I am tired of riding the edge and am considering a 900 rmk, My sled is a 03 sno check 800 159, considering a 05 900 151 anniversary. What can I expect on the ride differances, Sidehilling, straight up pulls,Will the 05 do every thing the 03 will do? or Better? I ride usually 4500 to 7000 ft mountains,hills, trees,boondocking, not much of a fan of the Himark. My 03 has about all the bolt on slp items there is, has been rebuilt on the crank,and clutches, Any way there is nothing wrong with my sled I just want to move on.The only issue I am concerned about the 900 is the vibration I hear everybody talking about.Thanks Steve
900 rmk vs 03 800 edge rmk
- Thread starter SJORMK7
- Start date
Well first you have to know what you are getting into. I would try to get a 2006 since it solved some of the problems. For the vibration, you can get anti vibe foot boards and a 1 inch riser that reduces handle bat vibration. There is a ton of performance mods like a 975 kit, variety of cans and pipes, air boxes, suspension parts, etc. If you are willing to invest some money into these parts you will have a very nice sled and it will be a great improvement. Check out some of the topics that have been pinned. You will learn a lot about the sleds.
Having your primary professionally balanced with remove almost all the vibration out of the 900. I recommend sending your primary to indy specialties , Indydan on here as soon as you get it. The primaries on many of the 900's were seriously out of balance from the factory. This causes vibration and can cause motor mount failure and eventually crank failure.
Also read through the following link. (read before you buy)
http://www.snowestonline.com/forum/showthread.php?t=112723
Also read through the following link. (read before you buy)
http://www.snowestonline.com/forum/showthread.php?t=112723
I have an 02 Edge with a 159" well set up. I have one ride on my 05 900 159" also well set up. They ride Very different. I would try to ride one before you buy one. Torque is Awesome, for me I dont notice the vibration but these 900's require time to learn how to ride them at least for me. In a nutshell "A Heavy, Tippy Monster"
I find my 900 to be too hard to ride. Im going to sell it and get something lighter..
Its just too much for me to handle.
If you are trying to turn right to go right in the powder the 900 is going to beat you to death. Once you figure out that turning the bars left makes it carve right it is easy to throw around. It's pretty hard to get your mind to turn the bars toward a tree while boondocking to get the sled to carve and miss it. But if you turn the bars to steer around the tree the sled will surely head right for it.
Yes it is and I fear I will have a difficult time mastering the "point toward the tree to avoid the tree". That means re learning 20 years of riding and I'm turning 44 this year.....maybe if I??
I'm 40 but I have had it since 05. Best thing to do is find a big open field of powder. Stop and turn the bars to the right and lean in the opposite direction against what your better sense tells you and and hit the throttle, your sled will tip over and carve like a jet ski. Play around with it and see what it does and do not try to muscle it over. If you learn to ride it like this the 900 seams light and nimble. If you try to ride it like the old sleds, you are worn completely out after a day riding it and digging it out of trees.
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Going from my '02 800 Edge 151 to my 05 900 166 was definitely a jump, and if I had to do it again I wouldn't have waited as long as I did...
I absolutely love the ride, power, and traction of the 900 sooooo much more, to the point I don't even enjoy riding the Edge any more
Z-man had a good suggestion, take it to a wide open area and learn to counter-steer the sled, it really is the best way to turn one of these and works really good.... think of it more like a motorcycle than a quad... lean the direction you want to go rather than turning the bars... even with the skis straight ahead you can turn effectively in good snow.
The physical weight of the 900 is greater than your used to, but the way the sled reacts to your input is much enhanced often making the sled feel lighter and easier to ride... It really takes less effort to make a greater reaction from the machine.
If you watch the skis in my video below, you'll see how effectively you can turn these sleds without turning the bars or by counter-steering... it works quite well....
As to the reliability of the machines and what to do to make them perform good, there are lots of great posts in the stickies regarding setup and lightweight goodies.... you can easily drop 40 lbs off these and make them perform.
I absolutely love the ride, power, and traction of the 900 sooooo much more, to the point I don't even enjoy riding the Edge any more Z-man had a good suggestion, take it to a wide open area and learn to counter-steer the sled, it really is the best way to turn one of these and works really good.... think of it more like a motorcycle than a quad... lean the direction you want to go rather than turning the bars... even with the skis straight ahead you can turn effectively in good snow.The physical weight of the 900 is greater than your used to, but the way the sled reacts to your input is much enhanced often making the sled feel lighter and easier to ride... It really takes less effort to make a greater reaction from the machine.
If you watch the skis in my video below, you'll see how effectively you can turn these sleds without turning the bars or by counter-steering... it works quite well....
As to the reliability of the machines and what to do to make them perform good, there are lots of great posts in the stickies regarding setup and lightweight goodies.... you can easily drop 40 lbs off these and make them perform.
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I'm not giving up on my 900! I'm to stuburn for that. That being said I also cant say I would recommend someone purchase one without riding it first...not what I expected. I can ride in an open area in 3' of powder and carve turns easily. When you throw some side hilling and quakies in the mix I find myself trying to muscle the machine around and I usually loose the battle. These sleds will go in the bottomless powder but when they get stuck the $200 snowmobile jack is worth every penny. Plan on pulling off the helmuts, breaking out the shovel and jack, crack open the "blue mountains" and go to work.
Finding the balance point for getting the machine on its side is the hardest part... once you know your balance point you can side-hill or crave at just about any speed... it just takes practice. A good way to slow down while side-hilling is to lean the sled into the hill more... that allows you to move the balance point towards you as you slowly let-off on the throttle and retain control of the sled... The beauty of it is the principles for carving and side-hilling are virtually identical, once you master one, the other is a walk in the park
I don't think this is a matter of " 900 rmk vs 03 800 edge rmk "
It's about IQ vs. Edge
It's about the IQ chassis being completely different than the Edge chassis.
The center of gravity is so much higher on a IQ chassis, but if you learn to use the tippyness to your advantage and find the "happy spot", your set. People have been using the counter steer method for over a decade now, even on the older sleds it worked great. The IQ chassis and now improved by the Pro chassis, has made it sooo easy to lay a sled over and just carve around a corner or tree.
I took 15 yrs off sledding...went from a Polaris Indy 500 Gen II chassis with a 132" track to my 06 RMK 700 w/ 159". Major change!!. I'm 47 and after a bit of practice and "watching" (key word) others ride the new chassis's, the ability to carve came relatively quickly.
The 900's and 700's are awesome sleds!!! They have the torque of a tractor and great power. I routinely follow and a lot of time, high mark my buddies on M1000's. Learn to use the power to your advantage and don't "muscle" the sled all day. Let your body weight leaning and throttle control move the sled for you.
It's about IQ vs. Edge
It's about the IQ chassis being completely different than the Edge chassis.
The center of gravity is so much higher on a IQ chassis, but if you learn to use the tippyness to your advantage and find the "happy spot", your set. People have been using the counter steer method for over a decade now, even on the older sleds it worked great. The IQ chassis and now improved by the Pro chassis, has made it sooo easy to lay a sled over and just carve around a corner or tree.
I took 15 yrs off sledding...went from a Polaris Indy 500 Gen II chassis with a 132" track to my 06 RMK 700 w/ 159". Major change!!. I'm 47 and after a bit of practice and "watching" (key word) others ride the new chassis's, the ability to carve came relatively quickly.
The 900's and 700's are awesome sleds!!! They have the torque of a tractor and great power. I routinely follow and a lot of time, high mark my buddies on M1000's. Learn to use the power to your advantage and don't "muscle" the sled all day. Let your body weight leaning and throttle control move the sled for you.
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I wish some of you guys lived in Utah!
Utah is not to far from me, unfortunately my season has just got postponed till mid March.
Thanks for all the replies, I guess the main concern for me is it worth the change? I do not think learning another sled is a major issue I ride EVERY sunday and thursday.The last few sleds I have owned are, 03 snocheck 800 159 rmk, 07 xrs summit hill climb edition 151, 03 vert. esc 800 159, 03 700rmk 144, 01 700rmk 144,I cant help it I like the rmks,I am on the forums all the time and follow the 900 group I am not at all concerned about 900 issues, What i like about the 900s is what you get for the price, Thanks again, if there is any thing else let me know. Steve
Nice video, where was that filmed at and with what type of camera? It also show something else, you are barely running the engine and the 900 is just floating right through the powder. Torque is the best part on the 900.
S
sks rider
Member
Ive been trying to learn to turn but getting stuck has been 90% of my riding time. Im just so frustrated trying to learn to ride.
Ive been trying to learn to turn but getting stuck has been 90% of my riding time. Im just so frustrated trying to learn to ride.
Find yourself a nice big open area and spend about a half hour turning the skis and throttling the sled and seeing what it does. You don't always countersteer and it doesn't take much to keep the sled on it's side as you can see in the video, but turning and pinning it can make the IQ chassis whip right around fast once you figure out the handling. In turns so easy that it is very easy to tip it all the way over in a turn if you are not careful.
Then Buy it.....I want to see if it is just me.
