Curve XS Skis

[Curve Industries]

Nick set up MrSleds XTX. I was out on a demo ride with some people and didn't get the scoop. Let me get back to everyone on what exactly he did....

- Sean

www.CurveIndustries.com
www.GoProSchools.com

 

[SledFreak]

Mr. Sled:

Can you give me a summary of the suspension settings you are running and what you are using for toe out?

Thanks!

The toe measured at the tip of the carbide if I am not mistaken is about 1/2 out... Sean would need to clarify for sure...I can also check after this weekend as I am loaded and ready to hit the road... I can check shock setting, springs and toe and get back to you..... I also run my rear on the highest rear spring tension... I would have to measure center shock....

I have to add 1 thing.... when the sleds starts to dart all over... your ball joints are shot... thats the one thing I found!! Once fixed she is perfect again.

How do you know they are shot and if so will warranty cover it?

 

[BombaPolaYama]

How do you know they are shot and if so will warranty cover it?

You cannot tell when there is weight on the fronend. Support the frontend off the ground and move the spindles up and down and obvious slop is easy to detect - I believe the lower ball joints are the most problematic. Also check the a-arm bushing by moving them as well.
Got mine done on warranty last year. I was told the 09's are supposed to be better though.

 

[nlh]

In regards to balljoints,

Pick the front of the sled up, with one hand on top of the spindle and one on the bottom, try push/pulling back and forth. Also try moving the lower a-arm and see if there is slop in the lower balljoint.

My `09 was so bad I had aprox 1/4-3/8 play front to back on both sides. The lower's were the worst. My dealer covered them under warranty with no problems. Unfortunately the gave me `09 replacements rather than the new `10 units.

Now with my new balljoints installed and ulmer bushings, I have no slop at all.

 

[MrSled]

The ball joints are better but not by much on the 09s, ... I had the lowers warn and the uppers too... that show I noticed the sled darting all over .... tighten that up and then the skis rock!!

 

[IFlyEm]

Well I HOPE my ball joints aren't shot. My sled has just under 200 miles on it.

 

[AKrider]

I doubt you will have issues with your ball joints with so few miles. The '08 ball joints were junk. Mine had slop within 400 miles but I also race and run the bumps all the time. The '09 had improved ball joints and guys on here have said the 10's are improved even more. In any case, they should be covered under warranty if you notice slop early on this season.

Chances are though, you'll see slop in your a-arm bushings. The plastic bushings on the 08's were junk. I doubt they changed anything since my Vector has plastic bushings and they had tons of slop as well. Upgrade to oil-lite bushing when the time comes. I did at 800 miles and my a-arms are still super tight 1700 hard miles later.

In any case, I've had sled with tons of slop in the front ends and I didn't do anything about it because the machine still went down the trail just fine. I think the caster angle on the Nytro is too steep and really makes the sled unstable at speed. To me it is very similar to riding a BMX bike fast down a hill and then riding a downhill mountian bike with its slack head angle down the hill. The BMX bike is super twitchy and unstable the faster you go. The DH bike is smooth and stable. Only problem with my theory is if was just the spindles, than why hasn't some company come out with replacement spindles like they did for the early Polaris IQ's?

 

[Curve Industries]

According to Nick, after he rode the sled, he was happy with the rear skid and didn't touch it. He took a little preload off the front shocks, toed the skis out 5/16" per side and let her rip! He also mentioned that Tom's front end was very loose and needed some repair... since everything has been fixed, Tom is a happy camper!

If you haven't already adjusted your toe IFlyEm, try some other suspension adjustments as SJ mentioned and leave the toe as is. I have our Nytro SE set way out like I posted above but Nick feels it's not necessary in general.

- Sean

www.CurveIndustries.com
www.GoProSchools.com

 

[IFlyEm]

Im in San Fran tonight, LA tomorrow, then San Diego on Sun night. I will get back to snow country on Tues. I havent touched anything yet but I am antsy to get back out and get this thing figured out.

Thanks for all the input!

 

[TheGreatPumkin]

What are these "New Harder Rubbers"? Will they work on an 08'?

 

[Curve Industries]

The hard rubbers are the rubbers we included Pumkin. We really thought your OEM rubber mods were slick but it is a softer rubber for sure.

- Sean

www.CurveIndustries.com
www.GoProSchools.com

 

[HeyBrownDog]

IFlyEm:

Rode my XTX on it's maiden voyage yesterday up on the Tug Hill. Instead of riding the stock skis, I immediately put Curves on with no adjustments to factory settings. Kinda a last minute decision to ride Friday morning...just loaded up and went. Glad I did because conditions were pretty decent all things considered, and traffic was pretty low for a Friday.

That being said, everything you posted happened to me in stock setting accept the darting. Maybe I couldn't notice it with the massive fun factor of this machine, but the steering was definitely heavy...very heavy. Matter of fact, so heavy that when I woke up this morning my shoulders and arms were so sore that I was popping Advil. Learned a lot in that 90 mile day ride, that some major adjustment to the suspension are definitely in order. Not to mention, I'm still running the Studboy 6" Shaper Bars that were used for my 05 Rage, but might not be ideal on the Nytro. Clearly, the factory default setting doesn't work for me....regardless of your brand of ski. Looks like i have some massive changes ahead of me.

Sean / Nick: Any plans for a Test and Tune again like you had up at Excell Motorsports? Looking to get my XTX in your hands for some fine tuning.

Also, what is the purpose of toeing out the ski? Eliminate darting or general overall handling?

If I can get this XTX handling as good as Mr. Sled's, gonna be really happy with this machine.

 

[danjpohl]

Notes on checking Toe with the curves

I was looking for this and finally found it on the curve forums. This was a conversation between a customer and the curve guys.

This helped me so I thought I would add it here.

Customer
I was just setting up ski alignment and due to the shape of the ski I had to figure out a good spot to measure from. It seems there's some ridges at the front and back that are in line. The front has the ski loop bolt going through it. The back seems to have some matching ridges. Is it safe to assume these would be a good place to measure from?

Curve reply
You are exactly correct Kev! Keep in mind that the ridges are equidistant from the center of the ski and likewise the same width. Due to this, neglect the portion of the installation instructions that recommend adding an extra length to compensate for the difference in width between the front and back of the ski. Also, ensure you are measuring from the very end of each mounting structure rail.
Keep in mind that toe alignment should be performed with a bungee around each loop or some type of inward pressure tying the two skis together.
When measuring off the mounting structures, a measurement of 1/4" greater from the front mounting structure to the back is a true 1/4" toe out. Ideally, you'd have a front measurement of 1/8" greater than the back off your straight edge, signifying an equal and true toe out adjustment. (For example)

5/16" per ski is a little light for the Nytro. We like to see 3/8" to 1/2" per ski to help tame things down a bit. With that much toe out, make sure you adjust both tie rods evenly and measure off a straight edge on the track then off the ski mounting structure.
For example, you should measure 3/8" difference from the front of the ski mounting structure to the back of the mounting structure off the straight edge on each side of the machine, then measure a total difference of 3/4" front mounting structure to back mounting structure off ski to ski.

 

[Bigblue1]

Went up on a whim to Indian Lake Friday. Sled was serviced and in good order sans carbides since I prefer running the old ones on the 1st day with sketchy conditions. To me, no sense in burning up a new set before a good snow dumping. Soon as I unloaded the sled I noticed I could not turn in the parking. New the carbides where shot but didn't expect it to be that bad. In the end just wanted to get the bugs out and start getting fit for the season. To my surprise the trails weren't too bad..hard as concrete but not bad given the time of year. I expected no bite on this surface due to the flattened out studboys but I was running like any other day on the bumper of my buddies new xp 800 xrs. Point is with no carbide assist the skis worked great. I find many guys are little lazy and do not set their sleds up correctly let alone truly go over them well before each season to make sure everything else is in line. No knee jerk reaction here. Alot of miles on these things and they stay true in my opinion.

 

[2lo4dsno]

I will be heading up to tug hill in about 2 hours to start testing my curves. The skis coupled with my OFT relocator, quad style throttle lever, studs and new exhuast should make for an intersting first day of the season !!!