C
CoyoteGirl
Well-known member
PROS-
• Steering column has pivot for risers, saves you a few $$ when you need risers.
• Tunnel is nice and tall, helps when riding in trenches to not have your running boards dragging the sides and your track not touching the bottom!
• Tunnel has pretty good traction.
• Tunnel is kicked up in the back for foot placement when climbing.
• With the point above, they left the tunnel open so that when carving the snow doesn’t pile up here, it flows on through.
• Computer that allows you to see max rpms, water temps, trip odometer, current RPMs and MPH
• Light, moving her around in the garage I don’t need (although it makes life easier) the little turtles anymore.
• Reverse, it’s just fun to play with.
• 2 wheels on the inside at the back axle
• Their extrusion on the back of the tunnel for the addition of a bag or a gas rack is a slide system. No drilling holes, it took me 3 minutes to install my new bag. Very nice feature!
• Deep footwell to dig your toes into, even with HMK boots.
• Tunnel reinforcement, no saggy running boards.
• Narrow seat for gripping w/ your legs.
• Taller seat so your knees don’t bend past 90* when sitting.
• Comes with scratchers.
• Team secondary clutch for easy belt change.
• Team secondary is great for backshifting, and I have no belt heat issues.
• Feels like it crawls up on snow fast, doesn’t trench.
• The engine braking is great, when you learn how to get it to engage!
• For the small displacement, in the heavy WA snow she feels like she will tractor along as long as I care to push her.
• Stable climber, show her where you want to go and she’ll hold the line.
• She doesn’t wheelie, skis stay about a foot off the snow when climbing. When you do hit a bump and the nose comes up, quickly blip the throttle and she’ll come right down.
• The nose doesn’t want to dive down on long sidehills. (still have swaybar in)
• So far, the Aarms are stronger than a 5” diameter tree.
• Quiet.
• Ability put a pipe/can on w/o having to buy a fuel controller box.
• Compared to other EFI sled’s I’ve ridden the throttle response is pretty crisp.
Cons-
• Have to unscrew side panel to get to clutch. It is pretty simple, but I don’t like needing a tool to do that.
• If you bought it new, you would have to revalve the shocks; even the lighter riders are having to. (I bought from dealer owner, he’d already done that)
• Shocks in general… they do not have room for adjustment (preload/ rebound).
• No storage in the seat, but this is only a negative because you have to buy their tunnel bag. Which, I prefer that bag over stuffing my stuff inside the seat. So, this one is a wash for me.
• The mountain bar is on the backside (and angled toward the rider) of the handlebars, this puts it in my chest when climbing steeper hills.
• Starting, have to pull the cord all the way out to start.
• Not sure about the track on hardpack conditions.
• To use the bolts (allen heads) that come with most of the risers out there it is a struggle to get to them with an allen wrench due to the proximity of the console.
• The brakes aren’t all that great.
• The proximity of the front bumper to the front of the skis allows the bumper to dig into a hill (and not flex like the skis will) if you hit it straight on.
• A bit harder to start if you kill it after a long decent.
• Would like a little wider running board.
• Not enough snow removal on the running boards, had to install Better Boards.
• I look at the rear suspension and wonder if they REALLY DO need ALL of those parts! Lol
• Slippery seat.
• Cornering on the trails the inside ski always comes up (and I go slow on the trail!) and she still has the sway bar in.
• One of the biggest cons for the 07/08 season was the lack of production and the timeline of the production of the 800s!
Some of my thoughts:
Some of the reasons I went with the 7 instead of the 8 are:
• I hadn’t heard of ANY issues with the 7s and the 8s have had a few things. Getting clutching dialed wasn’t so easy, midrange bog.
• The 8 is a monoblock cylinder and only has room to be bored out to an 860 and the 7 can go to an 840.
• I’d have had to wait for the 8, this 7 was already in my garage. (dealer demo)
• The weight loss vs the power loss was worth it to me.
Another pro (for me ) of owning a Polaris is that I know 4 of the best Polaris gurus in the NW (Jack Struthers, Curt Bleile, Max Maxedon, Dan Jantz). When buying mine I looked at her overall potential down the road and someone to stand by their product and so the relationships come into play. Looking at any of the other manufacturers I just didn’t have that relationship w/ any of the gurus.
One thing I’m hearing is that the Dragons are quite a bit more expensive (hp for $$) than say the M1000. I’ll use that sled because it is the biggest stock displacement on the market and who doesn’t want the biggest cc they can afford eh? So, it’s hard to get past that bang for the buck (HP/$$) kind of thing. But I looked at my budget, my riding, my dealer and what I wanted to end up with for my money.
For me one of my biggest concerns was a stock tunnel; the lack of foot room, grippers, snow removal etc. I always figured if I bought a new (stock) sled I’d have to penny up for an aftermarket tunnel ($2000). Well, Poo got the ergonomics of the tunnel pretty close to RIGHT, it just needed more snow removal. Add in the Better Boards and this is taken care of. My other concern was the seat height and Poo has done a pretty good job of removing the need to go with a $500 aftermarket seat.
As for the power. She needs more, we all know that. But in her current clutched and geared state she’s going up 99% of anything I point her at. As I stated she appears to want to keep tractoring on long steep treed hills. Does she keep up w/ the SC Nytro, no, but I’ll get up there eventually! Only had her in powder once and she took quite a bit of work to get to the top of a few hills, but it was pretty fun getting there.
Adding a SLP pipe and can will allow me to lose 10 lbs and gain 6hp. Not a huge deal on the hp end, but for $500 that is the best (and least expensive) combination of power gain and weight loss you can do to a sled! Generally it costs you about $100/lb to lose weight on a sled.
The fit and finish on this is pretty good. It is a lot of what I’d want in a mountain chassis. It is a lot of what I’d want in a mountain chassis. Everyone likes their graphics, I want them gone.......
In buying a new sled, warranty is a big deal... and I honestly don't even know how long of a warranty I have! LOL I've got a good dealer, that puts my mind at ease.
The bad part of my review is that I didn’t buy this stock out of the box. So I haven’t felt the total cost of owning it ie it was clutched (I think... it runs great!) and geared which could cost a few hundred dollars. The shocks were revalved and that would cost a few $$ as well. I also didn’t have to go through the hassles of figuring out all of this. So I can’t say if it would have been worth it from that perspective. But thought I’d put together a pros and cons list for anyone who’s interested in the Dragon.
• Steering column has pivot for risers, saves you a few $$ when you need risers.
• Tunnel is nice and tall, helps when riding in trenches to not have your running boards dragging the sides and your track not touching the bottom!
• Tunnel has pretty good traction.
• Tunnel is kicked up in the back for foot placement when climbing.
• With the point above, they left the tunnel open so that when carving the snow doesn’t pile up here, it flows on through.
• Computer that allows you to see max rpms, water temps, trip odometer, current RPMs and MPH
• Light, moving her around in the garage I don’t need (although it makes life easier) the little turtles anymore.
• Reverse, it’s just fun to play with.
• 2 wheels on the inside at the back axle
• Their extrusion on the back of the tunnel for the addition of a bag or a gas rack is a slide system. No drilling holes, it took me 3 minutes to install my new bag. Very nice feature!
• Deep footwell to dig your toes into, even with HMK boots.
• Tunnel reinforcement, no saggy running boards.
• Narrow seat for gripping w/ your legs.
• Taller seat so your knees don’t bend past 90* when sitting.
• Comes with scratchers.
• Team secondary clutch for easy belt change.
• Team secondary is great for backshifting, and I have no belt heat issues.
• Feels like it crawls up on snow fast, doesn’t trench.
• The engine braking is great, when you learn how to get it to engage!
• For the small displacement, in the heavy WA snow she feels like she will tractor along as long as I care to push her.
• Stable climber, show her where you want to go and she’ll hold the line.
• She doesn’t wheelie, skis stay about a foot off the snow when climbing. When you do hit a bump and the nose comes up, quickly blip the throttle and she’ll come right down.
• The nose doesn’t want to dive down on long sidehills. (still have swaybar in)
• So far, the Aarms are stronger than a 5” diameter tree.
• Quiet.
• Ability put a pipe/can on w/o having to buy a fuel controller box.
• Compared to other EFI sled’s I’ve ridden the throttle response is pretty crisp.
Cons-
• Have to unscrew side panel to get to clutch. It is pretty simple, but I don’t like needing a tool to do that.
• If you bought it new, you would have to revalve the shocks; even the lighter riders are having to. (I bought from dealer owner, he’d already done that)
• Shocks in general… they do not have room for adjustment (preload/ rebound).
• No storage in the seat, but this is only a negative because you have to buy their tunnel bag. Which, I prefer that bag over stuffing my stuff inside the seat. So, this one is a wash for me.
• The mountain bar is on the backside (and angled toward the rider) of the handlebars, this puts it in my chest when climbing steeper hills.
• Starting, have to pull the cord all the way out to start.
• Not sure about the track on hardpack conditions.
• To use the bolts (allen heads) that come with most of the risers out there it is a struggle to get to them with an allen wrench due to the proximity of the console.
• The brakes aren’t all that great.
• The proximity of the front bumper to the front of the skis allows the bumper to dig into a hill (and not flex like the skis will) if you hit it straight on.
• A bit harder to start if you kill it after a long decent.
• Would like a little wider running board.
• Not enough snow removal on the running boards, had to install Better Boards.
• I look at the rear suspension and wonder if they REALLY DO need ALL of those parts! Lol
• Slippery seat.
• Cornering on the trails the inside ski always comes up (and I go slow on the trail!) and she still has the sway bar in.
• One of the biggest cons for the 07/08 season was the lack of production and the timeline of the production of the 800s!
Some of my thoughts:
Some of the reasons I went with the 7 instead of the 8 are:
• I hadn’t heard of ANY issues with the 7s and the 8s have had a few things. Getting clutching dialed wasn’t so easy, midrange bog.
• The 8 is a monoblock cylinder and only has room to be bored out to an 860 and the 7 can go to an 840.
• I’d have had to wait for the 8, this 7 was already in my garage. (dealer demo)
• The weight loss vs the power loss was worth it to me.
Another pro (for me ) of owning a Polaris is that I know 4 of the best Polaris gurus in the NW (Jack Struthers, Curt Bleile, Max Maxedon, Dan Jantz). When buying mine I looked at her overall potential down the road and someone to stand by their product and so the relationships come into play. Looking at any of the other manufacturers I just didn’t have that relationship w/ any of the gurus.
One thing I’m hearing is that the Dragons are quite a bit more expensive (hp for $$) than say the M1000. I’ll use that sled because it is the biggest stock displacement on the market and who doesn’t want the biggest cc they can afford eh? So, it’s hard to get past that bang for the buck (HP/$$) kind of thing. But I looked at my budget, my riding, my dealer and what I wanted to end up with for my money.
For me one of my biggest concerns was a stock tunnel; the lack of foot room, grippers, snow removal etc. I always figured if I bought a new (stock) sled I’d have to penny up for an aftermarket tunnel ($2000). Well, Poo got the ergonomics of the tunnel pretty close to RIGHT, it just needed more snow removal. Add in the Better Boards and this is taken care of. My other concern was the seat height and Poo has done a pretty good job of removing the need to go with a $500 aftermarket seat.
As for the power. She needs more, we all know that. But in her current clutched and geared state she’s going up 99% of anything I point her at. As I stated she appears to want to keep tractoring on long steep treed hills. Does she keep up w/ the SC Nytro, no, but I’ll get up there eventually! Only had her in powder once and she took quite a bit of work to get to the top of a few hills, but it was pretty fun getting there.
Adding a SLP pipe and can will allow me to lose 10 lbs and gain 6hp. Not a huge deal on the hp end, but for $500 that is the best (and least expensive) combination of power gain and weight loss you can do to a sled! Generally it costs you about $100/lb to lose weight on a sled.
The fit and finish on this is pretty good. It is a lot of what I’d want in a mountain chassis. It is a lot of what I’d want in a mountain chassis. Everyone likes their graphics, I want them gone.......
In buying a new sled, warranty is a big deal... and I honestly don't even know how long of a warranty I have! LOL I've got a good dealer, that puts my mind at ease.
The bad part of my review is that I didn’t buy this stock out of the box. So I haven’t felt the total cost of owning it ie it was clutched (I think... it runs great!) and geared which could cost a few hundred dollars. The shocks were revalved and that would cost a few $$ as well. I also didn’t have to go through the hassles of figuring out all of this. So I can’t say if it would have been worth it from that perspective. But thought I’d put together a pros and cons list for anyone who’s interested in the Dragon.
