My friend and I were flying along on the Myra rd in Porters Lake yesterday and had a scary experience. The trails were ice rutts with about 10 centimeters of snow covering them so traction wasnt too bad. We came upon a traditionally hazardous and very steep hill at at little too fast pace and here is what happened.
He was about 10 bike lengths ahead of me when he came up on the hill. I know he tried to stop but the ice was working its magic and he ended up doing a 180 at about 30 kph and managed to come to a stop by gunning it while sliding backwards(cant figure out why he didnt roll). I was almost able to come to a complete stop but of course it was too late for me as well. I started gaining speed while sliding on the ice and heading straight for a head on collision my by buddy. I had to make a concious decision to dump my baby or we would have both been hurt bad because I would have hit him at about 30 kph. I turned my wheels a gave it a shot of gas. She flipped right over and fnished the decent down the hill by sliding to a stop a few feet away from his 650 on its roof. I figured it would be totalled but when we flipped it over I found that the only damage was a 1 inch crack in my front fender where one of the bolts held the black plastic on and a slightly bent steering shaft and rack. We managed to pull the rack back into place and loosened the bolts holding the handlebars and moved them forward an inch or so to compensate for the belt shaft.
We finished our planned trip and to my delight the bent shaft didnt seem to cause any adverse effects.
I am however wondering if I should replace the shaft due to it possibly being weakened by bending and wheather it may break in the future?
Does anyone know how much this might cost?

 

PrairieDust

Sorry to hear ... glad you come out of it with as minimal damage as you did ... loved the comment on laying your baby down.

Cant help you on your question with the cost of the shaft but hoping you could help me with a question of mine...noticed on your sig you have progressive springs. Went into the dealer yesterday to order the progressive springs...they are hard to find and no dealer around here knows anything about them...found a dealer that knew about them and was going to order ITP wheels and the shocks. Parts manager said he rides with a couple 650 owners that got the springs and they dont like them...said it made their quads ride like old jeeps and he wouldnt recommend getting a pair. Said that one of them took the springs off and just pumped up the back shock and eliminated the pushy feeling. How do you like yours and does it have that adverse of an effect on the ride. I ride with alot of sports bikes and do whoops, corner at fairly good speeds, and this is when i notice that the front is a tad bit pushy. Am i going over board with the shocks just to eliminate the pushy feeling in these scenerios...crawling, off-camber, climbing and normal trial riding the suspension actually feels pretty good.

I know a few will read this and shake their head saying the idiot takes a 600 pound 4x4 on whoops...well that is where my partners ride so its where i ride periodically...also i have just been riding the beast for less then a year and can sitback, throttle it and make it 2/3s of the way through the whoop field before getting out of synch...figured at the start of this year i will own the entire whoop field (believe to be around 100 yds)...so yes that priaire can whoop ... kinda scarey at times however

Anyway, PrairieDust or anyone else that has uses the progressive springs, any insight would be appreciated...if i opt to get them I should just ask the parts manager for his friends number and buy from him aye.

 

PrairieDust - I'd want to get a better look the bend; you'll probably have to remove some plastic. If it's kinked you may want to spring for a new one.

Bosox07 - I've got the P.S. springs and preload adjusters. I think they're great and don't ride rough. It's the best thing you can do for the handling of the 650. BTW - my preload is set 1/3 up off the bottom of the adjuster threads.

 

I just replace the steering stem and it was around $125.00 US . I didn't realize till I removed the old one just how badly bent it was. It bent in the top bushing area and was chewing away the bushing and the top bracket.

Bosox07 The progressive front spring kit gives you 100% better handling and control, we run on the motorcross track, take the big jumps and rip through the whoops! If you adjust them to tight I guess they might make the front too stiff but that's the beauty of them, you can adjust them to how you want them!

 

Thanks Nova and Wrench

I am going to get them. Just wanted to confirm prior to.

Just for general info I ordered my ITP C-Series Wheels...not from that dealer either. Dealer was going to charge me over 300 dollars for the rims and 40 dollars to put the wheels on them...yes i was going to buy wheels from them too. Total purchase would have been approximately 600 bucks and they were going to charge me 40 - 50 dollars to put the tires on the rims. This just tagged me ... spending 600 dollars and they are going to nickel me for another 40 bucks. So i told them to hold off on the order...went to discount tires and asked them what they would charge me to put them on...discount tire said nothing if you get them through me...how much i asked. He said he would have to confirm with his rep monday...but priced some out recently for $45.00 each wheel...front or back. I said but i want the aluminum c-series billit wheels...he said yea I know...most do... 45 bucks a wheel and we will put your tires on them for free...my front DDs will be 48 each with my backs already in hand. I went from spending over 600 bucks to spending 300 if his rep confirms price. If your looking for wheels and rims dont overlook tire shops...they told me based on volume their mark-up for the product isnt nearly as high. Interested to see what Monday brings....

 

I agree on the tire dealers, Bosox07, one of our local car and truck tire dealers orders in tires from GBC and Kenda in volume; he can sell them alot cheaper than the ATV shops can.

 

Wow, if you can ge the C series rims for that price let me know, I will have you get me a few sets too! If their price isn't right you may want to check into Rocky Mountain ATV, they have some really good tire and rim packages.

 

Not sure if I looked up the right parts or not, but if I did....

Steering Shaft is $93.81
Handlebar is $29.06

These prices were from ronayers.com

 

NovaKaw650 what tire dealer are you referring too, i am in the market for a set of 26" bearclaws and am not to far from your area? thanks

PraireDust, if you bent the shaft you best have it checked out, I fell a tree on mine back in the fall and it cost about $200 to replace my handle bars, the shaft wasn't bent, but this would be a crucial safety concern.
blair

 

Try GCR Tire (Used to be Crown Tire) in Bridgewater for Bearclaws. (902) 543-5644. Where are you located, Blair?