Dear Motorhead:
Last spring I emailed you about trading in my 2004 MXZ X 800 H.O. on a 600 E-TEC.
I watched your review of the new 2011 Renegade X 600 E-TEC about a zillion times and decided that was my dream sled.
After an exhausting search I found a 2011 Renegade just like your demo unit. My dream had come true.
So here’s my dilemma. I’m currently in Cochrane, Ontario chasing the snow and I’m at a loss in regards to the suspension settings dialed in by the previous owner. I’m 210, ride aggressively on a mix of trail and off trail, but I have no clue how to set it up to my specs.
When I sit on it, it seems to sag real low and it tends to be lazy in the steering in the deep stuff. I turn the bars and nothing happens. I can use body english to move it, but that’s the only way I can move it. In the trails though it seems smooth and turns good at high speed.
I need your help! Where should my settings be in the front and the back? Is sag important? I’m no dummy mechanically by any means, but this is my first real experience with this techy suspension stuff.
Thanks ahead for your help. It’s really appreciated and I can’t wait to get it dialed in.
Ryan
Thanks for your email!
Okay, here’s what you should do. I would set the rear torsion springs on the middle setting – and turn the compression clicker on the rear arm shock all the way to softest. If when seated you are using more than half the sled’s available travel then go to the highest (stiffest) setting on the torsion springs.
Ride the sled in moguls at varying speeds and decide if the sled is riding to your liking. Keep in mind – you absolutely must allow the skid to bottom out in the deepest, hardest hits otherwise you’re not using all the travel. If the sled is bottoming out a lot and it is unpleasant start moving the compression clicker on the rear arm shock to a higher (screw it in) setting.
Re-ride, re-evaluate. When you’re happy – and you will find a near perfect combo as your weight is right for the stock, standard torsion spring – move onto the front end.
Don’t fiddle with the front arm shock in the skid. Leave it at stock preload on the coil over spring. Your handling sounds pretty normal to me. If the sled pushes in deep snow you must learn to use body english to navigate.
You need to have ski bottoms that are in good shape – not ground off – or they will not work effectively. You should always keep your weight forward when turning in untramped snow then move rear ward when accelerating.
Keep your feet up front to weight the skis when turning. If your hard pack trail handling is spot-on I wouldn’t recommend messing with the front IFS shocks. However, it is a good idea to start with zero compression damping on the clickers and move up from there to generate the best ride up front.
Hope this helps!
Motorhead Mark
