LennyR
Active VIP Member
.The other day we were out and a buddy said that the best way to actually compare stock sleds he thought was still just go to bottom of agile and each take a new line and see who gets the highest. Apples to apples, rider weight, cc's, track length. And you know what, thinking about it, he may be right, what we have defaulted to now seems like a system where every one can claim one brand or style is better because the system of actual comparison is so vague and sketchy. The traits or qualities that are deemed to be the best are just barely tangible to a lot of riders, and are impossible to compare for most.
And yeah I know , hill climbing is stupid, blah blah, but find a safe hill, best if it's a hill no one can actually crest, and compete. The things necessary to do well , HP, weight transfer, ski height, track on the ground, back shifting, supply of cold air, throttle response, and ability to essentially sidehill to turn out when necessary . If each participant is making his own track it's pretty clear who the best is no ? And it seems to me that all the qualities needed to compare sleds say in the meadows or on treed slopes are similar but way more clear and less susceptible to be masked by rider ability. Now as cool as the big yammie guys are, that's not quite what I'm suggesting, I'm talking hills that we mortals can handle where stock sleds can MAYBE get over. To me, that sorta makes sense, lays bare the ability to handle bumps, lose traction and recover rpms, overcome trenching , and overcome sticktation cause of hp heat build up. Hard to hide.
Seems to be a trend for whatever reason to shy away from this, not sure why, but personally I get a bit full of watching video after video of guys doing wheelies for 5 minutes straight missing a hundred trees by inches and sidehilling across hummocks and creek banks. Gets kinda painful after a while. That's me, if we differ, no problem, I really enjoy watching a bit of that with some good old fashioned hill climbing where the rider has to work at it or milk it and then still get turned out and not stick it. I ride with a lot of guys all different but when the hills are safe, it seems to me , other than on here, everybody still gets a thrill and looks forward to challenging their machine and themselves on a good steep. And you know what, have done a bit of both and the rush I get missing a tree or jumping a drift don't get my blood moving like getting it all out of whatever I'm riding , then gettingbitbturned out and riding it back down, that's a friggen rush every time.
Im also a bit confused how if you ride in the trees or meadows you ride technically, but if you do the same while climbing bigger slopes, it's non technical.
Whatever you choose to do, do it safely
And yeah I know , hill climbing is stupid, blah blah, but find a safe hill, best if it's a hill no one can actually crest, and compete. The things necessary to do well , HP, weight transfer, ski height, track on the ground, back shifting, supply of cold air, throttle response, and ability to essentially sidehill to turn out when necessary . If each participant is making his own track it's pretty clear who the best is no ? And it seems to me that all the qualities needed to compare sleds say in the meadows or on treed slopes are similar but way more clear and less susceptible to be masked by rider ability. Now as cool as the big yammie guys are, that's not quite what I'm suggesting, I'm talking hills that we mortals can handle where stock sleds can MAYBE get over. To me, that sorta makes sense, lays bare the ability to handle bumps, lose traction and recover rpms, overcome trenching , and overcome sticktation cause of hp heat build up. Hard to hide.
Seems to be a trend for whatever reason to shy away from this, not sure why, but personally I get a bit full of watching video after video of guys doing wheelies for 5 minutes straight missing a hundred trees by inches and sidehilling across hummocks and creek banks. Gets kinda painful after a while. That's me, if we differ, no problem, I really enjoy watching a bit of that with some good old fashioned hill climbing where the rider has to work at it or milk it and then still get turned out and not stick it. I ride with a lot of guys all different but when the hills are safe, it seems to me , other than on here, everybody still gets a thrill and looks forward to challenging their machine and themselves on a good steep. And you know what, have done a bit of both and the rush I get missing a tree or jumping a drift don't get my blood moving like getting it all out of whatever I'm riding , then gettingbitbturned out and riding it back down, that's a friggen rush every time.
Im also a bit confused how if you ride in the trees or meadows you ride technically, but if you do the same while climbing bigger slopes, it's non technical.
Whatever you choose to do, do it safely
