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There's a new breed of two-up touring sled coming from Ski-Doo. Not to worry, the cruiser king remains, but now a lighter, narrower, more nimble cruiser has appeared. The Summit-inspired Grand Touring GS with choice of the newer Rotax twins is on the mark.
The base ZX-style platform appears to be Ski-Doo's serious chassis for the main mix of popular models. It's the platform under the MX and Formula Deluxe. A stretched version keys the Summit series and the newer breed of two-up touring sleds as well.
This is a chassis specifically designed for the new breed of Rotax twins, which are mounted suitably low enough to ensure good weight balance front-to-rear and extremely good center of gravity.
That's an important feature on a two-up sled where the driver and passenger offset the sled's center of gravity as soon as they straddle the seat. Ski-Doo engineering has achieved a well-balanced machine from the beginning, and manages to keep the riders' weight relatively low on the sled as well. That's what makes the sled handle as well as it does.
While the triple cylinder Grand Touring SE on the older CK3 chassis is the limousine of snowmobiles, the more nimble twin cylinder version comes loaded for long distance travel as well. For starters there is standard keystart and mechanical reverse gear.
Check out the special electric outlet designed to fit a Ski-Doo brand helmet with optional electric visor. The electronically controlled carburetion on the new 700cc Rotax twin? We found this setup to be one of the best non-fuel injected systems around.
You can get the 2001 Grand Touring GS in either black or silver trim. There's 10-inches of front and rear shock control for riding comfort.
We expect to see the SE on the CK3 chassis with the 800cc triple quietly fade away and be replaced by an 800cc twin cylinder on the ZX platform. You could lose more than 50 pounds. We'll see. Enjoy the GS in the meantime.