Camso ski pressure

racert17 · Dec 4, 2017

any advice on dialing in ski pressure on the 18 camso? It’s on my 16 husky fc450, the ski pressure on the trail is insane! I have the strut adjusted so the track is equal whenever lifted and touching down on the garage floor and the forks are up to the second line above the triple clamp.
Any advice?

ktm131rob · Dec 4, 2017

I have a season on a 17 kit with ktm with the 4cs fork just like your husky and I found that if you can get the bike to sit a little nose high that helps. I also will say that if your forks are not stiff enough they will ride down in the stroke and out a tone of pressure on the front end.

eric82930 · Dec 4, 2017

You can either slide the forks up in the clamps or shorten the strut rod. Stiffer fork springs will make MORE ski pressure. The previous post would be correct if it was a bike with tires but on a track its backwards because of the teeter action of the center shock carrying weight in the middle.

ravenous · Dec 4, 2017

And the new Camso has the two position limiter cable, so that is gonna make a difference,too. What position is yours in?

byeatts · Dec 4, 2017

racert17 said:
any advice on dialing in ski pressure on the 18 camso? It’s on my 16 husky fc450, the ski pressure on the trail is insane! I have the strut adjusted so the track is equal whenever lifted and touching down on the garage floor and the forks are up to the second line above the triple clamp.
Any advice?

The 18 Camso needs some attention. after we assembled track did not sit even close to flat, The front on the skid was 1.5 inches above the concrete with rod to their spec.I believe there is a misprint on the strut shim setup , We had this on the 17 as well.

Motogeek33 · Dec 4, 2017

byeatts said:
The 18 Camso needs some attention. after we assembled track did not sit even close to flat, The front on the skid was 1.5 inches above the concrete with rod to their spec.I believe there is a misprint on the strut shim setup , We had this on the 17 as well.

Installing on a YZ, by chance? This scenario sounds exactly the same as a discussion that came up on Facebook last month:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/camsosnowbikers/permalink/376812986109600/

If you read through the comments you'll find the answer.

IShartd · Dec 4, 2017

ktm131rob said:
I have a season on a 17 kit with ktm with the 4cs fork just like your husky and I found that if you can get the bike to sit a little nose high that helps. I also will say that if your forks are not stiff enough they will ride down in the stroke and out a tone of pressure on the front end.

1.Bring your forks flush with the triple clamp. 2.You need a stiff fork for snowbiking, and this does NOT mean additional ski pressure. It's actually opposite, firmer shocks will keep you higher in the stroke, effectively putting the bikes weight further back, in essence less ski pressure. If your forks are soft your weight and the bikes center of gravity will be pushed farther forward this = more ski pressure. 3. Lengthen your limiter strap all the way out and put your torsion spring on the softest setting. Where is the spacer on your strut? Tunnel side or bike side?

IShartd · Dec 4, 2017

byeatts said:
The 18 Camso needs some attention. after we assembled track did not sit even close to flat, The front on the skid was 1.5 inches above the concrete with rod to their spec.I believe there is a misprint on the strut shim setup , We had this on the 17 as well.

I've installed 3 of them this season and you are right. The setup does not seem to work well with the strut bushing on the tunnel side as some kits specify. The strut fits in tight, lacking the majority of adjustment on the strut before it just binds up on the hime joint. Not to mention the pipe being tight to the tunnel in most cases. With the spacer on the bike side, the strut fits and adjusts with ease.

Ben 500RR-S · Dec 5, 2017

I emailed the Camso customer service guy and had mentioned to them that, at least for my bike, between the online manual's, for which there are three, the Owners Manual, Installation Guide and the Adjustments Guide, and the paper manuals that are sent with the bike, they are all messed up as they show the big metal bushing going on top of the tunnel and then some that have it go under the tunnel and in some of the figures, the one they include isn't what needs to be included-it is as if no one has taken the time to proofread or check the manuals for accuracy before sending them out to us.

I first had the big spacer in position 2, which is on top of the tunnel and had the issue of the rear end too high and the front of the track off the ground. The spacer for my bike needed to be under the tunnel or in position #1.

Camso said they would correct their manuals.

ktm131rob · Dec 5, 2017

eric82930 said:
You can either slide the forks up in the clamps or shorten the strut rod. Stiffer fork springs will make MORE ski pressure. The previous post would be correct if it was a bike with tires but on a track its backwards because of the teeter action of the center shock carrying weight in the middle.

My 4CS forks rode in the bottom 1/4 of there stroke down the trail. My bike would be constantly diving forward giving me the feeling of a heavy front end. Stiffening the forks made a massive difference in that feeling.

racert17 · Dec 5, 2017

IShartd said:
I've installed 3 of them this season and you are right. The setup does not seem to work well with the strut bushing on the tunnel side as some kits specify. The strut fits in tight, lacking the majority of adjustment on the strut before it just binds up on the hime joint. Not to mention the pipe being tight to the tunnel in most cases. With the spacer on the bike side, the strut fits and adjusts with ease.

Totally, I have the spacer opposite of what the instruction manual stated, I had the forks above the clamps to the second line on the tubes' I have .62 springs with airpro installed, the ski pressure on the trail was massive!
I dropped the tubes flush to the triple clamp and the pressure was even worse, so I'm going slide the forks up above the clamp about 10mm and try that, I've adjusted the strut so the track seems to be flat/even on the garage floor after I slide up the tubes, see what happens from here

racert17 · Dec 5, 2017

ravenous said:
And the new Camso has the two position limiter cable, so that is gonna make a difference,too. What position is yours in?

The cable is in the lowest position, the "powder" position

IShartd · Dec 5, 2017

racert17 said:
Totally, I have the spacer opposite of what the instruction manual stated, I had the forks above the clamps to the second line on the tubes' I have .62 springs with airpro installed, the ski pressure on the trail was massive!
I dropped the tubes flush to the triple clamp and the pressure was even worse, so I'm going slide the forks up above the clamp about 10mm and try that, I've adjusted the strut so the track seems to be flat/even on the garage floor after I slide up the tubes, see what happens from here

I've got 7 days riding on the 2018 kit, a lot of dirt, asphalt, babyhead boulders and pond puddles on the way in, as conditions out here are less than ideal. I'm running 4cs with airpro and oem springs. 12.5 psi is perfect, I can it lay down and bar drop 2nd gear tight turns, and still be in the upper portion on fork stroke on the trail, new bump stop is great in my opinion, have some time on a 17 kit, ski loved to push. Seems like camso getting closer. Like I said, let limiter strap out, and put torsion on softest setting. Ski pressure is not all in the forks. And try a riser, this will inevitable put you back farther on the bike. If your new to the game and ridden mx, re think it, mx 90% standing, snowbike 90% sitting, no need to ride the tank.

dirtnerd · Dec 6, 2017

byeatts said:
The 18 Camso needs some attention. after we assembled track did not sit even close to flat, The front on the skid was 1.5 inches above the concrete with rod to their spec.I believe there is a misprint on the strut shim setup , We had this on the 17 as well.

I can say for sure the tags and the assembly guide give very conflicting layouts for the rubber bushings and the metal spacer/washer. Book says use figure 1 from the tag on the strut, but in the assembly PDF they show the tag and the figures are reversed. I have a 2017 husky 501 and I had to put the two rubber bushings on top and one rubber bushing and metal spacer on the bottom to get the track to sit flat. I'm still not sure it's correct though.

How is yours set?

dirtnerd · Dec 6, 2017

racert17 said:
Totally, I have the spacer opposite of what the instruction manual stated, I had the forks above the clamps to the second line on the tubes' I have .62 springs with airpro installed, the ski pressure on the trail was massive!
I dropped the tubes flush to the triple clamp and the pressure was even worse, so I'm going slide the forks up above the clamp about 10mm and try that, I've adjusted the strut so the track seems to be flat/even on the garage floor after I slide up the tubes, see what happens from here

I'm new to snow biking but could you explain ski pressure a bit? I think I'm seeing the same thing. I took mine out for the first time today. I didn't want to venture far so i went up a logging road until there was about a foot of snow. The ski basically pushed through the snow and just rode on the gravel, was a terrible ride (first ride too was hoping to be blown away) Hell the bike even cold stopped on one of the rocks under the snow and jammed my wrist. I looked for minimum snow depths online and didn't find any recommendations, but I can say for sure after today's ride you need way more then 1 foot of Okanagan powder for these bad boys

wwillf01 · Dec 6, 2017

You need to have a base to slide on... They are worse than sleds going over roads, parking lots , not enough snow until you have a base... You want to wait and not mess up the ski that could turn into a very expensive ride.

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Ben 500RR-S · Dec 6, 2017

wwillf01 said:
You need to have a base to slide on... They are worse than sleds going over roads, parking lots , not enough snow until you have a base... You want to wait and not mess up the ski that could turn into a very expensive ride.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

I agree, even a snowmobile, with a coating or even a foot of snow, once the skis touch gravel, it just won't slide as there is too much friction. It makes for audible pain and a LOT more throttle just go get moving. I can only imagine the suck on a bike.

I know I won't take the bike out until there is a base. I have no problem with going hog-wild on the snowmobile on any kind of surface as the skis are cheap and can take the abuse, but not with the ski/carbides/runners on the bike ski.

eric82930 · Dec 6, 2017

If you must ride in low baseless snow (i do) you have to get really extreme to get rid of ski pressure. Try letting the air out of the air pro (you shouldn't be jumping big air in low snow anyway ) and slide the forks up all the way to the til they touch the bars. Shorten the strut all the way and make sure the limiter cable isn't tight when sitting level. That's about all you can do.

The camso doesn't have any other track adjustments. On timbersleds you can soften the rear spring and stiffen the center. The old timbersleds used to have coupling spacers on the back arm that you could adjust so the back of the track was an inch off the ground. It would let the bike role back under throttle and the ski was almost of the ground so it didn't catch on everything.
All these extreme mods you will want to reverse once the snow gets deep. The ski will wash out and the track will trench more and have trouble climbing up on top of the snow.

IShartd · Dec 6, 2017

eric82930 said:
If you must ride in low baseless snow (i do) you have to get really extreme to get rid of ski pressure. Try letting the air out of the air pro (you shouldn't be jumping big air in low snow anyway ) and slide the forks up all the way to the til they touch the bars. Shorten the strut all the way and make sure the limiter cable isn't tight when sitting level. That's about all you can do.

The camso doesn't have any other track adjustments. On timbersleds you can soften the rear spring and stiffen the center. The old timbersleds used to have coupling spacers on the back arm that you could adjust so the back of the track was an inch off the ground. It would let the bike role back under throttle and the ski was almost of the ground so it didn't catch on everything.
All these extreme mods you will want to reverse once the snow gets deep. The ski will wash out and the track will trench more and have trouble climbing up on top of the snow.

Please realize that what your saying is wrong. Raising the forks up in the triple clamp and lowering your airpro pressure will only increase ski pressure! You at in essence changing the center of balance by putting more weight (ski pressure) up front.

M5- · Dec 6, 2017

I installed my kit today. It ended up sitting perfectly flat on the floor as per the instructions when I was done. Letting out the limiter strap is a PITA whoever designed that pathetic system should be shot with a frozen ball of their own $hit. There is no way you could do that on the trail, ever. Hopefully the ski pressure is decent.

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Camso ski pressure

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