January 22, 2009Ride Straight One of the most common product
requests we have is, at first blush, a very simple one and one that I hear
constantly from
friends in the media as well as our
dealers. When is Yamaha going to change the
ski’s to something newer?
Good question. I will likely raise a couple of eyebrows for trying to address this but I think most of you will
understand and appreciate that I am only offering another
opinion to the ongoing conversation. Truth be known we have been
working on a new ski, off and on for several years… still are. I won’t go into the
details but one thing we face at every turn is
patent frustrations. There are only so many things you can do to a ski (or carbide) and over the years
most have been done and many patents filed. We are splitting hairs to find something that
doesn’t come close to someones elses design. Funny thing however, I am
not all that
convinced we really need one!
Now I better explain that! From a
marketing POV we absolutely need a new ski, simply because of all the
negative comments I’ve heard and read both in print and on line. From a
performance and handling POV, those who have experimented with some of the latest
carbide runner designs will most likely concur with the following opinion:
It is not the
ski so much as the carbide
runner that needs to be addressed.
In fact, our current ski
has changed significantly, since its first inception in 1999. It has seen numerous
updates and versions. We still have part numbers for the
shallow keel (Vmax style)
deep keel (ViperS / early RX-1)
mid keel (Apex / Vector)
saddle type (original),
saddle-less (current),
wide (TF / VK) and
mountain. Within each of those categories there have been
tweaks to keel
angles as well as axle mounting
locations.
I
nteresting side bar: Jon has been experimenting with our wide ski on his XTX after trying one at a joint test. He pulled the boards off an 09 Venture TF along with a set of piggy back Floats and bolted it all up. Low and behold the steering effort was terrible, making harder to maneuver but the darting is improved. Turns out the sled he rode in the US had VK skis, not TF skis which appear identical, hmmm, upon closer inspection the mounting hole is not the same (ahead of the VK Pro) consequently the TF boards are pulled back towards the snow-flap effectively changing everything. The lesson in this should be applied to any aftermarket or OE ski-swap. Has the chosen ski been developed for and tested on the sled in question? Slap on a set of Pilots designed for a different chassis and weight bias and expectations are what?Before proceeding, I must drop in a little caveat:
‘Darting’ is characteristic of snowmobiling. All snowmobiles will exhibit darting under certain conditions, it is the nature of the beast when there are manysled tracks in packed snow. If you are looking to
reduce (eliminate)
darting, dial in the amount of
‘push’ or under-steer and or improve
predictability, these can all be achieved to a large degree by simply changing the
carbide runners. You really don’t need to change the ski to make some significant alterations to the ride
character. I am not saying you won’t get similar results from a new set of skis (however there are many types and levels) but the
runner, IMHO is at the
crux of the matter.
There is an interesting ‘poll’ thread
on-going over on TY discussing the virtues of two particular carbide designs. I was able to relate as I began my ski
experiments a long time ago. I will only go as far back as the first
RX-1 deep-keel where I discovered I was not man enough to hang onto the bars of the beast using the
stock set-up. That first year I upgraded the
sway-bar to a 13 mill with the new
links, changed to the
mid-keel ski ( a gift from a friend in testing) and hooked up the rear end with a pre-pro
RipSaw track, much better, but still ‘
darty’, next came thicker host bar, more aggressive carbides, more
ski lift…
The following year I moved to the
Simmons ski which was working pretty good until I got behind a bunch of
REV tracks which btw, seemed strikingly
similar to the Simmons… gave them away to Tom and moved back to a mid-keel and
duallies… Things got a lot
smoother but a small top speed
loss and a few missing chips had me thinking. Along comes the
Apex (same ski) and more new players in the
dual carbide game, tried a couple more designs then stumbled upon a new
single skag out of
Quebec which came highly recommended from some respected dealer friends (
Irwin’s and
Markham Mower) The
Cobra Head by Qulaipiece offered some quantifiable
benefits with its integrated
‘corrector’ (which I first remember seeing in
UHMW form coming out of Quebec when everyone had steel skis, to reduce darting fifteen years ago). I have been running these for a couple of seasons until now, which after reading about the
Snowtrackers in
Supertrax and researching them, I decided to give a set a try. I am going to save my
evaluation for another day but I will say I am
impressed and quite
satisfied with the handling traits. I have not felt any sled track any
straighter than what I have experienced so far with these on my
Apex. I am using the
semi-aggressive Snowtracker but I still need to try the
aggressive model for comparison. (many thanks to my friend Richard (
Coyote) for hooking me up.)
Another thing that strikes me, the original
corrector, (the plastic shim that was affixed to the front of many ski’s to reduce darting), came out of
Quebec and currently (IMHO) the best hi-tech
single skag carbides all have built in ‘correctors’ and also come out of Quebec. I
conclude that the Quebec trail system which is ranked as one of the
best in the world, has led the charge of anti-darting
accessories as a result of the smooth, fast and snowy conditions which are their norm.Maybe this is just a Canadian thing but I don’t think so, it is just more prevelant on fast, smooth trails.
Most of the trails I have ridden in the
mid-west are so tight and bumpy it’s hard to realize the level of
darting because there is so much other stuff going on. My point is, not everyone will experience the
same level of ‘darting’ based on the local
conditions and perhaps the runner will not be so important to the overall handling. That said however I still maintain that
any of our performance snowmobiles can
benefit from a high-tech runner to some degree and the vast
majority of ownersdo not need to change out the
ski to achieve great handling.
I think of carbides much as I do
tires. Most OE tires on cars and trucks are cheap versions that eventually get
replaced with superior rubber to yield
improved traction and handling. Like carbides,
stock tires are a
wearable part that will do the job but when it comes time to
replace, most performance minded drivers will select something more suited to their
conditions and preference.
Whenever I am asked what
one thing would I recommend to dial in a
Yamaha trail sled, assuming a good
PDI (including ski alignment, 0-toe and suspension set-up), I always say a
new set of carbide runners. Bake the stockers and try something new. It’s not a one size fits all formula, you have to do a little
research considering all the
conditions under which you ride , overall sled set-up and
riding style. I am convinced the
right carbide will negate the need for a new ski and enhance your overall experience and
satisfaction.
Cheers cr
Accueil 
Jeu 22 Jan 2009, 22:40
a Mme RED pour la traduction 
est pas mal bonne 