Dean Sundahl built 650r desert monster

[cooper505]

This Sundahl built 650r was born in 2003 to dominate the dez. These picks are from 2005. I still have the beast and plan on bringing the 650 back to life. It has 18 inches of travel front and rear and topped at 100mph and smoked many banshees in Glamis. Good times.

[cooper505]

Need taller stand...

[cooper505]

cross a arms

[cooper505]

Cross arms from beneath!!! A bit beat after a dozen races and a few hard wrecks.

[jcs003]

wow! that is something different. didnt sundahl race trikes in the 80s?

[socal]

NICE,that thing must hammer through whoops!Give us some details on the ride,ie cornering,jumping,whoops etc...

[hontrx265r]

Really cool to see that! Not bad ride height either for how much travel it has.. Must be fun down the long straights of 2ft deep woops.

[C41Xracer]

thats a sweet hybrid

[hontrx265r]

I do want to ask.. how is the steering. Although the cross over arms and extra travel is great. The way the spindles are designed and the location of the piviot points in relation to the wheels center point. Make it appear that that bike would bump steer alot?

[troybilt]

That's a sick bike would love to restore that one.

Those aarms are juxtaposed, there is a patent on them. I've seen the Banshee he build back in 05 with the exact same setup. It was a sweet ride too.

To answer the 3 wheeler question:

Dean Sundahl is a 3 wheeler legend from 81 on... He won everything back then baja, MX, SX and was unstoppable. I've got the 81-83 DW mags and he was unreal. Factory Honda rider too.

[cooper505]

The Sundahl 650r handles amazingly for its intention. However, I have handed the bike over to riders for their first ride on it and they often don't like it. They usually say its scary. You really need to be going fast to make this bike work. But once the speeds are up and you are used to the feeling of it, it just flat out rips.

The feel of the 650r is most like the feeling of being in a long travel buggy. All loosey goosey at first but then once you are going fast it is so smooth through the rough stuff. Just amazing and confidence inspiring. Eating up EVERYTHING in site.

The spindles were designed for strength and travel which hinders the steering radius. But you can actually do fine in the tight stuff if you don't mind steering with the back. It is a great slider.

The body roll is worse than most quads but is not as bad as you would imagine. This is thanks to the straight rear axle. The body roll on exists while cruising at slow speeds anyhow. With the throttle open the bike stays level.

The quad is very light. The fame is chromoly and there is nothing extra on it. No battery. And the engine is just perfect what can I say. It has the full HRC kit and a custom exhaust built by Gradon Proline. The pipe and muffler are insanely light. And the pipe runs on the opposite side of the dirt bike which worked better for our project.

The quad is geared high but it still takes off like a rocket. The power is intoxicating but its also misleading. The ride is so smooth that you don't realize that you are "cruising" at 90mph. Speaking of smooth ride, chop doesn't exist. Like the kind around sandy areas that just kills your hands and arms. The rebound is extremely fast and the suspension is super soft so all that small stuff just disappears. Its weird to look at the front tires work because they are moving so fast and much up and down but the feeling in the seat and bars is soft and silky. That's why I say the ride is more like a long travel buggy then a quad.

I had to stop racing and riding as much for college and work which lead to the 650r to sit for a few years. I will have more time in the near future and plan on bringing this machine back to its full glory.

[cooper505]

About the ride height:

This quad sits low for what it is. Lower than most stock 450s. It still has a good amount of up travel but it has a TON of drop travel. When you enter the whoops the tire just fill in the holes until you really start to haul and then it just skims the tops of the whoops. But on the smoother stuff it sits nice and low and handles great.

[tayyo789]

Nice choice on the motor. I saw a Banshee this summer with some a arms like that, but they were aluminum and looked either billet or cast. Very interesting

[quadpornstar]

That is an amazing quad. I have only seen one Sundahl frame from a distance, I believe it was a banshee motor. I wonder if these frames are still available? Would be cool to have one. The xr motor in a crazy long travel set up like that would be an amazing ride. Not sure a better set-up is available for going thru the rough stuff than the Sundahl frame 650r motor. Excellent quad!!

[D Bergstrom]

Awesome quad. If I could ever own one quad, a Sundahl framed, XR650R powered quad would be it.

Never spoke to him myself, but I believe Dean still builds frames, just have to call him up and order one.

Doug

[quadpornstar]

D Bergstrom- Thanks for the heads up, I will be looking into this for sure. I know Laeger is building frames again, but I already own a super nice Laeger. A Sundahl framed Honda 650 powered quad would be a sweet quad to have....

[DragonGunner]

Love that quad...wonder if thats the one I seen in dirt wheels a few years ago....I went to a KTM motor for my hybrid....guess I should start a thread...

[rustyATV]

Originally posted by jcs003
wow! that is something different. didnt sundahl race trikes in the 80s?

Heh! Airfooler just posted this on his YouTube site

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grhCXQkdXkA

You see Dean Sundahl at 1:55, and on the second video you can just check off names like Micky Dunlap, Eddie Sanders, Curtiss Sparks, etc. during the race.

[jcs003]

cool video rusty. i was only 3 at the time but i do remember the toy replicas in kmart when i was about 5.haha.

its great that these guys are still in the sport.

[cooper505]

Found more photos of the SRP650R of when I used to race it. It was all black then.

[cooper505]

Gives you an idea of the lofty travel.

[805ds]

If you decide to sell ever!!
Send me an email thru here!!!
located in South cali!
Be nice to race on baja!!!

elflolop44@gmail.com

[805ds]

I've met dean at baja a few times,He raced baja forever,one time I remember he pushed he's banshee thru the finish line at santo tomas baja 500,the engine seized,that was about 3 mile pushed by himself,at that time you could not pull or help them!!
He was devasted!! this was after soloing the race!!!
One badass rider!!!!!

[805ds]

One more thing on this,they call it the Xtravel,tested in CODE race series but it was never perfect,lots of issues with the setup,the guy that bought the franchise from Dean,could not make work,he was in The San Felipe 250 2011,don't know how he did!!!!

[805ds]

banshee

[woodsracer144]

those arms are nuts!

[quadpornstar]

Those Sundahl frames are amazing, I would have to have the Honda set up myself, but the suspension travel and whole set up is very cool. Would love to ride one at some point...

[OutlawBill]

Dean in 09 (<a href="http://exposureroom.com/2564cc12fb274582aaff88e02ea07eef/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img1.exposureroom.com/thumbnails/getassetthumbnailimage/2564cc12fb274582aaff88e02ea07eef/md/" border="0" alt="Click Here to View The Video Titled: OTB Jeff Cady 3rd Anual 2009 Sand Blast" title="Click Here to View The Video Titled: OTB Jeff Cady 3rd Anual 2009 Sand Blast" /></a>)

[reconmaster]

thats an insane quad to have love the tech and thinking into the front end i remember watching dean on huevos 1 crazy how he just blasted through the desert suprised he still doesn't dominate the baja