Road a camso today

[wwillf01]

So I have had an Explorer and have a 2015 timbersled Lt with the convex track. I road the Camso for 3 hours on a yz450fx and was blown away... I was on hardpack and deep set up powder that was a few feet deep... A base is hard to find ... I thought it handled the road, powder, getting on top of the snow all better... It's downfall for now was the rear suspension is not plush or to good with big jumps... But the unit itself feels way more solid structurally... Plus it does sit lower by a few inches. That's my 2 cents . I think it's a contender...

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

[RACINSTATION]

I agree. I think if it had a different suspension setup, ditch the torsion idea, it would be a great setup. First year, more to come.

 

[ktm131rob]

I have a couple rides on mine, trail stuff, set up powder and bottomless powder it handles great, I get around with far less effort than my timbersled buddies, Although I still am skeptical of the rear suspension, I will have to jump it more.

 

[Snow Fever]

I have rode my 2016 YZ450FX with the new Camso kit twice now and have no experience with other snow bikes, but on a very hard groomed trail it seemed twitchy (my understanding is that they all wobble around on hard pack) anyways, I had a buddy ride beside me at 30mph and I was using about 1/4 throttle in 5th gear, at 40mph I was using about 1/3 throttle (maybe a tad more) in 5th, at 50mph it was about 3/4 throttle in 5th, then I wicked it and when he got beside me he said we were doing 60mph. Now keep in mind I have not rode dirt bikes for 30 years and I was amazed that I could ride this thing on hard pack that easy. Coming off the mountain I was cruzing around 40mph and railing around the corners at speeds you would have to be hung out on a sled to go that fast around the tighter corners. Its seemed to rail the corners kind of like a normal dirt bike. I did find it worked best to use the small berms the sleds make on the corners. A coulple of the guys that I was with are not real agressive on the trails, but I still thought I would be holding them up. As it turned out, I had to keep stopping and waiting for them.. I'm in my 50s and like I said, I was suprised how fast I could go for not being on a dirt bike for 30 years.

 

[Snow Fever]

I found that the suspension on this Camso skid is crazy stiff. I weigh about 195lbs geared up and the suspension does NOT sink when I get on the bike. Like I said in my other post, I'm old and have NO intensions of airing this thing out so I don't need stiff suspsion. I pulled the skid out, removed the idler wheel where the torsion spring is, pulled the tosion spring off the shaft, then I heated it with a torch about 8" from the end that sits on the shaft and arcked the spring up a couple inches. (This puts less pre load on the spring) installed everything back on the bike and now you can push down on the bumper and it has some travel (I think its still too stiff but I will try this before arcking it more) When I sit on the bike now it does have a little ride in with my weight on it. Should be more compliant riding the trail to the powder.

Few things I want to add

1- Yes I know heating spring steal changes its properties. Years ago when this type of suspesion was on all snowmobiles we did this lots to set the suspension for the rider that rode a particalar sled (His or her own sled) worked great and NEVER had a spring break!

2 - I see NO WAY of removing the rear spring if you did break it or wanted to change it out for a stiffer or softer one. Looks like they took the spring and built the rear "H" arm around it. BAD IDEA!

3 - The front limiter strap is a cable and its NON ADJUSTABLE. I will cut mine off one day and install something that you can adjust easily so that when you have to trail ride in you can set it up for that (How much ski pressure you prefer for steering) and then when you hit the powder you can adjust it to give more ski lift. Doing this on a sled makes a huge diffrence in ride quality and performance on the trail and powder.

 

[Snow Fever]

Oh yea, one more thing, if you have pulled skids out of sleds before (I have done a SH#@ load) you will find the Camso skid to be a real pain in the a$$ to get back in (I mean putting the bolts back in the tunnel) I have fabed up tools to make the job easy on Cats, Doos, Poos and Yamahas but they don't work on this Puppy. What I found to work was to have something holding the back of the bike way up (Couple feet high with the ski against my work bench and tie downs from my handle bars down to the legs on my work bench) Have the idler wheel off on the left side that holds the torsion spring on, take the torsion spring off the shaft and let it hang down beside the track. Install the front skid bolts 1st, then put a small floor jack under the rear part of the track and jack it into place. Just a little pushing by hand and the rear bolts went in easy. Then put the torsion spring back on and then the idler wheel. With the tools I made for sleds and rachet tie straps I could not pull the rear "H" arm ahead to be able to install the bolts in the rear of the skid. There is MAJOR tension on this thing when the skid is all together but with the torsion spring off its not to bad.

 

[capulin overdrive]

Thanks for the report!




But spelling Nazi. RODE

 

[Brands36]

Couple days now on the Camso and a 300xc in Whitefish area.
No huge complaints, deep powder it works great, from nice setup base snow to bottomless sugar junk. No effort to get around and excellent manuverability. Uphill starts a breeze and almost no snow buildup. Big fan of the ski and its size on landings.
On trail, well it handles very ok. No sketchy movements. I'm 190lbs, with a mountain addiction can and bag on the tunnel. Spring set on medium. My only complaint so far is shock fade, stock shock reminds me off a summit skid. Couple whoops in and useless. Next step is to pull and measure it, send specs to Elka and try something with a reservoir.
For the price and capabilities, glad I went with it over what i used to have. The track and single rail design is a win.

Now if I can get the damn smartcarb dialed in..

 

[Sheetmetalfab]

Couple days now on the Camso and a 300xc in Whitefish area.
No huge complaints, deep powder it works great, from nice setup base snow to bottomless sugar junk. No effort to get around and excellent manuverability. Uphill starts a breeze and almost no snow buildup. Big fan of the ski and its size on landings.
On trail, well it handles very ok. No sketchy movements. I'm 190lbs, with a mountain addiction can and bag on the tunnel. Spring set on medium. My only complaint so far is shock fade, stock shock reminds me off a summit skid. Couple whoops in and useless. Next step is to pull and measure it, send specs to Elka and try something with a reservoir.
For the price and capabilities, glad I went with it over what i used to have. The track and single rail design is a win.

Now if I can get the damn smartcarb dialed in..

Shave the needle to cure lean top end

 

[Brands36]

Shave the needle?!!? Please explain cause yep that's my problem. Long trail rides in at wot, starts to do the I'm gonna blow up revs..

 

[Brands36]

Cast 38 apt with q07 rod and all recent updates. S2 Slavens head and 300sx CDI. Full Avid heat system.

 

[Sheetmetalfab]

Google search "smartcarb needle snowest"

Not exactly it. It might help.
http://www.snowest.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-385340.html

http://www.snowest.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-389287.html

 

[wwillf01]

Add an egt and it makes it simple to dial in..

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

[Snow Fever]

Rode mine again yesterday in 3' of bottomless snow by myself. It seemed to go go on the flats, but as far as climbing anything it was useless. I'm going out again today to the same place with a 2016 Cat with a 153 x 3" track. If it gets around in this stuff and is able to climb the little hills I tried and I still can't with this bike, it will be for sale when I get home. Not sure if I'm asking too much of this bike, but I bought it to go where I can't on my sled (I also have a slightly modded 153 x 2.6 track Cat) love the sled works awsome for boondocking. We get lots of dry powder where I live and if thats not what these bike work in, then bikes are not for me.

 

[wwillf01]

Make sure you are not trying to climb like a sled.... The bikes will never go straight up without nitrous or turbo..you will have to zigzag ....3 feet is also pretty deep for a naturally aspirated bike...

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

[dooman92]

Rode mine again yesterday in 3' of bottomless snow by myself. It seemed to go go on the flats, but as far as climbing anything it was useless. I'm going out again today to the same place with a 2016 Cat with a 153 x 3" track. If it gets around in this stuff and is able to climb the little hills I tried and I still can't with this bike, it will be for sale when I get home. Not sure if I'm asking too much of this bike, but I bought it to go where I can't on my sled (I also have a slightly modded 153 x 2.6 track Cat) love the sled works awsome for boondocking. We get lots of dry powder where I live and if thats not what these bike work in, then bikes are not for me.

Yeah, in my experience, snow types make a Hugh difference. Last year with a 16 TS 120 I was very impressed in most snow types except a dry power. Don't recall the exact conditions but one ride last year we went from dense normal snow to dry deep power. It was a localized swath of different snow and I went from leading and waiting on the sleds to stuck every 20 feet while the sleds waited for me. I almost turned around but the snow changed a little further up the hill and I was back to no stucks. I was very surprised how much greater the impact of that dry snow was on the bike as compared to the sleds. If I encountered that type of snow frequently, I would be back to a sled. I think we were in togwotee that trip. Just my limited experience. Otherwise love the bike.

 

[capulin overdrive]

I'll never go back to sled, for any snow condition. Turbo bike, or deferent way getting more HP, just not a sled.


Could use more HP sometimes, but my 137CMX is light years better than my 154 Skidoo.




Probably too many guys on 120 inch tracks, that should be on 137?




Only time I miss a sled, would be for hammering out big miles trail riding or checking new areas with lots of distance.

 

[needpowder]

Ya.I guess the 500 inches of light dry powder we average just isn't quite enough to make me want to go back to my sled either.?
it definitely depends on the kind of terrain you're riding in though. If you're on wide-open Hills snd meadows the bike is not that much fun. If you're in technical trees however going downhill on a bike in 3 feet of Pow is pretty amazing. Then you have to find your way back to the top somehow to do it again!

 

[needpowder]

I just got back from riding this morning on snow that was a little more set up. It was definitely fun being able to go more places than I've been able to the last few weekends. Still plenty of pow in the trees and able to climb it also. Still, I can't wait till the storm that is predicted for Sunday night! Monday morning is going to be sick!

 

[Brands36]

Ok, now I have a serious bitch. Bit colder today, new snow. Brake is useless. First was unresponsive, then pulsates like a bent rotor. Ice buildup inside the housing. Steep drop ended my day, peed me bibs a little I think without brakes. Off to the car wash to steam it out.

Have to make some kind of full cover me thinks...