Stock VK ski width

[eric3793]

I'm convinced...placed and order for the carbides a few minutes ago once I realized that $80 was for a pair. That makes the skin & carbide total much more reasonable. I went through the Canada Yamaha Parts dealer mentioned in a previous post above. They seem like a good outfit and the site is very user friendly. Thanks to all for the input.

 

[ssian]

skins

What size skins did you get ? i am looking at getting a set also.

 

[eric3793]

I went with the 11" and the double carbide runners. The cost was exactly $220 with shipping and figuring the .818 exchange rate. This is less than 1/2 the cost of Simmons. I needed to remind myself that this is a utility sled not a high performance machine. 90% of the time I am pulling a cargo sled or a trail drag. I do use it for trail cruising when it is really cold out because it is such a warm sled to ride. Hopefully the dual carbides will reduce darting somewhat.

 

[tzieli22]

Let me know what you think

Eric3793,
I'll be curious of your opinion once you have them installed. I'll be heading out for the long weekend and will be able to give a good report on my performance, so we'll see. Here in Alaska it is really been cold -20 to -40 f in most areas so I am not sure how much riding I'll get in, but I will be giving it a go.

Tony

 

[tzieli22]

Here are a few pictures

Some People wanted to see what they looked like so here they are.

 

[eric3793]

Holy moley...those are like surfboards! I can't wait until mine arrive. We rode in western Maine for 5 days with -12F at the coldest. The Christmas snow got wet and froze so there is not much deep stuff now. The previous week would have been better. It was perfect for hauling wood however...we could go anywhere in the woods.

Thanks for the photos. I still cannot get over how wide those skins are.

 

[eric3793]

I cannot say enough good stuff about the canadian source for the ski-skins. They arrived yesterday and I installed them last night. The dual Rotein carbide studs were barely long enough to get the lock nut on so I will need to watch these carefully until everything is seated in. I also used 1/4" black button head screws with nyloc nuts at the front and rear of the skin rather that the two rivits provided by Yamaha. I figured if I wanted to remove the skins this would make things simpler. The dual runner carbides are the 4"/6" variety @ 60 degrees so they are super sharp. I'm concerned about my trailer floor so I need to lay down something for protection. I expect this will drastically alter the handling of the VK. I also considered moving the skis out by placing both 1/2" spindle spacers on the outside but the increased width of the skins makes it a tight fit beside my wifes machine. I left the spacers alone.

I'll report on the handling soon. We now need another good storm to get some powder to play in!

 

[tzieli22]

my update...

I also used stainless steel nylon nuts and bolts instead of the rivets that came with my skins. I also look my machine out last weekend but since it was -20 to -30 F. I only went about 20 miles to test them out. I am very pleased so far with how they handle and float on powder. I will be writing Yamaha US asking why they won't sell these here, but as you say, our Canadian folks seem to don't mind selling to the US and it was a painless effort.

Good luck with your test ride.

Tony

 

[eric3793]

I took a short ride just to check the carbides for steering and alignment. There is not enough snow to tell how the VK floats but I did get a sense of better stability in the woods. After all, the beast is at least 4" wider now. The top end is still there (flat lake w/slight crust) and I got 85mph without much fuss. With new 60 degree carbides the steering was awesome on glare ice. There were no other tracks on the lake so I could not tell if the darting was cured. It steers noticeably harder at slow speeds but nothing bothersome. I'm sure it will loosen up when the carbides get dull. Here are some pics. Wifey calls my sled "Dumbo the elephant" because of the snowboards on the front.

 

[eric3793]

I now have over 700 miles of mostly groomed trail riding and some powder use. The one problem I have discovered is during fast riding in loose snow on the trails. I think what is happening is that the wide skins lift the ski to the point where the dual carbides loose their grip. Then when encountering another track, you get the darting action. This can be unnerving at speed. On hard packed groomed trails the VK handles great. It also does much better in the really deep snow...no more powder flying over the hood. The skis really keep the front of the machine much higher in powder as compared to the stock set up. I'll live with the occasional darting and plowing because these snow conditions are not typical.

 

[eric3793]

Friday was our last day of riding. It was a beautiful day and nearly all of the 190 miles we rode were on freshly groomed trails. The VK handled very well with no appreciable darting. So I am going to stay with the 11" skins and dual Roetin Trutrack carbide runners. I may get Yamaha adapters for some standard Simmons skis I had on a Polaris Switchback. They would be nice on those days when darting is an issue or on those trips where groomed trails are the norm.

 

[Joner]

I've been running the wide skins for 2 years now and the biggest difference is the stability side to side. Be careful in tight trails with trees and stumps under the snow. I'm on my second set because the outside edge will fold right over and crack along the seam with the ski. I've already broken my new ones for this year. Fortunately they've drop the price this year to around $60 CAN.

 

[eric3793]

I was wondering the same thing as I bounced off a few stumps last week...will the skins hold up? My 2000 Polaris WT had a similar skin under the standard steel ski and they held up very well. I sold that sled with 7000 miles on it with no ski damage other that the typical dent near the spindle. The skin handled the impacts well but they were a heavier plastic. So I was hopeful that the Yamaha skin would hold up as well.

What Joner brings to the table is tilting me toward the Simmons ski. If I thought that I would need another set of skins after a season or two, I would have ordered the Simmons and ended up with better handling on groomed conditions along with the floatation in powder. I do not see the Simmons breaking easily. They are an awesome ski...just expensive.

I'm curious where Joner can get skins for $60 CAN. It may be worth having one on hand.

 

[VKbcnorth]

I was in 40" of soft powder today with the 11" Yamaha ski skins. The skis sank about 6" but the track was down about 16". I had to go very slow to avoid trees. The front end came up, it got real twitchy side to side but I kept going. I had to stop a couple of times but was always able to get moving again. The ski skins were holding the belly pan out of the snow. I have found that if the belly pan is pushing snow, it's easy to get stuck.

 

[eric3793]

Funny, I was doing the same thing about 2 hours ago. Weaving in and out of trees in untouched snow was easy. The VK seems to stay on top much better than last year with stock skis. I was creeping around in a swamp for hours this morning and I bet I didn't cover more than 5 miles. This is such a far cry from two weeks ago when 2 hours got us about 100 miles.