Im going to upset a Lot of people who spend A LOT of money on some fancy a** hardware if i open my big mouth. But here it goes.... :think
As in our DIY hardware, Just because you spend a Wad full, Does not mean its the best shi* since sliced bread......Pedals included. My eyes have been opened per say. So likelihood of sending off 1000-2000+ of my Canadian little buddies to some foreign country for something i can build myself is slim to nil.
Was rather excited to try a Hydraulic break, I had always been curious what they would feel like....so, Ricmo's are a Custom set of GTpro1's with Dual 150lb master cylinder's which has a some what goofy attachment point where it mates with the pedal arm, Essentially giving a mechanical Click as you get on the brakes and the brake had very little "squish" and was overly light pressured for having 300lbs worth of Hydraulic pressure on tap. This is where it gets sticky. Buddy wouldn't let me tweek his "profile" for his pedals which resulted in me wanting to do thing's i couldn't do further skewing the results. **After more testing too it appears the mechanical attachment points for the brake/clutch pedal arms have Lots and LOTS of slop in them, Something that would Drive me BONKERS!!!! Clutch pedal pivot point started to Squeal like a little piglet after a bit of use too (couple drops of oil fixed that) I also Turned the Adjustment knob on the Brake pedal as much as i felt safe to in trying to get MORE overall brake pressure required to get to Max, But in the end that was part of the "profile" setting's...so was rather confused when my CSP v2's had more brake pressure required to get to 100% than the 300LBs of hydro power buddy had custom made for him.o_O
The Grip tape on the brake/clutch was also a little lack luster, even with my Slicked soft racing shoes they offered very little grip, resulting in some slippage of the feet when heel/toe shifting, I would like to see a more Skateboard style grip tape to ensure it sticks to rubber racing shoes.
Clutch on the Ricmo's was a rather pleasurable experience, the Big Soft Squishy feeling with almost no real End to the travel (pedal position would change that) but overall the Clutch was my Favorite pedal feel out of all 6. Unfortunately it still felt very alien to my CSP setup with the cam which after getting my CSP's back on my rig, i will most likely be staying with a Cam clutch. Its just what i like and can 100% nail my clutch in and out points. FYI this is NOT a Hydro clutch setup. Read up on Ricmotech's product page for the GTpro1's Its all explained rather well.
Throttle on the Ricmo's was also rather nice, Id venture to say 2X as stiff as the Fanatec on Default "Soft" setting. You could somewhat feel the extra resolution compared to the Fana's, but overall the Throttle pedal was my 2nd favorite pedal of the test. I kinda liked the little foot blocker on the right, to keep your foot from going over too far. I might build on for my Fana throttle pedal.
The mounting plate for the ricmo's is Long, So long i had to dismount some of my Fan tubes on the back of my pedal deck to allow the hydro cylinder's to stick off the back......2 carriage bolt holes are included to mount with, Screw's worked just fine for the temp testing. The Dual Master cylinder's made it difficult to access the Nuts to move the Brake and Clutch, Also the little Pads on the plate had long since peeled up off the plate making any Sliding adjustment a Nightmare. Also add in there was a Very small amount of Hydro fluid that you can see had VERY slowly built up over time and you could see some moisture on the plate from the Fluid. Something I Dont think many Wives would forgive if the carpet got a soaking in Hydro fluid if a hose were to pop or a major leak happen, lol.
Wiring on Both sets of pedals were somewhat cumbersome and clumsy, I can somewhat understand them having longer leads, but just came off as somewhat unprofessional in comparison to what else is out there, I fully understand the Ultimate's are meant to also be independently mounted on a plate, so having the extra length is somewhat nice, but the cable are darn near 3' long each and leave you looking for a place to mount the control box with some of the wire coiled up due to being so long.
Heusinkvelds next,
The mounting plate Neil sells is IMO Very narrow and resulted in not being able to really get a great feel for heel/toe shifting or general pedal placement for my liking, Essentially they needed to be individually placed on my pedal deck to get the feeling I was after for placement, but at that point i also felt the need for a Heel rest of sorts, these pedals are Very Tall imo and would feel much better with a proper build heel rest. The mounting plate also just overall didn't offer the adjust ability i would have hoped for.
Pedal face's felt slippery even with my race shoes, Would have liked some Grip tape, but Im pretty sure buddy races in Socks.....
Buddy brought them over with His setting's on them and with the Cam clutch nullified with a particular angle setup to eliminate the "cam like feeling". The Stiffness of the clutch was Sooo over the top heavy it actually made my seat motor's "tense up" when trying to apply full clutch. This wasn't a pleasurable feel and having to press sooo hard on the clutch felt very Very strange.
Throttle pedal was next and unfortunately was also Far FAR too stiff even on the softest setting on the spring. I would venture to say in the range of 4-5X stiffer than the Fanatec's which also lead to my seat motor's Tensing up again (slightly less than clutch) and i Could care less to have to press THAT hard to hold full throttle. I also want to say the Small hydraulic shocks on the Throttle and clutch were aiding in that Overly stiff feeling, also they gave the throttle a somewhat "gritty feeling" which was very strange to feel under my foot. It almost felt like there was A lot of Air/Oil build up in the Shocks as soon as you pump them a few times. (To R/C enthusiast when you shocks are a Hair down on oil and you can feel it at top dead, Squish Squish as you push it up to the bladder and pull it back down)
And last but not least (well least impressive for me**) the Brake, Again buddy had His setting's on them which had the initial Touch of the brake pedal to be Very soft and Only rely on a spring. I would gues to say when i measured them side by side with my Fana's The Ultimate's had 3-4x the amount of squish before the pedal loaded up on the bushing. This spring was Not stiff enough to remotely build any pressure on the bushing then load cell which made it Very difficult to actually find the Initial break bite point. Buddy kept telling me this is how a real brake should feel ect ect, but in the end i Very much disliked the feeling of this pre pressure build up spring feeling he had it set up to. **Buddy then goes on to tell me he forgot the extra bushings to help deal with this issue.
So unfortunately im still waiting on those bushing's to test a little further. Load cell pressure on the Ultimate's is also capable of 300lbs, but with my seat mover, there was only an allowable amount of pressure i could set at Full Lock before i would be Overly stressing my motor's. So in DXview (Super cool little app to check out/set up peripherals) I set the brake to be as heavy as i have my Fanatec setup. Unfortunately tho with the initial spring feel to bushing feel, it resulted in very sketchy linearity in the brake pedal when trying to apply a nice smooth amount of brakes. (Running an bit exaggerated brake Surge effect helps show off the brake pedal linearity)
So i guess in the end I wasn't really all that impressed with these "have to have" pedals as some put it. I would much rather see someone invest 1000-1200$ into a basic 2 or 3dof motion setup rather than spend it on a set of pedals that Sure they look cool and all, Might have the adjust ability to do what ever you want with them, but in the end I personally do Not see the value here AT all. DIY hydro can be done for a Fraction of the cost and you all know me, if i can build it, I sure as heck aint gonna buy it.
Moxley out.
