Snowbike spindles and strength
- Thread starter wwillf01
- Start date
A purpose built snowbike wouldn't have a spindle . The fork would mount directly to the ski . Somebody make a triple clamp that lowers our stock fork and gets rid of the stupid spindle please .
SteepNdeep450-
I run a CMX spindle, Yeti ski, Trio. I have hit many stumps and rocks this season and last. No damage.
I run a CMX spindle, Yeti ski, Trio. I have hit many stumps and rocks this season and last. No damage.
The Yeti spindle absorbs hits as the carbon flexes. It is also very lite compared to others., To break the carbon blades will take a huge hit and likely take out the forks, The older Yeti spindle was too long and had too much flex . 18 and newer are perfect and every extra pound on the front end is very noticeable.The Yeti weight 6.5 lbs, any Juan have the weights of the other spindles?
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Breakable spindles are good!... think of them like a crumple zone.... Spindles are designed to bend or break instead of ripping off the lower fork tubes, innards springs out out onto the snow! Or worse snapping the steering head off the frame.
We run a rental fleet with yeti's as well as customer base with both brands 5 years only 2 carbon blades broken and they hit hard on a buried stump with the bike flipping over forward. No fork damage on both occasions. Several bent timbersled spindles at the same time... so they are very comparable if you look at a large sample size.
Yeti Spindles .. you can carry 3 pieces of carbon in the back country and rebuild spindle with minimal tools, timbersled spindle its to heavy to carry a spare but they are usually still able to limp home.
Unbreakable spindles will just transfer the impact force up the chain to more expensive parts.
We run a rental fleet with yeti's as well as customer base with both brands 5 years only 2 carbon blades broken and they hit hard on a buried stump with the bike flipping over forward. No fork damage on both occasions. Several bent timbersled spindles at the same time... so they are very comparable if you look at a large sample size.
Yeti Spindles .. you can carry 3 pieces of carbon in the back country and rebuild spindle with minimal tools, timbersled spindle its to heavy to carry a spare but they are usually still able to limp home.
Unbreakable spindles will just transfer the impact force up the chain to more expensive parts.
I'm also on one of the new CMX spindles with a Yeti ski. Slammed a rock pinned in third gear in early season conditions last month. Bottomed out, front flipped the bike and pitched me in a flip ~8 ft from where it landed. The very back of my tunnel ended up bent from where it landed on a rock.
Spindle, ski, and forks are all still fine. Rode out and I've been riding it since. Dunno if this is better or not than the spindle blowing up instead of throwing me, but I'm happy I don't need to buy anything new, I can deal with landing in the snow and some bruises
. Definitely would be better if there was a working middle ground.
Spindle, ski, and forks are all still fine. Rode out and I've been riding it since. Dunno if this is better or not than the spindle blowing up instead of throwing me, but I'm happy I don't need to buy anything new, I can deal with landing in the snow and some bruises
. Definitely would be better if there was a working middle ground.
I caught a gate last Sunday while under throttle. We have been reinforcing our aro spindles because the smallest hits will cause them to open up a bit. Sheared all the bolts and smashed both lowers. Broke one lower clean off and broke the inner cartridge inside the fork. Also bent the crap out of my spindle. Definitely a super hard hit. Tossed me along way from the bike but I was totally fine. I was able to limp it to the truck but that was because I was only a couple hundred yards away! eBay forks should be here tomorrow. 750+ shipping. Ouch! Also going to rebuild my broken forks. Found both lowers shipped for 300 used. Have not bought an inner cartridge yet because they retail for 500 and the cheapest I found one was 380 on eBay. I will keep looking. 
Purpose built would have the tubes inline instead of side by side. More strength with less weight, would replace the third Timbersled shock , and yes could get rid of the spindle. Side by side thinking is purposed for a wheel. ?
While we're talking about spindles, has anyone seen forks destroyed using the Camso setup?
Ouch, that blows, glad you weren't hurt. I don't see why any vintage of 48mm fork wouldn't work on the 17. I paid 200 bucks for a set of WP forks no triples for my CR500 when I built that bike. Honestly we are all probably paying extra $$ for MX parts that we don't really get any benefit from on the snow, $hit the whole back half of the bike sits in the garage brand new. Maybe a guy should just buy a couple of older sets of fork tubes and have them set up and call them disposable.
Just a thought
Just a thought
Yah like rock crusher skiis
I was thinking that also, after I ordered already. Oh well. They are just rebuilt and set up for 165 vet B rider (Or close?) which pretty much describes me so they should be good if i ever ride this bike in the summer. I am also excited to try a different spring (he said stock spring size only the valving has been changed) with more air on the riot and see how it works.
Does make me think though, if I buy the 2020 yz like I have been drooling over, I might get a separate (cheap) set of forks for the winter. I don’t know. Year 5 on a Snow Bike and this is the first set of forks I have damaged. Back to the original topic though. I do think reinforcing the timbersled spindle caused my spindle to not bend and therefore my forks to snap.
My partner on a CMX just broke his yeti spindle hitting a rock. Tough to get the bike out, but zero damage to the forks. Definitely a little lesser level of impact than I did though.
My partner on a CMX just broke his yeti spindle hitting a rock. Tough to get the bike out, but zero damage to the forks. Definitely a little lesser level of impact than I did though.
This year has been a slow start where we ride snow wise. We are now at the point where 95% of the bad stuff is covered so you can really go hard. Problem is that last 5%, when you hit it you hit it super hard.
What brand bike did he have... because the ktm tubes are substantially thicker....
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