Pappy
03-21-2005, 04:21 PM
Lately I have been noticing the plain fact that my quad didnt seem to handle as well, or be as comfortable to ride as it was when it was stock.
With that in mind, I set out to determine the cause. I started with the suspension, checking everything from A Arm bushings to castor/camber. Then I moved onto the shocks and couldn't find anything abnormal. And other then finding I was a few degrees out on a camber setting on 1 wheel, everything was apparently normal.
So I spent the day riding between 2 quads. My fully aftermarket 416 and my factory chassied 450R. The 416 seemed to handle much better, and I noticed I wasn't as fatigued after a few laps on the track. I couldn't bring myself to just pony up and say the aftermarket frame was just that much better so I opened myself a nice cold drink and stared at the two quads.....still puzzled as to what the malfunction was.
After a few minutes it dawned on me, BARS!! The 450R has TAG CR double high bars, the 416 Renthal ATV bend. The bar height was close because the 416 has a stock length stem, whereas the 450R has a +1 stem. I concluded it had to be soley in the bar bend where my issue was. But how could that be? I mean they are different but not so much as to cause bad handling or fatigue me...could it? Doubtfull.
The next 15 minutes I spent sitting on 1 quad then the other and finally I have concluded that the bar width was too wide for me on the 450R! After a swap to stock bars on the 450R I was feeling much better and just wanted to pass on my findings. Maybe someone else out there can find a remedy for a few issues that could be solved by a bar change or cutting down thier current set up.
With that in mind, I set out to determine the cause. I started with the suspension, checking everything from A Arm bushings to castor/camber. Then I moved onto the shocks and couldn't find anything abnormal. And other then finding I was a few degrees out on a camber setting on 1 wheel, everything was apparently normal.
So I spent the day riding between 2 quads. My fully aftermarket 416 and my factory chassied 450R. The 416 seemed to handle much better, and I noticed I wasn't as fatigued after a few laps on the track. I couldn't bring myself to just pony up and say the aftermarket frame was just that much better so I opened myself a nice cold drink and stared at the two quads.....still puzzled as to what the malfunction was.
After a few minutes it dawned on me, BARS!! The 450R has TAG CR double high bars, the 416 Renthal ATV bend. The bar height was close because the 416 has a stock length stem, whereas the 450R has a +1 stem. I concluded it had to be soley in the bar bend where my issue was. But how could that be? I mean they are different but not so much as to cause bad handling or fatigue me...could it? Doubtfull.
The next 15 minutes I spent sitting on 1 quad then the other and finally I have concluded that the bar width was too wide for me on the 450R! After a swap to stock bars on the 450R I was feeling much better and just wanted to pass on my findings. Maybe someone else out there can find a remedy for a few issues that could be solved by a bar change or cutting down thier current set up.