First Ride of the season on the New Pro Climb M800

[RickM]

Well we got 2 feet of snow last night so the first ride of the season on the new Pro Climb M800 was today October 9th.
Snow was not total powder but it was not late spring snow either, so kinda happy medium and lucky to ride this early. The meadows were totally hammered by my grand kids by end of the day.

I was really anxious to get the first ride on the new M800, I am coming off of a
09 M8 with all the updates. The 09 really is a fine sled and the pro climb will have to work hard to beat a well set up M8 2011/2009.

We rode in open meadows with some good rough ground with bumps if you wanted to hit that area. There was also some flat areas to ride in.

First thing I noticed was the clutching (6-9K) is smooth, pulls hard, and back shifts good. Even though the engagement is around 4K it is easy to turn the track without digging a hole. I cant wait to get it broke in and clutched a little better for peak RPM.

Now the ride, The new pro climb takes the bumps and rough ground so much better than the older M series sleds, I noticed it right off the bat.

But when you wanted to turn the sled at a slow speed or stopped in a tight area the front end would push. The older M series will turn in a lot smaller circle than the Pro Climb. In fact I had to use reverse to back up and turn again. I am not impressed with this issue. Either the skies suck, or some other problem is causing the push.

I was able to put 22 miles on the New Pro Climb today, it is by no means a
certified test of any kind. I am just telling you how my first ride in October was.
I did notice a vibration when you would let up on the gas and slow to almost a stop, I think it is a shied, or metal cover some where vibrating. I will explore what it may be.

Once I got home I proceded to check the plugs, be prepaired to dismantle to get the plugs out. I took the pipe off and looked at pistons. and plugs look good, so they must have the oil ratio set fairly close. plugs were not oil soaked, and had nice color.

One thing i noticed, I layed it over once on the clutch side in deep snow. The black fan on drive clutch rubbed on the side panel, so if you lay it over, shut it off or it will rub the plastic. So I am impressed, and look forward for the next chance to ride it. Hope this helps with needed info. With a little tweeking it will be a great sled. RickM

 

[RickM]

First Ride Continued!

Ran out of space above so ill continue.
I did notice and compare when we would hit the deep bumps the pro climb would not go nose up like the M7 when hitting the deep bumps, It would absorb
and make a smooth exit.
I felt the cooling area on the tunnel and it was cool at all times, so there was not any cooling issues in these snow conditions.
As I mentioned above, the turning angle is not sharp enough for Me. I see there is a block on the steering column and two aluminum molded stops that decrease the turning limits, this may be modifyable to make it turn tighter with out breaking over.
Learning the balance point is different from previous M's, I will have to work on that, I was laying it over and felt good and then i went a tad too far and the sled won. So the balance will take a little to get use too.
My 9 yr grand son and 11 yr old grand daughter loved to ride it also, they like it better than my 09 M8 SP. and they can put it thru is paces.
Hope this helps. RickM

 

[snowmobiler]

cool.

 

[M8Chris]

Well we got 2 feet of snow last night so the first ride of the season on the new Pro Climb M800 was today October 9th.
Snow was not total powder but it was not late spring snow either, so kinda happy medium and lucky to ride this early. The meadows were totally hammered by my grand kids by end of the day.

I was really anxious to get the first ride on the new M800, I am coming off of a
09 M8 with all the updates. The 09 really is a fine sled and the pro climb will have to work hard to beat a well set up M8 2011/2009.

We rode in open meadows with some good rough ground with bumps if you wanted to hit that area. There was also some flat areas to ride in.

First thing I noticed was the clutching (6-9K) is smooth, pulls hard, and back shifts good. Even though the engagement is around 4K it is easy to turn the track without digging a hole. I cant wait to get it broke in and clutched a little better for peak RPM.

Now the ride, The new pro climb takes the bumps and rough ground so much better than the older M series sleds, I noticed it right off the bat.

But when you wanted to turn the sled at a slow speed or stopped in a tight area the front end would push. The older M series will turn in a lot smaller circle than the Pro Climb. In fact I had to use reverse to back up and turn again. I am not impressed with this issue. Either the skies suck, or some other problem is causing the push.

I was able to put 22 miles on the New Pro Climb today, it is by no means a
certified test of any kind. I am just telling you how my first ride in October was.
I did notice a vibration when you would let up on the gas and slow to almost a stop, I think it is a shied, or metal cover some where vibrating. I will explore what it may be.

Once I got home I proceded to check the plugs, be prepaired to dismantle to get the plugs out. I took the pipe off and looked at pistons. and plugs look good, so they must have the oil ratio set fairly close. plugs were not oil soaked, and had nice color.

One thing i noticed, I layed it over once on the clutch side in deep snow. The black fan on drive clutch rubbed on the side panel, so if you lay it over, shut it off or it will rub the plastic. So I am impressed, and look forward for the next chance to ride it. Hope this helps with needed info. With a little tweeking it will be a great sled. RickM

So every time you lay it over on the clutch side your going to have to shut it off?? that sounds like a pain... When I rode the new pro climb last spring I didn't notice that. Should be a great sled.

 

[RickM]

well the snow was not 100% powder, and all i am saying is if you let it lay on its side and idle, if there is much pressure on the side panel it will press against the drive clutch turning. I didnt do much but it did rub the panel. I also noticed the insulation just below and to the front of the drive clutch is not very far from the black plastic fan. Just my first little things i found. Rickm

 

[Goin For Snow]

nice pre-season call it as it is review.

 

[rockdog2112]

Hey Rick, were you up at the Casper Mnt. area?

 

[Goin For Snow]

love the pic of the grand kids. that stuff is soooooo priceless.....

 

[rockdog2112]

love the pic of the grand kids. that stuff is soooooo priceless.....

Damn right it is!

 

[M8Chris]

Looks like you guys had a great time. I'm jealous that you've ridden already and I do like the orange sled

 

[RickM]

Casper Mountain

Yes the Ride was on Casper mountain, My son and family live up there so they get to ride right out of their house. Kids ride M7's for several years now.
they can ride 50 miles and still be ready to ride. They can out ride a lot of adults. OK ill stop bragging. ( 8 yr old grand son on M7) rides like grandpa and his dad.
but Casper Mountain go hit with 2 feet. It wont last long if it warms up but it was a blast in October. RicM

 

[High Country]

cool!!!!

 

[Bearcat]

In the last spring demo sleds I noticed the skis doesn't turn as much as forexample in my CF 7 SP -06. I've modified my sled a bit to get more ski turn but still skis turn less than latest M models. So steering ratio is really low on these pro climbs. Hopefully it can be gained easily. I think easiest place to get more steering ratio would be modifying the small linking tie rod mounting holes at the top of the steering post.

And sounds this sled needs Powder Pros aswell

 

[aksnopro]

Agreed Priceless!!! we just picked up a 120 for our 3 year old!

next year, the sled will be 20 pounds lighter and have 10 degree more turning radius!

bam everyone must have!

-Aksnopro

 

[CO 2.0]

$hit didn't know you guys got that much snow up there, excellent!

I talked with the Zbroz guys at the Denver Snow show last weekend. They are coming up with a steering linkage kit that will allow for 15deg more turning ability of the ski's. I'm definitely gonna pick that up when it's released, along with their new A-arms that are out already. The new a-arms have camber adjustment, along with serviceable bushings!!!!! Not to mention they are chromoly.

 

[getoan]

Nice early season ridin with the grand kids, doesn't get any better than that!

 

[superfly333]

Good first observations of the new sled. Completely jelous seeing ya riding in October. Mine is still in a crate but will be put together this week.

 

[rockdog2112]

At our house on Saturday. I should have broke out the new M800 Sp but this day was about my nephew.

 

[Dogmeat]

Ran out of space above so ill continue.
I did notice and compare when we would hit the deep bumps the pro climb would not go nose up like the M7 when hitting the deep bumps, It would absorb
and make a smooth exit.
I felt the cooling area on the tunnel and it was cool at all times, so there was not any cooling issues in these snow conditions.
As I mentioned above, the turning angle is not sharp enough for Me. I see there is a block on the steering column and two aluminum molded stops that decrease the turning limits, this may be modifyable to make it turn tighter with out breaking over.
Learning the balance point is different from previous M's, I will have to work on that, I was laying it over and felt good and then i went a tad too far and the sled won. So the balance will take a little to get use too.
My 9 yr grand son and 11 yr old grand daughter loved to ride it also, they like it better than my 09 M8 SP. and they can put it thru is paces.
Hope this helps. RickM

There is already that much snow on Casper Mountain ?!?!?!?!? WTF

 

[RickM]

crazy storm

It was a crazy storm, dumped more snow on casper mountain than what the snowies got. If it warms up it will be gone in a couple days, was just lucky to be able to ride. Grand kids called me and was bragging on being the first to ride this year. My trailer was still in the shop, had to get it and load up. Did all that in less than 30 minutes, was on casper mountain in an hour. Got to ride about 3 hours. It was by no means boondocking, had to stick to safe known areas. Sure didn't want to leave an "A Arm" on a tree stump.

As for ROCKDog2112,

There are a lot of aftermarket shops for that Z120. pipe kit, governor kit, velocity stack, etc. Next photo lets see the skies off the ground. ha ha .
nothing better than to see young kids having fun. RickM