i will be purchasing a new quad very soon, almost made up my mind on a raptor, but then i started looking at all the xtra's on the Baja for the same price.
ive had alot of time on both a 2002 raptor with CT pipe, and few other mods, and a 2001 DS 650 with pipe and 22 inch tires. and i love em both, the only complaint about the raptor is its size, i feel kinda cramped on it, im 6ft. 250. i love how wheelie happy the Raptor is, the DS is the same way with 22, but not as easy, i feel right at home on the DS as far as launching it Etc.
the only worry i have about the DS is my buddys old one, the Battery always went to hell, and had electrical problems. (if ya ride with the lights on, and ride, when u shut it off, it wont start, the battery wont charge) and the fan was screwed up.
So if any of u DS riders could give me some advice, and let me know about any probs uve had,
and if the Baja;s also have these probs aswell. thanks

 

batteries are always a problem for every atv simply because people don't maintain them properly. In your friend's case, I would say he probably has a bad voltage regulator/rectifier box. There are some people that have alot of problems with these, but I personally believe they have these problems because of their battery maintanance practices, or they are simply running lights pulling way too many watts.

for more specific details on the voltage regulator and battery problems people have had, search for "batteries" or "battery" in this forum. I will say that there really have been only a few people op this board with these problems, only 5 or 6 that I can think of. And if there is a battery problem, the DS wiring is very simple and straight forward and is very easy to diagnose.

-Tom

 

you should talk to my buddy about the tranny problems with his 02 raptor, and the fact that he can't stay with me on our back yard track because of the tippy/wheelie nature of the raptor. i am 6'2 and 240lbs and he is close to my size and he looks alot more comfortable on my ds than the rappy.

 

gear the ds down and it will whellie with any raptor[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] it becomes the same hit the throttle and hang on machine the raptor is, i can come up on a stream and hit the juice and the front will come up.

 

its simple...... roost or be roosted....buy the raptor!!!!

 

I have a DS and My wife has a Raptor. I am 6'2" and 220#. I just don't feel comfortable on the Raptor. I won't get into some bashing thing about speed of the two just the bottom line. Comfort is key. You are going to spend a lot of saddle time on this quad, get one you feel comfortable riding. You will feel like you are just getting started after 1/2 day of riding with the DS while those similar in size to you on Raptor's will feel done for the day.

You can always add more power to either so, don't let that decide it (even though the Rotax is a better power-plant [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] )

Also, my buddy who also has a DS is looking for a quad for his wife. He got on my wife's Raptor to see and decided then that he was getting another DS for her.

 

it's still amazing how many raptors are in this site taking turn bashing ds's (this is a bombardier site correct) oh well i guess we can be the bigger group and just bite our tounge and kick there ***[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

I will tell you this once you get the DS and really get some seat time it will be HARD to ride anything else!

 

isn't that the raptor that had to buy demonds a steak dinner for what losing to the ds? they all say there, there but i need to get pictures on line here we just got some back of my wife racing raptors i was even a little shocked at the gap, but i know it is all about rider, so if a ds wins it only because it was a better rider. well my 10 yr old found a bad raptor rider and raced him with the 400 and even won, i just laughed at first, but at the end i realised he was going to win i got kind of excited. well enjoy what ever you get, there both nice machines, i would like a reverse i think. but i wouldn't want to give up the suspension i have or the way the ds is put together. bottom line you can make either machine do what you want, if it is wheelies get a 13 dollar sprocket from rockey mountain. and with your size the ds is the better fit, you don't see large guys on raptors as often, that is what makes me shake my head a 140 pound riders on a raptor thinking he did something if he beats a 250 rider on a ds.

 

Get both, its only money!!! Just kidding.

If you are not going to put more money into the quad (motor mods, suspension...) get a DS.
If you are going to put money in both suspension and motor mods, get a Raptor.
If you are going to put money only into the motor, get a DS.
If you like doing working on your quad all the time, get a Raptor. Jetting 2 carbs is not fun when you just want to change the main jets though.

Just my 2 cents.

ba01raptoraz