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In a snowmobiling career that has spanned parts of five decades, it's easy to have had a few favorite sleds along the way. In the early years there were some truly bad sleds, but there were also a number of outstanding rides as well. One of those standouts was Yamaha's Enticer 300.
In the late 1970s, Yamaha hit on the concept of offering consumers a lightweight, low-priced, fun-to-ride, minimal maintenance machine. (Sound familiar?) Enter the Enticer 250.
The Enticer 250 wasn't the big hit the Japanese-manufacturer had expected, until the next iterations appeared with larger 340cc displacement twins and more features. Slotted between the 340 and the budget-priced 250 single, came the ET 300, with a spunky 294cc twin, powering pretty much the same chassis set up as the 250.
Enticer was Yamaha's answer to Ski-Doo's ever-popular Elan, which came with a 250 single and had at various points in its life cycle a 300cc twin, slide-rail suspension and even Ski-Doo's performance "SS" designation. Ski-to-ski, the Enticer 300 proved a better overall package than the Elan.
What made the ET300 one of my all-time favorites was its handling, power-to-weight ratio and the fact that we could race competitively in two stock Cross-Country/Snocross classes - the 300 and the larger 340 class.
Weighing less than 350 lbs., with a 31.5-inch ski stance and short wheelbase with an overall length of just under 94 inches, the Enticer 300 proved extremely nimble, especially on the short, tight Snocross courses of the time.
To go racing with an ET300 required studding the track, bolting on a set of aggressive racing carbides to the ski bottoms and making certain that everything was within factory specification - or better. Since the sled came standard with a Mikuni butterfly carb, there was only so much fine-tuning you could do.
Gearing and clutching, though, were areas that could make a big difference. And if you could work a bit of undetected "magic" on the engine's innards, well, so much the better. The base 294cc twin delivered about 26 horsepower, but some engines proved a titch healthier on the racetrack.
The real trick to running in the lower displacement stock classes was to be smooth in, and out, of turns. Cramping the sled sideways, like a Friday night dirt tracker, made you slower, not faster. That was what made a properly setup ET300 so much fun. Exiting a turn with nearly as much speed as you brought into it, was relatively easy as the little sled had great balance and responded marvelously to rider weight shifts.
The only time you'd have a handful of brake, was at the start when you revved the motor just until the belt gripped, held the sled at a stop and then released the brake as you slammed the throttle open. Of course, with today's 150-horse quads, such a technique would cost you a new drive belt. Enticer belts were relatively cheap, but you needed to make sure you got the "Kevlar" fiber belts for racing. You also needed to sharpen or change studs and carbides between heats as lake ice could really beat up your traction.
Ah, yes, the ET300 was a great little racer. It was even more fun on the trails as it would corner like a go-kart. Light at 345 lbs. Powerful enough with 26 hp from 294cc. Agile with a 31.5-inch ski stance. And dependable as… well, a Yamaha!
The ET300 remains one of my alltime favorite snowmobiles.