Well guys.....
I lied.
I kept telling myself I'd go easy. I'd be gentle. Nice smooth throttle control, no craziness the first ride out. A nice calculated break in.
I even took my 6 year old with me to hold me back. He has been riding with me since Yamifest in '09 when he was just under a year old.
I hooked up with some of the regular crew from my area...one of them being silvertip. 'Tip is a local legend. He logged this area for 40 or 50 some odd years and knows this country like the back of his hand. He boondocks with the best of them...and is 67 years old.
Another with us was on a freshly rebuilt skidoo rocking a 121x1.5" track.
Surely we wouldn't be doing anything but trails and meadows right?
I figured out pretty fast that I couldn't go more than 3/4 throttle or it would bounce off the rev limiter, so I kept the first 10 miles or so mostly on track.
Okay no I didn't. I have no self control at all. This thing is fun! Even without being clutched I was doing pow turns on the side of the road, jumping water bars and just having a great time. We got to the first big meadow we spent 10 minutes jumping through the creek and carving up the place. As soon as we stopped to let it cool down and heat cycle, I immediately pulled the panels and put my bare hands on the clutches, which were just a touch above warm. I can't do that on my arctic cat!!!
We spent the rest of the day jumping from ridge to creek bottom, halfway up a ridge, sidehill out one way, drop back into the bottom, side hill out the other, dodging trees and stumps along the way. All the while my little rockstar held on and only asked me to stop jumping once, and said one sidehill scared him. I don't blame him. It was a steep do or die to the right side (which I suck at the most). I punched the throttle, put a little counter-steer in and just went. No off balance moments, no extra effort to hold our line...it was inspiring how easy it was to sidehill to my weak side on this sled.
In the end we covered 37 miles and were on the snow from 8am to 430pm and did everything I can imagine doing on this sled. Here are my takeaways:
- Needs clutching. It is butter smooth, but comes set up for N/A @ 8-10K feet, not the MPI turbo. When I took delivery of my 08 Nytro Yamaha paid for the initial clutching setup, but that is no longer the case. Anyways, I have parts going in tonight when the kids go to bed thanks to Oregon Trail Sports. I still have the stock belt. It didn't give me any issues but if it does I'm packing an 8DN as a backup.
- Suspension was a little soft as we bottomed a couple times jumping water bars, but we had to be close to 300lbs with my son and I geared up and riding double. Once in the powder it felt perfect. I'm considering trying the 135lb spring that Stingray has been talking about but I'm going to play with the stock one first. My front shocks were at 75lbs, and the rear was at 150lbs, all done with the weight removed from the shock.
- Handling was spot on in deep snow. This sled just works. lean a little, carve a little. Lean a lot, carve a lot. Sidehill? Point and go. The second the track spins it pops a ski up and settles into a very stable line. My ONLY complaint is that it pushes just a tad on flat ground. The ski's could be an inch wider, but it didn't dive on me bad enough to go drop a bunch of money on grippers or simmons, or whatever the rage is these days.
- Fit and finish looked great in the garage. On the snow there was a ton of snow being ingested at the front of the side panels. My concern is that it will end up on the clutches and cause slippage. Time will tell.
- Gauge pod is light years better than the Nytro's. You now get all the nifty things like an altimeter and can now see your coolant temps. You can also swap sides to suit your preferences on what you want to see.
Overall I put the sled through its paces and it never even blinked...even when I threw it upside down after getting extra traction off a buried tree. I did smell a little oil, but never found any that leaked. It was upside down for roughly 30 seconds to a minute so I was expecting a substantial spill. At the time I was tending to my son, and once I made sure he was okay we rolled it back onto the ski's with no issues.
I am already in love with this sled. It inspires confidence with each turn and really responds well to rider input. Once I get the suspension and clutching dialed in I don't see the need to add anything else performance wise. Really the best part is that I finally have room for a muff pot on the MPI race muffler.
IMO Yamaha kicked in Skidoo's door, Kissed polaris's girlfriend, drank Arctic Cat's beer and made themselves at home on the mountain. If you've got any doubts, find one of these machines and throw a leg over it, you'll be pleasantly surprised!
