never mind I know who you are now! I recognize the fullbore orange in your sig

 

For $1600 the rec rider could have himself
A-arms
Swing-arm
well on the way to good shocks

Or like 6 spare Durablue axles


Don't spend to much cash on your raptor if you want to mx...sell it and take what you were about to put into it and you should be darn near a new 450

I can't say I recommend Yamaha...but I can recommend against spending a ton of money on a mx Raptor

 

you should see this guys quad it's SWEET. best looking raptor I've ever seen! and I don't like raptors do to bad past experance

raptorguy how did you finish this year?

 

Ridley--That's been my opinion of Lonestar also. I have not personally used it, but several of the racers that I share a garage with do, and I've seen nothing but problems. But as others have stated, this sport is about how much do you want to spend and are you really going to use your equipment that hard.

DSRider--Open B I run. And I disagree with you, most of the big guys are not using Gibson. The only ones running Gibson are the ones that Shawn Kirby's given price breaks to. If it was as good as its supposed to be, why aren't more top pros using it. The only ones that I know who are, are Natalie who just started last week and Joe Byrd, because I'm sure he gets it for a sweet, sweet price racing for Dave Gibson at East Coast ATV and even then I've seen him on some Lonestar stuff. Yes, Roll is the *****, but its price tag is HUGE, $1195 just for a swingarm, no carrier, no chain slide!

RacinJason--I agree the Raptor isn't a MX bike out of the box and no matter what amount of money you put into it, it won't change its major flaws which is weight and geometry. But sometimes you have to work with what you have. Unless you want to give me for my Raptor what I need to buy a YFZ and then the accompanying several thousand in mods, I think I'm going to race the Raptor for another year. Once again does anyone know of a website for Tucker? Phone number? I did a search and all I found was an magazine article for which the page wouldn't display. Thanks

 

DS,
I finished a disappointing 11th. I was running 5th, 6th in the points with some real good finishes. Led several laps and a couple of holeshots (won a nice FMF jersey). But towards the end of the season I had some fluke mechanical probs (i.e. replacing the swingarm) plus two bad crashes. I snapped a lower balljoint at Diamondback and messed my knee up good and then the last Jolly took a serious soil sample off Suicide Hill. Knocked myself cold and messed my back and groin up.
Been a long season, I did several district 34 races plus the Wildwood NJ beach race. I was happy with my speed though, moving up from C class I wasn't sure where I would be, but after leading several laps and some top five finishes I'm pretty happy. Just need to decide if I really want to take a beating on my Raptor to get a YFZ or stick with the big investment.
Yourself? I saw you hanging on for the 6 lapper on Sunday.

 

warrior 86,raptor guy-don't get me wrong i still like my raptor, but after you get used to the 450 it is night and day diffrent. it handles, corners and jumps better. if you go big on the raptor the frame will start to bend or crack where the cross bar goes that holds the back shock. i have already gone much bigger on the 450 and the paint has not even flaked yet. if you really want to get in to mxing save the money that you would be spending getting parts and buy the 450. i have to spent about $14,000 to $15,000 on my rappy,
most of it on replacing things that have broke.(i have not spent a dime on the motor).

 

yeah but the problem is that i want to race this summer. If i sell the raptor in the spring the 01's will still be out. The 02's are usually updated! Wow, this is a crappy situation. I guess ill figure something out.

 

Ridley,
I couldn't agree more in terms of the pros. They run what works the best, but if it works very well and they can get it for free, which do you think they run. I already have the Elka Elites and the Houser front end. I must say that I'm not completely happy with the Houser stuff. I've had binding issues, two broken ball joints, and issues with their nylocks, which are now long gone. Price point for performance though, I've been pretty happy with them. The Elka stuff rules and so do their people. I live only ten minutes from southwick and go to all the races there, the Elka guys are there quite often and have made it a point to come and see me and make sure all is well.
A new rear shock and linkage are already being saved for. This is a money sport, so what ever you ride be prepared to spend. In a perfect world, I wouldn't be working two jobs, I would have my house and practice track, my 20' enclosed trailer, and yes, my whole quad would be Roll.

Once again, does anyone know if Tucker has a website or can they provide me with phone number?

 

well, a couple of times when i was learning to hit decent doubles, id bottom out my rear shocks pretty bad. Im guessing this is what causes the cracking?

 

I think "frame twist" is to blame for most breaks...not single impact.
Watching a widened Raptor come out of a corner under hard acceleration you can see the frame twist very much like a dragster

My frame was broken in so many places it wasn't funny. Not from loose bolts either...I could post pics if anyone would like to wager why it broke

I would love to send you the money...whats your adress[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]
I know we arn't made of money...but take it from someone who went down your path...I shouldn't have mx'd the raptor...I had a fully dialed Raptor...but after the frame and sub-frame quit I was faced with replacing nearly $1000 in parts that I was sure wouldn't hold up longer than one or two more seasons...so I parted it out...with the frame so badly damaged I couldn't have sold it to my worst enemy

Now I'm collecting money...because I took such a huge hit on the raptor