Hey Moose,
I read you have a piped and jetted Raptor, is that the extent of your power mods? Because that's where I sit right now in the power game. I never thought of going to the 22's does your quad turn them with no problem? I can see where the added height would be needed for ground clearance. I just don't want to have to start regearing, like adding a larger diameter tire to a truck and losing power.

 

Although regearing my Raptor is a lot cheaper than when I regeared my truck..

 

Thanks swytak. From what I understand the taller the tire the more contact it has with the ground, at any given point, compared to a shorter tire. Obviously more contact with the ground would equal more traction because the paddle travels further "in" the sand. I am sure there is some point as to where this would stop.

Has anyone every thought about the ITP 12" wheel/tire kit? They run a 23" front buff and a 22" rear hauler. They loook very good but are kinda pricey.

 

YoshRaptor, All my power mods were bolt ons, Sparks X6 Pipe, Pro Flow, K&N, Dynojets & Univents.
I noticed the 22" 10 paddles were robbing power in the higher gears but I have no problems pulling the 22" 8 paddles.

 

The 22" 8 paddle sounds like a good plan. My roach might even be able to turn them. From what I have read, I think the Haulers will suit me just fine.

Kewl
IAFF local F23

 

MOOSE,
What other quads have you raced and how does the mildly upgraded Raptor stack up against the competition? My cousin and his boys have 400EX's, power wise I don't think it's an issue, but they do have skills. I haven't rode with many quads since I bought mine and I am curious how it will stand against the rest of the field.

 

It seems like the sand tire question comes down to riding style and personal preference. Imagine that. With as many different machines, with all the different riding styles and different levels of mods, we have different opinions on sand tires. I just tried a set of Gecko's at Buttercup and thought they were awesome. 3.5 pounds of pressure and they handled just plain awesome for play riding, had enough traction to pull the front tires on my ESR310 "R" anywhere and just plain did everything great. They did not have as much off the line traction as the Sand Sharks I normally run. I think that an air pressure adjustment would help them hook better, probably drop to 2.5 or 3 psi and be doing great.
For what I paid for the Gecko's, I would buy another pair if they hold up well, which they probably will. Personal preference.

 

I've raced a lot of diffrent quads, mid-moded 250R's aren't a problem, The only C'Dale I've raced is a FX400 I had a length & a half on him But the new ones may be a diffrent matter, 400 EX's & Z400 have been no problem but the Z's may do better when the mods are added, Stock Shees are about a length behind, piped shees & stock DS's with moded endcaps or pipes are neck & neck with me, once they start trickin out the Shees they kick A$$, There were some trick DS's at Atoka that were 1 sec faster than me in 100 yards, Then there's Vilnrks 250(?)R It's a monster, Can't get close to him!!

Now most of these had riders of similar sizes, a kid that weighs 100 lbs less than me on a stock Shee will kick my A$$.

This is all sand drag (100 yrds). I run 6.18 sec @ 48.1 mph, Vilnrk rode mine & did 5.70's @ low 50 mphs (I got 100lbs on him)
At the dunes I have no problems keeping up on fast trail rides.

 

I am planning on entering my raptor in a beach race next month. The track will be an oval with 1 kilometer straights and another race with 1/2 kilometer straights. The sand will be very hard and damp. I currently have razr's all round, but am thinking about putting paddles on the rear (maybe geckos). How do the paddles/geckos perform on hard sand? Will they be better than the razr's or should I save the money and stick the the razr's?

Can anyone give me some sprocket combination/gearing advice to set up for this race?

 

RaptorDownUnder, I would worry that if the sand is hard and damp you may not even need paddles. I can guarantee that the paddles will rob a lot of your top end speed not to mention they will probably not hold the corners like knobbies will and are unpredictable in a slide.