revealing the rev

The pyramidal chassis gives the Rev a very high level of torsional rigidity, something Yamaha has been crowing about since 1997. The engineering department claims that the chassis is 600 percent more torsionally rigid than the ZX platform. We'll trust them on that.

The engine sits in a cradle in the chassis and is attached to the walls, not the floor. This allows it to maintain its alignment, which means you won't get a lot of clutch deflection when you goose the throttle.

If a component is not made of plastic, there's a good chance that it's aluminum. As part of the weight savings, the design team eliminated almost all of the steel and replaced it with aluminum. Ski-Doo engineers have finally begun thickening the aluminum sheet used in tunnel construction. This year, it will be two millimeters thick, resulting in less demand for bolstering and reinforcing. Thicker material actually reduced the overall weight at the same durability.

The running boards have punched out traction bars. The controls for the warmers, RER, electric start and high beams are all on the left side handlebar, with oversized switches for easy glove operation. The trunk is actually the hard plastic tail cone of the seat. It opens from the top, and is huge. Ski-Doo also designed the seat to accept an optional passenger seat, similarly to a street bike.

The fuel tank on the Rev actually goes down into the seat itself. This takes all the mass of a full tank and drops it significantly lower. Ski-Doo added a few nice little touches to the fuel cell. To start with, there is a three liter overflow volume available for the gas to expand without running out of the cap. Also, the fuel gauge is separated, similar to what Cat did on last year's ZR. The only down side to the gas tank confguration is that you cannot eyeball the gas level. You're totally dependent on the gauge.

The hood itself is not held on by the traditional strap setup. There is a rubber pin and grommet system at the top corners, which keeps the hood securely in place. The gull wings use a variation of the strap system, with the strap affixed to the wing and latching onto an aluminum chassis post that pokes through a small port on the wing. Ski-Doo reps tell us that this is the same system that they have been using on the Pro Open sleds all year without failure. If it's good enough for the big guys to keep their sled together, who are we to question it?

Getting your hands on the mechanical parts of the sled will be generally easier than on conventional sleds. The plastic panels surrounding the engine compartment come off without the need for tools. This exposes the clutch and the chaincase for direct access. The main difficulty will be in accessing the cylinders themselves. If you have to pull the heads, you may be looking at a full engine extraction. But really, think about how many more times will you want to adjust the clutch calibration than you will want to pull your pistons out. Ski-Doo even cast a small nib on the carb boot so the hose clamp won't spin out of range when you're tightening or loosening that little bolt.

Notice, too, that half of the airbox is mounted to the gullwing. the fresh air intake on this sled is located on the upper left sied of that panel. Relocating the intake and airbox helped allow the engineers to move the engine so far down and back.

The RAS double A-arm front suspension is a lightweight thing of beauty. The spindle is extruded aluminum and serves simply as a connection and pivot point, not as a hinge housing as other designs do. The whole package is said to be four pounds lighter than competitive designs.

There is a full cadre of new features that make good sense. By designing the sled from a blank page, Ski-Doo engineers were able to finally do some of the things that made sense as well as try some new concepts. The back end of the tunnel is articulated, and bends to follow the curve of the track over the upper idler. It's connected to the rear idler for rigidity and to tie it into the suspension's travel. Snow is contained and routed up to the heat exchanger, then ejected up front. The net result is better cooling and reduced roosting. Following a Rev (and a lot of riders will be following) doesn't result in a face full of snow. However, it did show some troubles with digging in while backing up in fresh snow.

The SC-10 III had its travel extended, thanks to the funky Rev tunnel. Expect 14.5 inches of vertical travel out of the skidframe. The Sport package uses the new HPG-VR shock on both arms. Due to the revised ride position, that center shock is more important than ever. The bulk of the sled's mass is located within a foot of that location, including the driver. While you naturally absorb a lot more of the force of impact with your legs, it's still nice to have that HPG shock doing its job. The X package will use an HPG take apart shock on the center and a C-46 race shock on the rear.