so for the first time in 3 years, i got to ride the next years sleds from Arctic Cat....hosted by Amber Holt....there were 4 new cats..hcr, 162 orange sno-pro. 153 9000, and 153 white and black 800 ? limited i think....high overcast day, spring snow, but it had several inches a couple of days ago...not perfect, but ok to get a pretty good feel for the sleds...turbo was fast as expected, tough to side hill on the steep, nice sled, but not for me....153 was also nice, easy to handle, good power, clutching/gearing seemed about right for a mountain sled out of the box...same for the hcr, wider front end had its' good points and bad, looked good, but not where my interests lie.....spent the most time on the 162 sno-proclimb....as reference, i own a 13 xm and 09 1000 lightweight mod....the track hooks up very well, the new skid works well, easy sled in the trees, weight transfer was good (i might try for a little more ski loft for in the trees), the new skiis were better than previous ones, maybe a little skinny for deep powder, but they turned well, not letting the aggressive track over power them, i don't like over-aggressive skiis that bite too hard on crusty, wind blown ridges, and these seemed to work well....the new spindles didn't throw nearly as much snow into the rider as previous ones....suspension on this sled was excellent for a mountain sled, much better than the 13 poo, and better than my xm with float 2s...steering in the trees and elsewhere was not as tight as my xm or the poos i have ridden, but didn't cause me to miss where i needed to go....clutching on this sled seemed pretty good, never smelled rubber, good backshift....engine was flawless, good tuning, no bogs, very good uphill power, about the same as my xm, notably better than poos...handle bars and switches were good, nice google holder....i wish the stock sleds came with a bigger windscreen...seat was comfortable for sit down riding, smallish storage area, but the add on bag on the one demo sled was big enough for a couple of belts, drinks and lunch, maybe some extra gloves...riding impressions....easy to throw around, confidence building ride, especially as i got used to it...not quite as easy to jump on as the poo, but overall better as a i got an hour or so on the sled....throwing it over in a meadow causes the front ski to grab more than my m-1000, but not as bad as my xm....sled sidehills easy, holds and manuevers on side hills very well..power delivery was even, no bogs, and was overall good...not like my 1000 mod, but will certainly get the job done on all but the biggest hills..over hill and dale rideing was fun, nice ski loft when needed (or wanted), no bad characteristics....overall better performance machine than my xm, or any of the pro-rides i rode this year....as always with this stuff, just my opinion..
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