I built it in December, and shot pics of it right away out to HiTorque publications. They accepted the project and had me shoot the pics for them. Skyler did a great job as test pilot. We shot 3 rolls of slide film for the magazine article, probably 50 jump shots, mostly 3rd gear WOT.
... I was worried about the rear axle breaking, especially under Skyler's thrashing, but everything has held up fine. It is still running like a top, and my 5 year old, for whom it was intended, is doing some pretty good doughnuts on it. Skyler, 14 next week, rides the black and white 660 used in the comparison shots. His matching Black and White outfit should be a clue. They couldn't use my 5 year old's picture, even though it is his quad and I built it for him as a safe way to introduce my youngest to ATV's. I wouldn't do it any other way.
... We got a Big Gun exhaust for it, but they didn't get it to us till about May, and even though I shot some more pics for ATV Action, it didn't make the article. Oh, well, sorry Big Gun. It is a really nice pipe and helped smooth out the powerband. And it sounds great.
They did a pretty good job on the article, but made the mods to the rear suspension sound too easy. The rear was as hard as the front, with new rear struts to increase the travel and a piece in the rear swingarm for the lower shock mount and the upper mount on the frame's backbone. Figuring out the geometry was a little tough. In the front I had the Blaster to copy, but the rear was virgin territory. And we are getting more like 7 inches of travel at both ends, after fine tuning the bumpers on the shocks and such.
....It is a highly successful quad. I hope the manufacturers will get a clue and start building them like this. Good Handling and Good suspension are the very best safety features a quad can have.
[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]
I am still grinning ear-to-ear on this one...

 

Good job,thats pretty kool to get your quad in there...what month issue is it in????many people i have talked to shy away from kids quads cuz of the suspension and go to dirt bikes for there kids and this could be taking away many new riders from our sport..Hopefully the manufactires will get off their buttts one day!

 

Hey,

I read about it. I have the magzine. It looks really great! I hope that Yamaha will make one like that so that I can buy one for my kid in the future! What happen to Sylker Raptor's headlight it only had one on and the other picture had two headlights on??

Nice job man
See ya,
Dusty

 

I had taken the headlight off the 660 to see what it would look like on the Raptorette. It was too big, and the Raptorette's phony eyes just didn't make the cut.

 

I've been looking for your artical for awhile & was glad to see it. Like ATV Action said that's how a Raptor 80 should be built!!

 

Man, you did an awesome job on that Little Raptor....you are a consumers dream...too bad you didn't run the show at Yamaha.

Anyway, the four wheeler looks great, but what is even better is the smiles on your kids faces (even the big brothers). I'd like all of those greenies out there that want to ban ATV's to go to you site and look at those kids and see if they change there minds.

Dude thanks for sharing the pictures....Impressive workmanship...I'm sure that your kids can't wait to be just like Dad.

I went looking at little ATV's for my little Girls today...Trying to decide if I want to get them one or not. I think seeing your pics helped my decision.

Take care.

-Josh

 

Computer freakin' out... Just testing, and wanted to get this back up. It is amazing how fast a thread dissa-freakin'-pears on the Yamaha forum.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Hey fourlix I've had my Biggun on the raptor80 for almost a month and it ROCKS! It sounds sweet and does improve the bike across the range I feel. Its also cool to have your 6yr old anounce "I'm six and I have a raptor witha big gun pipe" [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]


Michael

PS Just saw the new Raptor80 '03 same colors as the big uns SWEET [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

fourlix, I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed that article about your Raptor 80 project. That is very impressive! I really like it!

If you don't mind my asking, what kind of bender did you use and what size and gauge of tubing did you use as well?

I am very glad to see someone take on a project like this and build such a good machine with their own tools at home. Great work!

 

Ah yes, the bender and the tubing. Very good question, one that took a while to figure out. There are some very nice benders on the internet for about $300. And I almost bought one. But then I discovered that 1" DOM tubing, in a .065 wall thickness, which is very good stuff, and the right tubing to be using, will bend using a 3/4" electric conduit hickey bender, which I already had. For The new rear subframe struts I just used 1/2" electrical conduit, and the 1/2" conduit bender. One other technical item is that I used MIG wire in .023 diameter, with CO2, which makes a neater weld for these thin wall materials. All the brackets for the A-arms and upper shock mounts were fabricated from 16 guage 1.5" square tubing. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]