Speaker: Nels Eide
This is the new 2027 RMK Factory Edition.
We've made quite a tradition out of dominating hill climb races, winning 19 to 21 king races last year, but who's counting? And along the way, developing some really incredible technology and continuing to push performance with the best racers on the hill at the toughest tracks in the West: Patriot Boost, the Matryx platform, Patriot 9R, and more. All developed on the RMSHA courses with our factory hill climb team.
From there, we built the Caleb Kesterke factory mod and released it last summer at Haydays. That sled was all about taking some of the performance and toughness that we had built on our hill climb sleds and bringing it into the backcountry with one of the most dynamic riders on the planet. When we started talking with Caleb about what a factory mod sled, specially built for him, might be, the big things that came up were: "I need more suspension capability and a better suspension setup for the hard riding that I do, and I need parts and systems that'll hang on, that are tough enough to take what I throw at it."
So, we took a lot of the engineering work that we put into our hill climb sleds, and brought it into the backcountry in the factory mod. The reality is, we were just getting started. Let's check out the 2027 Factory Edition.
The 2027 RMK Factory Edition is available with either the Patriot 9R or the Patriot Boost engine. It's also available with either the 2.75 or 3.25 track, both in the 155 length. And this sled is only available in SnowCheck.
It all starts with the suspension. The RMK Factory Edition comes standard with the new Walker Evans Velocity Factory Edition shocks. From there, we completely re-engineered the ride of the snowmobile. All-new valving, really designed at that aggressive, hardcore backcountry rider. It provides a really good feel at the beginning of the shock stroke when you're cutting across old trenches. You're making quick changes through the woods going fast, and then it has a very progressive feel throughout the shock stroke. Incredible bottom-out resistance—significantly more than before—for big hits, big landings, and really hard riding.
In addition to that completely new re-engineered valving and ride, all four shocks have high and low-speed compression adjustment, so the rider can truly dial in the suspension for the conditions, the time of year, or the type of riding they want to go do that day. All four shocks have the HD springs on them, so it's a more durable spring for lots of hard riding in the backcountry. Lastly, all four shocks have this new anodized black body with blue anodizing on the bridge and red on the clicker for an awesome look.
Now, moving towards the back of the sled, we've got the new HD rails that come standard on the RMK Factory Edition. This is the exact same set of rails that have been on Caleb Kesterke's factory mod all winter long. How we built these rails is we started with the architecture that we build every set of rails out of. Every RMK rail is built out of 7000 series aluminum, and these are built out of that same material. From there, we used what we call our Hill Climb rail profile. This is the exact same rail profile that we use on all of our open mod sleds on the RMSHA racecourse.
What we do is the top profile of the rail changes quite a bit. You'll see here that the rail comes higher and stays higher through the front torque arm mount, providing a ton of really good strength and rigidity right where that front torque arm mounts into the rail. We also add a little bit of topline profile material to where the jounce bumper is to, again, just increase the strength. Overall, our HD rails are 40% stronger than the stock rail is, and have won countless RMSHA races and made a lot of really cool YouTube videos on Caleb's factory mod.
Just like we talked about up front, we've got two Walker Evans Velocity Factory Edition shocks in the back. Same re-engineering of the valving, same HD springs, and high and low-speed compression on all four.
Every RMK Factory Edition comes standard with the HD rear bumper. This bumper was new for last year and is 40% stronger than the stock bumper. How it gets there: it starts with this aluminum forging right back here. This is a one-piece aluminum forged side brace that's built the same way we build our forged aluminum spindles, and it's super tough. From there, side plates and the rear handle deliver that 40% stronger performance.
And lastly, as you can see, the Factory Edition looks awesome. Every Factory Edition starts with our black matte crystal paint. So, this is a full three-stage paint with a matte finish that looks incredible. From there, it has the graphics package that's obviously inspired by our RMSHA factory race team. For 2027, you get two color choices. We've got the blue and red that you see here with the blue and red hits and then the red color-match bumpers. And we also have a really awesome, sinister black and white version with the black bumpers front and back.
If you were going to take a Khaos and try to build a sled like the Factory Edition—upgraded shocks, HD rails, HD bumpers, and a bunch of paint and graphics work—you'd spend thousands and thousands of dollars to get there. The RMK Factory Edition is only $800 more than the Khaos. It's an incredible value for the awesome high-performance upgrades that come standard on the Factory Edition.
The 2027 RMK Factory Edition is the most aggressive RMK we've ever built. It comes from the foundation of years and years of hill climb dominance, building one of the coolest backcountry factory mods anybody's ever seen. And now here it is for 2027.
Now, as we've been doing the development on the Factory Edition, we've had our hill climb team and our athlete team riding this sled, providing feedback, making sure it's what they're looking for as aggressive backcountry riders. And the feedback has been they're super excited. They can't wait to have this sled in the trailer for next season.
If you're an aggressive backcountry rider looking for more durability, more performance, and a ready-to-go sled that's going to take all the hard riding you throw at it, you need to look at this sled.
