I ride my DS in the desert and the mountains, on trails and rough old mining roads. The first ride I hated it, and was going to sell it. It beat the crap out of me on these rough rocky mountain trails. I couldn't even keep up with my old sportsman that I was riding with. But I'd read on here that it had problems with the steering geometry and so I went about fixing what was wrong, and I think that's what Bomb has done with the Baja.
...I absolutely love my DS now, and far prefer it to my son's Raptor. I'm still messing with the Works front shocks, they gave me too stiff a spring rate, like I'm going to jump over cars or something. But they are a huge improvement over the crappy stock DS front shocks, which have way too much rebound dampening, and on multiple hits, pack up the front shocks into higher spring rates and jar the hell out of you. I am going to put lighter springs on the works steelers, and add rezzies and adjustable compression.
.....The weight is the only issue on the DS I can't resolve with a few aftermarket parts. I wish it was 50 lbs lighter, and I think it could be.
.....The motor is so much smoother than the Raptor, and the gear spacing is perfect, shifts are crisp and precise. Handling is controlled, it slides great. It loves fireroads, TRAILS, sandwashes. Jumping, wheelies and whoops are all better on the Raptor. That's the weight thing again.
..... The Raptor consistently beats me on the DS in drags and sand hill drags, but my son weighs 85 lbs and I weigh 210. The DS and I could both stand to lose a few pounds.
......Overall I think it comes down to size. If you are a big guy you will like the DS better. If you are under 6' or under 160 lbs you will probably prefer the Raptor. They are both great quads, and we are very happy with them. They both need some tweaking to get them right. Neither is ready out of the box. Even the Baja will need something I'm sure, but it does look like a very good attempt to fix the little things that matter.
.....And those silly little front fenders really work!! Going down a sandwash or through puddles those Raptor fenders are worthless. Pebbles, sand, spray, whatever, hits you right in the face. On the DS you are riding clean and dry, well, for a sport.
.....Santa is bringing us both HMF slip-ons, The Raptor is getting new 22" rear tires like Maxxi Razrs, and we'll flip the linkage to keep it low while gaining ground clearance. We're also going to reverse the front wheels by drilling and installing new valve stems and turning the old ones inside out. As you can see by my signature the Raptor already has a Durablue axle, etc. The DS has TimmyBoy upper A-arms, etc.
.....All this stuff really works. Anything that doesn't I send back.
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Fourlix, I agree with most of what you said. I'am a big guy and maybe that's why I like the DS better. However, I think the DS is better over whoops and jumps then a stock Raptor. The DS with 12" of susp. travel soaks up everything. I go through whoops now faster then when I had my Raptor with the Elka's on it and that was much better then stock. I think the weight of the DS keeps it a little more planted if you know what I mean. As for wheelies I definately can't disagree there and the Raptor has more Low end torque and better throttle response. But I think with the usual pipe and jet kit the DS will feel just as good in those 2 areas. I did order upper a-arms for the twitchyness other than that no complaints. Later
BTW I sold my Raptor for $5,000

 

ahhhhhhhh, NO

Will keep the raptor.