I know allot have asked how high can you jump a Scrambler, we'll I experienced the "Jaw Breaker" jump at Switch back MX track last night for practice night. The people said I fell vertically over 6'. Let me tell you this is over the limit. My handlebars were smashed into the tops of the fenders, the head light tail light & was popped out & hanging & my helmet got pushed up over my face from smacking the cross bar pad w/ my chin & nose which was bleeding. I'm lucky I didn't break by jaw as the name implies but it is very sore & swolen today. I went back out for another 6 laps after I fixed everything but this time slowed WAY down for the big jumps. I have Works struts on front & PEP on back which gave me more & more confidence after every jump I hit. The suspension is a HUGE improvement. It handles absolutly great. It just made me want to go faster & faster after every jump I encountered. The landings about 4' vertical fall were as soft as a pillow. After the incident, I spoke to some other 400EX guys who race there & they said they just slowly roll over the big jumps but my first hot lap on a new track, I found the big jumps the hard way. It's my luck but they just peaked out the jumps so they shot you straight up in the air. W/ weight reductions, my quad weights about 465lb & I'm 200lb so you can adjust your jump height accordingly. In 4wd, w/ the 12:1 cool head & porting, the quad rockets out of corner faster than allot of the MX bikes & a couple actually pulled over to let me pass which I of course didn't. It's lower & wider than stock so I can get croocked in air w/o any problems landing, keep it wide open in the corners even the rough stuff w/ out a hint of high siding & it really accellerates well since the suspension keeps my body VERY stable. The power seems to get to the ground MUCH better verses stock where your tires are bouncing in the air half the time. I plan on going back next Wednesday for some more fun & riding but hopefully no blood this time. I had so much fun. Sorry for the long post but I havn't had a chance to coment on the new suspension since last year when I put it on because I had no time for the MX track & several people at that time, were asking me for my evaluation on a MX track.
Jim Maloney 98 400 Scrambler
http://y42.photos.yahoo.com/jim400scram

 

The more I read your posts the more you seem like a guy who needs a HPD race chassis! If I had some, actually a lot of extra cash, I would definately try that out. I went to the MX track once with the Scrambler but I found it really bulky on the jumps. It turned great and like you say accelerates better than most, but once I hit those jumps my front end just seemed like an anchor and it would take off crooked too... I still have stock size tires though.

Once I get used to jumping my Raptor and riding more extreme, I will take the Scrambler back to the track for a real test. For now I will stick to drag racing and mudding the beast. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]

 

I few weeks back I went to the track on my scrambler, could'nt of been more than 15 minutes and the chain snapped and went through the transmission.(my fault it was too tight.hehe.) I hit a couple doubles before it broke and it felt like a caddy airborne.

2000 SCRAMBLER 400 2X4

SCRAMDADDY400

 

Speaking of passing MXr's. I went to a track with a friend who has a pretty hot KX 250 (really alot more bike than he needs) last week. We started out just playing around, I have no allusions about outrunning him, and ended up going for a 2 lap race. I thought he would just completely blow me out, but was surprised to find that he couldn't take the first turn near as fast as I could. I completely covered him in dirt and rocks from my roost and was increasing my lead big time because of the next three tight turns on the track, plus it was so dry that he couldn't see anything at all because of the dust I was kicking up. Half way around I noticed he was getting pretty well covered up in my dust so I backed off alittle and he ended up catching me in a whoop section and passed me comming off a table top just before the last straight away. I was able to just stay on his tail coming into the turn before the set of turns where we started and was able to edge him out in the same turn I took him on in the beginning. I had no mercy on him on this lap and completely romped him all the way through. I was getting some really big air for the Scrambler and almost wasted my wrist coming off the last jump on one of the doubles (I usually just roll over the first one and sail over the next). I bet I had a 50 yard lead on him because I had time to exit the track, park in the pit area beside the track and take my helmet off before he got to the finish. I know it was all because of the dust (or mostly) but it was sure a good feeling to put it on him like that, especially against a bike like a KX250.

 

I did see a full race HPD quad for sell a couple years ago used, it might have been Hidlers quad I think but I couldn't afford it at the time. I think it was about $9000 or something close to that which doesn't seem like allot concidering what your getting. I wish I could afford a full HPD MX race quad & then keep mine for trail riding, snow, mud, hills etc everything the 4wd shine in but I had to settle on just one to do it all so I chose the Scambler. I only go to the practice night & never race although I know I would have beaten a couple of the riders out there for saturdays race for sure plus it was muddy. Since I've taken the weight off it's actually acts much differently jumping & I'll be getting some photos of it jumping for my photo album soon I hope.
Jim Maloney 98 400 Sscrambler
http://y42.photos.yahoo.com/jim400scram

 

Xplor,
You should get some aluminum wheels. This makes the quad jump completely different. You have to keep the front down instead of trying to pull it up.

 

well according to bystanders i have had my 2x4 400 scrambler around 7-8 feet in the air and still havnt broke a thing and its still stock but i guess that may have just been luck i guess time will tell

 

Hughes -- I second that. I was out playing with jumps this weekend and found that pulling up on the bars makes life more difficult when jumping the Scrammy. Most times I just let the bike take herself through the jump, with little or no body english. Usually pretty smooth. Oh yeah -- just a reminder to let off that gas while you're in the air guys. You can get those rear wheels/chain/sprockets going WAY too fast for themselves in open air with a PVT. Which means, on landing, something's gonna give.