Timbersled Tuning Tech Thread

[Camosnowman]

I have a seen a few thread with people talking about tips to tune their bikes to ride better in certain conditions be it trail, powder, or a combination of the two. I thought I would start a thread where we can bring all this knowledge together in one place to discuss tuning tips for the ski, front suspension, rear suspension, or any other tech you may have on the subject and how it affects the handling of the bike.

Here are some thing I would like to learn more about.

Front suspension

Spring pre-load/different springs
compression settings
rebound settings
ski angle
ski pressure

Rear Suspension

pre-load
limit strap positions
shimming
strut rod adjustment or kit angle in relation to bike
compression
rebound

 

[retired motoman]

Good idea

The problem is everyone has different thoughts. Here are mine.

My ride 2010 Kawasaki KX450 with 2015 Mountain Horse ST.

Forks are air assist over spring with 5.5 lbs pressure.
Rebound and compression are 0. Will re-valve soon for more damping.

The limiter strap is on second loosest position.
Front spring preload is 7 7/8", rear 7 5/8" both springs are 200 #s.

I like coupling so 3/4" coupling shims.

In deep powder 1/4" top shim and pull the limiter up one more hole.

This is where I landed after trying many different combinations on the longer travel '15 ST. It is similar to what worked on my SX.
Now going to try different shocks (air) with better damping. This should allow me to loose some or all of the coupling shims.

Again everyone has different ideas. What works for your riding style might be completely different. Everyone needs to pack a pocket full of tools and shims and make changes to determine what works best for them.

 

[KAWGRN]

On my berg I removed the rear lower coupling shims and lengthen the limiter as we'll as cranked the middle shock preload up, pulled the forks up in the triples up about a 1/2 inch now the thing feels light on the ski and the ski gets up on the snow and I like it! My KX ,I'm still struggling with the shocks they seem way stiff! Need to soften them up starting with the spring preload, but on both,,,the new ski is MAGIC,,,,, also playing with the ski position as I slotted the bolt holes to the clamps and can now move the ski angle and it's a big difference on the trail!

 

[Frostbite]

I was hoping to learn more on tuning for the Timbersled Mountain Horse.

I looked in the Timbersled setup installation guide and didn't see anything about track deflection so, I have a few tuning related questions.

1. I see the track drivers are not extroverts on the 2012 Mountain Horse kits. I have a 136" track on what I believe is a ST kit with rail extensions. When I lift the track off the ground, the track of course bows below the rails. The maximum distance I measure between the inside of the track and the lower edge of the slide rail hifax is 1 5/8" and that's about 2/3rds of the way back on a 136" track. I felt no track ratcheting but, that seems a little loose for a track not using extrovert drivers. Can I just run it as loose as possible until I start to experience ratcheting?

2. My limiter strap is in the second to the loosest position. Is this optimum for back country boondocking?

3. I currently have 1/4" thick shims ONLY ABOVE my rear skid slide mechanism. I didn't drive the snowbike setup like this but, Prior to removing them (after being told to do so), my skid also had 1/4" shims BELOW the slide mechanism. What's optimum for off trail use?

4. My 2012 rear skid has 180 lb. springs front and rear (as far as I know). I weigh around 170ish. If I am not bottoming out and still have adjustability left in my 180 lbs springs, is there any reason to upgrade to the 200 lb. springs of the 2013 kit.