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Expert 34" Front end - Who's ridden one?

bobback

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Here's a review from Snowgoer:

Sure enough, when our mountain tester got some seat time – or, more appropriately for mountain applications, riding time standing above the small and narrow seat! – the machine was more playful in open areas. It was both easier to roll up and also holds its tilt angle with less effort.

He did experience a bit of a trade-off when tilting the sled on a slope and sidehilling, however. With the narrowness of the front end, there are circumstances where the sled will “panel out,” meaning the side panel of the sled will put enough force on the hill where it will unload the ski on which it’s supposed to be resting. The built-in adjustability should help with that – but it proved that riding at the narrowest, 34-inch settings may not be for everybody in all riding cicumstances.


That said, the new narrow Expert was also more playful in other situations as well. For instance, when climbing straight up a hill and then trying to whip the sled around for a re-entry or to square it up and go across the slope, it was much easier to make the sled change direction with the skis tucked a little more together. It was a bit of a handful on the rough, single-track trails that often lead to the playgrounds, however.

Was this person (just being gender neutral) sidehilling on hard pack? If in powder how much powder? As I would guess in powder there would be no issues with a side hill.
 

Teth-Air

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My Size 12s have MORE than enough.
I also think they could NARROW those boards down just a bit.

1 Inch on the boards
2 inches on the side pannels

WHAT a difference that would make on Side-Hilling when your laying it over HARD.

What you guys are also missing is that those wide boards make the chassis "high center" way before it should when going through deep snow. With narrower boards the sled would cut the snow and drop deeper into the snow for more traction before getting stuck. This is so obvious when you simply clear under the boards and the sled walks out of the stuck.
 

NHRoadking

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What you guys are also missing is that those wide boards make the chassis "high center" way before it should when going through deep snow. With narrower boards the sled would cut the snow and drop deeper into the snow for more traction before getting stuck. This is so obvious when you simply clear under the boards and the sled walks out of the stuck.
So is the answer to make the boards a bit narrower and higher?
 

Teth-Air

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So is the answer to make the boards a bit narrower and higher?
The move to taller spindles on some brands has definitely helped get sleds through the snow. If the boards where also higher it could work but it must be a practical comfortable height. The narrow 34" stance on the 22 Doo may have more advantages than first thought. If the narrowed stance packs the snow more inline with the running boards they may not high center as bad.
 

Dogmeat

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I originally had a Freeride 165 checked for next season but changed it to the Summit Expert ... Hopefully that was the right choice. I don't jump much or do big cornice drops. Do like to bash up hills pretending I'm a RMSHA racer from time to time, but I just hope the 34" isn't too narrow on steep sidehills
 

Teth-Air

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I originally had a Freeride 165 checked for next season but changed it to the Summit Expert ... Hopefully that was the right choice. I don't jump much or do big cornice drops. Do like to bash up hills pretending I'm a RMSHA racer from time to time, but I just hope the 34" isn't too narrow on steep sidehills
Buddy of mine has a 165 Expert from last season and the turbo 165 Freeride this year.

I like his Expert better as it feels much lighter and we tree ride anyway so the turbo doesn't get to stretch it's legs very often. I will say the Expert should have the rail braces from BRP added and the shocks on the Freeride are heavenly on the trail. I heard him say that the shocks might be as good of an upgrade as the turbo.
 

Dogmeat

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Buddy of mine has a 165 Expert from last season and the turbo 165 Freeride this year.

I like his Expert better as it feels much lighter and we tree ride anyway so the turbo doesn't get to stretch it's legs very often. I will say the Expert should have the rail braces from BRP added and the shocks on the Freeride are heavenly on the trail. I heard him say that the shocks might be as good of an upgrade as the turbo.

Yeah, but the 2020 Expert and the 2021 Freeride have the same 37" front end. The 2022 Experts have the 34" front end ... I'm sort of wondering if I'd prefer the 37" instead of the 34". I've ridden the 37" and did just fine with it, idk if I should have changed my sno check
 

Teth-Air

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Yeah, but the 2020 Expert and the 2021 Freeride have the same 37" front end. The 2022 Experts have the 34" front end ... I'm sort of wondering if I'd prefer the 37" instead of the 34". I've ridden the 37" and did just fine with it, idk if I should have changed my sno check
The 22 has the optional adjustment of 34" to 36" as I understand it.
 
P
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Yeah, but the 2020 Expert and the 2021 Freeride have the same 37" front end. The 2022 Experts have the 34" front end ... I'm sort of wondering if I'd prefer the 37" instead of the 34". I've ridden the 37" and did just fine with it, idk if I should have changed my sno check

You can still set the 34” front end to 36” if you prefer it that way.
I ride with my current 850 at 36” and am happy with it. Ordered the expert and plan on trying out the 34”. If I don’t like it, only takes a few minutes to put it back over to 36.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

idahoskiguy

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Have 80 miles on my 2022 Expert 165 Turbo and the 34 inch stance isn't as big of a difference as I expected compared to my 2020 Expert 165 N/A running the 35.7" stance.

Really a great sled with good power delivery and easy to ride. The area Ski Doo would benefit the most from is weight reduction, however that would likely drive the price up so much that the sled would have an even more limited market. Greater than $20,000 for a sled is a lot money for a toy.
 
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