No enthusiasm for the 2020 EVO RMK?

[Devilmanak]

Gotta look at the kid's skll level and ability. Then determine the sled. I ALMOST snowchecked two EVOs two years ago, SO glad I didn't. Joke. Using old Pro body panels. Tater went through a Z120, Indy 340 longtracked, now on an M6000 141. At 8. He isn't the norm by any means, he can ride anything that he puts a leg across. And yes, I am bragging. He rode almost 1000 miles last year with me and friends, didn't wreck it or hit anything once. He is starting to sidehill. I think that with the kids, you have a bunch of challenges: No sleds for the little guys that are worth a poop. Then how do you teach them with no good tools to do so? The Evo will get them riding, learn some basic skills, but no mountain skills. (And the only reason that I put Tater on an M6000 last year was due to the fact that I let him ride my 850 Doo on the lake the year before and he respected the power.)

 

[Yamadoo04]

Just watched your video, looks like they are having a blast on the SnoScoot. How old were your boy's in this video?

So my older boy just turned 10 and younger boy is 6 in this video

 

[H1Pilot]

We wouldn't have anything to talk about if the manufactures built what we wanted...this forum would be dead. Like so many well intentioned product releases, they come up just a bit short. I mean, they are so close on this one. All they really had to do with this sled is punch some holes in the running boards, narrow the ski stance and keep the regular ride height....for the RMK EVO. If folks don't want that, they have the trail EVO. So Close.

However, for the price, I would've bought one for my kids over the skidoo 300 freestyle from back in the day...if I was buying new. Obviously there are much cheaper options to get our kids in the backcountry.

I like modifying/customizing my kids rides, so maybe Polaris made this RMK EVO for guys like me. If that's the case, they nailed it.

 

[cwborns]

If you had your kid was on a SnoScoot for the last 2 years your tune would be completely different. You kids is never going to learn how to sidehill that 420 lb wide sled until he is freaking 15 years old. And by then he should be moving to a larger sled. The EVO RMK is crap. Its a 1990s sled. Kids can ride a SnoScoot and love it. This is a total step backwards for the 10 year old.

I bought my daughter a admittedly rougher 80s scoot it was a huge mistake it was not the legendary sled at all. I could feel more let down . Comparing that to a cheap to produce half ass mtn sled attempt is not fair. I am building an evo rmk without all the oem mistakes for just above half the price. Buy a polaris lxt and build it with you kid if you're not happy with the effort.

 

[joel97mustang]

The industry is signing its own death warrant by not introducing something for teens. I have had most all the machines listed in this thread. They basically work in the parking lot. Waste of time and money. The only solutions are heavily modified setups that cost a fortune to create. The manufacturers wouldn't even have efi/sdi if it wasn't for EPA mandates. They are like Ford and Chevy compared to Tesla. Look at Burandt (he is a forward thinking dude) he modded a EVO to make his son a somewhat compelling mtn sled. Now how come the manufacturers/engineers cannot come up with a solution like that? Because they don't actually ride sleds, they don't have kids, they are short sighted but most of all don't really care about their customers. Haha

 

[couch]

I bought my daughter a admittedly rougher 80s scoot it was a huge mistake it was not the legendary sled at all. I could feel more let down . Comparing that to a cheap to produce half ass mtn sled attempt is not fair. I am building an evo rmk without all the oem mistakes for just above half the price. Buy a polaris lxt and build it with you kid if you're not happy with the effort.

1990 Snosport was almost ideal....needed plastic skis and bigger track....natural progression to current rider position sleds ....

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[Trashy]

I’m pretty sure my kid will be riding his ZR200 when he’s 10. He’s 8 now and every ride is a new adventure. It’s all about challenging yourself, and it’s impressive where a light kid with some assertiveness can go on a 200 pound sled.

Hopefully by the time he’s ready to upgrade Polaris will have figured this Evo stuff out. If not, I’ll build him a Pro RMK with a 550.

 

[Escmanaze]

I’m pretty sure my kid will be riding his ZR200 when he’s 10. He’s 8 now and every ride is a new adventure. It’s all about challenging yourself, and it’s impressive where a light kid with some assertiveness can go on a 200 pound sled.

Hopefully by the time he’s ready to upgrade Polaris will have figured this Evo stuff out. If not, I’ll build him a Pro RMK with a 550.View attachment 345014

I love it man. That ZR200 teaches kids to ride like this and it is just fantastic.

You will find though, that right about 10 is when the ZR200 runs out. suddenly the kid is looking for more. He'll be lucky to have a dad that can build him an RMK 550. Kids like mine don't have a dad with that capability, so I just had to throw him on Grandpa's 600 RMK 144. Fortunately he has done pretty well on it and hasn't lost too much enthusiasm, so fingers crossed we can keep things going in that positive direction. Here is his best edit so far from this winter. SOOOOOOO much of his riding skill and talent come from the basis of that ZR200.

 

[stahlecker]

Best thing I did was get a 600 Alpha in the stable for our 9 year old. He’s been on his 18 snoscoot for two years now and has found it lacking off trail in the mountains. He still rips his scoot around at home, saving the yard from that 3” track on the alpha and letting him practice on something lighter. It was impressive what he could do in the mountains on that Alpha even though it’s so big compared to the Snoscoot. That 600 Alpha racked up 140 miles in the mountains with him riding it. By the end he was figuring out how to ride on 1 ski and working on jumping it. He could weave through trees, complete side hill for a couple hundred yards, with all that flotation and was pretty much everywhere I was on my sled.

 

[Escmanaze]

Alright, my kid finally put together his edit of our decent deep day that we had about a month and a half ago. This will do a little more justice to the progress he has been able to make this year. Again, I really wish we had a REAL kids' sled. But fortunately, with the foundation he learned on the scoot, he has been able to transfer a lot of those skills over to the 600 RMK 144 and maintain enthusiasm for the sport.

 

[LongHorn XC]

1990 Snosport was almost ideal....needed plastic skis and bigger track....natural progression to current rider position sleds ....

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Something like this?

 

[couch]

Something like this?
View attachment 346213View attachment 346214

Yeah ...have stretched 4 sports ... each a little different depending on donor parts ....one had a busted transmission that required a little more "ingenuity" - bearing chewed up the case so I used the race of the old bearing to reform the casting ....

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[FlynHigh]

I love it man. That ZR200 teaches kids to ride like this and it is just fantastic.

You will find though, that right about 10 is when the ZR200 runs out. suddenly the kid is looking for more. He'll be lucky to have a dad that can build him an RMK 550. Kids like mine don't have a dad with that capability, so I just had to throw him on Grandpa's 600 RMK 144. Fortunately he has done pretty well on it and hasn't lost too much enthusiasm, so fingers crossed we can keep things going in that positive direction. Here is his best edit so far from this winter. SOOOOOOO much of his riding skill and talent come from the basis of that ZR200.

Escmanaze, I think I crossed paths with you guys up at Monte Cristo. Your kid was riding great. Wish more 600's were out there with 144's I always thought that was the perfect set up for a kid and after seeing your kid on it now I know it is the setup. If Grandpa ever sells it let me know I would love to buy it.

 

[Escmanaze]

Escmanaze, I think I crossed paths with you guys up at Monte Cristo. Your kid was riding great. Wish more 600's were out there with 144's I always thought that was the perfect set up for a kid and after seeing your kid on it now I know it is the setup. If Grandpa ever sells it let me know I would love to buy it.

Oh, yeah probably true. We do ride up there at Monte Cristo quite a bit, so that very likely was us that you saw. The 600 144 indeed WAS a pretty decent setup for a number of years there for smaller folks. Unfortunately, for 2021, now that they have made electric start standard equipment on it, the dry weight is 480 and that is just not cool. It's kind of ok though, because also now the blast came out for 2021 and I think, will fill the market left by the 600 144 pretty well. I still just die knowing that Polaris could pretty easily make a 550 pro rmk 144 lite evo that would end up being right around 370 pound dry and basically use only existing parts that they currently have sitting on the shelf to get there. Seeing my kid ride the 458 pound 600 144 rmk confirms how much he could progress with a sled like that and it kills me inside that he can't have one.

I will certainly let you know if/when he sells them. Unfortunately for both you and me though, it might be quite a while. He really likes them for what he uses them for.