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10 Best Gifts for a Desert Racer

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Cassandra

  • December 08 2008
  • 602 views
  • 88 comments

Do the holidays have you stumped? Perplexed? Confused? Don’t worry! We’re here to help. If you’ve got a desert racer on your list, here are the top 10 gifts to wrap for him or her this season. Or, if you’re a desert racer and you don’t know what to put on your wish list, send this to your friends and family!

1. A CamelBak with Carrying Capacity

A CamelBak with carrying capacity is like a backpack that has a plastic bladder inside that holds liquids. Desert racing is grueling, long, and dry…so keeping a racer hydrated is half the battle. Getting a CamelBak with carrying capacity will allow you to bring not only much-needed water, but also have room to pack a tool kit and anything else small that will help on that rough, dusty trail.

2. IMS Desert Tank

Anyone who’s even semi-serious about desert racing knows that a stock fuel tank is not going to get you very far in a six-hour, middle-of-nowhere, no-such-thing-as-a-gas-station-here race. That’s why an IMS Desert Tank, with up to a four-gallon capacity, is not just a good idea…it’s a necessity. Don’t race in the desert until you have one of these on your quad.

3. Hand Guards

With its dry shrubs and plenty of rocks, the desert can be brutal on your body. Hand guards on your quad during a desert race will save your paws from some painful stuff. Hand guards come in a ton of colors and manageable price range, so they’re a great gift idea if your wallet is a little thin this year.

4. Wider Pegs

Desert racing is not the place to run stock equipment and hope for the best. The best will not happen. Wider pegs are stronger and they have more surface area to grab the bottom of your riding boots. All that means you’ll have a sturdier stance on your quad and be able to shift your weight easily. A lot of companies make wider pegs, but check out Pro Armor, IMS, and Rath Racing for some good-looking pegs.

5. H.I.D. Lights

It gets mighty dark in the middle of the desert. Don’t get stuck riding by moonlight (trust us, we’ve tried it, and it’s a really bad idea). A set of H.I.D. lights mounted to your quad will light the desert up like a football stadium…a small one, but it’ll be plenty of light for what you’re doing. The lights are a bit expensive, but you can’t put a price on being able to see a G-out, rain rut, rock, or whoop section when you’re racing at 80-plus mph.

6. Skid Plates

Don’t leave home without them. Seriously. Skid plates will protect your quad from all those nasty rocks, ruts, roots, and whatever else is in your way in the desert. Heck, we’ve seen parts of rusted-out cars on the trail. Without skid plates your quad is prone to some race-ending undercarriage damage.

7. Chest Protector and Neck Brace

Think of these as skid plates for your body. No rider ever plans to crash, but it happens…and crashing in the desert can be disastrous. A chest protector will protect your chest (go figure!), and that’s invaluable when you’re in the middle of nowhere, light years away from the nearest doctor. A neck brace keeps your neck from bending the wrong way, and we don’t need to explain to you why that’s a good thing…do we?

8. Tool Bag and Flat Repair Kit

Desert racers aren’t just racers, they’re mechanics, too. And what good is a mechanic without tools? A small tool kit that can be stashed in a CamelBak is a great way to carry tools without weighing a rider down. A flat repair kit is a necessity, as well, because flats will happen out there.

9. Steering Stabilizer

Bumpy. Rough. Jolting. These are the joys of the desert. A steering stabilizer will soak up some of those bumps and hard landings that get transfered to racers arms through the handlebars. You can only race as long as you can hold on, so a stabilizer should be one of the first additions you make to your desert quad.

10. Oversize Bumper

Everything is bigger in the desert, including the bumpers. You will encounter the roughest terrain, the biggest rocks, and a ton of other racers flying down the dusty trail…and that means your quad’s stock bumper just isn’t going to cut it. Get a meaty piece of metal on the front of your quad and ride with confidence, knowing that whatever comes at you, you and your bumper will be able to handle it.

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