powder sled playoffs 3
Amsnow
Wrap up
The 800 twin craze has certainly taken its big bite out of the 700 market. Test Rider Troy told us that last year he sold all of the Mountain Max 700s he could snag. "In March of 2000, I was still driving my truck to other dealers to pick up 700 Maxes. This year eight-zero-zero cut my sales in half."
By our test riders' combined scores, however, the Mountain Max 700 scored the overall best sled in the Big Iron class for the day's test session, followed closely by the Summit Highmark X 800, Mountain Cat 800 and finally the 800 RMK 151-inch. The combination of suspensions that work, smooth acceleration and attractive package put the Max on top, in spite of its relatively low horsepower.
The same holds true for the 600 machines. Yamaha's 600 triple is definitely out gunned on the dyno, but power isn't everything in mountain riding. Our test riders gave it high marks in suspension ride and handling as well as general appeal. That put it over the top. Ski-Doo's Summit 600 came in a close second, thanks to Doo's generosity of mountain-specific parts. Arctic Cat and Polaris duked it out in both classes, finishing in that order.
The entire team had good things to say about all eight of our test units. In general, if you find a sled that you like, go for it. You can't go wrong. But there are differences out there. Each factory has something it does quite well, and something to improve upon for next year. Those are our observations for Powder Sled Playoffs 3 in Alpine, Wyoming. Like all of our test sessions, on a different day, with different riders and different units, the outcome could be different.
We'd like to give a special thanks to Chuck Coon at Wyoming State Tourism (307/777-2831) for his efforts in planning, coordinating and sponsoring the logistics of the event, as well as Troy Johnson at TJ's Sports (307/654-7815) for guiding us and Tim, Cindy and the gang at the Box Y Lodge (307/654-7564) for the great trail lunches and banquet dinner afterwards