Kawasaki SX-R 1500 “Signature Series” Ride Plate |
Written by Tim Bushman | |
Thursday, 21 January 2021 19:19 | |
After several years of development we finally achieved the perfect balance of handling and speed. The majority of aftermarket ride plates will provide a trade off when it comes to handling and speed of the watercraft, especially with a Stand Up. Typically if you want speed you have a ride plate that has had the planing angle “lifted” or reduced to allow the nose of the ski to ride higher out of the water thus increasing top speed. The problem with that is lifting the nose on a stand up makes them lazy in the corners and they will porpoise in any type of chop (rougher water conditions) which is always present in Closed Course racing. On the flip side if you want a ski to handle the rough race conditions better you typically will increase the planing angle downward to achieve a more planted ride characteristic when on the throttle. This will make the ski turn more aggressively and reduce the propoising in rough water conditions. Adding length to the ride plate alone does not do much for the handling if the planing angle is not adjusted. The added length has a similar effect as extending the wheelbase on a motorcycle, however there is always a point of diminishing returns when you go too far and hinder the handling by over compensating. |
|
Last Updated ( Thursday, 21 January 2021 19:23 ) |