It is a really odd feeling when you go to turn hard at speed and the ski just slides and loops out:cuss:
This is the sensation I don't like that leads me to install aftermarket sponsons. There will be no 180's or 360's after that though, move the bars at speed and it's going to turn(with or without you). Modifying can be addicting so you could just trim down for better steering.
Part of the reason that it is so fun is that you got yourself the right craft.The X4 is commonly listed as the ski to look for, congrats!
I often learn a lot from spim, but I want to clarify this WOT(wide open throttle)thing. I agree with what he said if you use rpms instead of the physical throttle position. 80% throttle is your lean spot. When you pull it wide open from there you do not usually gain that many rpms but you open all the jets in the carb(carbs) to flow at their potential. I think if you have a healthy engine with a clean and properly tuned fuel system then you should be ok to hold WOT indefinitely, right?
agree with the sponsons but its really a matter of personal preference. I've ridden the x4 with beach house and with stock sponsons, and personally I like when you are zipping along around the mid 30's, make a hard turn and drop the hammer and get the azz end to slide around, control the steering and the throttle properly and you and execute a nice sliding 360 in a very small space, and your heading in the same direction again. With sponsons, that 360 requires a solid grip on the bars !
as you move from rec to more of a hardcore rider, then the sponson's become a must, since you want and need precise turns and immediate response, but for a new rider the sponson's can make the craft a little difficult to control since the reaction to turning the handlebars at speed can be quite severe, the ski will execute a perfect 180/270/360 and you will land about 6 feet away upside down in the water
granted this can happen with stockers as well but its much more consistent with AM sponsons.
now. to revisit the long stretches of Full Throttle runs on a two stroke...
Its not that your going to blow up the engine immediately, but from personal experience riding with newb's they have a tendancy just to want to run wide open for 3 minutes, turn around, run wide open for long stretches, (back when i first started riding, that's what I used to do all the time ! ) and honestly its not real healthy for the engine's shelf life.
I am NOT a tuner or hardcore wrencher so perhaps other's will totally disagree but in general, IMO, it will shorten the lifespan of the ski and this is especially true if the ski is not what you would consider "100% healthy and tuned" ie: a used ski where the condition of the internals is unknown, now if you have a ski that isn't 100% and an inexperienced rider that won't notice the tiny changes that would indicate a problem before its too late. I absolutely know when my ski is not responding the way it should be, but during my first year of riding, I had no clue !
I generally run WOT for short stretches, then taper down to 45-50mph and speed back up again, varying the speed and rpm's. When I go on a longer cruise, i'm generally running between maybe 4000 and 6000 rpm, with short stretches of WOT.
i'm sure there is a tuner out there that may want to chime in on the actual implications of running "indefinitely" at WOT, and perhaps i'm wrong, i'm just relaying what I've been told by experienced tuners back when I was a newb, and one of the first things I was told was to stop running WOT all the dam time
In general all i'm saying is that there is no practical reason to run at full throttle for more than a minute, and 30 seconds would be even better if you'd like to get more than a full season out of your ski.
and i'd be curious what a serious tuner would say about this.
