P
june 17 18 and 19, boondocker had a bunch of sleds here on the mountain for demo rides. still lots of snow up high, but unfortunately not the ideal conditions for testing out a sled. still lots of fun though.
as for the pro climb chassis,
the things i liked about it were:
-very comfortable stand up riding position. i've never stood on a sled that fit so perfectly. (still not 100% perfect, but really damn nice. i'll get back to that later) i even liked the feel of the bars, and their exact position ( i'm very particular about bar position and shape, so this shocked me ). and the tapered tunnel cleared the insides of my boots nicely. when i first rode the pro rmk, i liked the riding position too, but the bars didn't feel nearly as nice.
-the footwells are a nice depth compared to the toe smashers in the m sleds up till now. hopefully they don't fill up with snow too badly in the deep pow.
-i like the starter cord handle placement. great for righties or lefties, and you will never hit it with your knee by accident. nice clean look as well.
-the spindles are not nearly as obnoxious in person compared to what i thought of them in pictures. maybe i'm just used to them by now after seeing so many pics, but i really didn't even notice them while looking over the sled.
-the steering is much lighter than the previous m's.
-the skid/chassis combo soaks up the bumps extremely well, and this is coming from a guy with an ez-ryde under his sled. i swore that this sled had a 162 under it by the way it kept the front end from bucking, despite the whoops in the hills and the turbo, but it was in fact a 153. impressive.
-nice view of the gauges!
the things that put me off a little about the pro climb:
-first off is the power claw track. any of you that know my opinion about this track know that i don't like it. and i don't think that the pro climb makes it any better, but in fact i think the power claw makes the pro climb worse than it could be. well actually, the fact that it absolutely cannot hook up could be part of the reason that the front end stays so flat all the time. i know that was the case with my M. but i would be willing to bet that this sled could find a whole bunch more ground speed with another track (just like my M did). but to be fair, i was riding on june snow. could be another story in the pow. (i say this solely for the people that swear the power claw is the best thing since sliced bread)
-the front end felt a bit rigid when up on one ski. might be able to adjust this a little, might just take some time to get used to riding it. not sure. however the boondocker guy agreed, and said he would like to get the narrower a-arm kit on it. i would say that the pro rmk felt a little more nimble on one ski, however i rode the pro in waist deep pow, so that's not a fair comparison at all. and with the narrow a-arms, it could be a totally different story anyhow.
-the air intakes still seem a little funny to me. of course i still don't know for sure, but i can envision them with a whole bunch of snow stacked on top of them on a pow day. yet to be seen.
-the snow flap got sucked into the track and it was a real pain to get it back out.
-because the footwells go so far into the engine bay, there is a hump in the tunnel for the brake/chaincase, making your stance a bit wider up front. this is something i absolutely hate about the xp chassis, and i don't particularly like it on the pro climb. however, the pro climb is at least an inch narrower than the xp, and the tapered tunnel doesn't force you into a bull-rider stance like an xp does. it kinda annoyed me, but i could get used to it. definitely not as bad as an xp.
-the seat is really tall. maybe i'm just too used to the old M seat, but it seems even taller than the '10, '11 shorty seat for the M's. its comfy when cruising on the flats, but it felt a little weird when coming back down the steep climbs.
-the pro climb should come with knee pads from the factory. your feet are so far forward that your knees are right on the panels when descending. if i were one of you guys that snow checked one already i would demand knee pads to be included.
-the fact that the hood is now separate panel sections, and the motor is buried in the chassis kinda blows. but its the nature of the design i guess, what can you do. can't have it both ways i guess. historically you don't need to have the hood open often for these motors anyways, haha. i guess it might even turn out to be easier to access the clutches now, not that it was that tough before... whatever.
-they ditched the nice big gas cap from the M's and went with a tiny little thing.
as for the boondocker turbos:
wow! i've never ridden turbo sleds before, so this was pretty cool for me. the pump gas kit on the pro climb worked really well. fast for sure, but really manageable. nothing to be intimidated about. just fun.
but i also tried an '11 m8 with a race gas kit and a track that was actually hooking up (camo extreme), and holy faaaack! scary. blinding fast compared to what i'm used to. it would pull up the front end despite the 162 and ez-ryde it was equipped with. couldn't keep the throttle pinned for more than a few seconds. climb was over too fast!!
not me riding, but this was the sled.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B0VidIRP1A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3kXgxJYzL8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh6pHmaElos&feature=related
as for the pro climb chassis,
the things i liked about it were:
-very comfortable stand up riding position. i've never stood on a sled that fit so perfectly. (still not 100% perfect, but really damn nice. i'll get back to that later) i even liked the feel of the bars, and their exact position ( i'm very particular about bar position and shape, so this shocked me ). and the tapered tunnel cleared the insides of my boots nicely. when i first rode the pro rmk, i liked the riding position too, but the bars didn't feel nearly as nice.
-the footwells are a nice depth compared to the toe smashers in the m sleds up till now. hopefully they don't fill up with snow too badly in the deep pow.
-i like the starter cord handle placement. great for righties or lefties, and you will never hit it with your knee by accident. nice clean look as well.
-the spindles are not nearly as obnoxious in person compared to what i thought of them in pictures. maybe i'm just used to them by now after seeing so many pics, but i really didn't even notice them while looking over the sled.
-the steering is much lighter than the previous m's.
-the skid/chassis combo soaks up the bumps extremely well, and this is coming from a guy with an ez-ryde under his sled. i swore that this sled had a 162 under it by the way it kept the front end from bucking, despite the whoops in the hills and the turbo, but it was in fact a 153. impressive.
-nice view of the gauges!
the things that put me off a little about the pro climb:
-first off is the power claw track. any of you that know my opinion about this track know that i don't like it. and i don't think that the pro climb makes it any better, but in fact i think the power claw makes the pro climb worse than it could be. well actually, the fact that it absolutely cannot hook up could be part of the reason that the front end stays so flat all the time. i know that was the case with my M. but i would be willing to bet that this sled could find a whole bunch more ground speed with another track (just like my M did). but to be fair, i was riding on june snow. could be another story in the pow. (i say this solely for the people that swear the power claw is the best thing since sliced bread)
-the front end felt a bit rigid when up on one ski. might be able to adjust this a little, might just take some time to get used to riding it. not sure. however the boondocker guy agreed, and said he would like to get the narrower a-arm kit on it. i would say that the pro rmk felt a little more nimble on one ski, however i rode the pro in waist deep pow, so that's not a fair comparison at all. and with the narrow a-arms, it could be a totally different story anyhow.
-the air intakes still seem a little funny to me. of course i still don't know for sure, but i can envision them with a whole bunch of snow stacked on top of them on a pow day. yet to be seen.
-the snow flap got sucked into the track and it was a real pain to get it back out.
-because the footwells go so far into the engine bay, there is a hump in the tunnel for the brake/chaincase, making your stance a bit wider up front. this is something i absolutely hate about the xp chassis, and i don't particularly like it on the pro climb. however, the pro climb is at least an inch narrower than the xp, and the tapered tunnel doesn't force you into a bull-rider stance like an xp does. it kinda annoyed me, but i could get used to it. definitely not as bad as an xp.
-the seat is really tall. maybe i'm just too used to the old M seat, but it seems even taller than the '10, '11 shorty seat for the M's. its comfy when cruising on the flats, but it felt a little weird when coming back down the steep climbs.
-the pro climb should come with knee pads from the factory. your feet are so far forward that your knees are right on the panels when descending. if i were one of you guys that snow checked one already i would demand knee pads to be included.
-the fact that the hood is now separate panel sections, and the motor is buried in the chassis kinda blows. but its the nature of the design i guess, what can you do. can't have it both ways i guess. historically you don't need to have the hood open often for these motors anyways, haha. i guess it might even turn out to be easier to access the clutches now, not that it was that tough before... whatever.
-they ditched the nice big gas cap from the M's and went with a tiny little thing.
as for the boondocker turbos:
wow! i've never ridden turbo sleds before, so this was pretty cool for me. the pump gas kit on the pro climb worked really well. fast for sure, but really manageable. nothing to be intimidated about. just fun.
but i also tried an '11 m8 with a race gas kit and a track that was actually hooking up (camo extreme), and holy faaaack! scary. blinding fast compared to what i'm used to. it would pull up the front end despite the 162 and ez-ryde it was equipped with. couldn't keep the throttle pinned for more than a few seconds. climb was over too fast!!
not me riding, but this was the sled.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B0VidIRP1A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3kXgxJYzL8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh6pHmaElos&feature=related
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