Poll, How long have you been sledding?
- Thread starter Himark
- Start date
The first time I rode a snowmobile was in October 1970. It was a brand new 1971 Ski Doo Elan. I bought it with my own money.
Reviewing the poll results and we need to get younger people into the sport before all of us old guys fade way.
HaHa...I agree. As much as I love riding hard with my buddies, I also enjoy taking newbies out in hopes of getting them hooked. Beginning 23 years ago, snowmobiling was an activity we did at our annual business meeting in February and we would have our vendors from around the country attend and take them sledding...by force. It made for great stories and memories for them. Fast forward to present and 2 of our vendors said they would love to attend our annual business meeting only if we promised to NOT take them snowmobiling!
Update current sled 2019 850 155 rmk
And pushing 50 years of riding
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Started riding in 2000 but took some years off.
Started with a 1969 Ski doo Olympique 299. Ran that thing into the ground. Then a 1972 335 Ski doo. Left the sport till 1998. My nephew brought out a 440 Moto ske with a blown motor and put it in my machine shed. I looked at for several years and got it running for my son and though I was done with the sport. He didn't like cold at the time. He liked it. We had that for like 4 days when I got tired of pulling the rope and traded it for a 1997 Cat prowler 550 2 up. Had a blast with the kids on it. Then In 2007 for my 50th birthday went to the mountains with a 700 powder special Cat. More like an anchor. Got hooked. Since then a 2007 800 Mountain, a 2009 Cat, a 2013 and now a 2018 Proclimb. Am 63 now and can't wait until the next trip. Was at Togowtee a couple of weeks ago. Mostly old duffers like myself that can afford the sport. Fewer of us go each year...
51 years ago on a 1968 Ski Doo Super Olympique. It was the 16 HP upgrade engine (12 HP was in the Olympique) and being a carb mechanic was required as the Tilotson was very problematic after it sat more than a week. On deal they were $768, normal price was $945. Machines cost 20 times more now and they are 100 times better! Fun factor is the same and we still meet the nicest folks on sleds!
Bought a 74 340 SS Colt in 76 with my newspaper route , for Christmas I got a case of pull tab two stroke oil The old man schooled me on deep snow riding with his Snow Jet in a cat tailed dried up lagoon . The Colt sunk like a rock , the vents in front of the hood worked like snow scoops and that old single carb sled with a turned up belly pan slid by me multiple times laughing his arse off .
The old man schooled me on deep snow riding with his Snow Jet in a cat tailed dried up lagoon . The Colt sunk like a rock , the vents in front of the hood worked like snow scoops and that old single carb sled with a turned up belly pan slid by me multiple times laughing his arse off .
Grew up riding in MN, as young kids we had an Elan i think? We could put 4-5 kids packed onto that thing and bomb around the lake at 10-15 mph jumping off snowdrifts etc. Then rode some polaris 500's, skidoo summits in the late 90's and finally a zr600efi. So probably 10 years of riding a dozen times per year there. Then i moved west and rode friends sleds once in a while in the mountains. Skipped about 10 years of riding becuase i got into racing motorcycles and moved back east, couldnt bring myself to want to trail ride. Then moved west again and started renting in cooke back in 2014. Finally got my own sled last year. So i'd count it as 15 years...but pretty low miles until recently. Out of all the motorsport stuff i've done, (drag, rally, roadcourse car and motorcycle), sledding is by far my favorite. It's all the performance fun of engines/machines with the freedom of the mountains compared to the restrictions of road and dirt. Really an incredible experience comparatively that only leaves you wanting more.
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This is my 46th year and I hope I can ride until the day I end up underground ?
11 years now and I don't plan on ever quitting as long as my health allows it.
I had one of those big ole sleds that’s what taught me how too be a mechanic ?
Started riding in December of 1968 and was immediately hooked. Riding time and wrenching time were pretty much at a 1:1 ratio. If you were lucky the wrenching time didn't take place out on the snow but most often it did. One drop of water was pretty much a show stopper in a Tillotson carb. I learned that black was the only suitable color for sled clothing as any other color would quickly become stained from the blowback the open velocity stack spewed at your chest. That same jacket also was an effective choke when it got sucked into the carb as in invariably did.
Amazingly even with what we would now consider extremely limited capabilities it was still tremendously fun. Today with the reliability and capability of the sleds I sometimes think the fun factor is a bit less because you don't have to work as hard for it.
As I like to say, "If you haven't ridden leaf springs and bogie wheels then you really haven't ridden."
Amazingly even with what we would now consider extremely limited capabilities it was still tremendously fun. Today with the reliability and capability of the sleds I sometimes think the fun factor is a bit less because you don't have to work as hard for it.
As I like to say, "If you haven't ridden leaf springs and bogie wheels then you really haven't ridden."
I have been sledding for six years. This is my favorite thing in life. Everything has its own nuances. For example, equipment, you yourself know how to control equipment. I make repairs twice a year. Like health, I do whole body checkup twice a year. Constantly looking for resources to ride. You must have stocks of money and free time.
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