When the Valcourt crew introduced the rMotion rear suspension geometry a few years back, they set a new bar for a rear suspension compliance that was both plush in the chatter, yet worked equally as well in the rough with very little adjustment needed. What this did was forced the RAS front suspension to at times get overwhelmed by the rear’s stellar ability to handle the roughest trails, and exposed it’s nervous twitch in the steering that was manageable, yet an annoyance. With the trails at Snow Shoot only having limited areas of rough chop and holes to test, it was quickly noted that the tweaks made with the RAS 2 front end have paid off with less weight, less scrub and a very confident feeling front end that appears well matched to the rMotion rear. By raising the overall spindle height by 12mm, the roll center of the vehicle was raised as well, which thereby reduces the leverage force in comparison to the center of gravity of the sled. This in turn delivers flatter cornering. Add to this new geometry that keeps the ski tips either parallel or slight towed-out when cycling through the suspension range, and the “twitch” of the past is gone and replaced by predictable tracking and near dead-on turn in and corner apex exits.
