I'm typically enjoy mud and trail riding and have previously thought that sand was not for me, however, this past weekend, myself and a couple of friends went riding at some sand dunes. Man, was it fun. The Xplorer did excellent!!! Sand is one of the many places that the 2-stroke really shines. Long climbs up steep hills were easy to navigate due to the wheel spin created by the 2-stroke. I don't believe that my sp500 that I used to have would have done nearly as well as the Xplorer. In 2 or 4wd, my bike did much better than the prarie 400 2wd did.
Something else is that I rejetted again due to the Boyesen Rad valve. This time, I went down to a 195 on the main jet, and the bike really runs great with that jet. I can now wheelie in high range, whereas I couldn't before the jet change. The bike can easily pull the front wheels up in low range: much easier than before. Before the jet change, my plug was black, black, black. I haven't checked it since the jet change, but plan to this afternoon. I'm still looking for that "brown" color on the plug. Anyway, for you guys who think sand isn't for you, just give it a try. I did notice that it was very hard on my chain, as I had alot of slack in it after the ride. I think this was due to the times that the bike would sink in the sand and get the sand between the chain and sprockets really bad. I had well over 1.5 inches of slack in the chain after riding only a couple hours. That was more slack than I had gotten in it before riding over a few tanks of gas on trails and in mud. I adjusted the slack out after riding, and lubed it real good with chain wax. I hope I didn't do any major damage to the chain, as we're going to Mena, AR this coming weekend. I'm thinking of buying an extra chain in case mine breaks this weekend. Any advice???

Waylan

 

It`s official now your a SANDOHOLIC. I don`t know why your chain came loose the way you explained it. It does not seem right. Doing the same in mud would be close to the same conditions. I`ve heard the guys who run sand a lot keep their chain dry to prevent the sand from sticking to the chain. HTH

98 Scrambler 500