Many quads that are currently used for heavy competion have had problems with their frames bending and cracking. The YFZ 450's frame has actually stood up a lot better to abuse than some of them. It makes sense that the YFZ's frame should have been made much stronger, since Yamaha made it to be almost race-ready from the showroom floor. Most people who ride out in the sand dunes or somewhere for fun should have no trouble with the frame. The A-level and Pro riders are the ones who need to worry about it. After extreme racing conditions, the frame has been known to crack at a few different points. I hadn't had any problems with my frame cracking yet, but I knew with all the new additions Project Wide Open YFZ was getting, it was going to get ridden a lot harder. It's a lot easier on your wallet in the end if you just gusset your frame BEFORE it cracks. A gusset is like a small piece of metal that is used to strengthen the frame. They are welded onto the spots that have been known to crack, or just certain spots that get more pressure put on them.
With the experience we've had with gusset kits, when you are putting everything back together, certain things might take a little bit of modification. A gusset might get in the way of something you previously had installed, either from factory or aftermarket. We were lucky this time and didn't have to change anything. Depending on how good you want it to look, the amount of work needing to be done can vary greatly. If you just want a quick job and you think you can weld pretty well, you could do it yourself. After everything is torn off the frame all you would have to do is hand-sand the spots and weld on the gussets. If you want a little better job, you should have the frame sand-blasted and the gussets welded on by a certified welder. Then it would need to be painted.
For our frame work we took it to Kni-Co in Wallowa, Oregon, a local shop that along with many other things, designs and builds portable stoves for Cabella's and a few other outdoor companies. They did pretty much everything for us other, than taking and putting the quad back together. After sandblasting it and welding the new Bare Performance gussets on, they powder coated it "Red Wagon Red", the same red as our brand new MX a-arms and swingarm from Epic Suspensions.
With the gusset kit costing about $70 our total for everything came out to close to $300. Now with this awesome-looking frame, Project Wide Open YFZ stands out a lot more at the races, and should stand up to aggressive use. Kni-Co Manufacturing Bare Performance
Suggestions, comments, products you would like to see tested and installed on Project Wide Open? Please let us know via email. Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/OffRoadDotCom
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Bare
Performance gussets come in plastic bags that are clearly
numbered, and come with a diagram showing where each numbered piece
goes.
Many people have tried to
paint it multiple ways on their own (rattle can and things like
that) but it never quite compares to getting it powder coated.
Powder coating lasts a lot longer, looks way better, and has way
more choices of colors.
With powder coating, as
long as you tell them the exact color you want, you can't tell a
difference between two things powder coated at different places.
While we were at it we had them do our new steering stem from Epic
also. We picked our stuff back up after about only 3 or 4 days.
They did an awesome job and quickly wrapped it up for travel as
they were giving us a tour of sandblasting and powder coating
equipment.
