Project Can-Am DS 450 - Socal Trailblazer

In order to get the larger-diameter Flexx bars mounted on our DS, we needed a little help from the guys at Rox Speed FX. They set us up with a pair of Rox risers to give us a 2-inch-higher mounting point and allowed us to go from the stock 7/8-inch bar to the oversize 11/8 inch. The Rox risers are a great way to get some of the benefits of an aftermarket steering stem without the high cost. The risers also pivot from front to back, giving another dimension to dial in your steering position.

High fives from your buddies are great, but not when they're coming from a manzanita branch at 35 mph. So we bolted on a set of PowerMadd hand guards for some hand protection from overgrown shrubs and possibly any roost-happy slower riders in front of us. PowerMadd's Star Series guards come in just about every color you could want, and have a straightforward mounting setup that makes them a breeze to install and align.

We knew there were going to be some nice beach ball-sized pieces of granite out on the trail ready to take a bite out of our DS's underside, so some protection was definitely in order. Pro Armor helped make our Can-Am bombproof with a full body skid plate, swingarm guard and some fat peg nerf bars for good measure. We also installed a set of factory Can-Am A-arm guards to give our aluminum arms a fighting chance out on the trail.

Every project bike should have a few parts for aesthetic value, if for nothing more than to set your machine apart from the crowd. For us, that meant slapping on a Can-Am yellow radiator guard like the ones on the X models and a graphics kit from G4-Graphics.

Seat Time
For our testing session, we took to the mountains east of San Diego to the Corral Canyon OHV riding area. This area has a bunch of tight and twisty trails along with some wide-open fire roads and even some sections where you can climb along solid rock. So it was basically the ideal location to test our freshly minted machine.

Right off the bat we could feel how the Motoworks exhaust smoothed out the DS's power delivery. With the new setup, our DS now had the grunt to power around corners and still enough top-end to wind out in the straightaways. The new breadth of the powerband allowed us to just leave the gearbox in second or third and concentrate more on dodging trees than finding the right gear or clutching to get the revs up. We did lose a bit of that crazy overrev top-end that the stock DS had, but with new boost in midrange and bottom-end, we didn't miss it for a second.

"...We were impressed with the potential locked up in the stock DS 450 that's just waiting for the right tweaks to be unleashed."

Hygear worked wonders on our stock shocks; the lower ride height made our DS 450 stick right to the ground, that tippy feeling from the stock setup was history. The ride was very plush but still precise enough to dodge boulders and weave around narrow trails. Our test rider felt like the shocks were a little too plush for his riding style--namely getting it airborne every chance he got. So we clicked up our new high-speed compression adjuster and were impressed again when the shocks responded with a decisive change in feel. Rebuilt OEM shocks usually have a stigma of being a "budget" option, but the Hygear units performed just as well if not better than some aftermarket units we've tested.

At the end of the day, we were thoroughly impressed with all the parts and modifications on our Project DS 450. Everything combined to make this bike feel very complete and an all-out blast to ride on the trails. After this project we were definitely impressed with the potential locked up in the stock DS 450 that's just waiting for the right tweaks to be unleashed. We also had a new appreciation for trail riding and can't wait for the next free weekend to hit the mountains again, especially since we now have the perfect ride.