I have been looking at those X Travel ATV frames for a long time now... I have had the opportunity to ride the frame and it is a great design and i like the feel of the bike... i am planning on racing the Vegas to Reno as well as the Baja 1000 this year and the ATV i have right now is in no shape for racing those races this year i would be spending more time than i want to rebuilding the bike... I think i would be better off getting a completely new bike for racing. What do you guys think about the X Travel frames are they worth it or should i just build up a regular quad?
I have never ridden an X-Travel but I do know some of the guys that where racing down in Baja and they always had little problems with it. I'm not sure but I think they where braking spindles. They also told me that this quad felt like a trophy while going through big deep whoops but it didn't handle to well in the technical stuff. By looking at it, it looks like a very linear quad. One of the guys said that the owner of X Travel is very much into his frame and is always working to improve this design. If I had the cash I would buy one just to have it cause it's such a cool looking quad. One thing to take into consideration, the guys who where racing this quad last year are very fast riders who put this bike to its' max. I'm not sure if the average rider/racer would push it as much. I would think this quad would be ideal for races as long as the 1000 or V2R if you get the quad all worked out.
There are a few custom quads racing these days but for some reason you dont see em finishing real well. You cant go wrong with the good ol' TRX 450. The guys winning BITD and SCORE like Matlock and Prather run stock swingarms with just the Elka shock and linkage and a Roll a-arm front end. Then again guys like Matlock and prather could win a race on a friggin Yamaha Blaster!
The quad looks like it handles great from what I have seen. Im sure if you call the people at X travel you could set something up for a test ride. If your serious, I would take a ride on it and see if it suites you.
Yeah, Don't quote me on this but I think the owner of X Travel bought the design from Sundahl. I do know what he sell is not the exact same design he bought from Sundahl cause X Travel has modified a lot of thing on the frame.
I have actually been interested in these also. I have spoken to James (the owner of x-travel) a couple of times. The last time I talked to him on the phone was probably almost a year ago. Then he has left me a couple of messages and a pm about a month or two ago to keep me updated. (He is a member of this site, but does not seem to be on to much. I think he is a REAL busy guy) I think the spindle problems were solved about a year ago with a new design. When I spoke to James, he said the design has been licensed from Sundahl. I do not think the frames are in production yet, last time I heard the frame is pretty much totally redesigned form what you see on the website. He has been working on suspension setup to make it better. (aka body roll.) Sounds like the new frame will debut at San Felipe. I would like to own one "just because". I bet it would be a blast to ride. When they finally go into production, if I have the money, I may just have to buy one! Doug
I dig the X-Travel/Sundahl chassis! Sundahl was/is involved in the original "X-Travel" rebirth of his SRP chassis. I'm fairly confident James is/has been running the entire operation for awhile now. I'm sure it's a very capable desert racer and I'd bet it would do outstanding in the dunes! A few pics from when James brought the 450 by my place -
That is one sick looking quad. how long does it take for the guys at X Travel to build one of these frames?
Did you read my post? HaHa I am not sure when they are going to production. You would probably have to call and see how long it would take to get one. Doug
Wow! I really dig the direction this frame,suspension is going, but at this point it seems like they can build/adapt this chasis to your base powerplant. "KTM525,YFZ450....? Exciting... Albert Q58 CODE
Why not just modify your existing frame a little and get more wheel travel out of it, that's what Danny Ledezma did to mine. I get 17" of wheel travel, 0 bumpsteer, more ground clearance and boxed lowers. The steering was modified and the calipers are behind the arms out harms way. Something different without having to buy a new frame.
It looks good. I like the way the front shocks are almost completly vertical. From what I've read that is the best way to have them. Kind of like the DS450. The steering look like what polaris is doing with their Predator and outlaw.
Hi Baja Trux, I noticed on the photos the Sand setup, Have you tested in the Desert at high speed, whoops, technical sections, etc etc??? How does it handle? I really like this option and less expensive than X travel, if I had ulimited budgets I would still go X trave all the way.
With today's technology in quads, the aftermarket frame isn't as popular as it was back in the 90's. If you've got the money, go for it, but why mess with something that has already been proven? TRX450R has done multiple BAJA, BITD and local/district series with nothing more than upgraded a-arms and suspension, no new frame or swingarm. Why fix it if it ain't broke? As for the "X-travel" design, it looks cool, I'm sure it works well, but it looks like a mechanical nightmare. Not to mention that if you break something, parts are not readily available in the pits or by fellow racers. I just don't get it.
crazydna, the set up is actually for the desert not for sand. It was tested and tuned for desert riding and handles the terrain better than a conventional Roll Design/Elka set up. I do ride more in sand and it handles all the deep ruts made by dune buggies and the whoops real well (it keeps up with long travel buggies on sand highway) but it was built for the desert.
Finally a front end setup with less bump steer! Its amazing the amount of bump steer a stock quad actually has. That looks very nice. Any pics of the rear?
The rear is still stock for now. We are looking at dropping the swing arm pivot point and using a no linkage system with another Fox 2.0 coilover and a Fox 2.0 bypass. That will probably be closer to the summer because I recently got laid off.
