Hills?

Waco?

??

Them big quads turn into big pigs when they face 300 feet of vertical climb on soft sand. Don't mean to sound cocky [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img] It's just kinda late!

 

DSchick I see you have some modded DS rigs though, and some of them really do run good........you have like 2 posts and I don't want to seem like I'm jumping in and ripping on your quads... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Shady, wish I could have seen your YFZ take Choke this weekend... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

BTW, you're gunna have to mail me your recipe...that was good stuff! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]
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As for my experience this weekend, the wierd weather that we had caused the sand to be very challenging. I only saw about three types of quads make it up choke.

1) YFZ450
2) TRX450R
3) Modified Banshee's or 250R's

Preditors, Raptors, KFX700's, and Z400's just couldn't make it. The quads that weighed more than about 350 pounds had the power, but were too heavy to keep their momentum up. The Z400's just didn't have the power.

On Thunder, my bone stock 450R busted out a can o' whoopass on a piped Z400....then a piped 450R busted out the whoopass on me... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

It's amazing how much a pipe & open airbox will wake the 450R up!

 

change a front sprocket on a ds and they seem to climb hills pretty good, put some engine mods to them and it gets better, extend the swing arm and it can really start to be fun and then add a little nitrous and the 450 class will be wanting some mods themselves.

 

unless you want to get left behind

 

On the dry sand/good conditions, I'm pulling 2/3 of the hill in 3rd, then carrying the rest at the top of 2nd. With the crappy wet sand on Saturday, I was downshifting at about halfway and carrying the top in 2nd still, but not quite as fast. I could get pretty good air over the top when it was dry. That is starting at the bottom on the flat, not down by the tree so it's a short run-up.

Hun Runner Pale: 10 gallon batch--10# 2-row, 1# pale malt, 1# pale home-roasted @ 350 30 min. (wet), 1# C-40, 1# rye. Mash at 152 for 3 hours. Cascade and Hallertaur bittering hops, as well as flavor & nose. Secret amounts. Irish moss for clarity. 70 minute boil. 2 week ferment with American Ale yeast from Wyeast. Prime with powder malt (boiled w/2 cups water), 1.25 cups per 5 gallons. Many other small details. O.G. 1.042 or so, F.G. 1.009.

If anybody understands any of this, you get a free pint.

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

I caught most of that. I guess that makes up for the big head that you poured me. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

The DS is the best dune quad out there i believe. It may not be the lightest but it is the most reliable. We were out at st. anthony just before memorial weekend and it was super wet and sticky up choke cherry. I had no problems making it up but it was a little slow at the top. There was a quadzilla there that couldnt even make it up and the yfz's were about the same as me and a stock 450r did not make it up. A couple piped raptors didnt make either. Now once out in the dunes and duning hard is where the DS shines. It can take whatever you throw at it. I may be a little biased but the DS is no doubt the most reliable high performance sport quad out there. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

what will make it and wont is irrelivant points and reflect only on the rider not the quad. ecspecially is the comparison of the YFZ and 450R. The reason i beliete the 450R is a good choice is because of the torque numbers and WHERE those torque numbers lie on the powercurve of the motor. The YFZ would be second choice because its fast and nimble and sexy as all hell but i like to lug sometimes. ive never ridin a ds650, but i cant trow that around in the dunes im sure like my 290lbs 250r or these 350lbs 450's im sure.

 

My son has a YFZ, and I have a new '05 DS650, and we were at St. Anthony's last week. As far as hillclimbing goes, both the YFZ and the DS climbed Choke Cherry Hill, both before the rain, and after the rain. We got there on Monday, and left for home about noon on Friday. But even though both ATVs made it up and over Choke Cherry Hill several times, the YFZ did it faster each and every time, partly because my son is only 13, and I outweigh that toothpick of a kid by a hundred pounds. In fact, if you include the difference in the weight of the ATVs, the YFZ had a 200+ lb advantage, so it should have been faster at hillclimbing.

For Jumping they seem to be pretty much equal. The YFZ is easier to make mid-air corrections with because it is sooooo much smaller, but for actually landing the ATV, the DS is much plusher. We were pulling off some 70 to 80 foot jumps, and the 12" suspension travel DS650 simply takes abuse like that in stride.

For drag racing on level ground our stock YFZ beats our stock DS650 (rider weight plays in here as well I'm sure).

For riding wheelies, ... NO CONTEST, the YFZ is a lot easier to wheelie. The DS will wheelie no problem, but the smaller and lighter YFZ is a lot easier to balance once you get the front end up, and that makes it a lot easier to keep the front end up. My son and I were having wheelie contest, and he beats me badly. His longest was about an eigth mile on level sand, and his most completely nuts wheelie was when he wheelied the entire way up Thunder Hill, in second gear. After that uphill wheelie stunt of his, I had to stop myself from yelling at him, because you couldn't do uphill wheelies like that. Only trouble was, he had just done it, so, ... so much for not being able to do that, [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/img]. Still, he got told to tone it down a bit.

The YFZ is pretty tough to beat for performance in the dunes. But after having ridden both machines extensively I would still vote for the DS as best sand dune 4-stroke ATV. I just like riding the DS more than the YFZ. So be sure to ride each of the ATVs you are thinking about before buying them.