i have a yamaha raptor and im going to race it this sunday and i was wondering how can i set up my front shocks and back shock to handle desert terain and to haul butt throught the desert whoops i would apreciate it if someone could help me. im 5,10 150 pounds if this helps

 

Where are you racing, AMA District 37???

The Raptor is a no-show in desert racing, and for good reason. First off, it's absolutely essential that you widen the machine! I find Raptors to be way to narrow and tippy, for descent desert work! Even a tire/rim combination that has a greater offset, would be a big help. Wheel spacers if you are in a hurry and have no other options. A-arms and a wider axle, if you are going to do it right, but that means new shocks too, so it gets $$$$$. Frankly, my friends who bought Raptors, did not keep them very long, for these very reasons! If you are running stock tires, they probably won't hold up for one ride. (I run ITP Holeshot XC's, and have never had a flat!)

There are some nice articles about suspension tuning, but unfortunately I can't locate them right now. So, I will try to give you the basics:

First set your ride height/sag. Sitting on your bike in full riding gear, your shocks should sag about 30% of the shock travel in front, and about 20% in back. For example, a front shock with 9" of travel, should sag about 3". You can measure this with a yard stick, by having someone hold it somewhere on the frame, then you sit on the bike and they record how much it settles in. At 150 pounds you are light, so you will probably have to back the shock preload off a little (????), but not sure because the early Raptor springs are kind of mushy.

Set the compression and rebound damping to the factory settings (see your owners manual), and take the bike for a ride through some whoops. If it is bucking you (back end coming up to fast), increase the rebound damping. If the bike is trying to "swap ends" or feels "dead", decrease the rebound damping.

If it is bottoming on big jumps or you get that sinking feeling in the whoops, increase the compression damping. If it feels stiff, decrease the compression damping. My experience helping my friends tune their early Raptors, is that you will have to go in a couple of clicks on rebound, because the machine tends to buck in stock adjustment. Compression and rebound damping is all trial and error testing, so carry a screw driver with you and try different settings and see how you like them. It will take time..........

Of all my quads, I have the 400EX the most dialed in for desert. It has Works Performance shocks (Ultracross in back and Steelers with cans in front), and I like my rebound set kind of slow (so the back never bucks, but not so much that it is dead either). It literally floats throug the big whoops. I can actually go faster than a lot of machines with bigger displacement, because I can float along while they are getting bucked into the next county!

The Honda 450R dominates desert racing! Nine out of the top ten finishers at the Baja 1000 this year, were 450R's. That tell you something? Get yourself one!