Anyone trail riding with slydog command skis?

[justinator]

sorry, just got back from a 4-day saddlebag ride in Canada.
I now have @950 miles on these skis and have made a few observations.
1. They do bite. They turn NOW. With the shaper bar, they bite too much for me, even with EPS. They bite hard enough it wants to lift the inside ski. I can't dial this out without sacrificing ride quality.
I am admittingly a lazy rider. If I can get the sled to handle like I want without hanging azz off the side, I will. I am not an "active rider" anymore. Sometimes when hammering through the twisties, but I don't want to hang off the sled all day to keep the inside ski down.
2. I think the shaper bar combo on this ski is too much. The shaper works well with the lighter 2 stroke sleds but when put on ANY ski on the heavier 4 strokes they become a bear to turn in certain conditions. Even on the stock ski, the shaper bar becomes hard to turn.
Some will say to increase center shock preload or get a heavier spring. I have tried that and I don't like what it does to the ride of the sled. I have increased the center shock preload as much as I can without sacrificing ride quality.

I am going to use this ski with a less aggressive runner, say maybe a 6 inch round bar.

3. They are tough. We just got back from 4 days in Canada. In one day we ran into the worst conditions I have ever seen. Mud, rocks, tar, dirt roads. I was cringing all day. 7 broken studs, 2 wheels ruined, skegs worn down. I thought the Slydog skis I just bought would be ruined. I checked them out this morning and was surprised at how well they held up. Some gouges, the front edge of the keel worn but they fared far better than I thought.

I have hope that with a less aggressive bar on these skis, I can find the balance between the push that dual runner carbides have and bite that the shapers have.

Awesome thanks, I had missed were you had shared Your thoughts on the other post. I am sure a conventional round bar runner will take a little bit of the edge off. I am like you, I don’t like having to hang off the side of a sled to make it handle, a bit of a lazy rider as well.

 

[WinderFab]

sorry, just got back from a 4-day saddlebag ride in Canada.
I now have @950 miles on these skis and have made a few observations.
1. They do bite. They turn NOW. With the shaper bar, they bite too much for me, even with EPS. They bite hard enough it wants to lift the inside ski. I can't dial this out without sacrificing ride quality.
I am admittingly a lazy rider. If I can get the sled to handle like I want without hanging azz off the side, I will. I am not an "active rider" anymore. Sometimes when hammering through the twisties, but I don't want to hang off the sled all day to keep the inside ski down.
2. I think the shaper bar combo on this ski is too much. The shaper works well with the lighter 2 stroke sleds but when put on ANY ski on the heavier 4 strokes they become a bear to turn in certain conditions. Even on the stock ski, the shaper bar becomes hard to turn.
Some will say to increase center shock preload or get a heavier spring. I have tried that and I don't like what it does to the ride of the sled. I have increased the center shock preload as much as I can without sacrificing ride quality.

I am going to use this ski with a less aggressive runner, say maybe a 6 inch round bar.

3. They are tough. We just got back from 4 days in Canada. In one day we ran into the worst conditions I have ever seen. Mud, rocks, tar, dirt roads. I was cringing all day. 7 broken studs, 2 wheels ruined, skegs worn down. I thought the Slydog skis I just bought would be ruined. I checked them out this morning and was surprised at how well they held up. Some gouges, the front edge of the keel worn but they fared far better than I thought.

I have hope that with a less aggressive bar on these skis, I can find the balance between the push that dual runner carbides have and bite that the shapers have.

Where in canada ?

 

[STAIN]

Where in canada ?

We left Norton Vermont and rode through Magog, Orford, Valcourt, Richmond on our way to Trois Rivieres where we crossed the river and spent the night. This was some of the worst conditions I have ever ridden through. Many trails in towns went down dirt and tar roads. Right through villages. Gas stops 1/2 mile down tar roads.
The next day we looped to La Tuque and back down to St Raymond where we spent the night. Beautiful trails.
We then crossed back over the river in Quebec City and rode to Thetford mines and stayed the night. All trails from Quebec City to Thetford mines where outstanding.
While planning our ride back to the border that night, we noticed a bunch of trail closings that seemed to have happened while we above the river. This made our return trip much longer as we had to plan for gas. Not knowing the area, we had to rely on the map for fuel locations.
We rode from Thetford mines to lake Megantic and skirted Maine and New Hampshire before crossing the border back into Beecher Falls Vermont. The detour allowed us to ride some incredible trails that we would have otherwise missed. 4 days, @870 miles.
A good trip mostly, that first day cost me 2 hyfax, 3-4 wheels, 7 broken studs, one ice scratcher tip, 1 set of skegs and a mess to clean this morning.

 

[sideshowBob]

We left Norton Vermont and rode through Magog, Orford, Valcourt, Richmond on our way to Trois Rivieres where we crossed the river and spent the night. This was some of the worst conditions I have ever ridden through. Many trails in towns went down dirt and tar roads. Right through villages. Gas stops 1/2 mile down tar roads.
The next day we looped to La Tuque and back down to St Raymond where we spent the night. Beautiful trails.
We then crossed back over the river in Quebec City and rode to Thetford mines and stayed the night. All trails from Quebec City to Thetford mines where outstanding.
While planning our ride back to the border that night, we noticed a bunch of trail closings that seemed to have happened while we above the river. This made our return trip much longer as we had to plan for gas. Not knowing the area, we had to rely on the map for fuel locations.
We rode from Thetford mines to lake Megantic and skirted Maine and New Hampshire before crossing the border back into Beecher Falls Vermont. The detour allowed us to ride some incredible trails that we would have otherwise missed. 4 days, @870 miles.
A good trip mostly, that first day cost me 2 hyfax, 3-4 wheels, 7 broken studs, one ice scratcher tip, 1 set of skegs and a mess to clean this morning.

Sounds like quite a trip!
Did you have any overheating issues where the trail snow conditions were poor?

 

[STAIN]

Sounds like quite a trip!
Did you have any overheating issues where the trail snow conditions were poor?

Not really. I would get into any snow I could find before and after road crossings. I also started to shut my sled down while waiting for streetlights.
It would creep to 195 but I kept an eye on it all the time.

 

[sideshowBob]

Not really. I would get into any snow I could find before and after road crossings. I also started to shut my sled down while waiting for streetlights.
It would creep to 195 but I kept an eye on it all the time.

Thats what I have been doing with my SW as well when encountering poor snow, parking lots, gas stations, road crossings, ect.
I have had Travis's BOP rad kit for a few years but have not installed it yet.

 

[rev them up]

Well..took the skis off the nytro and put them on the winder. Today was fresh groomed trail at 0c, trail turned to soup quickly. On trail the skis seemed to work well no push, or darting and tracked straight steering seemed light(i have cat center spring) but off trail is not good. We received 20cm the other day, going thru a field making my my own tracks the skis are very unstable, they twitchy back and forth almost wanting to throw you off the sled. I noticed this on the nytro, chalked it up to heavy front end, but that's not the case. I wouldn't even let my wife drive it as i was scared it would throw her off coming across fields getting to the trail. Put stock skis back on and the issue gone.

 

[KnappAttack]

Well..took the skis off the nytro and put them on the winder. Today was fresh groomed trail at 0c, trail turned to soup quickly. On trail the skis seemed to work well no push, or darting and tracked straight steering seemed light(i have cat center spring) but off trail is not good. We received 20cm the other day, going thru a field making my my own tracks the skis are very unstable, they twitchy back and forth almost wanting to throw you off the sled. I noticed this on the nytro, chalked it up to heavy front end, but that's not the case. I wouldn't even let my wife drive it as i was scared it would throw her off coming across fields getting to the trail. Put stock skis back on and the issue gone.

This typically happens with forward bias on the ski, meaning pressure on the tip of the ski, or skis that have to much forward bias or length to the front of the spindle centerline. The ski is trying to steer the sled when it wants to throw you off. Happens with too much carbide forward of the spindle centerline also on the hard pack.

Spindle centerline should not be confused with the mounting point of the ski. Spindle centerline is the line on which the spindle pivots at top and bottom ball joints.

 

[rev them up]

This typically happens with forward bias on the ski, meaning pressure on the tip of the ski, or skis that have to much forward bias or length to the front of the spindle centerline. The ski is trying to steer the sled when it wants to throw you off. Happens with too much carbide forward of the spindle centerline also on the hard pack.

Spindle centerline should not be confused with the mounting point of the ski. Spindle centerline is the line on which the spindle pivots at top and bottom ball joints.

How can I correct this? Skis tip up when front if sled is off the ground. Running a 6 inch carbide, but that would have no effect in the feild as the carbide wasn't bitting into anything as it was soft going. Both nytro and winder had the same effect in deeper snow where ski was floating.

 

[rev them up]

Just bringing this back up for suggestion, sled is great on trail, no issues no dating, tracks straight, but if you have to go off trail( leaving home to get to groomed trails) if there is snow where the skis float it wants to throw you off, tried shimming, adjusting ski shock, center shock, can't get rid of it. Any suggestions?

 

[MyOutdoors]

I'm not running the command but I am running the Slydog Attack ski with 7.5 Shapers. I just got back from a 1,000 trip up in maine and like these skis for the trail. Still making slight changes to center shock to get a perfect balance between transferring to lighter steering/ no darting and carving the tight trails. I finally got it to where I want and noticed my gas mileage jumped from 12.4 to 14.3 average once I got that pressure off the front skis...

 

[rev them up]

My limter straps were in the 3rd hole, just put them in the 2nd but to mild slushy to test, I am still playing with my center spring also, cat 160/260. Great on trail but if there is snow where the skis floats it is very unpertucable.