First Ride on the 15 wide Extreme

[trinitypowder]

I am not a beliver that the 15" track is the reason for a sled to side hill better. I can see it whipping around better maybe.

I have noticed that the position of my feet in the footwell is critical to how my sled side hills as well I have moved the skis to the inner stance and removed the sway bar. These 3 things change how my XP handles in a big way.

The other thing that I believe people do is run too much spring tension on the front skid spring. This elevates the sled making it tippy and it upsets the overall handeling of the sled IMO.

I will say that I believe that the XP could side hill a lot better than it does however if I move my feet all the way forward in the footwell it handles a lot better and side hilling is a lot easier.

I believe that the 16" track is more about floatation and climbing than anything else.

Later....

I think everyone is overthinking the footprint thingy. If you have ever sidehilled a 136, or 141 with a mountain front end(meaning narrow!) you can not argue that they dont sidehill better than a 159 or 163. Even a wide front end sled, MXZ, with a 121 will sidehill better than a longtrack will. I'm not talking about climbing to the moon, but rather laying the sled over and staying there for a couple of hundred feet. The reason is the lack of drag/track that is fighting you and gravity. With that being said, it's obvious that if two sleds, set up identically, were put to the 16 vs 15 test, the 15 would be easier to move around and sidehill on, because of the smaller footprint. There would be less rubber(remember, it's flat- not round!) to roll over and keep there. Now as far as climbing goes, the reverse is true. More flat/wide rubber is better. The smaller track also frees up airspace in the tunnel, helping to limit air drag from the track. In my case it's probably a wash since my lugs increased by .25 of an inch. I'm not trying to talk anybody into anything. I'm just trying to show guys that want more spunk from there sleds, like I doo, why the 15 works a little better for just about everything this side of straight up climbing.

 

[MontanaPowder]

860 hp

Thanks Trinity,
How does your sled do to stock xp?
How much more hp does it feel like?
Hope to have mine soon.

The turbom8 will have 174*15*2.5 soon.

 

[YamaDoo PolCat]

Is that your sled in your Avatar? If so, I knew you would. I won't put a 16 under a Doo again-and if I buy a new Dooski, the 16 will be the first thing to go

Depends what the snow is.

I ride an 07 800R turning a 162x16 2.5 holey track off the 05 1000.

We were playing in 5 feet of snow in the hills. One of the most experienced riders I have ever met was on a Turbo Yamaha 144x15 2.5 and I could easily go past his mark and just keep on going. The difference was the track. The 144 x 15 is to small for the hills.
Naturally the Yamaha was the first one back to the truck, awesome on the trail.

Difference was I had fun all day.

 

[trinitypowder]

If I got to play in 5 FEET of pow, i'd eat crow and put a 16x174 under 'er! Anything more than 3' of fresh requires alot of rubber for forward motion to happen, but those days are hard to come by-unless you live in BC, eh

 

[wweverett]

The main problem I see is all the extra ice build up in the tunnel because of there being 1 inch less of track to keep it clean, that is a lot of weight that can not be good. Unless you also change the tunnel to match the track width this will be hard to avoid w/ a 15 in a 16 tunnel.

Also it is just Physics if you move a pound of snow backwords a pound of sled goes forward, small track high track speed = big track w/ slower speed. the idea is to find the best combination for you sled and how you ride, if you put around (slow track speed) then go big. On the other hand if you ride like you stole it then you do not need as big.

 

[trinitypowder]

So far the ice buildup is about the same as the 163's i ride with. It's pretty hard to tell the difference between them as far as ice accumulation goes. The most interesting thing has been the lack of snow built up in the skid of my sled considering my UNPORTED track. My skid is as clean OR EVEN cleaner than both 163's I jump more so maybe that helps clear it out

 

[wweverett]

As far as skid buildup the stock suspension is terrible on all the sleds The EZ-RYDE is great for that but so is any after-market that I have seen.

Rode with a buddy w/ a 15 x 153 maverik on a REV w/ a fabcraft tunnel (said 16 would not fit) he went anywhere I did and really did not seem to be having an trouble at all. Oh Ya, He had a holtz also

 

[SnowSnob]

Finally got to run my 155x16x2.5 on my Rev and it was 3' of Mashed Potatos. Unbelieveable how well this track gets through the snow but when she starts trenchin.....watch out China.
I noticed I could get her up on her side a little easier too, usually when I cobbed it to get her up. My theory is that the track hooks up so much better that when you gas it your gettng better weight transfer and she comes over easier.
I also put on drop brackets so that probably has some effect too though.
I love this track except when on the trail and I don't have ice scratchers....yet.
On hard packed she'll start over heatin in less then 1 mile....maybe I have an air bubble in my coolant line???

 

[trinitypowder]

Nice report! Once you get the track speed up, and can keep it up, the extreme is pretty inpressive. My track clips are BLUE!! Looks just like titanium! That baby has been hot! Scratchers are a must

 

[2THTOP]

2.5 tight on XP

I'm putting a 144x15x2.5 on my summit X 146, for those of you that went to a 2.5 it's pretty tight in the tunnel area did you have to do any mods? Granted stock is 2.31 I think. As far as the drivers the stock drivers are 2.86-the 3 pitch skidoo looks to be closer to 2.88. Glad I pulled mine apart-the bearing retainer tab was broken, and not seated correctly-last time it was out was for the driveshaft recall? oh well-

 

[trinitypowder]

She'll go right in there just fine. No rubbing at all. The only thing you will notice is some "humming" on the hardpack from the 2.5 lugs. Trust me, you will love it!!!!!!!!

 

[SnowSnob]

So what's everyone running for gearing with the 8 tooth 2.86 drivers? I'm currently running 19/45 but I'm thinking it might be a tad low.

 

[trinitypowder]

I'm 20/45 on the 156 extreme-mid 70's wide open

 

[X_RS EXTREME]

stock track 154 20/45 gearing 2500ft. 91 mph. according to guage. flat hardpack.

 

[trinitypowder]

I'm kinda glad i ride at 10k and up-91 m pee h is hauling the mail. Someday, i will ride a mountain sled at sea level-AK, BC or someplace else. It would be like a shot of Nitrous

 

[X_RS EXTREME]

BC you noticably loose power. AK would be unreal.

 

[trinitypowder]

What elevations doo you ride at?

 

[BraapWraps]

mid 70's Ike? You got take the Frigid B**** for a ride, my speedo could be off a little bit but the needle showed 100 a couple of times on my speedo on my last ride. 20/45 gearing with a 16X144X2.5 Even if its off by 10, that is still 90+ at 10,000 feet with a big ol' paddle and all those heavy decals I'll be riding with a variety of sleds this weekend and I might get a chance to compare speedometer readings...

 

[Nikolai]

BC you noticably loose power. AK would be unreal.

Alaska has its perks

 

[X_RS EXTREME]

Find me a job and I'll move there for the sleddin season