Track swap

[ROCKERDAN]

Also there is a theory that the humps on the silent track, aid in much longer slider life. Sure seems like that could be true.

 

[stevewithOCD]

I put the newer style Ice Attack on mine last year. Put it on during the mandatory 500 mile oil change and chaincase inspection. I now have 1300 miles on it.

So far so good, I really beat on this track and do not worry about pulling a stud thru on bad trails!
My buddy has same track on his Apex w/ Yamacharger, he's got 2 seasons on his and it still looks new, he is worse than I when it comes to beating up a track, across roads, bad trails with tree roots or rocks exposed, etc.

Can it be compared to a studded track? No way!! A well studded track is much safer, allows for many extra benefits, stopping power, no slide corners, hole shots, I could go on.

But every track that I have studded was ruined by pull thru studs, and I have damaged many coolers during the process.
So I decided to give it a go. It does give me a bit of added traction on icy trails or really hard packed frozen trails but no way is it comparable to the safety studs provide, but I do love the fun factor of fish tailing around corners.

As stated, I ran the stock track unstudded for 500 miles with the dangerous tuner skis. That was suicide!!!

Shall see if it goes another season?

My exact feelings with studs. I ran my Apex with Ice-Ripper against my 'Winder with Ice-Attack & my Ape kicked it's #*$&@ in every traction control situation. When my back end decided it wanted to lead, it was hard icy trails. My Apex got THE most traction including the studded guys. Everybody rode my Ape & was amazed, but i do NOT feel safe on this 'Winder LTX unstudded

 

[XP123]

Also there is a theory that the humps on the silent track, aid in much longer slider life. Sure seems like that could be true.

I have 1600 miles on my Winder and my sliders have zero wear. My 1200's all wore down very fast at first then stopped wearing. I haven't had any slider wear on any of my sleds with pre studded tracks. And in fact the last sled I changed sliders on was my 2009 1200.

 

[nadekeys]

I have about 1200 miles on my Ice Cobra 1.6. I like the track and it gives me enough traction to feel safe on icy trails. That being said, I thought long and hard this year about going to a Ripsaw II 1.5 with studs because I miss the pull that my studded Apex had. Although I also had pullouts go through that Apex front heat exchanger, which is the reason I don't have studs on the sidewinder currently. It is nice not to have to worry about thrown studs but I do miss the hook-up.

 

[Soldier'spapa]

I just ordered the 1.6" Ice Cobra from CB. I'm looking forward to better traction in loose snow and some stability on ice.

As stated in my first post, I'm not after the best hookup on ice for racing. I have dealt with the headaches conventional studs can hand out and will go this route first. Im' hoping this track does the job.

Thanks again to all who took the time to reply! I really appreciate it!

 

[yamadoo]

Funny I just ordered studs for my Apex minutes before reading this, I tried pre studded on my last Apex and it was marginally better than non studded for "traction" but did track truer when icy.
I too was not going to run studs again BUT powering back up to an Apex from the Vectors and Viper I feel I need them again, on a winder I would think even more so.

The deciding thing for me was my wife saying she only wants to drive a studded sled. She doesn't like side slide and remembers being the only (studded)one of our group able to leave a sloped parking lot up the hill to the trail on the ice last year -doesn't want the struggle she saw the rest of us go through.

 

[Soldier'spapa]

Funny I just ordered studs for my Apex minutes before reading this, I tried pre studded on my last Apex and it was marginally better than non studded for "traction" but did track truer when icy.
I too was not going to run studs again BUT powering back up to an Apex from the Vectors and Viper I feel I need them again, on a winder I would think even more so.

The deciding thing for me was my wife saying she only wants to drive a studded sled. She doesn't like side slide and remembers being the only (studded)one of our group able to leave a sloped parking lot up the hill to the trail on the ice last year -doesn't want the struggle she saw the rest of us go through.

It was not an easy choice for me. I ended up being torn between the track I ordered and a 1.5" Ripsaw II and adding studs to it. Without even riding it I concluded added traction would be required for the power being sent to the track from this sled.

Being satisfied with the traction from an Ice attack on my Apex, I believe the added snow traction from the 1.6 Ice Cobra and (as you say) ability to keep the sled "truer" in icy conditions will fit the bill for me.

 

[yamadoo]

Soldiers papa if that's your goal you should be happy as I said if it's traction not wanting to spin or slide on
Braking may need more.

Do you go to any TY rides ? would love to meet you after posting with you for so many years.
Yamadoo

 

[Soldier'spapa]

Thanks, that’s nice of you to say! No, I have not attended any rides (yet). Joe, “Northernsledder” has invited me a few times but I have yet to be able to make it. Life and schedules have gotten in the way...

 

[ROCKERDAN]

I have 1600 miles on my Winder and my sliders have zero wear. My 1200's all wore down very fast at first then stopped wearing. I haven't had any slider wear on any of my sleds with pre studded tracks. And in fact the last sled I changed sliders on was my 2009 1200.

Yeah we sure dont need to buy the expensive Duponts anymore like I did with the doo and apex....lol

 

[thor452]

I will add my .02 I have run the 1" ice tech pre-studded track on my last 2 Apexs. the first one was I needed to replace my track on my 07 I had studded the ripsaw with 96 gold diggers up the middle and it did give the traction but made it hard to steer and lost the power slide through corners so I decided to get the per-studded and at the Milwaukee snow show CB had a 1" in stock at the show so I gave it a try. I loved it got back the slide in the rear on corners not heavy in the bars and was able to get moving on ice and the rear stayed in the rear on ice. Then I bought an XTX the next year and I didn't even think twice about the track I went to the show and ordered the same 1" track in the 144 size for the XTX. Once again I loved it in that sled too. one of the reasons I liked the 1" is it is less weight/less spinning mass than a 1.25 or larger and was just a bit heavier than stock 1.25 ripsaw but a lot lighter then conventional studs in stock track for speed. a few years later I put a MPI SC on the sled and was running about 220 HP and the track was still just enough to keep the front in the front and rear in the rear and get me moving and stopping on ice. I pounded the heck out of that track and it has about 8,000 miles on it total and it is still good for a few thousand more. I did have concern about off trail and it performed very well there too. I am not sure what I will do with the winder I will most likely run it stock to see what it needs I don't want to buy a track this year and I have plenty studs laying around if I feel it needs them I may try that route first and save up for the pre-studded if it feel it is too heavy in the corners. I wonder if one was to run studs that are shorter than the lugs if you would get any benefit and not have the heavy feel???

 

[nadekeys]

I will add my .02 I have run the 1" ice tech pre-studded track on my last 2 Apexs. the first one was I needed to replace my track on my 07 I had studded the ripsaw with 96 gold diggers up the middle and it did give the traction but made it hard to steer and lost the power slide through corners so I decided to get the per-studded and at the Milwaukee snow show CB had a 1" in stock at the show so I gave it a try. I loved it got back the slide in the rear on corners not heavy in the bars and was able to get moving on ice and the rear stayed in the rear on ice. Then I bought an XTX the next year and I didn't even think twice about the track I went to the show and ordered the same 1" track in the 144 size for the XTX. Once again I loved it in that sled too. one of the reasons I liked the 1" is it is less weight/less spinning mass than a 1.25 or larger and was just a bit heavier than stock 1.25 ripsaw but a lot lighter then conventional studs in stock track for speed. a few years later I put a MPI SC on the sled and was running about 220 HP and the track was still just enough to keep the front in the front and rear in the rear and get me moving and stopping on ice. I pounded the heck out of that track and it has about 8,000 miles on it total and it is still good for a few thousand more. I did have concern about off trail and it performed very well there too. I am not sure what I will do with the winder I will most likely run it stock to see what it needs I don't want to buy a track this year and I have plenty studs laying around if I feel it needs them I may try that route first and save up for the pre-studded if it feel it is too heavy in the corners. I wonder if one was to run studs that are shorter than the lugs if you would get any benefit and not have the heavy feel???

You'd get no benefit with studs shorter than the track lugs. The picks need to be able to scrape the slippery surface to add any traction so if the lugs hold them up off of the surface they can't scrape. You could probably add the minimum stud size/penetration depth for your track and not have too heavy a feel though I would think. I went with 1 3/8" studs on my Apex and really liked how that handled. Some folks on here run crazy (imo) stud lengths with a huge amount of penetration, probably not what you want.

 

[thor452]

I was thinking there was some give in the lugs and lest say its a 1.25 track but when spinning its only .75 above the snow and I put a 1" stud in it would do just enough? then again when you spin the track the force will probably raise it back up to 1.25 and they wont touch. I wonder what the shortest stud one could run is but I also may want normal ones if the sled spins them easily like the older srx's and v max's did then I would be happy with normal length studs. I always ran studs before the Apex.

 

[Soldier'spapa]

For a 1.25" lug track, (min) is 1.325" stud.

See guide: https://cdn2.bigcommerce.com/server...ody-s-stud-application-guide.jpg?t=1420863615