Uneven Carbide wear

[benjamingvsu]

Has anyone else noticed the clutch side ski having pronounced carbide wear near the back of the carbide? In the attached picture the clutch side carbide is on the right, notice at the back how thin it is and half of the carbide itself is missing.

I put a level on the flat edge of the ski right above the spinde bolt and confirmed that the clutch side ski is in fact higher in the front and lower in the back. The other one is dead level.

I'm moving to Bergstrom triple points and have emailed them for advice, but curious if anyone else has seen this?

 

[Studroes144]

If you are doing any type of road riding at all where the clutch side ski is on the pavement it'll cause that side to wear a lot faster. It's certainly one of the more obvious reasons but figured I'd throw it out there

 

[benjamingvsu]

Absolutely - I'm just surprised how it is so worn towards the very back - the other carbide doesn't appear to be wearing in the same pattern.

 

[Studroes144]

Don't know if it would affect where it's wearing but uneven shock pressure possibly? My stock carbides came off after the first ride so no idea how they would've wore

 

[canadianhunter]

Could be you lost a piece of carbide earlier ?

 

[Studroes144]

Could be you lost a piece of carbide earlier ?

No I just absolutely hated them, the sled darted terrible, switched to 6" deuce bars and no more darting

 

[09nytro]

Are they the stock ones ?

 

[cannondale27]

If the ski is bent as you found that would surely do it. Good catch.

 

[benjamingvsu]

So do you think I should adjust the shims /ski rubbers so that each ski is similarly situated with the front only slightly higher when on the stand?

 

[cannondale27]

No matter what you do one is going to be wore more than other and from your pic it looks like both are just wore out. Like said a chipped out piece of carbide or just from riding alongside road as can a bent carbide account for it. If the ski itself is bent a lot hopefully the warm weather and a new straight carbide will bring it back. I would not shim your skis based on those carbides.

 

[benjamingvsu]

I just talked to Scott - he provided a little more clarity - a large portion of the stock carbide cutting surface sits in front of the spindle. So, it's common for the back to wear more as they take more of the pressure. Given that it was the "streetside" carbide, it appears that the cutting surface broke off then wore the remainder in the pattern in the picture. Once I get the shims and rubbers adjusted I'll take some measurements to make sure both ski's are equal. I've also noticed that I need to adjust the toe as the one side was pointing out while the other was pointing in - so that may have played a factor in the wear as well.

 

[benjamingvsu]

went ahead and installed the triple points with the shims per the instructions. Very pleased. From the cockpit the ski's look like the front tips up, but upon inspection on a flat surface the cutting surface of the carbide is entirely flat on the ground. Like the triple points so far and hope I don't have to replace them after a year.

 

[TD Max]

You can't judge much from the stock junkers especially if the inserts are broken out like yours are. Same with rust on a car, the LH side gets more salt and the LH ski gets the road pavement more when running road edges.

 

[Metallicat]

went ahead and installed the triple points with the shims per the instructions. Very pleased. From the cockpit the ski's look like the front tips up, but upon inspection on a flat surface the cutting surface of the carbide is entirely flat on the ground. Like the triple points so far and hope I don't have to replace them after a year.

My first set of tripple points lasted 8000 miles with a lot of pavement and rock, dirt abuse and the carbides did not break at all, they just wore down. They are very durable. Those were the 6" ones. I replaced them with the 8" version and love them even more.