"The motor work gave the Outlaw...
"The motor work gave the Outlaw a significant boost in steam."
To suspend our rig, Fox Shox were mounted up and are arguably the best shock on the market and well proven on the Outlaw by Polaris factory racer Doug Eichner. These shocks were amazingly plush yet offered significantly less body roll than the stock shock setup even though some of this does need to be attributed to Teixeira's geometry. On the stock Outlaw, we always felt it needed a stiffer anti-sway bar, but now the thing is flat and stable in corners while continuing to soak up rough terrain in the straights. It's important to set suspension for the terrain you plan to terrorize, and that is one of the cool features of the Fox Shox. With the included air pump, you can adjust the pressure to give the ride height and spring rate you so desire. Of course, you still have compression and rebound adjustment for fine-tuning.
Although the ultimate goal...
Although the ultimate goal was to drastically improve the Outlaw's overall performance, the end results also lead to a trick-looking race quad.
Power To The Ground
The Outlaw comes equipped with Maxxis tires right from the factory. The front tires are great for most off-road surfaces while the radial rear tires are great in low-traction situations as they provide massive forward drive. The downside to these stock meats is that they don't offer much side bite and are not six-ply so they're more susceptible to flats. Considering the purchase of a set of six-ply Maxxis Razr tires is certainly not a bad idea. Our stock wheels, which are good enough for most off-road riding, were modified by OMF Performance. For GNCC-style racing you want to be able to ride hard even if you have a flat tire, so beadlocks are highly recommended. OMF cuts off the outer edge of the wheel and welds on the inner beadlock ring, turning the stock wheel into a beadlock. This made our wheels much beefier and better for tackling extreme terrains.
Controls
Modifying the stock steering stem, Teixeira cut the bottom off utilizing the base (very bottom of the stem) and installed a chrome-moly shaft and an anti-vibe top mount. He then utilized his own anti-vibe handlebar clamp, which has two holes in the bottom allowing adjustment forward and backward for that perfect custom positioning. A set of Fasst Company Flexx bars were installed, which are the best bars in the business for endurance racing as they soak up a lot of the hits that would normally fatigue your hands and arms. Adjustable and unbreakable ASV levers were clamped to the bars and have very good geometry for an easy clutch pull. PowerMadd Handwraps and hand guards were installed for protection. These wraps offer a lot of rigidity to the guards, so you can smash into trees and not lose knuckles. Instead of using the stock mount that comes with the guard we used a set of Fasst's anti-vibration handlebar inserts; the inserts cut vibration going to our hands so hanging onto the bars for a long period of time was easier. The PowerMadd Handwraps screw right in, so it's no different than the stock mounting. And lastly in the controls department, we chose the Pro Armor tether switch to kill the engine in an unfortunate mishap.
Odds And Ends
X-Factor produced and provided all of the protection components, which are made in America out of 6061 quality aluminum for this quad. The list includes nerf bars, front bumper and belly pan skid plate. We like how these guys built their skid plates to tie into the front bumper so that you have protection for the full length of the frame. X-Factor also breaks the outer edges of the skids to make a better fit and a stronger skid. We've used X-Factor aluminum for projects in the past and were always amazed at how easily the products bolt right up which is not exactly a common thing with many nerf bar companies.