First ride on new to me sled, powder qs?

[JB_M]

I was on a budget, and also being careful about dumping a bunch of money into a sport I know nothing about, and picked up a 2013 AC 800 proclimb 153 with 2.1k miles.

I've read some things and understand it's an older sled with its problems and quirks, but I just needed something to get out on, and learn.

I hate being bad at a skill so have watched plenty of YouTube sled videos, Rasmussen, the guy who always says "let's get into it," (lol) and burandt before I went just to have an idea of the mechanics at work.

We had quite a bit of snow, waist deep in the meadow we were riding in. I was doing laps trying to figure out how to steer.

I was going 20 to 30 mph, would counter steer and lean, and sometimes I would turn. Should join Nascar because I absolutely can turn left better than right.

In deepish snow at that speed what is actually causing the sled to turn? Trying to understand the mechanics.

Once you counter steer and get on edge, are you turning the bars back to a neutral position, turning the direction you want to go, or leaving them in a counter? I think if I could figure out what is turning the sled I could answer this question.

How do you tighten the radius of the turn?

Thanks guys.

I am very sore today.

 

[NHRoadking]

Throttle helps you turn. When you count steer and goose the throttle, that turns the sled harder. Try that.

 

[Coldfinger]

20-30 sounds way to fast to get a tight turn. Slow down, wrong foot forward on the inside of turn and if you move that foot more to the rear while giving it more throttle it will turn way sharper.

 

[simnil]

20-30 sounds way to fast to get a tight turn. Slow down, wrong foot forward on the inside of turn and if you move that foot more to the rear while giving it more throttle it will turn way sharper.

If he's in the flats and just beginning figuring countersteering out wrong foot forward isn't necessary. That's just adding difficulty that's just not needed. No one needs to jump to one side to turn in the flats, just look where you want to go and lean/ and countersteer, the rest is throttle control and that comes with practice.

Look where you want to go, that's the No 1 tip!!

 

[moab11]

Dan Adams really explains a lot of this well on his youtube channel, Next Level Riding Clinics

Seems like you are getting the basics, after that is just a lot of feel and experimenting in fields and such to get better.

 

[Solarguy]

As mentioned slow down, once on edge use throttle and steering to maintain balance on edge, and you do steer back to neutral and into the direction you want to turn, the more you lean the sled the sharper the turn you will make, if you get too steep you have to use throttle to keep from tipping over. Again, this is a slow maneuver to do a sharp turn as the faster you are going the more the sled wants to level out. Once mastered at slower speeds you can add some speed fun. This can all be done in neutral position. Side hilling is also a slower speed technique, speed will level the sled and cause you to loose the sidehill. Its why you hear throttle on throttle off when watching someone sidehill, its a blip, blip, blip technique as you sidehill Which continuously resets the track and keeps you on edge and in control. With sidehilling it is advantageous in many or most steep circumstances to be "wrong foot forward" although the newer sleds allow us to do a lot more sidehilling in neutral position. Have fun, practice is key?

 

[JB_M]

As mentioned slow down, once on edge use throttle and steering to maintain balance on edge, and you do steer back to neutral and into the direction you want to turn, the more you lean the sled the sharper the turn you will make, if you get too steep you have to use throttle to keep from tipping over. Again, this is a slow maneuver to do a sharp turn as the faster you are going the more the sled wants to level out. Once mastered at slower speeds you can add some speed fun. This can all be done in neutral position. Side hilling is also a slower speed technique, speed will level the sled and cause you to loose the sidehill. Its why you hear throttle on throttle off when watching someone sidehill, its a blip, blip, blip technique as you sidehill Which continuously resets the track and keeps you on edge and in control. With sidehilling it is advantageous in many or most steep circumstances to be "wrong foot forward" although the newer sleds allow us to do a lot more sidehilling in neutral position. Have fun, practice is key?

Thanks this answered my question!

 

[Solarguy]

You are welcome, the sport gets so fun when you get techniques mastered and can travel to far away places with deep powder, incredible scenery, endless playgrounds with no tracks AND NO people other than your crew....enjoy

 

[Blk88GT]

Your foot position (front to back on the boards) will affect how tight of a turn you're executing when used in conjunction with throttle. Try it out!