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Project Backcountry Grizz

9K views 103 replies 15 participants last post by  40tude 
#1 · (Edited)
I bought my used 21 Grizzly XT-R last fall, and so far I love it. I plan to use it for basic trail riding in the mountains of Eastern WA and North Idaho (and a little in MT as well), but I also plan to use it for mulit-day backcountry outings. I'm fortunate to have one of the largest contiguous wilderness areas in the lower 48 nearby (not to mention almost endless national forest) and I'm planning a 400 mile loop around the Frank-Church River of No Return (hopefully I do return;)) and Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness areas.

Anyhow, I've been gearing up my Grizzly for these kind of multi-day backcountry rides and figured I post some of that here.

Although riding in remote national forest areas is the fun part, I needed the Grizz to be street legal since parts of my riding require road use when getting from one area to the next. Before I post what I've been up to, here's the Grizz in stock form (Elka Stage 4's came with it). Excuse the boxes, we recently moved:):
Tire Wheel Automotive tire Vehicle Tread

More to come...
 
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#76 ·
I bought the tube brackets from Ballistic Fabrication if I remember, but if doing it again, I would just buy some prefabbed weld tabs and use those instead (assuming you have access to a welder or a friend that would do it for you). If you are not needing/wanting a quick detach solution, the box does have good tie down points that won't interfere with opening and closing. Just add some anti-slip padding to the bottom of the box that will contact the rack and it's a pretty stable solution that comes off fairly easy. I really like the box for a medium-sized storage solution.

BTW, congrats on the XTR! Really great machines.
 
#78 ·
Managed to get out for a decent ride today. Still lots of snow on the trails. My storage setup worked great. I gave the quick detach mounts a good test and they held solid.

My new Bighorn OGs did ok in the snow, but I think my Zillas would have been the better choice for today’s conditions. Was planning to sell them, but I’m almost tempted to mount them on another set of wheels and keep them for winter use.

I did get a few miles in on some dirt roads that were clear of snow, and I could immediately tell that the Bighorns are a big improvement over the Zillas. Steering was much more precise, and very responsive.
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#87 ·
or shorter tires....
as of two days ago our trails are still closed due to snow pack above 9500ft.
 
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#89 ·
Had a great higher altitude ride yesterday. Some of the trails had a lot of sharp, abrupt rock that had me thinking about two things: 1) adjusting my Elkas for less preload (i had already dialed down the dampening which helps), and 2) ditching the 14” wheels for some 12s. More tire would have been better. Can’t afford the latter, so I’ll see what I can further tune out with the Elkas.
This wasn’t the worst stretch by any means, but it was this type of trail:
Sky Plant Bedrock Natural landscape Slope
 
#91 ·
Had a great higher altitude ride yesterday. Some of the trails had a lot of sharp, abrupt rock that had me thinking about two things: 1) adjusting my Elkas for less preload (i had already dialed down the dampening which helps), and 2) ditching the 14” wheels for some 12s. More tire would have been better. Can’t afford the latter, so I’ll see what I can further tune out with the Elkas.
This wasn’t the worst stretch by any means, but it was this type of trail:
Myself and many others have preached the advantage of the 12" rims.
 
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#92 ·
I added some nice new scars to the 14” wheels as well. I actually like the 14s for a lot of the riding I do, but they aren’t ideal for these types of rock trails.

These 14s would probably do pretty good with a set of 28x10 Bighorns, but I didn’t want to upsize that much.

I might make the switch to 12s sometime in the future, but I’d rather put the money into some Camso tracks for winter riding.
 
#95 ·
I do have the X4S. I personally don’t have any experience with the T4S but this blog might help show their claimed advantages:

 
#98 ·
Is that where you store the drag chute?
 
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#103 ·
The box and rotopax mounts turned out great and have stood up very well to many miles now. The only thing I would change is that I would use 3/8" aluminum for the upright portion of the mounts to add more rigidity. Wish I could manufacture it for other users (I'm probably going to bring some other products to market in the next 6 months or so), but tolerances on this setup are tight and the costs are high. Overall though, I absolutely love it. Being able to change up configurations in a matter of seconds is a real nice convenience.
 
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