<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: jfar

Got Works shocks on the front from a guy on this forum (triple rated and set up for my exact body weight) and went riding yesterday in the desert. Wide open in 5th the bike just glides over the terrain. Big difference in the pounding that I took from before. I am racing in the Parker 250 next Saturday (www.bitd.com for info) with two other friends who have over 20 years on big bikes and atvs. They also gave the DS a thumbs up deemed it race ready (meaning it's ready to run 250 miles and NOT break down). I added an air filter and the big gun rev box (which I am thinking of taking off and putting the stock one back on - there seems to be a miss in the timing now that wasn't there before. Any experience from the forum with this issue?) and full skid plates and I am ready to go and have a blast!</end quote></div>

Good luck Bro!

 

OK. I'm back and in one piece. More importantly, the bike is still in one piece. 2 of us made it 165 miles (2 loops) in just under 5 hours. Got to say, what a rush! Noticed a couple things about the DS. On the flats, there seems to be a low top end to the engine. I have a Trail Tech Vapor Tach that registered a hard cap around 7,000 rpm's. This limited the top speed to about 65 mph. I thought that with a Big Gun box I would be able to get around 8500 rpm's. We found that, while wide open in 5th gear, the throttle still had a ton of room to go before it was all the way open. We would reach a top end and, giving it more gas, only wasted gas. By our best guess, we did find that the DS could go nearly 85 miles on one tank (stock size). The shocks made a big difference - there were probably 10 total miles of volkswagen size whoops. While navigating those whoops we did notice that the DS tended to have a mind of it's own. If you had one tire flat and one hitting the whoops, the DS would try and dig in and turn. I learned that the hard way - dumped it at mile 25 pretty hard. We both got up, dusted off and moved on (heck, I had 55 miles to go). It's a beast that needs to be manhandled. I need to try and find out what the top speed limits are on the DS and what it can run at for extended times. I'm actually thinking about the Baja 250 in March but I don't want a Honda 450 passing me like I was driving to Church on Sunday (it happened - in fairness he was a pro and on a maxed out bike - probably moving about 95+). What do you guys think?

 

SOUND FUN !!!!! i want to do it. what is your gearing? 65 seams a bit slow.. when my ds was stock it would run faster than that. my setup now can handle a steady speed of 85+ for as long as i can hold on to it. i am running 15-40 gearing. how did you finish over all in the race? were there a lot of racers? would like to know more about this style of racing. please enlighten us (me anyway)

 

get a CT pipe taller tires and 16 front sprocket you should be in the 90 MPH. I would all so have the valves check, and get some upper A-arms for a more stable ride.

 

The race info is at www.bitd.com. Check for their 2009 series and the Epic Parker 250. There were probably 200+ riders. They will post the final numbers soon. I'll get some photos up as soon as I can. I did i because I wanted at my age I wanted a challenge without the massive danger and technical nature of a true motocross. You had one team of 3 big bike riders who won their class that were 16, 45ish and 71. I am not lying! We came in 6th out of 8 in our class (the first timer class). I think we would have done much better - at least 3rd - if we were educated on the intricacies of the race. The first two in our group would have placed in the pro division - there was no beating them. They finished the 250 miles in under 5 hours. The timing of the first two riders was critical. Also, if the DS ran 10-15 miles per hour faster we could have picked up at least 20-30 min because of the flats distances and I probably would have picked up 10 min had I not played superman off the bike either! The reality of the race is that if you have ridden any trailing riding in the desert (whoops, washes, hills, rocks, etc) you can ride a desert race.

I am definitely going to check the gearing, get new bearings in the front (they are starting to loosen up a bit too much), check the valves and look into a little wider A-arms. Other than that, desert racing will always remain a fun hobby for me. I'm going to experiment with the stock rev limiter and the Big Gun I purchased. I am not sure it was working at all.

Thanks for the tips - keep them coming!

 

I used to race in Parker all the time when I lived in Havasu. I've never done the 250. I use to do solo 100 mile races.

 

If it was my quad for JUST desert racing:
Shocks Front /Rear
A Arms 1 Wider 1 forward More Travel ( and still Race Legal)
Plus 2-4 Swinger Travel rolls better through the whoops
42 FCR Carb better performance over stock good gas mileage, 45 could work also
11;5 Pistion Stock Bore (works with the cams better)
Shim Under Bucket
Midrange Cams Web R/W/R The Bom Oldman
Ported Intake - Head- Dunno if i would do any thing to the valves?
R/W/R CDI or Votex
Change Gearing (520 chain is lighter faster acceration) 530 is STRONGER
SKID PLATE ALL YOU CAN Belly A Arms Swing arm
ITP 22 Rear 23" fronts on 9" rims Red
HID LIghting
Plus 1 Chromoly Steering Stem with anti Vibration Clamps &lt;--Must have
Padded plus 3 Seat
IMS Foot Pegs way stronger than stock

Strap on and Hang on FULL THROTTLE IT!
man this list can go on and on

 

ERBEDS650, thanks for the list. If money were not an object, this would be a great list. I like the gearing change, steering stem, chain and maybe the A Arms. I am really going to keep the engine stock - that generally equates to less maintenance. I'll let you all know how the speed thing works out over the next week. Gotta be ready to fly at the Baja 250!

 

I have a tough question for the long time DS owners out there - a little info first: I own an 04 DS650 that is mostly stock. It's got front shocks, a big gun rev box, power tip and new rubber. it was still brand new when I got it - the owner never rode it. My racing teammate just got an 05 Baja DS650. It's got aftermarket +1 front a-arms, +1 rear axel, desert gas tank, big gun rev box and a twist throttle. Basically the same bike except his is a Baja and mine is not. We tested the two bikes next to each other yesterday. Maxed out in 5th on my bike was about 66. He walked away from me - at least 12 to 15 mph faster.

My questions: Does the Baja setup weight significantly less than the standard DS? Should it be that much faster?

What do you guys think?

 

What are both of you running for gearing? That will make a huge difference on the big end.