Timbersled Riot page 6

[needpowder]

Page 5 got a little sidetracked.
I demoed the riot at the cow tag last Friday. It hadn’t snowed in a few days, and the terrain was mostly flat but there were some obstacles to play with. I thought the riot was a blast! We went back-and-forth from wheelie mode to firm mode. Even in wheelie mode the front end did not come up like crazy(which I thought was a good thing). On hard pack it would probably come up easier. With the firm settings on the suspension, it felt pretty much like an Aro 120 to me. Obviously, this wasn’t a true test for mountain deep snow performance. My dealer will have one for the next couple weeks it sounds like. We are forecast for some more snow so hopefully I will get to check it out where I normally ride.

 

[M5-]

I've always liked that suspension design but I cant get past the 120 thing. For a deep snow ride I'm personally sold on 129. It looks like a fun kit but I don't think its for me. Maybe I'm wrong.


M5

 

[needpowder]

I hear you on the 129 thing. That’s what I was thinking also. I’m always surprised at how well my buddies Aro 120 does though. He just can’t slow down sometimes like I can. I also tried the Aro 3 inch. I didn’t ride it much, but it seemed to hook up real well and felt just as nimble as the arrow 2.5 inch.

 

[Sheetmetalfab]

Buy a riot and extend it to 129?

I would think the rear of the rails are close enough to the same to aro to be a direct fit.

 

[CATSLEDMAN1]

a couple of questions

For the guys that had a change to look over and ride the new TS.

1. How was the chain routed on the Riot, same as previous two years of ARO?

2. Any observations on mod to the ARO 3" track model so the track clears the frame ?

 

[teal_210]

For the guys that had a change to look over and ride the new TS.

1. How was the chain routed on the Riot, same as previous two years of ARO?

2. Any observations on mod to the ARO 3" track model so the track clears the frame ?

1. Riot chain routing is the same as the ARO.

2. The entire ARO line got a drop and roll to clear the 3" track and the suspension is mounted slightly lower in the tunnel.

I'm thinking the drop and roll on the aro line might be just what it needed. IMO the 18 and 18 aro line was close, but just not quite right. The approach angle is too steep, combined with the super still paddles it just never quite performed like it should.

The RIOT maintains the driver location from the 18-19 aro line. That's a bit of a head scratcher to me, but haven't ridden it yet.

 

[eric82930]

my thoughts about the reason the don't build the long tracks with riot suspension is not enough ski pressure to turn the schoolbus. Iv'e been trying to build a similar setup for years and the long track versions always sucked at turning. Blower pow doesn't seem to matter be even slightly dense snow and its hard to turn. Seems to me they really thought about the lineup this year.

The riot setup wont get on top like a lt but because it has less ski pressure, you will be able to get it going sometimes without getting stuck because the ski won't drag as much.

 

[wellfed777]

ok ok i have a very important question :face-icon-small-hap

if you go Riot Standard (not LE)
how does the shock adjustment work ?
does it have 3 position shock switch ?

if no as i suspect then a rider would have to set for preferred
setting and if terrain change would need to adjust spring?


thanks all

 

[needpowder]

ok ok i have a very important question :face-icon-small-hap

if you go Riot Standard (not LE)
how does the shock adjustment work ?
does it have 3 position shock switch ?

if no as i suspect then a rider would have to set for preferred
setting and if terrain change would need to adjust spring?


thanks all

That is how I understand it. The adjustment is on the piggyback part of the shock. You would have to tighten or loosen the spring i think. Not that hard to do, but that clicker is much faster obviously. It would probably mean the difference between riding with it correct for your situation or riding with it not correctly set up because you don’t want to take the time to do it. At least for me.

 

[wellfed777]

thanks

that's what i thought hmmmm.

tough to pay another $1000 to add some paint and shocks
shock switch thing would be handy

 

[CATSLEDMAN1]

up grade riot shocks

The problem with the three position shock adjuster is you are simply restricting the flow of oil in the shock as you close the valve. As they like to call it " MORE COMPRESSION DAMPENING " which it is not.

So if you ride all the time in the most closed/stiff position, means your shock really isn't working much, what you really need is stiffer spring with more rebound dampening.

The upgrade shock is a quick fix for riders that won't change much anyway and don't have resources to adjust the shock internally. Not a bad thing, just diasappointing that a $1000 extra gets you a bandaid/bling when what you really would appreciate is a shock that works better.

 

[eric82930]

Low speed oil flow through a fixed orifice (with 3 sizes) can be considered damping control, it just isn't speed sensitive like a Shim stack and once it gets closer to a lock out setting it becomes the major damping force so the real shock valving doesn't really matter any more. I have learned not to speculate too much until I try one. It might good enough with the cheap shock for most people. Who knows. Lots of guys have wrong strut length and are grinning ear to ear oblivious to the 10% performance they are missing.

 

[wellfed777]

For the folks that test rode the Riot
Did it have a TSS ? Or fixed strut

Thanks

 

[RACINSTATION]

In my opinion......if you get a RIOT the LE package is a MUST. The TSS is less of a must on the Riot than the ARO. The standard Riot is great, but the adustability of the kit is the key to it's awesomeness.

 

[needpowder]

For the folks that test rode the Riot
Did it have a TSS ? Or fixed strut

Thanks

I am pretty sure they had TSS. I am with racinstation. I think the LE shocks are mandatory. At least for me.

 

[Fwd55]

May be a good option is to get a standard riot not LE and get a set of fox float ?

 

[eric82930]

May be a good option is to get a standard riot not LE and get a set of fox float ?

I was thinking the same thing only because I have buckets of floats laying around. The pump is a pia in cold weather and valving was never real great stock but they can be made to work pretty good and always nice to be able to document the shock pressure once you figure out what works for what conditions you can always go back to any exact pressure. Counting turns on a spring never seemed as accurate but may be easier than getting out a pump.

 

[teal_210]

For the folks that test rode the Riot
Did it have a TSS ? Or fixed strut

Thanks

I had a chance to ride both a fixed strut and a tss riot le on husky 450fx's. I preferred the fixed strut by a large margin. The TSS kit was unpredictable in the bumps, some times it would rebound quickly and kick the rear up, some times it would kick to the side, other times not kick at all. The fixed strut was predictable and smooth at all times.

I think the rising rate design of the riot negates the need for tss.

 

[SteepNdeep450]

I had a chance to ride both a fixed strut and a tss riot le on husky 450fx's. I preferred the fixed strut by a large margin. The TSS kit was unpredictable in the bumps, some times it would rebound quickly and kick the rear up, some times it would kick to the side, other times not kick at all. The fixed strut was predictable and smooth at all times.

I think the rising rate design of the riot negates the need for tss.

Did you ride it on the trail as well? I feel like the biggest advantage to the TSS is on rough trails more so than actual good snow. I'm curious if you still had these feelings. I'm kicking around the idea of snowchecking a RIOT and trying to decide if I keep my TSS or sell it with my old kit and go to a solid strut. Probably stay with standard shocks if I go TSS but LE if I go the solid strut way.

 

[teal_210]

Did you ride it on the trail as well? I feel like the biggest advantage to the TSS is on rough trails more so than actual good snow. I'm curious if you still had these feelings. I'm kicking around the idea of snowchecking a RIOT and trying to decide if I keep my TSS or sell it with my old kit and go to a solid strut. Probably stay with standard shocks if I go TSS but LE if I go the solid strut way.

My time on it was 100% off trail. The trail we rode in was smooth anyways so it wouldn't have been a good test for that. To me the advantage to TSS was getting more transfer out of the older kits to loft the ski over bumps or logs as well as take the hard hit out of bigger bumps. You just don't need that anymore with the riot. Part way though the day we added air to the TSS which helped but it still was not as predictable as the fixed strut.