Why do sleds have toe holds still?

[Steve D]

Was looking at the new polaris's and noticed the side of the toe hold was cut out. (Compare this with this.) Then while I was reading a story in Snowtech from a couple months ago, they showed how the ROX guy cut his out somewhat on his crossfire.

Got me thinking... why do sleds still have these things? Bikes, quads, etc, have never had them. Polaris used to be notorious for having tight ones, so much that F-Bomb designed a better board with the intent of making his board not hold your foot in for safety reasons, compared to the alternative snow eliminators. I ain't as smrat as them thar engineers and profeshynal ridhurrrs, but it seems that these things have outlived their usefulness? I'm sure people have been knocked/fallen off their sled and hurt their ankle because their boot was wedged in.

I dunno. Just throwin' this out there.

 

[tukernater]

I LIKE toe holds i add them to my xps but i'm in a chair so it holds my feet in and legs tight to the tank,so for me its nice to have that op and ive crashed, some how they come out,steve d we live in the same small town were do you ride.

 

[lynxer292b]

Yes they are sometimes a safety issue, but so is snowmobiling in general. It's just the way snowmobile's are. Back in the day it was designed to keep your feet warm. Now we have thinsulate boots. It is just the traditional way of a snowmobile. I use them all the time on my phazer, but never on my M8

 

[Steve D]

Anyone ever tried removing the toe holds? I'm tempted to do the same thing as ROX and cut out the side at least.

@tukernater, I'm a Houstonite by origin, so I mostly ride over yonder in that there direction.

 

[Gibsons]

buddy last year got bucked off and broke his ankle in 4 places because his foot didnt come out. had to get airlifted off blue lake.

 

[Mafesto]

Anyone ever tried removing the toe holds? .

Before you 86 them, make sure you are not removing any structural integrity.

Yea, in my opinion, mine are just in the way.

 

[lynxer292b]

I think if you cut out the sides of more the "belly pan" you would not be harming any structure and it would be effective. Although you may get snow build up there.

 

[Himark]

buddy last year got bucked off and broke his ankle in 4 places because his foot didnt come out. had to get airlifted off blue lake.

Same thing happened to me once and got dragged 30 plus yards after it rolled once and still had a hold of me. I was fortunate not to break anything but wanted to point out this was right after I switched to ski type stiff boots.

I want to say that these style boots are prolly not the best IMO especially with the toe holds.

 

[snowmanx]

One of my biggest fears when going down a steep, nasty slope, is doing an endo with my toes stuck in the toe holds. I always put my feet back and even put my toes just to the outside.

I accidently hit the throttle from a standstill once, lost balance, and wnet backwards. My toes was in the toe hold and it frug me about 30'. No injuries, but it scared me.

I don't think you need them, and I think the safety issue outweighs any benefits.

 

[skibreeze]

I got high-sided on mine at the end of the first day and it snapped my fibula just above the ankle. I RARELY put my feet all the way in unless I really need the leverage.

 

[Gibsons]

Same thing happened to me once and got dragged 30 plus yards after it rolled once and still had a hold of me. I was fortunate not to break anything but wanted to point out this was right after I switched to ski type stiff boots.

I want to say that these style boots are prolly not the best IMO especially with the toe holds.

my friend was wearing a cheap baffin snow boot. he figures with a stiffer boot he would have been better off

 

[skimike]

I don't think mine are deep enough to hold my toe , and I use them a lot , I do 90% of my riding sitting as my old decrepit knees wont hold me up, too many injuries so I have had to adapt my riding to sitting mostly

 

[Rizzo]

My season was cut short this year from those stupid things. 2nd ride of the year and my right foot got caught in the foot well and when I went over I heard 2 loud pops and broke my fibula. Still hobbling around. I will think about cutting them out for my next sled.

 

[JSun]

This is an intersting point. I think it totally depends on the sled as to whether or not they are useful. On my REV, my feet are there A LOT!! On the M8, they are NEVER there. I find my feet towards the back of the M chassis. I think this has to do with the fact that it is not a true rider forward design. Each chassis responds differently and has to be ridden differently to get it to do what I want. Maybe the engineers understand this because the footwells on the REV are way deeper than on the M, which seem non-existant compared to the REVs.

 

[DenverR1]

The worst I've ever had is loosing my boot when it stayed with the sled. I keep my boots pretty loose and my feet come right out. Sucked having to walk to my sled with only one boot though!