Riot ramblings

[eric82930]

Got my base riot on the snow today and must say the goal of this design is totally in line with what i wanted. Light front end playful and lively.

I could be totally wrong but I predict the long swingarm will be a week point.

Also the track tension does loosen a lot when the front of the rails push up so it might ratchet skipping hard moguls at full throttle.

My only real question is they over build the hardware on the rail side of the shocks with multiple cross braces and yamaha style monster bolts all the way between rails it looks like my Apex skid, but the tops of both shocks are just a single unsupported shaft spanning the full width of the tunnel. They might bent or they might be made of magic kryptonite. Time will tell.

And my chain was too short to run anything bigger than a 13t. I had to sag the strut for break in until the chain stretched....

Yay it has grease zerks on swingarm but not on bearings.

And finally a carbide ski that doesn't catch on my trailer and everything else in the forest.

No real regrets so far.

 

[needpowder]

Nice. When I loaded my kit for the first time, I got hung up on my ramp a couple times. I will be grinding down the front of the carbide a little. Didn’t happen after I ground the crap out of my U-channel last year. I also got a little hung up in the parking lot. Should be an easy fix though.
If you decide to keep your CMX track, I’m sure a lot of us will be curious to hear differences in performance.
How did you feel about the vibrations? I felt like I had a lot. I am waiting for more snow before I ride again but I will loosen my track up before I do. Maybe that was the cause?
Also thinking about changing/modifying gears and sliders.

 

[eric82930]

Nice. When I loaded my kit for the first time, I got hung up on my ramp a couple times. I will be grinding down the front of the carbide a little. Didn’t happen after I ground the crap out of my U-channel last year. I also got a little hung up in the parking lot. Should be an easy fix though.
If you decide to keep your CMX track, I’m sure a lot of us will be curious to hear differences in performance.
How did you feel about the vibrations? I felt like I had a lot. I am waiting for more snow before I ride again but I will loosen my track up before I do. Maybe that was the cause?
Also thinking about changing/modifying gears and sliders.

I didn't notice any vibration, just a buzzing noise from the chain sliders but I'm on a 2 stroke that vibrates a bid anyway. The Carbide is going to bite into things no matter how much grinding you do until it gets dulled down a bit. Its massive and razor sharp. If its sticking the ski in a gravel parking lot, you probably have too much ski pressure and need to shorten strut, or crank up front shock and loosen back.

 

[needpowder]

Yes maybe. I had both front and rear clicker in the middle position and hadn’t adjusted the preload at all from where it came stock. I also measured the strut eye to eye length and adjusted it to what the TS recommends. It will be interesting to play with it when we get some snow.
I will have to do something about the carbide. My new bike does not have East start and I don’t run a recluse so it is kind of a pain when it snags halfway up the ramp.
Edit: now that I think about it, wheelie mode would probably be a better setting for loading and parking lots.

 

[eric82930]

The manual says to adjust preload before clickers. The clickers only control damping when the shock moves. If you are having ski presure issues in a flat parking lot the shocks aren't moving hench the clickers do nothing. If you lift the rear adjust the strut so the track hits the floor flat or slightly front first. If the rear paddles touch first it will be really front heavy and probably too much to compensate with spring preloads.

I'm kind of excited to hear how the 4 stokes work with a proper RIOT setup. One of the reasons I've hatted 4 strokes was because of the heavy ski preassure but the riot should cure that problem real quick.

 

[eric82930]

I finally broke something but no big deal. The rivets on the bottoming bumpers fell out. I got plenty of skidoo bumpers laying around with better hardware to fix it. I don't think bottoming caused it unless there was some ice build up. I did feel like I've been bottoming more than my other kits but it's not a big enough priority for me to justify a tss. My 2 strokes are vibrating beasts and the hard strut actually helps a lot to dampen the vibs. I even build my own swing arm bushings to slightly pinch the rear of the kit when the bolt tightens. Can't do that with a tss.

Also the chain case adjuster wheel keeps freezing and then won't spin so it's worn like a stop sign shape. I'm going to just make a slider style like castleman did.

The cheap shocks on the base model aren't cheap they just don't have damping adjuster's. I feel like they damping rates are pretty dang close. Way better than the 11 to 15 gen kits. It's still falling rate but the simplicity and toughness seems to be a worth while trade off.

I've been riding 3 days a week since octobers and even pull off 7 in a row last week. Ive smashed stuff with the track hard enough to almost Endo. I predicted the rear swing arm or upper cross shaft would bend but I've changed my mind.
I still hate looking at the heavy Yamaha bolts going all the way through the lower cross shafts but a few pounds of waste that low on the bike isn't a big deal.

 

[needpowder]

I went to adjust my chain case tension last night and noticed my wheel had wore flat also. I thought maybe I was running it a little bit tight. I had 1/2 inch of play and adjusted to 5/8. It really hadn’t stretched since the very initial ride. My other chain has stretched quite a bit (or the slider has wore down)

 

[SteepNdeep450]

Low snow conditions here haven't allowed me to fully test mine yet, I'm now able to carry 4th gear in flatter stuff. I don't remember ever being able to carry 4th next to a road in 6" or so of snow on my 13 or 17 ST. I do feel like my front shock preload is a bit stiff, it seems like its more plowing into the snow rather than trying to crawl up on top of it. So I need to check that out.

I wondered if we'd see issues, did you guys see how there's now weight loss cuts in the side panel behind the chain case cover? All other kits were pretty sealed up, or at least the MH chassis was. Wonder if snow is getting in there and freezing up your wheels? Maybe you could put a bunch of grease on the backside of the adjuster wheel?

 

[eric82930]

Yup i noticed the cut out behind the chain case. I like it to reach in to feel the chain tension without removing the cover. And yes snow gets in there for sure and freezes into ice blocks from the heat of the oring chain. I should try my non oring on the riot like I'm using on my other bikes.

 

[CATSLEDMAN1]

I like the bigger side cutouts on the RIOT, on the ARO we cut holes in the plastic side cover to let in more coooling snow. First snow bike I built from the ground up I totally enclosed the side case, even lubing the chain every ride I toasted an new high dollar O ring chain as it would get blistering hot. Put on new chain, ventilated my side case, never a problem.

 

[CATSLEDMAN1]

Friend showed m a potential problem with the RIOT, he had a picture of a cracking/fatigue cracked joint on the frame work where your front shock attaches on the bottom. Sure enough, when I checked my RIOT, paint flaked off and fatigue crack started on both sides of the shock mount. Hey, I'm 70, say it, not the most aggressive rider, no big drops yet this year, kids must be breaking these ?
Loped down to my dealer, they never heard of that, check with the warranty guy, he said if I removed it and welded it up with braces, I probably couldn't get a new part on warranty if they make a stronger part later in the year, suggested I not ride it until they talked to Polaris. Absolutely boiler plate response to first year model issues from any manufacturer.

I fixed it without welding or modifying their parts.

It appears to me that the top and bottom shock mounts are not aligned close enough, I can feel the shock mount tabs bent slightly to the side. Unlike earlier TS / Fox shock, no hiem joint and the shock is really tight in the shock mount not allowing any movement at all.

I went to way tooo much trouble to fix it without scratching any RIOT paint.

The killer is, if this joint breaks you will likely/for sure shove the shock down through the tack window , ruin the track and shock and........

I will ride it and test it, ok I did. all ok. Hope we hear someting on this in 2020.

 

[eric82930]

Nice patch job. Mine has paint flaking off the welds but no cracks yet. With out a heim joint there is probably a lot of twisting on the joint when the rails rock side to side.