K
Curious how the ZRP spindles compare to the newly released Ice Age spindles.
Zrp 1.25 tall spindles
- Thread starter Superduty348
- Start date
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I spoke to Frank at Ice Age for 10 min this afternoon and went ahead and ordered a set. I will get some feedback once I get a chance to run them.
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Should have these on for a ride this weekend.
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Ok let's go!
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I rode them today in **** conditions. On the ride in I noticed a good improvement on the trail and I really like the extra height. Soon into the ride on the little bit of good snow I found I was over driving the sled a lot. As of now I think the sled rolls over easier. I also noticed what I took as ski pressure, at low speeds the downhill ski really wanted to dig in. To the point I was beginning to wonder if I screwed up. Than I ended up actually adding air to my front rear shock and it ended up great. Pretty much made my day, sled handled like I liked and was use to and better. I have no idea if that makes sense but I like them with one adjustment.
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Yes. I did that before I ever rode the sled.
J
I was asked for more pictures of the RS spindles on my sled and also wanted to share my impressions after another day of riding. I let out my limiter straps (two on the Expert) and also added more air to the front track shock. I swapped sleds again with my wife a few times and this time we’re a bit more consistent on our impressions of the sled. She thinks it tips like a Polaris now and has a larger sweet spot on edge which matches with my previous impression. Another friend that rode it thought it had much heavier steering and I was noticing it too but the snow was starting to warm up. I noticed that it has heavier steering but I don’t think it requires as much steering to hold an edge and it changes direction well with lean angle instead. I never felt like I had to have the skis locked in a counter steer to hold a side hill like I have in the past. We all agreed that it crossed old tracks with more stability but that is likely the shocks more than the spindles.
Sorry, I don’t see how to rotate the image. You can see the RS spindles on the Expert (black/orange) next to the stock spindles on the all black Summit X. All I needed to make this work were the spindles and ski rubbers from a 2018 Summit (same rubbers for 2017 through at least 2020 non-Expert).
Sorry, I don’t see how to rotate the image. You can see the RS spindles on the Expert (black/orange) next to the stock spindles on the all black Summit X. All I needed to make this work were the spindles and ski rubbers from a 2018 Summit (same rubbers for 2017 through at least 2020 non-Expert).
K
Bringing this subject up again. Is there anyone with more feedback on ZRP vs Iceage or even Backwoods spindles on g4 and g5 sleds?
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After having mine on for awhile (ice age) I really like them a lot. Like I mentioned before it added a lot of ski pressure but I was able to eliminate that with more air in the front skid shock. If I couldn't have done that I would have not liked them.
G
The only difference is the ski bolt position, Both are pulling it back towards the lower ball joint, ZRP is a little more so being setup exactly like a Polaris spindle, Iceage is an in between that and Skidoo.
I've had an opportunity to ride several different iterations of taller spindles. I'm a big fan of the concept. Get's the chassis up out of the snow and allows the sled to be much more nimble/responsive.
The biggest differences when comparing are height and ski pivot location. The ZRP and Backwoods spindles are 1.25 inches taller than stock and the IceAge Elevate spindle is 1.00 inch. Simply adding a taller spindle will make your sled feel ski-heavy (or planted) in the front. You need to be able to tune the rest of your suspension to match that added height. You can add preload to the front track shock / let the limiter out, like DriveBye mentioned above, but 1 inch of height seems to be the max you can compensate for without relocating the front torque arm. Although I like the added height on a crazy steep sidehill, the 1.25" increase is too much for me in every other situation. The sled just doesn't feel balanced. 1 inch seems to be the sweet spot.
The ski pivot drastically changes how the front end responds to input. The doo's have what I've always called "Auto Steer". They like to follow ruts in the trail or knife-in and go uphill unexpectedly when sidehilling. There just a little "busy" on edge. The G5 is better due to its 34" front end. The advantage of the stock pivot location is that they have very light steering. Moving the ski pivot back towards inline (like the Polaris) makes the sled more predictable, but it also increases the steering effort. In my opinion, the Elevate spindle is a better balance of control and steering effort.
The biggest differences when comparing are height and ski pivot location. The ZRP and Backwoods spindles are 1.25 inches taller than stock and the IceAge Elevate spindle is 1.00 inch. Simply adding a taller spindle will make your sled feel ski-heavy (or planted) in the front. You need to be able to tune the rest of your suspension to match that added height. You can add preload to the front track shock / let the limiter out, like DriveBye mentioned above, but 1 inch of height seems to be the max you can compensate for without relocating the front torque arm. Although I like the added height on a crazy steep sidehill, the 1.25" increase is too much for me in every other situation. The sled just doesn't feel balanced. 1 inch seems to be the sweet spot.
The ski pivot drastically changes how the front end responds to input. The doo's have what I've always called "Auto Steer". They like to follow ruts in the trail or knife-in and go uphill unexpectedly when sidehilling. There just a little "busy" on edge. The G5 is better due to its 34" front end. The advantage of the stock pivot location is that they have very light steering. Moving the ski pivot back towards inline (like the Polaris) makes the sled more predictable, but it also increases the steering effort. In my opinion, the Elevate spindle is a better balance of control and steering effort.
K
Thanks for the detailed review!
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Ya that!
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BigSkyRider's response is dead on. I will add a little on my experience. Overall it is one of my favorite upgrades easily, with that said if you don't have the ability to tune your suspension to offset the additional ski pressure I would not do it or address that at the same time. In my opinion the best way to address it is an air shock for the front of the skid. I personally would not do it myself with a spring shock but I am sure it could work, I also have an extremely stiff rear suspension. I am 230 before gear and when I get on my sled the rear suspension doesn't move.
Once I got the suspension dialed in and got use to the spindles I noticed a few things. First I can be way more aggressive in tight technical tree runs, with the stock spindles I had a tendency to over drive the sled into an area I wanted to avoid essentially missing the window. I feel that was due to some of the auto steer big sky mentioned. With the ice age spindles I feel that variable is gone and even if I over drive it I am still in a position to keep going without brake or losing momentum. Essentially my input is exactly what I give and get back. I also feel transitioning to terrain with turns right to left to squaring the sled up is much more predictable and consistent. I have no doubt this made me a better rider in tight technical terrain with more confidence.
Once I got the suspension dialed in and got use to the spindles I noticed a few things. First I can be way more aggressive in tight technical tree runs, with the stock spindles I had a tendency to over drive the sled into an area I wanted to avoid essentially missing the window. I feel that was due to some of the auto steer big sky mentioned. With the ice age spindles I feel that variable is gone and even if I over drive it I am still in a position to keep going without brake or losing momentum. Essentially my input is exactly what I give and get back. I also feel transitioning to terrain with turns right to left to squaring the sled up is much more predictable and consistent. I have no doubt this made me a better rider in tight technical terrain with more confidence.
K
I see Alternative Impact Has Just what you are asking about here, and way cheaper then Iceage, ZRP or Backwoods
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