Suspension relocation braket review

[buffaloHAWK]

so tonight i got my 1st real ride with the new brackets from scram600..

1st ill tell you about my hawk...02 503, 04 600 complete rear suspension with stock 503 progressive springs. buds ac roller clutch, and super long studs!

the first thing i noticed (while in the garage) i can stand on the pegs and bounce up and down and the hawk goes up and down the same as my dirtbike. out in the snow, when i roll on the gas the thing squats down and pulls wheelies like an 8 hunnert!!! im sure the clutch has alot to do with that! if i had any sort of tools with me i would have cranked down the preload to get the springs into the stiffer part of their travel...a hawk is hard to steer with the ski skyhigh! as far as the ride goes...VERY IMPRESSIVE!!! ZERO track binding and the suspension moves as it should. the spot i rode has a few small rolling hills with some bumps ranging from 1-3 feet and the 1 section is a slight downhill with a small kicker at the top to catch a little air then right when you land there are a few small rollers...as i sat and watched most of the sno-x wanna-bee kids with their mxz's come through all i could see were brake lights and a locked up track. me on the hawk...PINNED WIDE OPEN! the hawk will now soak that stuff up like nothing! another spot is a straight away going up hill with all sorts of bumps,big ,small, off camber to the left, to the right, just nasty looking at speed. i would always hit that section with tons of speed and a touch of fear of the unknown and what if's...tonite,full throttle, straight as an arrow with no fear or deflection in either direction. gotta say its alot like my crf, very predictable and very smooth. tomorrow will be at the same spot and ill have a spanner wrench to make changes and maybe ill bring the stock 600 springs to try out...i do have the 3rd shock installed with stock spring as well... all in all, very nice product, came with excellent directions, all necc. hardware and best of all was the fit and finish! money well spent in my book!

before brackets were installed i had my track at 6-7" of slack and it would still be rubber band tight at 1/2 compression. now i have 1 1/2" slack and zero tightness through out the FULL suspension travel...i think thats the way it should be from the factory...

 

[ski doo valmont]

so tonight i got my 1st real ride with the new brackets from scram600..

1st ill tell you about my hawk...02 503, 04 600 complete rear suspension with stock 503 progressive springs. buds ac roller clutch, and super long studs!

the first thing i noticed (while in the garage) i can stand on the pegs and bounce up and down and the hawk goes up and down the same as my dirtbike. out in the snow, when i roll on the gas the thing squats down and pulls wheelies like an 8 hunnert!!! im sure the clutch has alot to do with that! if i had any sort of tools with me i would have cranked down the preload to get the springs into the stiffer part of their travel...a hawk is hard to steer with the ski skyhigh! as far as the ride goes...VERY IMPRESSIVE!!! ZERO track binding and the suspension moves as it should. the spot i rode has a few small rolling hills with some bumps ranging from 1-3 feet and the 1 section is a slight downhill with a small kicker at the top to catch a little air then right when you land there are a few small rollers...as i sat and watched most of the sno-x wanna-bee kids with their mxz's come through all i could see were brake lights and a locked up track. me on the hawk...PINNED WIDE OPEN! the hawk will now soak that stuff up like nothing! another spot is a straight away going up hill with all sorts of bumps,big ,small, off camber to the left, to the right, just nasty looking at speed. i would always hit that section with tons of speed and a touch of fear of the unknown and what if's...tonite,full throttle, straight as an arrow with no fear or deflection in either direction. gotta say its alot like my crf, very predictable and very smooth. tomorrow will be at the same spot and ill have a spanner wrench to make changes and maybe ill bring the stock 600 springs to try out...i do have the 3rd shock installed with stock spring as well... all in all, very nice product, came with excellent directions, all necc. hardware and best of all was the fit and finish! money well spent in my book!

before brackets were installed i had my track at 6-7" of slack and it would still be rubber band tight at 1/2 compression. now i have 1 1/2" slack and zero tightness through out the FULL suspension travel...i think thats the way it should be from the factory...

Got about 175 miles on my brackets also, Mine is a 05 600ho with stock springs in the rear and 160lb spring in the front. My weight is 220lbs ride hard pack high speed trails it jumps awesome and handles very well at speeds up to 100mph, still could be softer at lower speeds. I just drive faster. Front gets light when hitting throttle but when I go through corners I dont hammer it so hard. Maybe will try some progresseve springs next. All in all I am happy the way it works. The two leggers dont know what the hell went by them!!!!!!

 

[onewoodsrider]

100mph!

What are you getting towed down hill by a plane lol. 100mph is a bit much dont you think. Whats that thing have a turbo with nitrous.

 

[RudeAwakening]

with the gearing i have on my new chain drive, i should get about 110 mph. i might try and go that fast once!

 

[buffaloHAWK]

why in the world(even canada) would you want a hawk to go 100+? you are gonna loose the low end snap that makes the hawk so much fun.... tank slapper at 100.....OUCH!!!

 

[TCSKIBIKE]

Even with my stock set up 600HO I still feel the front end lift under aggressive acceleration while exiting corners, it causes the front end to lose grip widening the line I was hoping for, not good on tighter trails. What would be your remedy be for this ski lift after installing the new bracket? Not sure I would like more ski lift in my riding area.

 

[buffaloHAWK]

im gonna try shortening my limiter straps...i notice alot more slack in them now... more review after todays ride!

 

[TCSKIBIKE]

That may do it, let us know.

 

[Thunderhawk]

Could someone clarify? I've been told the 503 doesn't need the suspension relocation brackets, but Eric has a 600 suspension in his which is probably why he would need/want the brackets. Am I correct about this?

 

[RudeAwakening]

with the new brackets you may want to start playing around with the front spring in your skid!

 

[Thunderhawk]

I just put the footpeg/suspension bracket on my 600 and I have another one yet to be put on the 800. I hadn't ridden the 600 before putting it on, so I don't know if I'd be able to feel the difference.

It's like my senses are not finely tuned as I tend not to feel the difference in changes. For example if you had a car that ran the 1/4 mile in 12.8 seconds, to lower that time by say 3 or 4 tenths of a second would take alot of work and extra horsepower, but if I took two runs at 12.8 and say 12.5, I wouldn't know the difference. Am I the only one?

So, what should I be doing with the suspension and what am I looking for as an improvment?

 

[ski doo valmont]

What are you getting towed down hill by a plane lol. 100mph is a bit much dont you think. Whats that thing have a turbo with nitrous.

I use stock gearing {belt] with tra primary and a modified secondary that opens up more. Why because I like to cruise by the two leggers.

 

[RudeAwakening]

true that!

 

[buffaloHAWK]

tried to kill 2 birds with one stone

didnt work so well....

so last nites ride didnt go as fun as the 1st ride with brackets....i shortened the limiter straps to keep lift to a minimum...waaayyyyyy better!i can steer again with the ski and not just body english

and i also cranked the spring preload way up since they felt super soft and the rear squated real bad... NO good! i lost the plushness i had the 1st ride .

so next ride(wed) i will back off the the preload all the way to get back my cushyness, and bring a spanner and 2-13mm wrenches to adjust my limiter straps and shocks if needed!

i will say the bumps were huge and endless yesterday as the groomers have not been out! we did about 60 miles of milleville whoops!!! i think i almost have the ultimate east coast bump bashin suspension on my Hawk....

oh yeah...cockyness gets you a facefull of snow and a cartwheeling hawk!

 

[TLKDPROD]

Could someone clarify? I've been told the 503 doesn't need the suspension relocation brackets, but Eric has a 600 suspension in his which is probably why he would need/want the brackets. Am I correct about this?

You can do the test on your 503 Thunder, take your shocks off and manually compress your suspension with a hydraulic car jack, you'll notice the track getting tighter and tighter throughout the travel, rubbing you HP.

The problem with the 503 is it's not the same suspension design, it has a rear parralel bar (that black plastic piece) that slides just a bit and controls the "path" of the rails throughout the travel of the suspension. All the other don't have that rear parralel bar but have the front forward shock. In order to have the pivot relocation brackets to "work" properly with the 503 suspension, you would probably have to get the top swignarm pivot relocated AND the top rear parralel bar pivot relocated as well. If you do only one you might screw up the geometry of the rails.

So far I don't know if anyone has come up with this bolt-on update for the 503... Sledr2 you just got a fanner right... If I had one to work on I'd go for it but I'm already swamped too much in my own stuff so I'll pass my turn on this one...

 

[off road rider]

"The problem with the 503 is it's not the same suspension design, it has a rear parralel bar"

Im not so sure that this is a "problem"

 

[TLKDPROD]

Not "a problem" but "the problem, the reason why you can't use the top swignarm pivot relocation bracket".

Sorry for unproper terms usage here !

If you ask me, I think the parralel bar suspension design is a better design for the mountains, that's why I designed mine that way too !

 

[crown7]

I installed Sram600's brackets on my hawk (08 800 144'') last year and got about three rides on them and loved them. On those late spring weekends when the grooming had stopped a month before,the trail to our riding area had 3' whoops the entire way, I was able to just lean back and pin it and it just soaked up the bumps. Handled great in the mountains also, but this was all spring conditions. Can't wait to try it out in the pow. Hopefully will get first ride of the new season in the next couple weeks.

 

[buffaloHAWK]

no new report....but a funny story

so tonite was the local snowmobile club meeting(free buffalo wings!) and the local ditch bangers are always talkin smack..."got my new risers, new hand guards, new graphics kit, new glo orange sno-x jacket, man i was hammerin through the moguls so fast, i dont think anyone could keep up with me!" etc etc blah blah blah

i kind of chuckle....

"what do you ride?" he asked with a touch of cockyness

"i ride a snow hawk" i replied with a smile

"are you the guy that passed me going up the pipeline after you cross rt240. damn that was rough!!!?

again i chuckled!

i guess my new brackets work!!!

 

[Beeline]

Ordered today from Scott as well. Nice talkin to you Scott.