This is speculated by all. The real answer is its one or the other. There is no true cross over good at both things. I had a bctry xrs 154 2.0 last year. Decent on trail. I felt it lacked off trail. Now i have a 23 freeride 154 2.5. Terrible on trail. Amazing off (when its not broken ). The only answer here is except so so in 2 environments or ideally have 2 sleds. Ive chased this unicorn for many years and have given up. Its easy for me though as i find trails boring and annoying.

From what you are describing id stay with the backcountry

 

Lol I thought he was describing a freeride.

 

I just swapped to a 146 2.5 gen 5 freeride from a backcountry. All UP of Michigan miles. 1000 miles so far mostly trail. Its not that bad on trail. Compared to my backcountry. It doeant over heat, i swapped seats as well.

it is a way funner aled then my backcountry is. Just feels way lighter. It would be tough for me to keep up witj an mxz but i get along just fine!

 

I asked myself this same question in 2019 after riding my bcxrs in gaspe. I have been on a freeride ever since and do not regret it. Put a snow flap on the freeride and when the trail is a bit hard drop the scratchers. All good

 

Right on thank you. You ride 2.5” track on the trail? Would I be able to do a 1000km trip plus and not have any issues? Either Quebec or northern Ontario in good snow conditions. Thanks

 

Yeah like 60 lbs lighter. I too am looking at switching from bcxrs 154 2.5 to freeride 154 2.5. As a bit more seasoned rider, um older, light is right for me.

 

Does your Backcountry currently not let you go where you want to go? Don’t forget it wasn’t that long ago that your current sled would have been the mountain weapon of choice.

 

No I really like my backcountry I honestly do. I just got back from revelstoke and could tell a huge difference between those two sleds and I guess that’s to be obvious. I just wonder if I can get get away with a 146 freeride trail riding a 2.5 track that when I am off trail it’ll be that much more fun. My favourite day is 4 plus feet of powder rippin beaver ponds. I know the freeride would be that much more fun.

 

Does it look like, for the 2024 model, Skidoo has intended to get the backcountry closer to the "gold standard 50/50 sled" many claim the Switchback Assault is? CmotionX claims relaxed torque arm angle which would theoretically have a negative impact on the sleds ability to get up on snow (as far as I understand skid suspension geometry) and the front end being RASX I believe is a more trail oriented front end?

From what I had gathered in the discussion for the new Backcountry, I figure I am going to be infinitely rebuilding my G4 BCX

 

If that’s th

Does it look like, for the 2024 model, Skidoo has intended to get the backcountry closer to the "gold standard 50/50 sled" many claim the Switchback Assault is? CmotionX claims relaxed torque arm angle which would theoretically have a negative impact on the sleds ability to get up on snow (as far as I understand skid suspension geometry) and the front end being RASX I believe is a more trail oriented front end?

From what I had gathered in the discussion for the new Backcountry, I figure I am going to be infinitely rebuilding my G4 BCX

If that’s the case then I would argue that the new g5 bC is 70/30 trail - off trail.

 

Im in the same boat, like to do both and lots of lake riding

 

It's still a narrow front end. 39" but I'm assuming it can be widened a bit.

 

I would not sweat trail-ability of a 23+ bc. I had zero issues on trail with my skis set to narrow. I would argue the poo is closer to a 70/30 trail first sled with it’s really wide ski stance. Skis are also narrow and yes I’ve ridden one - my brothers, it is still a nice machine tho.

 

I have a 22 and 23 BCX..love them. For me the answer is to switch tracks when going to the mountains. I am mainly mix of trail and off trail. Like the handli of the 146 skid on trail and find it works very well of trail. Hope this helps.

 

Lots to be considered here. Back in ‘13 I bought a Freeride 146 2.5 and from day one I said this is a true back country model, decent on trails and great off trail. Fast forward to 18 and I decided to try a 18 summit 146 2.5, threw some shocks on and it was great all around, but in the last couple seasons my wife got a 14 BCX and I was like man this thing is excellent on trail, so I was always stealing hers when snow conditions were marginal and she finally got to the point and was like why don’t you order your own and sell your summit so that’s what I did, ordered a 22 BCXRS 146x2.0 and it’s a do everything machine. I can trail ride all day yet side hill off trail and play in the powder. On the fluffiest of days, I miss the summit but that’s maybe 1% of the time, the other 99% of the time I’m happy my @ss is on the BCX. I think looking at the current lineup if I wanted to have even more off trail ability the next step would be bcxrs 154x2, then 2.5, after that you’d be in summit Sp 146 range as you would still have the longer tunnel and snow flap.

I think going Freeride 146 now, for MY24 it’s just meant for deep snow all the time and minimal trail use. I just have too much trail to ride close to home for it to be worth my while. And looking back 10 years ago, even 4 years ago, a 2020 Freeride 146 was basically a 2023 backcountry xrs the only difference was one has a 2” paddle with C motion and the other has 2.5” T motion.