EVO RMK review

[JB850]

I purchased an Evo RMK for my 9 year old son this season. I must say that this sled exceeded my expectations. Before it hit the snow I did some modifications to improve the sled. I part out a few sleds a year, so luckily I had a bunch of parts kicking around, so I wasn't out too much for the modifications. The first thing I did was unlower it. I dropped the rear skid and added longer front shocks. The next thing I did was add a Pro RMK throttle lever, which is plug and play. The last thing I did was add a pro armor tether that I had off a parts pro and that was also plug and play. Last weekend we were finally able to get it out in the mountains. We had a 1'-2' of fresh on a good base. The Evo got around really well. The track seems to be a really good pairing to the sled. We had a couple uphill stucks and with a ski pull the sled would get moving and pull itself out of the snow. With unlowering it the sled was not too Tippy and was easy to get on edge. My 9 year old was starting to get the hang of getting it on edge. We had one draw in particular that I was amazed the sled could make it up. The only complaint I have is those running boards. I have a set of Pro running boards that I will put on over the holidays . I seen a lot of complaining about the Evo when it was released, but with some small inexpensive modifications it can be a great little sled. This thing would walk circles around the 550 freestyle we had previously.

 

[thedude306]

Why switch the throttle lever?

Sled looks good!

 

[powdrdaz]

The stock throttle only allows the carbs to open halfway .

 

[cateye5312]

We just got ours on the snow Saturday for a few minutes and I definitely noticed right away that it could stand to be taller. What did you to lower the rear skid? What length shocks did you use on the front? My 9 year old is literally shaking with excitement to actually put a full ride on this thing

 

[powdrdaz]

The EVO is a pro chassis. Polaris also sells a kit to raise it. Part # 2884251

 

[cateye5312]

Ugh ... $1,500? I think not. Back to my original question .... easy enough to scrounge up a set of used Pro shocks - I have a buddy with bunches - probably have a throttle lever in a box at home, need to see what it takes to drop the skid.
I did that to several 340 Indy Lites.

 

[Escmanaze]

That is awesome. Really good to hear.

So let's talk details.

First and foremost, getting the power back. You replaced the throttle lever only? The "evolution kit" has some clutch parts in there as well, so I've been operating under the assumption that to get all your power back, you would need to mess with clutching as well. You're saying that's not the case? Awesome!!!

So just putting longer shocks on caused the front to lift naturally and that was good enough huh? I assume the ski stance got a tiny bit narrower as well as it lifted?

Lucky you to have all the parts laying around. Most of us aren't that lucky - hence the frustration with Polaris literally going out of their way to make this sled worse (lowered and half throttle) when nobody with half a brain in the mountains wants less power or a lower ride.

Grab some video next time out, I would love to see it go.

 

[JB850]

We just got ours on the snow Saturday for a few minutes and I definitely noticed right away that it could stand to be taller. What did you to lower the rear skid? What length shocks did you use on the front? My 9 year old is literally shaking with excitement to actually put a full ride on this thing

I used some 17" kyb shocks that I had off a summit x. I dropped the front of the rear skid to the low hole and dropped the rear 1" and moved it back 1/4"

 

[JB850]

That is awesome. Really good to hear.

So let's talk details.

First and foremost, getting the power back. You replaced the throttle lever only? The "evolution kit" has some clutch parts in there as well, so I've been operating under the assumption that to get all your power back, you would need to mess with clutching as well. You're saying that's not the case? Awesome!!!

So just putting longer shocks on caused the front to lift naturally and that was good enough huh? I assume the ski stance got a tiny bit narrower as well as it lifted?

Lucky you to have all the parts laying around. Most of us aren't that lucky - hence the frustration with Polaris literally going out of their way to make this sled worse (lowered and half throttle) when nobody with half a brain in the mountains wants less power or a lower ride.

Grab some video next time out, I would love to see it go.

If I wanted to take it a little further, I could go with the cdi, but it felt pretty decent. The clutch engagement was pretty low and it might have been a tad low on rpm, I will play with it a bit after I burn the first tank of premix out of it. My kids previous sled was a 550 freestyle and I think this one has better jam. I haven't measured the ski stance since I put the longer shocks on. It looks considerably wider than my 19 axys. It has the same a arm and spindles as the pro ride rmk, so I'm guessing with the longer shocks it has to be 38-40". I have some pics and vids on my Instagram @jasonbenson850

 

[cateye5312]

Yeah I wish Polaris would offer it from the factory two ways - one with the lowered/less power stuff on it and one without. Right now, because my grandson is now 9, I would have bought it without the lowering kit. However, back when my youngest were starting to ride their own stuff at ages 4 and 5 I would have preferred this lowered/less power scenario and then let them have a season or two on that first and then switched it out. With no one coming up behind currently I don't need the lowered/less power machine. My grandson has been riding a 340 Indy Lite for the last few seasons and is ready to move up.

 

[Escmanaze]

Cool videos and pics on the instagram.

My 10 year old is named Davis also, what a coincidence. And my youngest son is named Benson. What???????!!!!!!!!

My 10 year old is a pretty good handlebar athlete and has jumped fairly successfully already from the snoscoot to my dad's old 2012 polaris 600 144 rmk. He loves it and it doesn't cost me anything, so I won't be needing something until my 7 year old girl is done with the snoscoot in a couple years. It seems like when that time comes, the choice might be pretty difficult between the evo rmk and the blast M. If Polaris would just "undo" a few of the most obvious mistakes that they made with this thing kinda like you have, then it would seem to make my choice a lot easier.

 

[Reeb]

We just swapped over a friends EVO and it sure has more jump to it than before. Still not as strong as our 440 fan but it’s only revving to 6500rpm. My 440 revs to 7200. The clutching they supplied isn’t quite getting us there(4K elevation) so a few tweaks and it’ll be good. Also swapped tracks to a 1.75”. That has made the biggest difference so far. I also put on some Cat front shocks since the Polaris ones are still cheap.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[cateye5312]

Evidently there is a jumper wire somewhere around the handlebars that can be unplugged to turn off the electronic speed limiter. I haven't looked for it yet but supposedly it is a black wire with a blue line running through it. There's a forum discussion on hardcoresledder about it. In the kit, Polaris provides way more than you need and that is because they don't know if you are putting this stuff on a new sled right out of the box or one with 1,200 miles on it. You don't need the clutch parts or the CDI box and honestly I'm not sure you need the gears. Ours is hitting just over 7,000 RPMS at 9,000 ft which is just right for this motor so I'm not changing any clutching. That's with a new throttle lever. I put Pro RMK shocks all the way around and a set of Axys running boards( that was a project - sheesh!). I will keep my eyes open for a 36" front end that I can pick up cheap and I may look for that jumper wire but otherwise my grandson is enjoying the hell out of riding this sled so I'm done messing with it.

 

[FlynHigh]

I purchased an Evo RMK for my 9 year old son this season. I must say that this sled exceeded my expectations. Before it hit the snow I did some modifications to improve the sled. I part out a few sleds a year, so luckily I had a bunch of parts kicking around, so I wasn't out too much for the modifications. The first thing I did was unlower it. I dropped the rear skid and added longer front shocks. The next thing I did was add a Pro RMK throttle lever, which is plug and play. The last thing I did was add a pro armor tether that I had off a parts pro and that was also plug and play. Last weekend we were finally able to get it out in the mountains. We had a 1'-2' of fresh on a good base. The Evo got around really well. The track seems to be a really good pairing to the sled. We had a couple uphill stucks and with a ski pull the sled would get moving and pull itself out of the snow. With unlowering it the sled was not too Tippy and was easy to get on edge. My 9 year old was starting to get the hang of getting it on edge. We had one draw in particular that I was amazed the sled could make it up. The only complaint I have is those running boards. I have a set of Pro running boards that I will put on over the holidays . I seen a lot of complaining about the Evo when it was released, but with some small inexpensive modifications it can be a great little sled. This thing would walk circles around the 550 freestyle we had previously.

Did you put the new running boards on? How did they turn out? Any pics? How are the longer shocks working out on the front end? Have you done anything to narrow up the front end?

 

[JB850]

Did you put the new running boards on? How did they turn out? Any pics? How are the longer shocks working out on the front end? Have you done anything to narrow up the front end?

I did the running boards off the PRO. It was a big job but was a huge improvement. I'm not sold on narrowing it up right now. My kid could damb near get it on edge last year and there were some situations where the added width was helpful. I'm really happy with all the upgrades. It has worked really well for my kids.

 

[FlynHigh]

Are Pro Running boards wider than Axys Running boards?