What It Brings
Let’s look at what the 2018 Freeride brings to the mountain. First, a powerful engine: You have a Rotax 850 E-Tec that is 10 hp bigger than the previous Rotax 800 engine. The 850 generates 165 hp from a lightweight two-stroke package.
If you’re wondering how Ski-Doo engineers were able to harness so much performance from their two-stroke engine, you need to understand how they went about their process.
First, they didn’t sit back and base their design from their own previous designs. They went outside the snowmobile industry and started fusing together the best technological ideas available—direct crank bearing lubrication from the automotive industry, two-piece forged crankshaft from four-stroke technology and a cast iron insert surrounding the piston ring from the diesel industry.
They added the knowledge gained on the racetrack to design a lighter forged crank shaft and combined it with their pDrive clutch. Add a re-designed Direct Injection System and you have a powerful engine with 30 percent quicker response. In other words, instant power when you crack the throttle. More power and more torque, yet the same fuel efficiency.