Comments:
Your review of the XRS refers to how close it is to the race model. When I saw it, the chassis was basically the same as the X.
I believe it had extra stiffeners by your feet but it was not the same tunnel with braces that the racer has.
It may have the racing shocks/calibration but without the chassis it seems a bit phony to me….like all racer replicas have been.
Kerry L. Johnson
Response:
Thanks for your email!
Wow, the XRS sure has created a lot of controversy since we first saw and rode it last January as a pre-production proto.
Yes, in the very first iteration SD used what we call a “Roller” chassis – essentially the platform used by race teams for building an Open Mod Sno-X sled.
The Roller had an 800 Powertek underhood and the graphics, colors and hood you see today on the production version.
It would seem SD decided to scale back a few chassis details when they pushed the big button on the side of factory to begin building the models you see at dealers right now. We’ve ridden our XRS almost 200 miles in early December.
Do the changes make a difference to the way the sled works? Nope, not that we could tell. AJ Lester, who wrote the story in the current issue of Supertrax has sampled the XRS and gives it a hearty thumbs up.
However, if you were buying the sled to go racing for a year (and you could only race the 600 under ISR rules) you might want to add the missing tunnel and bulkhead braces. This advice would only apply to a Pro level racer – for a casual Sport class rider the chassis is more than adequate.
The rest of the stuff on the sled is pretty much racer grade equipment except for one issue which disappointed us here – the aluminum throttle block was replaced with a plastic piece – not good.
That’s how it goes in the world of prototype evaluations. Sometimes things change – actually, more often than not, things do change before production.
Thanks,
Motorhead Mark
