AmSnow.com is now SnoWest.com
A few years back, one of my good friends stumbled upon one of those Deals of a Lifetime in the form of a 2000 Polaris XC500SP with less than 500 miles for around two grand as a spare sled. The Polaris was originally a PPP (peer pressure purchase); bought under the guise of “come on man, you should get a sled too.” The XC was ridden three or four times the first winter and then parked. After five winters of guilt, the owner finally decided cash flow was far easier to manage than moving a 500 lb. sled from one side of the garage to the other.
My friend brought the XC up from Minneapolis for one of our many riding excursions and now I’m glad he did because I instantly remembered why I like 500s so much. I had the chance to ride the Polaris on an extended 100-mile trek on groomed and not-so-groomed trails. Aside from the Generation II ergonomics being a little cramped for my 6-foot-3 frame, the XC impressed me beyond anything I anticipated, as it dutifully performed all tasks asked of it.
Nearly every time I ride a 500cc snowmobile of any brand or breed, the first thing that crosses my mind is “we should all be riding these”. I think part of this feeling comes from my lack of expectations when I climb aboard. With 700s, 800s, etc there is a certain need to be blown away with speed and torque, so the bar is automatically set high, probably too high. With a 500, I usually throw a leg over, not expecting too much and consistently walk away thinking I’d like to own one.
Thanks to the Sport 85 class in cross country racing, I having had to do much dreaming about a 500 the last few years. I raced a Yamaha Phazer RTX two seasons ago and the fantastic Arctic Cat Sno Pro 500 last season. They are just fast enough to have fun, but not too fast either, perfect for a guy pushing 40.
The list of incredible 500cc machines is impressive too. In fact, it seems like every major release of a 500 model marked a significant change in the sport. The first ones that stick out in my head are the old three-banger Polaris 500s. Many can remember the ultra cool jumping photo of a 1980 Arctic Cat El Tigre 6000, another 500cc ride, with the banner “Worlds Fastest” screaming out from the page. The photo is cropped just right so I could never actually tell if the sled was only two feet off the ground, but it looked impressive nonetheless.
Fan-cooled 500s were all the rage in the early to mid ’80s. The entire sport was changed dramatically by the release of two 500 models: the 1983 Polaris Indy Trail and 1984 Yamaha Phazer. Polaris laid down the 500 law again in 1989 with the release of, in my opinion, one of the top five greatest snowmobiles ever built, the Indy 500.
The 500cc snowmobile took even more performance leaps through the ’90s with the advent of power valves and flat slide carbs. Buyers could purchase sleds like the Arctic Cat F5 Firecat that would blow the doors off some older muscle sleds. 500s never quite got big enough or fast enough to not justify them as a second ride and that’s where the fun started.
I remember talking with an old timer about a ’57 Chevy with a 283 Power Glide V8 and he described it as “just fast enough to thrill you and fast enough to kill you.” All morbidity and contemplation of mortality aside, I got the drift of what he was saying and a 500cc sled fits that description pretty well. A 500 doesn’t necessarily belong under the heading of “safe” and certainly isn’t a pacifier, but it doesn’t produce pangs of guilt and irresponsibility either, like when you air-out 900 cubic centimeters while your wife and kids await your return home.
As I scan the classifieds, I see a crowd of big power, big money snowmobiles; a Mach Z, an 800 Edge, a couple of Apexes and buried in the snowmobile section is a “nice” Ski-Doo 500SS REV. One column over is a 1957 Chevy with a 283 V8.
I wonder if the Chevy has a hitch?