This past
week the staff at SnoWest Magazine (and every other snowmobile publication,
website or other various media) had a chance to get our first look at the 2014
model year snowmobiles.
Well,
technically, these are prototypes of what the 2014s will be . and this year
there wasn't a big effort (at least with the mountain sleds) to fabricate the
new models. Basically, the 2014 mountain sleds are extremely similar to the
2013 production sleds with just a few simple variations.
That isn't
necessarily saying that the snowmobile manufacturers took this year off. But
rather, with all the changes over the past couple of years, we're not yet due
to new body styles or major changes. And to be honest, the 2013s were pretty
solid units built from the latest technology.
I'm not
sure there are too many things that I would have expected to see changed. Both
Polaris and Ski-Doo have focused on refining their product line. Cat went the
extra mile for 2014 in an effort to shave more weight of the sled. Yamaha is
still standing pat with its mountain line. So the only real noticeable change
will be BMG-bold new graphics.
On a side
note, as I was driving up to West Yellowstone
to ride the new models, I couldn't help noticing as I drove past the Arctic Cat
R&D facility that there was a Yamaha engineering trailer parked out back.
For those who don't know, Cat and Yamaha are working on some joint ventures
that have brought Cat suspensions to some of Yamaha's trail sleds and Yamaha
engines to some of Cat's trail sleds. This may be something interesting to
watch to see how things unfold.
With our
three days of riding the 2014s, we must say we were impressed on how well they
all performed and on how class the 800 mountain sleds are with their
performance. We were also delighted to see Ski-Doo throwing out a 600 to
compete with the Pro RMK 600. That's an intriguing market that really should be
getting more attention to many mountain riders.
Thanks to
Ski-Doo, we have a 2014 Summit
6 to ride for the rest of the season. You can bet there will be a lot more
head-to-head comparisons with our RMK 6 as the season winds down.
If you want
to see all the 2014 mountain sleds, be sure to attend the World Snowmobile Expo
in West Yellowstone March 14-16.
SJ