So the theme I constantly see is the Khaos is a handful to ride but it is all relative to what you are used to and what you are now riding.
A 155 Khaos is a different beast than a 165 Khaos. The longer 163/165 is going to transfer less, it’s just simply understanding that. A lot of guys jumped on 155 Khaos last year from various sleds and find them harder to ride with confidence but had no real experience on a 155 to begin with.
Having come off a 155 to a 165 Khaos this thing flat out rocks. The series 8 track has a lot to do with how I can carry momentum, never been a fan of the Polaris 3” tracks especially when down on power with the 800’s. The 2.6 was my favourite track for more what I would call technical riding. Creek, steep walls, tight trees this Khaos 165 shines.
My biggest issue the first few rides was over riding it. It responds to rider input very well and if you over ride it then it wears you out because you are correcting for it all the time.
The 163 ProRMK feels planted now, the 165 Khaos a little lighter on firmer snow. In deep fresh I take the Khaos because I am not shooting straight up climbs without obstacles. Remember most of the geometry changes are on the front half of the track, when the skis are out of the snow on a climb it shouldn’t matter what sled you are on at that point anyways. Yes initially you get a little more ski lift with the Khaos but it’s not as drastic on the 165.
Turcottes video as Teth-Air mentioned is not a great representation of the Khaos. His ProRMK is dialled in for him. The steering post mod alone makes him more confident in his line choices then to jump on a bone stock Khaos and not have the longer sleds to compare back to back isn’t showing the differences well. I am not saying it’s worthless, just look at it objectively.
If I was snowchecking again today I would still take the Khaos. The stock shocks save me $3000 alone on upgrading to raptors or whatever. The series 8 track tension and driver issues are a little underwhelming and will need to do something to address it for track life as it’s going to continue to be an issue unfortunately.