I have pm'd a few people on the subject already but I would like to hear the public's opinion on whether or not I should invest $3-4K in suspension upgrades to make my 2001 Raptor worthy of harescramble type racing? It already has airbox/carb/exhaust mods & mild cam/piston. I mostly ride aggressive trail/hill climbing but wanted to try amatuer racing. However, I am not sure if the Raptor is worthy of the investment for racing since the center of gravity is a little tall & its hard to maneuver in the air when jumping.

As an alternative, I am considering selling the Raptor & getting either a 250r, gasgas, or waiting for one of the new 450 four stroke atvs from either Honda or Yamaha.

 

Seems to me the Raptor is just darn heavy compared to a 250R when it comes to racing. 250Rs are very competitive platforms for racing, as I'm sure a Raptor could be but........seems like the Raptor needs more mods to get there.

 

Anybody, anybody, Ferris, anybody, Buehler?

 

If you are interested in racing harescrambles with a Raptor - look at the standings from the GNCC series in the Pro, Pro Production, and A classes. 250 R chassis, with a 250R or CR450 engine were the popular choice. There were a few cannondale's at the top. Very few or 0 Raptors.

Since you already have the engine - you will need at least 3-4K worth of chassis mods to be really competitive in anything above B class, unless you are an extremely talented rider.

My suggestion - mod out your Raptor a bit (Elka SSD Shocks, stock A/Swing arms). Race it this way for a year, then hope that Yamaha or Honda comes out with their 450 racer by then. Keep the Raptor for fun and buy the new quad for racing. Good Luck!!

RR1

 

rr1 If I'm not mistaken Curtis Crump took 2nd in pro production for the year on a raptor. Personally I think a properly set-up raptor could do very well in cross country racing. The 01 raptors had some issues that soured a lot of people. I had a 01 and now have a 02 , and there is a big difference between the two. I think that with the right shock and wheel combo that it could handle as good as anything else. It needs very little in mods to make all the power you need for racing in the woods.

 

With an experieced rider, a properly setup raptor will smoke the competition no matter what it is. BUT they cant race in the same class. Even though a 250R is just as fast.