Project Chick Quad

By Chuck DeBault

“Motocross”, the epic battle between man, machine and competitor. Well times are changing and the influx of woman racers is becoming very evident. At any typical national motocross, and equally evident on the local scene, gates are lined with woman racers of all ages.

So what does it take to create a cost effective and race-ready machine that is setup for the amateur female motocross racer?
With that question in mind, we thought we would build an entry-level machine that might act as a guide for the typical novice woman racer. Four our respective project, we started out with the Honda TRX450R. Our goal was to sample current products on the market that were safe, affordable and durable.

Suspension and such

For A-Arms we gave JB Racing the nod. They sent us a set of their +2 3/8” standard travel arms. Upon first inspection we noted that the arms had outstanding welds, clean powder coating and factory-style brake line mounts. Installation was a quick and simple procedure. The arms use an adjustable upper joint that can adjust the camber without removing the joint from the arm.

The lower joint is in a fixed position on the arm. The arms attach to the frame using a sleeve and seal style system. The complete lack of zerk fittings on these arms was a bit concerning. But is an option that can be added later. The arms didn’t come with instructions, not a big deal to us, but might be for first time rookies. Total install time was about an hour with an additional hour of aligning and testing.

Since the A-Arms were standard travel we opted to use the factory front and rear shocks and have them re-sprung and re-valved by GT Thunder, an engine and suspension specialists out of Millersburg, OH. Using our test rider’s weight, experience and arm selection they rebuilt the shocks and sent them back to us. GT Thunder also suggested we mount up one of their swing-arm linkage aftermarket goodies. GT’s Laz Sommers calls it a must have for all 450R owners.

The final suspension piece of our puzzle was an axle. After muddling through the hype and fears of all axles available we remembered that the moral of this project was about saving money, so we decided to go with the Axcaliber axle from Lonestar Racing. It comes with a lifetime warranty and was about the same cost of several other adjustable axles. This is one item that is impossible to judge until after hard riding has been thrown at it. It mounts fine and looks good. Will it last? Only a season will tell.

Tires & Wheels

Our tire and wheel combination was highly debated. Questions surfaced about bead locks, aluminum or carbon fiber rims, offsets and tread design. As you can see, selecting the right combo for the motocross track is not as easy as you might think. What we discovered is that in this level of skill a lot of these choices are based more on rider preference and affordability. For a small amount more we chose to use wheels built and designed by HiPer Technology. They are modular design and made from carbon fiber. The price tags are a little higher than typical aluminum aftermarket rims. An error in mounting was made and ruined an outer part of the rim. HiPer was able to quickly provide a replacement and the cost savings at that point would be worth the value.

Earlywine Racing hooked us up with a set of Kenda tires. We went with 20” MXF in the front and 18” MXR’s in the rear. The tires are directional and should be a great selection for many different track conditions.

More power
Have you noticed all the exhausts available for today’s four-stoke ATV? Throwing all the names into the mix is mind boggling. Believe it or not we simple made our selection based upon the fact that LRD was eager to send us their pride and joy. Sure enough the LRD unit arrived in no time and the power portion of our project was nearly complete. By the way, the LRD exhaust is great-looking and mounted up easily. The complete kit did not come with jets and the instructions were multi purpose. But it was an easy situation to handle and most novice mechanics should have no issue with this part of the project.

Other must haves

If you want your lady’s engine to last as long as possible, treat its air intake diet with tender loving care. An Outerwears pre filter and air box cover like this are must haves as far as we’re concerned. Aluminum parts; bumper, grab bar and nerf bars were all provided by Extreme Fabricating out of Utah. We cannot rave highly enough about this vendor’s products. Not only do they look fantastic, but all mounted in about 35 minutes with no fuss whatsoever. The bumper went on like cutting warm butter. The grab bar was a five-minute job that we could probably do in our sleep. And the nerf bar nets braided easy and mounted with precision fit. There was no struggle or extra work to install these items. The days of using a Dremel tool, pry bars and a sledge hammer to mount new parts are over! This vendor has proven that you can create a quality product that fits perfectly and make it affordable to boot.

Among all the important safety items and performance products, we also wanted the machine to look great. Our original graphics of choice was to go simple. We placed an order with GraphicMX out of Butler, PA. After nearly two months we have never been able to contact the vendor or get a refund for our purchase. We are unsure about what issues they are having, but as you can imagine, we were not satisfied with their service. Our next choice was Updog Industries. This vendor was not a second choice, we already know how good their product and services are. We were simply trying to give others a shot. Regardless, Updog stepped to the plate and created a new graphics style just for this machine. How cool is that? The cuts were accurate and the design was indeed pretty darn cool. Mounting the graphics was tedious only due to the curves and lines of the Honda plastic. Thanks Updog, we never thought Project Chick Quad would look so sharp.

Overall Review

Who was Project Chick Quad built for? None other than Carrie Debault – Chuck’s better half.For testing purposes the quad was ridden stock for a period of three weeks. As we expected, it was found to be very stiff and tipsy for our little female rider. After adding the extended axle, linkage, A-Arms and shocks — it was again ridden for three weeks. During testing the shocks were sent back to GT Thunder for a new spring to soften them up a little more, she doesn’t weight much at all. After that the improvement was strongly noticeable and seemed to fit the rider’s style and ability very well. In the end the shocks that GT Thunder proudly sent our way performed better than expected. Needless to say we were very pleased with the results. The GT Thunder swing-arm linkage provides better travel and lower seat height. One issue that we ran into from our own error is that the new linkage rubs on the factory skid plate. We were notified of this prior to installation but had forgotten. It was only after testing for a small bit we discovered it was rubbing and creating a dead spot in the rear travel. Once the skid plate was removed the rear end preformed great with only a small amount of fine-tuning. You might keep this in mind if you’re planning on running the skid plate with the new linkage.

The JB Racing A-Arms preformed as expected. However the lack of grease fittings is adding a small amount of extra maintenance due to all the washing the machine is going through. But they have remained tight and are simple to make adjustments and changes to. The Lonestar axle has remained tight and we have found no issues with this item.

What’s the chick say about the project? “This thing rocks now! I love it”, says Carrie. The overall improvements in the suspension have been noticeable in both the small track testing and large national track level. Speed and controllability has increased and made the overall ride very smooth. However, one issue that was discovered during testing was uncontrolled steering in extremely rough sections. Although the machine’s suspension was improved, you might look into adding a steering dampener to provide extra stabilization on rough tracks.

With only minor adjustments and regular maintenance the machine has maintained a solid ride. There’s no doubt in our minds that this set up will last a full season. And we’re confident that it is indeed competitive even on the national level.

 

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