Greetings and welcome!
Sorry I’m late, I escaped to the blue room and have been doing a little maintenance on the RXL. It didn’t turn so good, so I ordered new carbides. Those were installed and I tackled all kinds of other maintainable things while it was in.
The carbides I usually get locally, but I stumbled into a set on E-Bay that I wanted. They were Stud-Boy 9″ 60º carbides on half inch host bars for under $60 shipped. Brother Ed says share the link, Here is the link. Those are for old blue snowmobiles, but the guy prolly has more kinds.
The test run was pretty ill. It turned on a dime and would easily throw you if you asked for it. I am a sucker for big carbides, and the new ones made me smile. The old ones were ok on one side, and studs only on the other. Ooops.
The snow that y’all are getting downstate isn’t getting here. So far there has been mostly freezing drizzle and mist. There were a few snow pellets mixed in, but what is frozen on everything is not snow. It is a nice glaze of ice on cars and roads, and a crust on the snow.
Beyond that it is a deary cloudy drab day.
Well, I am sitting here with my coat on, halfway between the shop and the trail, so I shan’t be lingering. I will be back later.
RJB
Part II
I got my ride in, short as it was. I hit a few forest roads betwen here and Lakewood to see what they were about and to shake a few more bugs out of the sled.
The forest roads were plowed but had a good ice base. Parts had minor ruts from the truck that drove in the slush before it froze. For the most part it was a hard flat ice base with a little top snow. While I never saw the hot light, I kept dipping the sled into the snow every few miles to keep everyting lubed and cool.
The trails that I saw were ok, but would have been a lot better if today’s freezing drizzle would have been 3″ of snow to pretty things up. The warm days (20-25ish) and the sun yesterday has it ready for a freshening coat to cover minor sins and places where the groomer dragged a corner.
The trails that I saw were not perfect, but I wouldn’t hesitate to ride. There is a nice flat base in the areas that I saw.
The sled ran out good enough with some minor stuff coming up. The hand warmers only work a little, but not good enough. There was a nasty lack of backshift from cruising speed, so the secondary clutch will get service. I knew about that, and just haven’t gotten to it yet. I will be looking forward to putting the high windshield on too.
That is about it from here. Have a good night and thank you for visiting!
RJB