2001 polaris 800 rmk

Rocky MountainKing. The initials- RMK- in and of itself strike awe and terror into the hearts and minds of the mountain crowd. Champions ride it and consumers deplete dealer inventory. It climbs mountains like King Kong scaling the Empire State Building.

In '00 the 800 RMK came dressed in a 136-inch skirt. It was nice, but bus loads of consumers opted for Polaris' 144" kit as a dealer swap.

For '01, the 800 RMK came fully equipped with either a 144- or 151-inch track. Standard color options included black or blue. The Spring buy program delivered the RMK in a fierce fire red. Finding it on a mountain was no problem.

We hooked ourselves up with a Polaris dealer in Rexburg, Idaho, near Island Park, to take delivery of a black 800 151-incher.
The only reference the we had to compare the 800 to was to our'00 700 RMK with a 144-inch track (a Polaris swap out from a 136), which was a favorite. there wasn't much difference between the two, save the motor and a few inches of deep lug rug.

In the deep, the RMK pulled long, steady and hard up steep ascents. However, when pulling U-turns on a slope, the RMK did not have the finesse of a Summit 151. As a driver who pulled double duty on both a Summit and RMK, more muscle was needed to handle the Rocky Mountain King. The '02 Vertical Edge RMKs are packaged better with its centralized mass to make the mountain series extremely more nimble, agile and quick turning.

For '01, the black and blue standard RMKs lacked the white-faced gauges the red spring buy RMKs had. Again, this is corrected for '02. White-faced gauges, like those found on the '01 Summit are easier to read when careening through the trees.

As far as torque, our RMK had a bottomless pit. When we lined up against other 800 RMKs with tuned pipes, the tuner equipped sleds would jump the stock RMK and toast it. But, as the stock 800 motor kept unwinding and reaching for that sweet power spot, the piped motors would quietly find themselves being reeled in and passed. Oh, this did not happen rapidly, but it did happen. Credit Rexburg MotorSports and its superb clutching and suspension setup.

In AmSnow's Powder Sled Playoffs, the stock RMK cleaned up on the radar runs, bringing the spoils for the stock 800s. Its quarter-mile speed hovered at the 87 miles-per-hour mark. Only Cat's 800 neared this at 83 mph.

Polaris runs a closed window track on its RMKs. (For '02, the 156-inch Vert Edge will be the only Polaris mountain sled with an open window track.) To prevent the track and hyfax from hitting critical heat and melting down, we ran the track awfully loose. Sometimes, under load, the track would ratchet. When this happened, we simply tightened the track - oh so slightly. When the season ended, hyfax and track showed little wear, and this after nearly 900 miles of riding.

After a season of hillbanging, we became somewhat gun shy when vigorously diving the RMK off the trails and plowing through the deep. Our RMK fell victim to two bent trailing arms within two weeks. There are two philosophies here about how easy a driver can bend an arm. By building a crumple zone into the trailing arm, (call it a weight-savings trailing arm) Polaris protects the sled's tunnel, foot rests and bulkhead from buckling or rippling - impact energy is absorbed at the arm's middle. At $130, a trailing arm is far cheaper to replace than a tunnel or bulkhead. But, could the trailing arm's thickness be increased by 1/64 or 1/32? Something to ponder.

The RMK's rear suspension kept the sled flat and positive when planing through the deep. When easing out of an idle position, the RMK felt as if trim tabs kept the Mountain King from sinking to bedrock. The front suspension complements the rear by keeping the sled on top of the snow. We set the front end to its narrow 37-inch stance to keep an apples-to-apples comparison with the other 800s. After riding this stance and reaching back to last year's 39-inch stance, little was given up in stability. The 37-inch stance, coupled with the Polaris' famous trailing arm suspension, kept the sled stable on the trail.

The center offset ski did force the RMK to dive more than its competitors when crosscutting hills, or when descending a steep hill and zig zagging to keep speeds down. The nose followed a ski as it searched for steeper ground or softer conditions. However, when rocking the sled on its side for that severe sidehill run across an unjust slope, the skis were easy to tuck under the sled, which is the ski's purpose.

The cockpit area and windshield kept driver virtually snow free. But, the console, key and pull rope handle bruised shins and knee caps. For '02, Polaris has cured this altogether, and for that, we are elated. Regarding the cockpit, drivers seemed to squat lower in the cockpit than those of the Cat and Doo mountain sleds, this too is corrected for '02.

Polaris's mountain grab bar is easy to find when busting broncs, but hard on the nose bridge and goggles when an unsuspecting whoop catches a driver parking his brain for a moment or two. Regarding the bars, Polaris was thinking hand/eye coordination when it designed its thumb and warmer switches. The switches are easy to flick, but we'd love to see better identifiers on each - to easily know which is which.

Also, Polaris was the first to install J-hooks on its handlebar. This was a fantastic move, being imitated by the other factories for 2002.

Polaris placed great seat foam on its RMK series, though the seat's texture was slick for extreme riding in overwhelmingly deep snow. Behind the seat, Polaris has its own fuel rack, a great standard piece of equipment for the mountain rider.

The running boards kept fairly defrosted, with the motor's coolant pulsing through heat exchangers along the board's outer lip. The heated boards force snow to melt, but the water and slush pools up and can refreeze in front of the toe holds. Ice build-up becomes a problem after a snack break from playing in the powder or if the sled is stored outside and can't fully defrost. Other than that, they worked as designed, dry with oodles of traction. The serrated edge is perfect for boot grip.
The motor was fuel wise and oil stingy, compared to the other 800 mountain sleds we rode. This is great when OPEC continues to force its greedy attitude on crude prices.

It is hard to write where the RMK places in the mountain man's history books. It has a following deeper than any other mountain sled to date. It does so much so well. There are people who love it and some who love to hate it. But, regardless of brand affiliation, all respect it. For the 2000-2001 winter season, it was King Kong.