I have 2 2006 BMS 200cc quads and I'm wanting to do some modificating/upgrading to them but, I am very new to the quad mod world and have lots of questions! I submitted a post yesterday but, guess no one has any BMS quads that read or look at these forums so, I thought I'd change up the way I ask a bit! First off...I know what spacers do and I know what A-arms do but, I wanted to know if I could get away with just using spacers to get that extra front end stability or would I have to do the complete A-arm conversion? Any input would be great! Thanx!

 

You probably didn't get any responses because nobody here owns one, or bought one and immediately realized their mistake and dumped it off on somebody else. All these off-brand Chinese, Taiwanese, whatever else cheap quads like these are to put it nicely... sub-par. Honestly the phrase "you get what you pay for" never had more meaning.

Good luck finding any aftermarket parts like extended a-arms for an off-brand like that, the aftermarket companies typically only make parts for the major manufacturers, as there's no money in selling parts for a quad that hardly anybody owns, and most people that own one of the cheapies like you have either sell them within the first year for a better machine, or have no interest in better performance and won't buy parts for them.

I would strongly push away from the wheel spacer idea as well. Most of the time the negative consequences of wheel spacers far outweigh the added width of 2-4 inches. That amount of width isn't hugely noticable, however, the spacer creates additional leverage from the wheels onto the suspension components, which will create a number of problems.

It'll make the front suspension noticably softer because of the additional leverage, which means more roll in corners, which completely counteracts any added stability of the increase in width. That extra leverage also means the bottom-out resistance and ability to soak up jumps and big bumps will decrease. The extra stress on the front end will also accelerate wear of the wheel bearings, ball joints, tie rod ends, and a-arm bushings. Definitely not a good thing when replacement parts are hard to come by on an off-brand like that. One of the most annoying things to me with wheel spacers and offset wheels is that the wheel is farther from the pivot point, and bump-steer becomes a lot more noticable in rough terrain. That makes the machine harder to ride, harder on your body, slows you down, and in many cases can rip the handlebars right out of your hands and break a tie rod end in a situation that wouldn't have affected you otherwise.

Spacers on the rear will make it a bit more stable, but also make it easier to bend the axle, which is usually just barely strong enough on the off-brand quads.

To summarize: Wheel spacers aren't a good idea, the only place I could justify the use is if they were required to make clearance for larger tires on a 4x4, and even then you'll have to watch out for the negative consequences even more because of the big tires, that's another compromise i'm not even going to get started on.

I don't want to sound harsh or put down what you ride, but in all honesty, I think if you're looking for more performance from your quads, sell them and buy a couple used quads from a good established manufacturer. In my opinion, all the quads that come out of taiwan, china, indonesia, and all those countries are a mickey mouse version of a real quad. I don't know how or where you ride, but i think even a lower-level quad like a 300ex would be a big upgrade in several ways. Not only will it be a lot quicker, wider, more stable, and better suspended, but also more reliable and infinitely easier to find aftermarket parts if you decide to upgrade later on. I would happily take a used quad from the 80's or 90's that was made by a real manufacturer over a brand new one that came from china.

That's just my $.02 though.

 

I used 3 inch spacers on the rear of my 250 toa toa and no problems.It handles much better. bought them on ebay,under 30 dollars.

 

I thank you for responding and your honesty! Regarding my bikes....well I bought them because it's what I can afford! It was a great deal and allowed me to get something for both my wife and I! I can understand completely about "you get what you pay for" completely but, this is what I own...they are mine...no payment...no nothing just all mine so, that's whay I'm trying to reach out and see what others have done to theres! Sadly though it appears that either I'm the ONLY person on the planet...or whatever...that owns these bikes! I know I can't be but, I'm hoping for a response from one of them because although I do appreciate your feedback you started getting hung up on the "brand" of my bikes instead of my actual question! Hey it's cool though! Everybody has there own opinion! I'll just hope for the best and guess be the only one with moded up BMS's!

 

I thought i did answer your actual question pretty well, i didn't intend to bash your choice of a ride. Basically I said that you won't be able to get wider a-arms for it, and the wheel spacers can do more harm than good. If you like what you ride that's cool, I understand why you chose them, I admit the prices of the off-brands are much more appealing than the big brands. You'll just have to live with it the way it is or modify parts for other machines to fit if you do want to mod it. I brought up the brand that you ride primarily because it greatly reduces your options for hopping it up because if you look at any aftermarket parts supplier, you'll see they only have parts for the big name companies, the less common machines like yours usually get ignored because like I said, the aftermarket companies wouldn't be able to sell enough parts to turn a profit.

Sometimes the off-brand machines such as yours are actually partially or completely based on the design of a name brand quad, and in those cases the aftermarket parts for the name brand quad can work on the "remarkably similar" off-brand machine. I've seen this in several cases that the designs were based off of tried and true japanese designs like the yamaha blaster or raptor 350. This is one of the reasons the off brands can be made for so much cheaper, there's little or no r&d department or design process because all the work is based off somebody else's design. Looking at the pictures and info I can find about the BMS 200, i can't recognize any similarities with the name brand machines, if it is based off one. It almost looks like the chassis is based off a suzuki z250 but I haven't compared pictures of them side by side to confirm it.

That might be something worth researching if you have some free time and want to pursue modifying your bms's. Look at other machines in the same size class as yours, (200-250cc sport quads) and see if you can find one that the design might have been based on. It could be a completely original design though, looking at the specs one that that stands out to me is it weighs nearly 100 lbs more than other sport quads in that class, which makes me think it's probably not a borrowed design or the weight would be closer to others in that class. That number is hard to believe though, maybe a misprint? I'm not sure how a 200cc could weigh more than my 700!

 

That's a great idea! I'll see what I can find this weekend! I've already confirmed with a buddy of ine that has a Honda 250ex I think it is...any ways...I confirmed that the wheel lug bolt pattern is the same so, I can upgrade my wheels and rubber! Honestly the only other thing I really want to do would be widen the front ends a bit...if i can...and would love to upgrade or mod out my carb! I know I'm not gonna turn it into a racer but, would just like a bit more power if I could! Question...would I honestly get a bit more power in moddin up the carb if I could or no? Also, what about exhaust? What's currently on there is stock but, could a better pipe help out at all? Like I said I know it's not gonna be a racer but, just trying to trick it out the best I can to make it "mine"! You know? Hey and thanx again for the input bro! Really do appreciate it!

 

Tires are always a good upgrade, if your tires are the big balooney 22's in the pics i've found of the bms 200's, a nice flat profile tire like a maxxis razr will make a huge difference in the handling, probably more so than widening it because the flatter tire means you're moving the contact patch farther from the center, plus i bet those stock ones are pretty thin and weak, so it'll roll a lot in the corners and get flats easily. What size tires are on it now? Most tires are universally sized so if the stock wheels are worth keeping you could just get new tires mounted up to them. With a quad that size I would go with a 20-11-9 on the rear and a 21-7-10 or 22-7-10 on the front. (tires are sized as height x width x wheel diameter, in inches) I always like the front end to sit a bit higher than the rear, gives it a more aggressive stance and feels more comfortable to me. I would go with a maxxis razr or itp holeshot on the front, and either a maxxis razr, itp holeshot, or kenda klaw (a little less sporty but will hold onto loose and rough terrain better) for the rear. These are all tried and true tires for sport quads that can be found pretty cheaply online. Check out rockymountainatv.com, they have great deals on tires, tire and wheel combos, and free shipping with anything over $100.

I don't know what kind of carb would come on that, but I imagine it's the cheapest design they could come up with. Replacing it with a good quality mikuni flatslide carb could wake it up a great deal, if nothing else it'll give it a lot better throttle response which will make it feel faster because it'll take off quick when you give it a sharp jab on the throttle. You would need to measure the intake and exhaust side of the carbs you have and go from there, you want something that's going to work with the original airbox and intake manifold.

As far as exhaust, on a 200 you probably won't feel a huge difference, because the small motors are built with a lot of bottlenecks in the system, the carburetors, cam, valves, and intake all tend to be just big enough to function with all the other components stock. It's not like the big bore quads, a bolt-on exhaust and fuel programmer can yield power gains over 10 hp sometimes because the exhaust on the bigger machines become exponentially more restrictive. Often the biggest bottleneck for the exhaust system on small quads is the header itself, not the silencer. You wouldn't be able to get an aftermarket header, and to get one custom made just wouldn't be worth the money.

It's surprising though how a little more sound can make a quad feel faster and more fun to ride. If you have some fabricating skills or know somebody that does, you could purchase aftermarket exhaust silencers for other quads and just weld it into the original header and midpipe and make some mounts. Realistically you're looking at less than 1 hp gain with just a silencer upgrade on a 200, so it would only be worth it if you desire a better sound. It won't be a racer but it'll sound more like one. I've done this before on older quads that no longer had any aftermarket support, it was an old suzuki quadsport 230 my neighbor had and I snagged a used FMF powercore 4 on ebay for $100 for a 250ex and welded it all up. There wasn't a noticable power gain because these small engines are restricted everywhere, but it sounded pretty tough for a 230 and he swore it felt twice as fast.

 

Question regarding the tire size - I have 22-10-10 for my rears now and the Kenda Dominator comes in 20-11-10, 20-11-9 or 22-11-10, 22-11-9 and actually the Maxxis Razr has the exact same tire sizes as the Kenda except they offer a 6-ply on the 20-11-9 and 22-11-9! So, I'm really working on a budget and would really love to be able to use my current wheels! Will I be able to use my wheels? I mean cause my wheels are...you said the middle number is the width right...10's and these are 11's!?

 

Width isn't a big deal, an inch of difference is negligible. 22-10-10 is an odd tire size to have, but regardless, an 11 or 12 inch width will work, actually better than a 10 in my opinion because it gives better protection against rim damage from rocks since the tire sticks out more from the wheel.

 

Very cool! I'm glad that it will work! Now I can't till I have the money to buy them! lol