't go, then the battery runs low and dang if it doesnt die. I put the charger on it, then finally noticed the kill switch was on <sigh> flipped it off and it fired right up.