How Do It Do In the Dunes?
Some
comments from the peanut gallery...
It's been a long time
coming, but finally a new open class quad with some muscle has hit
the dunes! The question burning in your minds is, "Is this the new
king of the hill?" Well no... That prize still belongs to
the Yamaha Banshee and the Suzuki Quadzilla. But this is one hell
of a quad. I'd say the Raptor is more like the "heir apparent" to
the throne... The motor pulls hard everywhere across
the rpm range. And I'll bet a months salary that untold ponies lay
dormant in this big thumper, yearning to breath free and scream
across the big bowls of Glamis. It won't be long before the tuning
gurus have figured out how to squeeze every last bit of power from
this already strong motor. After that, who knows? There may be some
bruised Banshee and 'Zilla egos out at the hill in a few
months. I like it better than the Bombardier,
which just feels way too heavy for duning. The Raptor also has
mountains more grunt than the 400EX without much additional weight.
Add to that the fact that it, just plain looks bad ass. Yamaha's
styling people hit a home run with the cosmetics of the Raptor. We
all know the first thing you do to your dune machine when you get
it home is to slice off those nasty looking, Dumbo the Elephant ear
front fenders. Not on the Raptor my friend, the fenders actually
look better on, go figure! Constructive Criticism From A Hard Core Dune
Goon:
The Raptor has more than enough power to get your
adrenaline pumping in the sand. What I didn't like was the "top
heavy" feeling of the chassis. It's not that the quad is heavy, in
fact it's amazingly light weight despite the fact that it's a
big four stroke with an electric start and reverse. The
problem here is chassis geometry. Too short of a wheelbase, too
narrow of a track and too steep of a steering angle makes the
Raptor feel "tippy" at high speed on steep and deep sand. In the
dunes, size matters and being wide and long makes for faster speeds
and less abuse on the body.  Most
notably in a steep downhill transition, the front end tends to
plow, rather than float. This does not inspire confidence. The
Banshee is notorious for this same tendency. A 100% fix, and a
MUST for the serious duner, is to upgrade to front A-arms that move
the wheels out and forward 1.5". Replace the front shocks with high
performance units that carry a remote reservoir and run Razorbacks
on 10 x 7 wheels. In the back go to a 2" plus 4" rear axle and the
10" paddle tire of your choice. I prefer a custom grooved Sand
Tires Unlimited Paddle Brat or Skat Trak's 10 paddle Hauler. But
riders of lesser weight (I'm a svelt 225) may want to consider a
V-shaped paddle like the Trekkers, Skates or Edges.
The Raptor's motor makes gobs of power,
so look at an aggressive pair of shoes for the rear. Unfortunately
there isn't much in the way of swingarms out there yet, but
depending on your ability and weight, I'd look at a 2-3" extended.
Set up like this I'd expect the Raptor to be one of the best duners
you could buy. Would I Buy One?
This is the sixty-four hundred dollar
question, and the answer is a resounding yes! I'm in the market for
an ATV that has an electric leg so the wife can start it easily,
but still has enough bang to make me grin when I wanna ride it.
After riding the Raptor I know I'll be buying one. 'nuff
said. In the coming months look forward to
finding out what a Raptor will do after it has been tortured and
tweaked by some of the most evil engine and suspension builders on
the planet... Stay Tuned! Mr Dune
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