VK10 Super Wide Kit

[Psycho Dave]

Greetings from Sweden.

I bought a 2015 RS Viking Professional this Wednesday.
I knew that it had a Super Wide Kit mounted on it and I had previously seen the kit advertised on blocket.se (Swedish craigslist). I have seen that this has been discussed here before so I thought I let you know what I know.

Below my Viking can be seen with the kit mounted. The ski stanch with the kit is about 1150 mm (45.3 In), in Sweden the original was 990 mm (39.0 In) in 2015 and I think it was 975 mm (38.4 In) in the US.

The picture below is from the advert on blocket.se and it says that the kit is for 2013 and newer machines and the part number is SMARSVK10KIT13R. The mounting instructions in the picture is written in Norwegian and as can be seen the kit consists of Yamaha original parts and two custom made brackets. The A-arms and tie rods are from RS Venture, so if anything is bent it is easy to buy new parts.

This kit has an ordinary price of around 3000 SEK (361 USD) but are now selling at 1595 SEK (192 USD). For that price you will almost not get one of the A-arms included in the kit, value for the money I would say.

Now for the custom made brackets, they are used to extend the upper shock absorber downwards to get the right ride height. See the picture from my Viking further down.

Since I have just bought my RS Viking and has not been riding RS Vikings before I can't say anything about handling.

 

[Katannilik1]

Any updates on this? How is the handling, I am very interested in this kit. Due to the narrow stance my Pro dips the skis from side to side in the softer snow and makes the handling a little squirrely, especially when pulling a loaded qamutiik and my wife is riding along.

 

[Psycho Dave]

I have nothing to compare to since I never have ridden a narrow RS Viking and I have only done 150 km (93 miles) with it and then most of the time pulling a trail groomer. With that said the groomer has sometimes pulled the Viking of the trail and also get me stuck from time to time and I have never ever felt any tendency for it to be tippy or unstable. It feels really stable I must say.

An added bonus is that the groomer is 120 cm wide and the same is the Viking, so where my skis go the groomer most of the times goes.

 

[Katannilik1]

Nice setup! I would love to have a groomer like that for here but it would be destroyed in short time due to the terrain.

I am quite positive you are more comfortable on the widened front end rather then the factory narrow setup, I find THEY DIP A LOT in soft snow and kind of rock from side to side as you are going along, as I said especially 2-up. The narrow factory skis don't help, I thought about going to the 11" wide skis but they look like they come off an airplane and are not really appealing, aesthetically wise to me. I think this is a much better setup.

The arms look uncannily similar to an RS Venture/Vector front suspension, so I cross referenced the part # from your kit with Genuine Yamaha's web site and sure enough they are the same part#'s. That's awesome, because there are a couple of beat RS Ventures here in town that are ripe for the pickings and their front suspension are still intact. Another bonus to this is it also means that the Oilite bushing kits from a Venture/Vector will fit the Vikings, even in stock trim. Which is good because the ones on my machine are toast.

 

[Psycho Dave]

Yes as I wrote it is RS Venture parts, except for the upper shock absorber bracket that is special made.

 

[weldion]

I have nothing to compare to since I never have ridden a narrow RS Viking and I have only done 150 km (93 miles) with it and then most of the time pulling a trail groomer. With that said the groomer has sometimes pulled the Viking of the trail and also get me stuck from time to time and I have never ever felt any tendency for it to be tippy or unstable. It feels really stable I must say.

An added bonus is that the groomer is 120 cm wide and the same is the Viking, so where my skis go the groomer most of the times goes.

View attachment 135200

I have the same groomer, but 150 cm wide. Have you any weights in the box over the rollers?
My setup looks almost like yours, but I ride the VK540V. You should take a trip to Offerdal and ride the trails that I groom.

 

[Katannilik1]

Yes as I wrote it is RS Venture parts, except for the upper shock absorber bracket that is special made.

I think in my case the shocks from the Venture might work with out needing the special upper shock mount, comparing the Yamaha micro fiche between the 2 machines it looks like the only difference on the front bulkhead where the upper shock mount is, is on the Pro there is a spacer between the 2 halves to make up for the 5" wider track.

 

[Katannilik1]

I so much prefer the look of your machine over the ones with the super wide skis on them

 

[Psycho Dave]

I have the same groomer, but 150 cm wide. Have you any weights in the box over the rollers?
My setup looks almost like yours, but I ride the VK540V. You should take a trip to Offerdal and ride the trails that I groom.

The trails here around Norderåsen - Häggenås - Österåsen and Munkflohögen are so narrow that it is not possible to use any wider groomer then 120 cm. I run both ways so if possible I make the trail up to 240 cm wide. I am loosely planing a trip up to Sacrifice Valley since a colleague has a cottage up there but I looked at www.skoterleder.org and it seems to be missing a lot of trails between here and there so I don't know the best way to get there.

EDIT: No weights in the box, just a spade, an axe, some other tools and some fire wood in case I want to stop and enjoy a small fire. I flipped the wing upside down yesterday and only used the roller and I think the wing is the heaviest part of the groomer, but I might have gotten water inside the blades since they are hollow.

 

[Psycho Dave]

I think in my case the shocks from the Venture might work with out needing the special upper shock mount, comparing the Yamaha micro fiche between the 2 machines it looks like the only difference on the front bulkhead where the upper shock mount is, is on the Pro there is a spacer between the 2 halves to make up for the 5" wider track.

That may be the case, all I know is how this kit is.
And yes it is stable.

 

[Psycho Dave]

I so much prefer the look of your machine over the ones with the super wide skis on them

My machine only have like 7 inch wide skis, it should have the 9 inch that was standard in 2015 and I for one would like to have them.

 

[weldion]

The trails here around Norderåsen - Häggenås - Österåsen and Munkflohögen are so narrow that it is not possible to use any wider groomer then 120 cm. I run both ways so if possible I make the trail up to 240 cm wide. I am loosely planing a trip up to Sacrifice Valley since a colleague has a cottage up there but I looked at www.skoterleder.org and it seems to be missing a lot of trails between here and there so I don't know the best way to get there.

EDIT: No weights in the box, just a spade, an axe, some other tools and some fire wood in case I want to stop and enjoy a small fire. I flipped the wing upside down yesterday and only used the roller and I think the wing is the heaviest part of the groomer, but I might have gotten water inside the blades since they are hollow.

I guess the best way is to go up to Lillholmsjö and then down to Landön. Depends where the cabin is located.

 

[jonyamaha]

I have yoused Øhlins Apex front shocks . They are longer then stock vk pro. I like my sled best with stock front shocks and no spacer . I have mod apex swaybar .