Raptor Tuning: Yamaha YFM Group Austria

The Yamaha YFM Group Austria was founded by Manfred and Walter Macholda from Salzburg. At the beginning they drove their Yamaha YFM 700 R more or less in their original condition on street tires and with lowering springs. Her second Yamaha season brought tuning at its finest by hand. The parts were purchased from RMX, Quad World, Black Tec Performence and Löffler Quads.

Yamaha YFM Group Austria: Macholda brothers discover the joy of quad biking

Manfred Macholda is 26 years old, a trained plumber and painter; his 25-year-old brother Walter works as a dispensing system technician. The brothers share a common hobby: quad biking and working on everything with a motor. They move their quads in the Salzburg and Upper Austria area – as curvaceously and as often as possible. Her motto: “Only across are who!”
Ever since he was 18, Walter has always ridden on two wheels. “I’ve ridden pretty much everything that’s on the market,” says Walter. “Supermoto, street fighter, racing machine; Then I thought, I’ll try something new that not everyone drives. So it happened that I switched to quad. Unfortunately, since we have a very small scene of quad drivers and driving alone is boring, I asked my brother if he could get one too. In April 2013, after extensive research, we decided on the Yamaha YFM 700 R.”

Raptor Pimp: Conversion Project Phase 1

The 2013 season saw the Yamaha YFM Group Austria run their Raptors with street tires and lowered springs. “But we soon realized that this set-up wasn’t for the streets. We started the 2013/2014 winter renovation project.”
The quads were first disassembled and repainted: using water transfer printing in the colors matt black and pearl white. “New speedometers from Koso (RX1N) were added because we always keep an eye on the water and oil temperature wanted to keep,” reports Walter. Then the original A-Arms were exchanged for E.-ATV-A-Arms. After adjusting the track, camber, pre-roll and trail, the original brake lines were replaced with steel braided lines. “Since we’ve now gotten 15 cm wider at the front, the same thing had to happen at the back too, of course; So the original axle out and the 10 cm wider Lonestar Excalibur axle in; in addition, the track is widened by 5 cm per side at the rear and 4 cm per side at the front.” Of course, the right tires could not be missing. The brothers from the Yamaha YFM Group Austria opted for VBW rims with Maxxis Spearz 195/50-10 at the front and 255/40-10 at the rear. “Now the original seats were taken to the saddler and re-leathered,” says Walter.
Conclusion: The handling of the Raptors on the road improved significantly with the conversion, but the two were not completely satisfied.

The conversion is in phase 2

The finishing touches followed in the winter of 2014/2015. “We improved the whole thing by replacing the original swingarm with a 10 cm longer one. The original chassis with the KW springs also had to give way – for a KW Gefind chassis Variant 3,” Walter continues. The rear axle was still not wide enough: the Lonestar axle was swapped for a 15 cm wider N-Duro axle.
Eventually the clutch got the better of it; an EBC carbon clutch was chosen. Various add-on parts such as brake and clutch levers were also replaced. There were also Zap clutch and brake levers; also the oil filter cover, thumb throttle cover, oil screw and other small details have been replaced with red anodized parts from Zap.
“Two weeks ago, everything from our beautiful state of Salzburg was properly registered, so we have no problems with our friends in the police force, who actually don’t know anything about quads anyway, but it’s just smoother to drive that way,” explains Walter. “If there are more people who are crazy about quads in the Salzburg and Upper Austria area, we would be happy to hear from them.” chk

Contact: > YFM Group Austria <