M
I got to ride the new sleds this weekend in Island Park thanks to Steve and the gang and Northstar’s Polaris in Preston.
I was very impressed. I've been sledding for 11 years now and been riding D8 turbo this year, Cat 4 out of the last 5 before that, and Yamaha every other year, from turbo rx-1's to union bay 900 mountain max's. The first year I rode was back in 99-00 and I had a teal 97 RMK. So I'm not bias toward any sled. I have my own little repair shop also, so I’ve worked on several sleds and done countless mods to all sorts of brands. I’ve never owned a skidoo, but ridden them quite a bit and I think they go “up” the hill better than any other “stock” sled. They just seem to jump up on the snow instead of trenching. The reason I don’t own one is because I love to ride in the steep steep side hills in and out of the trees and IMO they take quite a bit more energy to do that than on the cat or the Polaris.
Anyway my .02 about the new sled… I LOVED IT!!!
As you all know they weigh in at 431 lbs. Super light and the nice thing is they’re light in all the right places and the actually FEEL much lighter.
I was also encouraged that the sleds we rode were actual 2011 model year sleds. The 10th digit in the VIN indicates the year of the sled and it is a “B” meaning it is a 2011. The 2010’s are an A and prior to that the year was a number. (This works on all vins by the way, so an 05 is a 5 in the 10th position. My sled had about 350 miles on it and they did tell us that these are the production sleds that meet the new emissions. Personally I really don’t care about the emissions, but, I hate to see companies release a “prototype sled that kicks butt and then the production sled comes out the next year and way underperforms. That is disappointing to everyone. I actually asked them twice and they confirmed they are in fact production models.
They would not comment at all on the motors, but I can tell you this from looking at them for myself. They have a different voltage regulator, different CDI, and they only have 2 injectors instead of 4. Other than that, things “look” the same under there. I know they are making more power because they had the same 10-62 weights, same black purple spring, and same helix as the stock 2010 D8’s and that clutch set up as we all know will not work at elevation in the mountains because the D8’s clutched like that would only tack at about 7800. These sleds we rode pulled a solid 8250 all day with the same clutching. So put that into whatever horsepower formula you want, but the sled flat out makes more power. It was noticeable too.
This was unlike most demo rides too, we rode follow the leader for 9 miles of groomed trail with no no instructions to not pass the leader, but then when we got to where we were going, we were turned loose for the next hour and a half to do whatever and ride wherever we wanted, so Steve (Northstar’s owner), Tyler (service manager), Kobi (“tuner” guy), and Brett Jensen (local Polaris rep) and myself went and rode these things how we ride everyday. We found some steep 35 degree south slopes full of trees, and rode up down across horizontal, u-turns anything we could and tried these things out like a true mountain sled and they flat out performed!
Biggest differences:
#1 the thing would flat out get up on top of the snow way way better than the dragons. It would stay more level and it wouldn’t trench near as bad. It was just way easier to control. It behaved more like a skidoo than the dragon going up hill. Every time you thought you were going to get stuck it would just keep going, and right before you stopped, if you would just turn a little sideways for a few feet, you could gain enough momentum to crank it right back strait up the hill and keep going. (something much harder to do on the doo)
2 Way easier to maintain a side hill. IMO anyone can side hill a sled going balls out up the hill, but it takes much more control and ability to do it going down hill, or even strait across a steep hill at 2-3 mph. Somehow the changes in the chassis (probably because it’s narrower belly pan and different geometry) would allow you to hold the sidehill much easier and the key is with much less effort equaling much less fatigue. I felt like I could ride it all day long without stopping, which is essentially what we did. Even on the steepest hills you could head down about half way and turn right around and head right back up the hill. The biggest difference is too, is that it wouldn’t “wash out” like the 2010’s would. There was a few times I caught a ski on a tree a little to big to run over and had to stop going across the side-hill, unhook the ski, but then I could just continue on the same line without getting stuck. It was so amazing. I actually stopped a few times going across a steep side hill just to see if I could get going again and maintain the same line. It was awesome! That is what was so entertaining about this whole ride too is that we were able to jump back and forth between the 2010 and the 2011 several times to make fair comparisons, and the 2011 outperformed the 2010 in absolutely every aspect of the ride.
#3 Way better on the trail. Like I said we rode 9 miles of trail until we got to the mountains where we got to ride and where I ride I usually have 2-3 miles at the most so that part was way different for me. They told us to go as fast as we wanted and to really lean into the corners and I was pretty impressed how they would stay level and corner and not have nearly the “body roll” that the 2010’s have. That actually made me nervous because I figured that would translate into being harder to sidehill in the mountains, but as you already read, the opposite was true it was actually easier to sidehill. So I don’t know how they figured this all out: how to make it better on the trail, even around fast corners and yet easier to sidehill. But it just works. On the way back I jumped on a 2010 and tried to ride the same way, and I just about lost it (tipped over at 60mph) around one of the corners. Another big difference on the trail is when you hit bumps at 60mph the old ones would start to whip and these new ones wouldn’t at all, they would always stay heading strait down the trail and they took the bumps way better. Like I said, I’m not the guy to ask too many details about the trial riding, because I just don’t do it much, but from what I experienced, I was very impressed. Even racing the 2 down the trail the 2011 would pull the d8 pretty hard. Up a hill especially in the powder, there was an even bigger difference obviously. I’ve heard rumors on horsepower but we’ll save that for later. Polaris wouldn’t comment at all.
Those are the main 3 but there are many others too I’ll talk about.
As for similarities: They run the same clutch setup, same seat, same gas tank, same a-arms in the front, same track, skis, and same handle bar controls. They did however switch everything to metric. Which I think is fine, we just need to pick one and go with it. Also the stabilizer bar mounts totally different than the old ones.
The fit and finish on these things is amazing. The hood comes off in minutes pretty easily and they told me that you can remove the top part of the sub frame motor cage easily to pull the motor out the top of the chassis. However, to change plugs, belt, chain case oil and all the maintenance items, the side panels come off with no tools in a matter of about 5 or 6 seconds. And yes they come completely off easily. The nice thing is no more digging out a screw driver to change a belt and there is way more clearance to change the belt than there used to be. It will slide right off. Nice Change!
Also on the maintenance subject, I worried about how they put the brake disc and rotor on the outside of the chain case, that it would be a lot more work to change the oil in the chain case, but they made a drain plug in the bottom and put the fill plug on the side so now they will be way easier to change and it will be faster and you won’t have to worry about getting too much or not enough oil. Way better design!! Just fill it till it runs out.
Also because the chassis is 300% stiffer, the Polaris guys claimed belt life had also increased by 3 times! They said that no one had blown a belt in any of the sleds and they all had 300-400 miles on them when we rode them. They must have been fairly confident because not a single one of those sleds had a spare belt on it! Lol
The new gauge is nice because it is easier to read, less conducive to get snow packed into it, and most importantly, you can read your tac and your water temp or speed at the same time. It even has a 3 minute record playback mode so you can hit a hill and then come back down and watch what your temps and rpm's did during the whole run. Cool feature!
They were also saying they used less oil. Don’t know any details about that though. However the fuel economy seemed really good. In all the time we rode, I started with just under ¾ tank and ended up with still above half, so that was kind of encouraging seeing as we have such cheap gas prices and all!! LMAO
I read someone ask if there is room for a bigger track and I would think you could probably put on a camoplast extreme 2.5, but that would be tight. I took a pic the best I could of the clearance.
Another change was the airbox is no longer tied into the headlight assembly and controls. It is sealed off so there will be much less chance of snow getting in the motor.
The handle bars are the pro-taper minibike bars and are great. On my own sled I will tilt them toward me a tad because they felt like they were a little to far away, but that will be an easy adjustment. I just wish they had the gauge and hand warmer controls on the bars instead of between your legs like on the 2010 dragon, but at least they aren’t just on the gauge itself. That is my personal preference though. Not a big deal.
I really think that they did there homework on this sled and tried to think of everything they could to make them lighter and yet not sacrifice durability. It definitely feels stronger, stiffer, and lighter, and is much easier to control and get it to go where you want it to go and not were it wants you to go. I especially noticed that when I was going up a steep hell side ways and was standing on the upper running board with my “wrong foot forward” and I needed to go around a 6” tree. I just pushed the bars down the hill away from my body to get around the tree and then pulled them back to brig it back around and it was just effortless. I just couldn’t believe how rider friendly this sled is. It’s amazing.
Like I said, I’ve ridden cat 4 out of the last 5 years, and I still love that chassis, but Polaris has buried everybody, including themselves with this new chassis and setup. It just has the whole package, from the even solid power throughout the whole rmp range to the light nimble tight handling chassis; it is just FUN to ride.
I really can’t wait to get one. I haven’t snowchecked for a few years now because I, like everyone else, am usually apprehensive to buy a “first year sled” thinking I’ll just wait a year and let them work the bugs out. But like I said, Polaris with there past issues has way to much riding on this project to have it be a flop or even have any issues for that matter, so I think they have really done their homework on this and I’m anticipating it will all come together. After riding it I’m VERY confident in it and I’m just really glad I got to ride one and I am way excited for next season! Yes, I already wrote out the check for the $500 deposit. I hope the “committee/wife” is OK. LOL
Feel free to pm me or just post with any questions you may have, and no, I don’t work for Polaris, I was just way impressed!!!
Mike
I was very impressed. I've been sledding for 11 years now and been riding D8 turbo this year, Cat 4 out of the last 5 before that, and Yamaha every other year, from turbo rx-1's to union bay 900 mountain max's. The first year I rode was back in 99-00 and I had a teal 97 RMK. So I'm not bias toward any sled. I have my own little repair shop also, so I’ve worked on several sleds and done countless mods to all sorts of brands. I’ve never owned a skidoo, but ridden them quite a bit and I think they go “up” the hill better than any other “stock” sled. They just seem to jump up on the snow instead of trenching. The reason I don’t own one is because I love to ride in the steep steep side hills in and out of the trees and IMO they take quite a bit more energy to do that than on the cat or the Polaris.
Anyway my .02 about the new sled… I LOVED IT!!!
As you all know they weigh in at 431 lbs. Super light and the nice thing is they’re light in all the right places and the actually FEEL much lighter.
I was also encouraged that the sleds we rode were actual 2011 model year sleds. The 10th digit in the VIN indicates the year of the sled and it is a “B” meaning it is a 2011. The 2010’s are an A and prior to that the year was a number. (This works on all vins by the way, so an 05 is a 5 in the 10th position. My sled had about 350 miles on it and they did tell us that these are the production sleds that meet the new emissions. Personally I really don’t care about the emissions, but, I hate to see companies release a “prototype sled that kicks butt and then the production sled comes out the next year and way underperforms. That is disappointing to everyone. I actually asked them twice and they confirmed they are in fact production models.
They would not comment at all on the motors, but I can tell you this from looking at them for myself. They have a different voltage regulator, different CDI, and they only have 2 injectors instead of 4. Other than that, things “look” the same under there. I know they are making more power because they had the same 10-62 weights, same black purple spring, and same helix as the stock 2010 D8’s and that clutch set up as we all know will not work at elevation in the mountains because the D8’s clutched like that would only tack at about 7800. These sleds we rode pulled a solid 8250 all day with the same clutching. So put that into whatever horsepower formula you want, but the sled flat out makes more power. It was noticeable too.
This was unlike most demo rides too, we rode follow the leader for 9 miles of groomed trail with no no instructions to not pass the leader, but then when we got to where we were going, we were turned loose for the next hour and a half to do whatever and ride wherever we wanted, so Steve (Northstar’s owner), Tyler (service manager), Kobi (“tuner” guy), and Brett Jensen (local Polaris rep) and myself went and rode these things how we ride everyday. We found some steep 35 degree south slopes full of trees, and rode up down across horizontal, u-turns anything we could and tried these things out like a true mountain sled and they flat out performed!
Biggest differences:
#1 the thing would flat out get up on top of the snow way way better than the dragons. It would stay more level and it wouldn’t trench near as bad. It was just way easier to control. It behaved more like a skidoo than the dragon going up hill. Every time you thought you were going to get stuck it would just keep going, and right before you stopped, if you would just turn a little sideways for a few feet, you could gain enough momentum to crank it right back strait up the hill and keep going. (something much harder to do on the doo)
2 Way easier to maintain a side hill. IMO anyone can side hill a sled going balls out up the hill, but it takes much more control and ability to do it going down hill, or even strait across a steep hill at 2-3 mph. Somehow the changes in the chassis (probably because it’s narrower belly pan and different geometry) would allow you to hold the sidehill much easier and the key is with much less effort equaling much less fatigue. I felt like I could ride it all day long without stopping, which is essentially what we did. Even on the steepest hills you could head down about half way and turn right around and head right back up the hill. The biggest difference is too, is that it wouldn’t “wash out” like the 2010’s would. There was a few times I caught a ski on a tree a little to big to run over and had to stop going across the side-hill, unhook the ski, but then I could just continue on the same line without getting stuck. It was so amazing. I actually stopped a few times going across a steep side hill just to see if I could get going again and maintain the same line. It was awesome! That is what was so entertaining about this whole ride too is that we were able to jump back and forth between the 2010 and the 2011 several times to make fair comparisons, and the 2011 outperformed the 2010 in absolutely every aspect of the ride.
#3 Way better on the trail. Like I said we rode 9 miles of trail until we got to the mountains where we got to ride and where I ride I usually have 2-3 miles at the most so that part was way different for me. They told us to go as fast as we wanted and to really lean into the corners and I was pretty impressed how they would stay level and corner and not have nearly the “body roll” that the 2010’s have. That actually made me nervous because I figured that would translate into being harder to sidehill in the mountains, but as you already read, the opposite was true it was actually easier to sidehill. So I don’t know how they figured this all out: how to make it better on the trail, even around fast corners and yet easier to sidehill. But it just works. On the way back I jumped on a 2010 and tried to ride the same way, and I just about lost it (tipped over at 60mph) around one of the corners. Another big difference on the trail is when you hit bumps at 60mph the old ones would start to whip and these new ones wouldn’t at all, they would always stay heading strait down the trail and they took the bumps way better. Like I said, I’m not the guy to ask too many details about the trial riding, because I just don’t do it much, but from what I experienced, I was very impressed. Even racing the 2 down the trail the 2011 would pull the d8 pretty hard. Up a hill especially in the powder, there was an even bigger difference obviously. I’ve heard rumors on horsepower but we’ll save that for later. Polaris wouldn’t comment at all.
Those are the main 3 but there are many others too I’ll talk about.
As for similarities: They run the same clutch setup, same seat, same gas tank, same a-arms in the front, same track, skis, and same handle bar controls. They did however switch everything to metric. Which I think is fine, we just need to pick one and go with it. Also the stabilizer bar mounts totally different than the old ones.
The fit and finish on these things is amazing. The hood comes off in minutes pretty easily and they told me that you can remove the top part of the sub frame motor cage easily to pull the motor out the top of the chassis. However, to change plugs, belt, chain case oil and all the maintenance items, the side panels come off with no tools in a matter of about 5 or 6 seconds. And yes they come completely off easily. The nice thing is no more digging out a screw driver to change a belt and there is way more clearance to change the belt than there used to be. It will slide right off. Nice Change!
Also on the maintenance subject, I worried about how they put the brake disc and rotor on the outside of the chain case, that it would be a lot more work to change the oil in the chain case, but they made a drain plug in the bottom and put the fill plug on the side so now they will be way easier to change and it will be faster and you won’t have to worry about getting too much or not enough oil. Way better design!! Just fill it till it runs out.
Also because the chassis is 300% stiffer, the Polaris guys claimed belt life had also increased by 3 times! They said that no one had blown a belt in any of the sleds and they all had 300-400 miles on them when we rode them. They must have been fairly confident because not a single one of those sleds had a spare belt on it! Lol
The new gauge is nice because it is easier to read, less conducive to get snow packed into it, and most importantly, you can read your tac and your water temp or speed at the same time. It even has a 3 minute record playback mode so you can hit a hill and then come back down and watch what your temps and rpm's did during the whole run. Cool feature!
They were also saying they used less oil. Don’t know any details about that though. However the fuel economy seemed really good. In all the time we rode, I started with just under ¾ tank and ended up with still above half, so that was kind of encouraging seeing as we have such cheap gas prices and all!! LMAO
I read someone ask if there is room for a bigger track and I would think you could probably put on a camoplast extreme 2.5, but that would be tight. I took a pic the best I could of the clearance.
Another change was the airbox is no longer tied into the headlight assembly and controls. It is sealed off so there will be much less chance of snow getting in the motor.
The handle bars are the pro-taper minibike bars and are great. On my own sled I will tilt them toward me a tad because they felt like they were a little to far away, but that will be an easy adjustment. I just wish they had the gauge and hand warmer controls on the bars instead of between your legs like on the 2010 dragon, but at least they aren’t just on the gauge itself. That is my personal preference though. Not a big deal.
I really think that they did there homework on this sled and tried to think of everything they could to make them lighter and yet not sacrifice durability. It definitely feels stronger, stiffer, and lighter, and is much easier to control and get it to go where you want it to go and not were it wants you to go. I especially noticed that when I was going up a steep hell side ways and was standing on the upper running board with my “wrong foot forward” and I needed to go around a 6” tree. I just pushed the bars down the hill away from my body to get around the tree and then pulled them back to brig it back around and it was just effortless. I just couldn’t believe how rider friendly this sled is. It’s amazing.
Like I said, I’ve ridden cat 4 out of the last 5 years, and I still love that chassis, but Polaris has buried everybody, including themselves with this new chassis and setup. It just has the whole package, from the even solid power throughout the whole rmp range to the light nimble tight handling chassis; it is just FUN to ride.
I really can’t wait to get one. I haven’t snowchecked for a few years now because I, like everyone else, am usually apprehensive to buy a “first year sled” thinking I’ll just wait a year and let them work the bugs out. But like I said, Polaris with there past issues has way to much riding on this project to have it be a flop or even have any issues for that matter, so I think they have really done their homework on this and I’m anticipating it will all come together. After riding it I’m VERY confident in it and I’m just really glad I got to ride one and I am way excited for next season! Yes, I already wrote out the check for the $500 deposit. I hope the “committee/wife” is OK. LOL
Feel free to pm me or just post with any questions you may have, and no, I don’t work for Polaris, I was just way impressed!!!
Mike
