sidewayz Posted June 20, 2013 Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 Ok, before you start flaming me let me explain. We've recently acquired a good running blaster and we need something to showcase our swaybars on. Now this wont be a baddass fastest quad on the planet. Just something we can attract some attention with. Now my crazy idea is to fab some used aftermarket A arms and a yfz450 / banshee rearend on it? Stock 450 front-end is plentiful and much wider than the stock blaster. Thats what im aiming for since it'll be a flattrack TT quad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
So Cal Suspension Posted June 20, 2013 Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 Ok, before you start flaming me let me explain. We've recently acquired a good running blaster and we need something to showcase our swaybars on. Now this wont be a baddass fastest quad on the planet. Just something we can attract some attention with. Now my crazy idea is to fab some used aftermarket A arms and a yfz450 / banshee rearend on it? Stock 450 front-end is plentiful and much wider than the stock blaster. Thats what im aiming for since it'll be a flattrack TT quad. I think you'd be much better off just building your own arms to fit the blaster mounts. It's not rocket science, and really, if you wanted to, you could get a set of YFZ450 arms, and use them to model your arms after. I just think you'd have a better looking setup by doing custom arms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewayz Posted June 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 I knda thought about that also. Just trying to get some ideas for now. I was also thinking about trying to convert the front end geometry to be similar to the 250R? I have to be difficult ....I know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
So Cal Suspension Posted June 20, 2013 Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 I knda thought about that also. Just trying to get some ideas for now. I was also thinking about trying to convert the front end geometry to be similar to the 250R? I have to be difficult ....I know! 250r geometry would handle much better offroad, but for a FT/TT bike, there's no need for all that added fabrication. The rake and added travel wouldn't be used. Keep it wide, and keep it low. You don't need lots of travel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewayz Posted June 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 Thanks for the info Matt. I was hoping you'd give some input on the topic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickedcarbine Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 250r geometry would handle much better offroad, but for a FT/TT bike, there's no need for all that added fabrication. The rake and added travel wouldn't be used. Keep it wide, and keep it low. You don't need lots of travel. believe it or not. I know you are a suspension guru, but excessive down travel is awesome in flat track. It really plants the front tires out of the turns and allows full acceleration under power. Critical aspect that many don't think of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
So Cal Suspension Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 I don't see how a properly set up flat track bike would benefit from 6-7" of down travel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewayz Posted June 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 Ido see a benefit to the travel on the TT tracks. There's some decent jumps on the EDT circuit. Some quads need the front to back sag for getting the power to the ground. One track has a couple extreme off camber corners where I think one could benefit from a good bit of travel. Now on an oval, I say the lower the better. My set-up was only about 4" off the track at the front of frame. I never even came close to bottoming out on the oval. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
So Cal Suspension Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 Ido see a benefit to the travel on the TT tracks. There's some decent jumps on the EDT circuit. Some quads need the front to back sag for getting the power to the ground. One track has a couple extreme off camber corners where I think one could benefit from a good bit of travel. Now on an oval, I say the lower the better. My set-up was only about 4" off the track at the front of frame. I never even came close to bottoming out on the oval. I guess I never really considered TT having jumps, I just generally think of FT tracks being oval dirt. If this were a vehicle with IRS and 4wd, I could see how having a lot of down travel would help in cornering when the one front tire wanted to come off the ground. That's the reason we set up the Lucas trucks with about 70% down travel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewayz Posted June 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 Thanks for the input guy's. Much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickedcarbine Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 I don't see how a properly set up flat track bike would benefit from 6-7" of down travel.Well, try it out for a couple seasons. I have slowly been adding more down travel to my bike every season of ice racing and it makes a world of difference. The bike was originally on short 13 works with minimum travel and the bike wouldn't transfer weight and would just push to the out side of the turns. Then I went to a blaster shock and got a bit of an improvement and an even bigger improvement once I swapped to a lighter coil spring on them to let the bike sag down to the same position as the 13" shocks. Then last season I set up perches to run re valves 450 shocks on custom arms and it allows about 5 1/2" down travel and the bike just sticks in the turns like its on rails! Another example is a bike I helped a guy set up a few years ago with long travel arms with some custom PEPS shocks. That is bar none the best turning flat track/ice set up I've ever had seat time on.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
So Cal Suspension Posted June 22, 2013 Report Share Posted June 22, 2013 Well, try it out for a couple seasons. I have slowly been adding more down travel to my bike every season of ice racing and it makes a world of difference. The bike was originally on short 13 works with minimum travel and the bike wouldn't transfer weight and would just push to the out side of the turns. Then I went to a blaster shock and got a bit of an improvement and an even bigger improvement once I swapped to a lighter coil spring on them to let the bike sag down to the same position as the 13" shocks. Then last season I set up perches to run re valves 450 shocks on custom arms and it allows about 5 1/2" down travel and the bike just sticks in the turns like its on rails! Another example is a bike I helped a guy set up a few years ago with long travel arms with some custom PEPS shocks. That is bar none the best turning flat track/ice set up I've ever had seat time on.... So they don't try to set them up like indy cars? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickedcarbine Posted June 22, 2013 Report Share Posted June 22, 2013 Some do....... When they first start. I've found that the fastest guys aren't slammed down to the ground with insanely stiff shocks. That's what the sway bar is for. I like mine nice and soft then I tune the bar depending how aggressive the turns are. Higher bikes usually hook more out of the turn and at that point drooping the front tires allows the front tires to grip the surface better. Check out some of the pro bikes. The faster guys really aren't much lower then modern Moto bikes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
So Cal Suspension Posted June 22, 2013 Report Share Posted June 22, 2013 Some do....... When they first start. I've found that the fastest guys aren't slammed down to the ground with insanely stiff shocks. That's what the sway bar is for. I like mine nice and soft then I tune the bar depending how aggressive the turns are. Higher bikes usually hook more out of the turn and at that point drooping the front tires allows the front tires to grip the surface better. Check out some of the pro bikes. The faster guys really aren't much lower then modern Moto bikes. I was being sarcastic and didn't even expect a response. I almost never see any suspension work for anything remotely related to flat track. There is almost no market for it for me, therefore no research necessary on my part. I guess I change my entire opinion, sidewayz. Cut the frame apart, give it as much travel as you can. 15"+ would be optimal, front and rear. Guaranteed for 5 minutes or 5 miles. real men hit jumps. just saying Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WINDYCITYJOHN400 Posted June 22, 2013 Report Share Posted June 22, 2013 real men hit jumps. just saying Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.