Switch from stock skis with deuce bars to Curve skis with not good results

[powerguy1]

Took a set of curve skis from my old Apex with new 6" round bars and put them on my 14 Viper LTX base. I was running the stock skis with 6" deuce bars which worked great with zero darting but had some push in corners in fresh groomed snow. My suspension settings are stock other than I went to next stiffer rear springs set on softest setting. I am pushing 300# fully dressed. Put the curves on and they darted badly, the sled was very twitchy, and would catch in ruts from other skis and would not turn out of them easily. My rear suspension has very little sag and a very fast rebound. The curves works great on my apex and was hoping they would work well on my viper. Any thoughts on what my issue is with these skis not performing?

 

[superb]

Same thing for me, I put the tunners back on. The tunners do push but no darting.

 

[Grimm]

Sounds to me like you have a ski alignment issue. Your Deuce bars helped overcome this issue, as would any dual keeled ski. Set your ski alignment so that they are toed out 1/4"-3/8". Also, you can shim your ski rubbers with some rearward bias, which helps eliminate the front of the ski runners from digging down into the snow versus slicing into it.

 

[SISCAKIDD]

I run the curves on the same sled with 6 inch shapers,and I have zero issues with push or darting,I can't say enough good things about the combo,I way 220 lbs all geared up,so I would say you just need to fine tune

 

[cannondale27]

Put the leading edge on the Curves. It is designed to eliminate darting.

 

[powerguy1]

I was expecting that the Curves Would be as great on my Viper as they were on my Apex.

 

[drumz11]

Check alignment. A well setup suspension and Curve skis should give you very little darting, if any, even without the leading edge. Check ski alignment and start with less ski pressure on the skid if they dart. Reduce front shock preload and/or the front skid shock. One change at a time.

 

[Studroes144]

Running curves on mine this year, first few rides I couple notice a bit of darting, but also my front shocks were set fairly soft, I slowly tightened up the front shock springs until there was zero darting and the setup works perfect now, just that little extra ski pressure really help. My front shocks were too soft to begin with and bottoming out on medium size bumps so they needed to be stiffened up anyways

 

[AXR]

I do not have the Curve skis, but would it make a difference if you were to get the mount kit that is designed for the viper? Maybe the rubbers that you are using do not play well with those skis and the viper. I am sure others with the Curves could be of more help in this department. Anyone?

 

[powerguy1]

Thanks for your thoughts. I have the correct mounting kit for the viper for the curves. I will have track and and ski alignment checked with the correct toe out. My front shocks are fairly soft and maybe I need to compensate for the stiffer rear spring setting.

I seem to have a fair amount of ski pressure now. How will increased or decreased ski pressure reduce the darting?

 

[drumz11]

Ski pressure will effect darting quite a bit. It's hard to say whether you need to go loose or tighter but I almost always have seen too much ski pressure being a bigger culprit. Not enough can be a factor also. As I said before, I always go back to square one with minimal preload and start tightening from until I find the happy point and then go past it until it's too far the other way and then go back. Same for the rear suspension. I did notice that Curves do benefit from shimming on this chassis. They do wear the front of the carbides a bit more if you don't and shimming will probably help with any darting. No way are tuner skis going to work better once you get it all dialed in. I've used 5 different skis on these and Curves are my 2nd favorite. Though Skis are always a personal preference.

 

[larrypolaris]

Check your toe out on your ski's.
Measure from stud to stud on the carbides. Fronts and rears.
I have ~1/2 in toe out.

With 4" carbides I had very little daring. After they wore I installed the 6" carbides.
There was a bit more darting but not too much.

I plan on installing the leading edge and see how that works.

As a side note. Last year I also ran stock skis with Woody's dooly's. The sled did track nice with zero darting.
But the push was way more then I liked.

 

[TD Max]

Thanks for your thoughts. I have the correct mounting kit for the viper for the curves. I will have track and and ski alignment checked with the correct toe out. My front shocks are fairly soft and maybe I need to compensate for the stiffer rear spring setting.

I seem to have a fair amount of ski pressure now. How will increased or decreased ski pressure reduce the darting?

Also look at how the rubbers influence the ski. Bergstrom pushes shimming the rear of the ski downward so that the bars can ride up out of ruts. He's not doing this to sell shims he actually gives them away.

I have my Curves ready to install, but I think I might wait for more snow.

 

[powerguy1]

Toe is about 7/16" out when measuring from two center line points on the skis so in the range of where it should be. Measured threads on front ski shocks have 2 1/16 threads showing. Very fast rebound when I puch down on back of sled. Sounds like I need to play with ski pressure but wondering what is best to do, adjust skid shock or ski shocks or both.

 

[TD Max]

It might not hurt to bring that toe down just a bit. Also don't forget to check at proper ride height. I don't think there is much bump steer in this front end, but I would be surprised if it was dead nuts zero. I'll have to recheck mine, but with it hanging I think it was 5/8" I have the shocks off so I can manipulate the a arms to any height I want and check that way.