Over the weekend I had a group of 4 of us ride approximately 85 miles "reading the topo maps". There were 2 2004 DS Baja X's, 1 2002 DS Baja, and 1 2005 LTZ250. It was in the AZ desert with your typical trails with about 20% mountain ROCKY BOULDER trails in the trip. In the first 10 miles the LTZ250 got a hole in its rear tire inside sidewall, not huge, just enough to leak. He plugged it and put some air in it and headed home after he found it was still leaking. Then about 25 miles into the trip I hit a rock that wasnt very big, but it seemed to have pinched my front tire to the rim and made 2 holes in the sidewall. We were without air but we had plugs. So I put a big rock under the tire as a jack and pushed the valve stem in to let air suck back in to at least 0 pounds of air instead of -10. This still wasnt enough to make the trip on. Then the guy on the 2002 Baja went back to the highway and called for an air pump and plugs. In the meantime, I was sitting forever with the other guy with the matching 2004 BajaX. Then 2 older very nice guys out on Yamaha 4x4's pulled up and had a electric pump and all the plugs in the world and a can of ruber cement. The guy was local and said keep the kit and find me later in town and return it, you'll need it more than us on the trip. AMAZING! I got cell reception (barely) so I called the 02 to tell him I have air and all the plugs we need. So I had plugs in my sidewall...2 holes and air held. I was worried about the rest of the trip. I decided to go on with the other 04 just a little further up the trail while waiting for the 02. The 02 was going to call his wife and say forget the kit we have what we need now, but she was close so he waited and got them from her. On his way back to find us he hit a rock and pu t ahole in his front tire sidewall......THANKFULLY he waited for the air and plugs from his wife! He found us just after the LTZ250 had gone all the way back to town and put a tube in his rear tire and came back up. So it all worked out for us to continue on the trip. We went up an old Jeep 4x4 trial that was insane with boulders about 14" to 24" diameter. It was a hairy ride with most of the time 2 wheels only on the rocks. The throttle was the scary part with the quad going left and right. We were way up the trail and refused to turn around after that terrain. Then at the top of the mountain heading down the other side was a rock cliff. I was the first idiot to go off it (were in the middle of nowhere and on the peak of a big mountain edge) and I was quite surprised I made it ok. Then the LTZ250 took the different approach and used the side of the mountain and part of the cliff to go down.....worked for him. The other DS's did fine going right down the cliff. We found an old landing strip that we actaully set out to find after we saw it on the topo map, that was very cool. We kept heading on with our trip around the mountains. Found houses and dude ranches in the middle of nowhere and people living out there. At this point I started to think about fuel and realized that the 02 Baja had traveld more than the other DS's and he will run out first. Also the LTZ250 traveled more than even him at this point...but its a stock 250....fuel....not an issue for him. We eventually found the pipeline road that we needed and it was wide and flat......we picked up the pace.....5th gear. Before we hit the Interstate 40 the 02 DS went on reserve. It was still possible to get to a gas station out off the interstate.....about 15 miles away. We actually got lucky again and found a house that a guy had quads outside and we asked for a gallon of fuel....no problem. We got to the gas station and filled up. The 2004 Bajax's took 2 gallons each.....means we had 1.5 left. We took an old beat up road that was mostly washed away back to the city and found spots on that to go as fast as a DS will go. We got our second wind and started night riding too fast and too hard. The other 04 Bajax was kinda kickin back in the back of the group but couldnt see crap with all the dust from the 3 in front of him. Well, I was in the front leading the way and looked back at only 2 quads behind me. I , we turned around and about 1/2 mile back was the 04 BajaX up on its side and the rider in the sand all sprawled out and silent. I said "YOU OK!" and he said ".....yup". I think it hurt more that his DS was no longer perfect. He hit a boulder about 20" x 15" and it rode right up it and flipped and threw him. It put 2 HUGE holes in his front sidewall. I took a wad of the plugs .....seriously.....around 10 plugs and rubber cement in just one hole and 5 in the other.....but it sealed enough. The clutch handle was bent, bars slightly bent, hand guard....tweaked hard, and a a-arm armor loose. At this part of the trip we were close to town and he found a street and went straight home. His DS is registerd and totally street legal in AZ. The 3 of us continued on. The last 5 miles from home was interesting yet.... We ended up going through a under development area just about a mile from the city limits. As we went over the obsticles they had setup to keep people out, we found ourselves in a place that looked impassible. Then in the distance we noticed security headed at us.... We made the impassible ..... passible, just took that to do it. Oh boy what a trip and oh the pain the next day.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]

Pack plugs and air!

Water and a couple cell phones....eventually you will find service.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]

Here are some HUGE Pics:
DS's on the Mountain
Darin's DS
Kyriacos's DS
Tony's DS
Gram's LTZ250

 

Sounds like a good ride.Time for some new tires though.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Dang Daren, sounds like a freekin journey!!! You guys are tough on them bikes man! Tell KIt that it must be hard chilling in the top knotch strip clubs (and get paid for it) and then going for a nice ride on the weekends, you guys have it rough[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

Next time I think I better be your guide. Dumont!!! get ready. BTW-Who wrecked the other 04 ds?


crazy *****!! And yah the stock tire fronts are soft for desert. There are much thickers tires on the market.

Ill have to take you guys on a ride out a nellis sand dunes through some big whoops and ware you out!!!LOL

 

Tony was the other 04 DS BajaX. You met him at Armagosa when we were all out there. He is the mild rider, very much unlike us bananna heads out front.

OH, something to know! Kyriacos's rear dirt (mud) tires...... = PAIN!!!!! I was riding behind him and he decided to nail it, in that one shot he took out both auxillary lights completely and cracked my main headlight lens. He pelted my legs and pitted my entire front plastics. He has 22" Gators for a 4x4 on the back. Lucky it was on a small pebble area, if it was bigger rocks....that would have been way worse. We usually have him in back or way way out front. His tires are great for harsh dirt trails out here with them being 6 ply, think even the sidewalls are.

As you would expect, we raced. We were on asphalt headed up a mild grade. This was a top end race. I was at 7500 to 7600rpm in 5th (that was all of it) and he was in 5th at 8000rpm (keep in mind he is 60lbs heavier than I and on 22" tires). We were exactly side by side for about a half mile till we let off. He has the exhaust, clutch kit, 22" rears and RW Rev box. Mine is the 04 X with end cap, jet, and K&N. I would bet if we were going downhill he would have left me. The weight is a huge thing... I am sure.

We were going so fast on the old 95 that I had to put my low beams on to see the road, my front end was so high at that speed and the back squats.........flyin! Oh yea.....the brakes work great too.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

I added links to some HUGE HUGE pics in the first post.