We’ve never hidden the fact we think Ski-Doo’s rMotion skidframe delivers the most compliant ride of any trail suspension in the marketplace. Certainly, the competition could argue against that claim – because, frankly, the current state of ride quality has never been better for snowmobilers, no matter what brand you choose.
We’re going to stick with our viewpoint, but deliver a caveat. Despite denials from the yellow faithful, we are equally as adamant, Ski-Doo, in the past decade or so, has not delivered number one rated handling prowess.
A giant shift occurred in model year 2025 with a complete redesign of the front steering and suspension with the new RAS RX front end.
By raising the sled’s roll center and keeping its center of gravity low, the engineers have allowed the chassis to have less leverage on the skis, to corner flatter and reduce inside ski lift when cornering at speed. The changes have also made the turning arc of the sled more linear and predictable to steering inputs over rough terrain.
Roll Center refers to the imaginary point at the front of a snowmobile’s chassis (between the skis) where the inputs from the skis and suspension intersect as the sled cycles through its suspension movement or steers through corners. If it’s too low, you get ski-lift, body roll and imprecise handling.
Ski-Doo raised the roll center on RAS RX adding completely new castings that have lengthened the distance between the A-arm attachment points and the distance between the lower A-arm and the ski saddle. This longer spindle raises the front of the sled slightly and has much to do with raising the roll center.
Besides the longer spindle, the ski’s pivot bolt has been moved backward a bit resulting in a steeper steering angle. This makes the sled much “quicker steering” or responsive to the driver’s feeding of input into the handlebars.
Other changes to the swaybar, shock angles and the addition of new curved upper and lower wishbones helps the RAS-RX deal with bumps better and particularly, the curved A-arms help deliver increased useable travel.
Does all this work and actually make a tangible difference? You bet it does. Our test riders are sold on RAS RX and unanimously, very impressed.
