Yeah, Ocala cool. Lots of open ground and trails. There are some hills and that sorta' thing out there. But more trails and flat ground. You should take a swing over to the Crooms Riding Park. (I75 crosses Hwy50) it's right beside that spot, behind a small hotel. Even got a little ATV dealer right at the entrance. Camping and recreational area's and some restrooms too. Very versatile terrain though. Hills, Mud Holes, MX Tracks, open sand, and tons of trails. Cool place. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]

 

ya croom i think thats where we are going (i remember both those names, but i guess we decided against one because it was mostly for dirtbikes or somthing like that)

 

Be aware of thieves there. Not being funny. They do have their problems.
They are back open, too.
I saw a bear in Ocala National Forest. It was the coolest thing to run in to. I rode my DS and there was every other quad imaginable there. I rode a bunch of different one's. They all had the same feel. Hard and wiry. Very shocking and jolting. Lot's of power in most. Lot's of speed. A little scary after being used to the smoothness of the DS. I especially missed the softride of my DS on the way home from a 4 hour ride on my friends Raptor.
No matter what you get Roost, don't leave this forum. You can tell us what your new ride is all about. You can still come down and ride here on whatever you have. You come a little further South and I'll take you to some great places. Well, great if you like mud and trails!

 

Sounds a lot like my old DS.....

And by the way, if you put the 13 tooth sproket on the 450R there will be no such thing as a lugging down problem. Trust me. Ride one please!! you wont be dissapointed! But, by the look of how things are going for you, riding a blaster wouldn't be dissapointing either LOL!

 

lol its funny cuz i was just talking to one of my freinds about how maybe i should have bought a blaster...lol

im thinking a 450r or a new atk/cannondale is in my near future (im really looking more toward the ATK 450 as it has EFI [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] )

 

Roost,

Didn't you say you get along well with the guys at the Suzuki / Kawi dealer? Wny not the big 700? Although, I'm not real shure why you are so worried about a dealer, I barely go to mine. I try to order everything off of the internet. I know a couple of forum members that own dealers, I'd be willing to bet that you could order anything from them, and that would save you from having to go see the local idiot population.

What else did you need the dealer for? Maintenance? Probably the hardest part of maintaining a 4 stroke is adjusting the valves, I'd bet the gang here could help you through it.

Another thought is to have someone do a prefessional rebuild of the engine etc. Out west, there is a guy in Northern California they call "The Preacher" and people swear by his work. Out your way you have other options, The Bom, Mr. HP, and I'm sure others. I think that Mr. HP told me once he charges like $700 to do a race ready rebuild on an engine (hope I'm right on the price) but say $700, plus some parts, etc. could amount to what $1000? $2000 if you go with a lot of parts? Then with a prefessionaly rebuilt engine there should be little chance of problems. Since I'm out west if one of my DSs was in the broken pile a lot I'd probably drive it the 800 miles north to wherever this preacher guy is, and have him do a full service.

Also when you have a minute, can you PM me the last 6 digits of your DSs serial number as well as the mfr. date? I'd like to see if yours was made before or after mine (I'll send you my digits if you want.) I know that my DS and BombDSBaja's are only 36 units apart in serial number meaning they were made in the same day/week/whatever of October 2002. Both of our DSs run excellent with no trouble.

 

lol the only thing ive ever known E to stand for is.... DUM DUM DUM.....

ITS ELECTRIC!!

say it isnt so? lol now that you have peaked my curiosity...care to explain?

ya i keep my quad at a friends shop so ill try to get the numbers to u soon.

i kind of feel like i want to start fresh.... i dont know what i would do different (only thing i really could do is LESS maintenance...) i did everything from nut'n and bolt'n it before big rides, got ultra paranoid and checked that oil filter screen every oil change, never changed brands of oil because i was afraid it would somehow affect the engine (ran vavlvoline atv oil, not the most expensive, but at 3 or so bucks a quart it gets a bit pricey changing oil every 10-20 hours)

 

Roost you've just had plain bad luck man, no way to explain any of it. don't beat your brain with it, its not worth it. get rid of it and buy something else that you have a local dealer available for that you admire and trust, and have them do your maintenance other than the simple PM stuff like oil changes.

But if you're set on getting another DS, PlanetPowerSports in Coldwater Michigan is hard to beat and I'm positive they will get you out the door for under $6K on a brand new DS. I bought my '01 there in January of '01 when the list price was still $7300, and I got out the door for $6300 at that time - yes I said out the door after all the stupid setup fees and destination charges and everything.

And yes, the '05 450R will be electric start. and the '05 400ex will have reverse...

 

hmmm... i have finally found some info on the new ATK quads... (revamped cannondales)

i also found a dealership that bought out some new (well new in 2003) cannondale cannibals. ATK takes in older motors (from everyone who bought a quad under the cannondale name back when it was around) and they do a reliablity kit (not only does it bump it to a true 450cc, but it has new crank and piston and some other stuff that supposedly gets rid of any reliaiblity issues with them. the price to have the work done on an old motor is 2k through ATK. The dealer i found takes the 2003 cannibals, sent the engines to ATK for the updates, slapped em back in the quad... and it will be retitled as an 05 ATK, for 4200 bones..... im thinking that deal is too hard to resis, especially for EFI! (my biggest fear is reliability with the efi and the quad in general....) but i guess for all the revamped quads no one has had any issues so far.

they also claim 48 hp stock @ 11k rpms (dont know torque numbers) but i guess the dealership has dyno'd it and the corrected HP they get it closer to 44....

the whole idea of taking a laptop with me to adjust powerband (ie super torque in traction maps, or all power in the upper end for the dunes) at the click of a button both excites me, and scares me at the same time... (would be worried about loading bad maps...)

also the warranty is only 30 days! (and i thought the industry standard of 6 months was bad...lol) i told myself whatever quad i got i would put a HUGE warranty on it... maybe i should just have faith in them and go for it.

the big plus is i wouldnt have to add any cash to get this quad in my possesion (assuming i can get AT LEAST 4k for mine...seeing as how there are some 00's and 01s that were selling for 3500-5k.

this is the only quad i have talked about to people that has actually gotten me excited (yfz i didnt want...and that kind of LEFT me with the honda, which i was so-so about)

any of you guys open for riding this weekend? we have a few people going to the badlands on sunday. (the ds probably wont be going as i dont think i can get a battery in time)

ill make a new thread to see if i can meet up with some people again.

 

That sounds like a pretty sweet price on the ATK / C-Dale. Do they offer an extended warranty? Perhaps that would be enough to make the purchase easy. $4200 is a pretty good price. If you go over there before you buy it, take some pics and post em, I'd like to see what they look like. I was considering the C-Dales when I bought my 2003 Baja, but opted to go with the DS since it'll be really easy to maintain two of the same machine.