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Went on the Polaris 800 Pro-RMK 155 4 hour Demo Ride

me and my 2 best friends that ride together all the time ended up with a unique set up this year (all 3 of us have been on skidoo xps for last few years) i bought a new 2011 m8 standard 153 a few weeks ago, one buddy bought a 2011 pro rmk 163 a couple weeks ago and the other buddy is still on a 2010 summit 146 800.
we just spent 3 days of hard riding in the up of michigan carving meadows and sidehilling everything we can find. i agree that the pro is a wicked sled. I love my m8 and have wanted one for the last few years and finally bought one knowing it was my last chance before the new model. but the pro handles very similar to the m8 and we ran some super technical sidehills (lowsnow and steep) and i could run a great cut with both the m and the pro where as the summit bucked me off halfway across and i was sloppy the whole time (and i have 3 seasons on a xp summit...lol).
We did some races on trail and in deep powder (no mnts to climb here). the pro smoked the xp everytime every where (have video showing the pro eat the xp on a lake with about 3 feet of snow on it by 5 sled lenghts). the m8 got the jump on the pro on the trail by about a sled lenght but at about 50 the pro would catch and pass the m8. we let off and quit at 80mph.
in the deep snow on the lake the m8 got the jump on the pro and stayed in the lead the whole time.
we had a ball playing with these 3 sleds side by side. now that im used to my m its very easy to switch to the pro and not skip a beat, but it is now harder to ride the xp even after having 3 years of riding experience on it.
it seems like there are enough guys out there with alot of miles on the polaris 800 in the pro and the rush that the motor seems to be holding together really well. i think polaris hit a home run with the pro. i bought my m8 becasue i always wanted to own one since its the iconic mtn sled, but the main reasons was durability and reliability. cat has the current m sleds tweaked to perfection and i love the sled. i think the pro is on the same level as the m. it is gonna be a game changer and the little tweaks it gest along the way will only make it better. polaris did a great job on this sled especially for a first year.
 
You can be sure the demo ride sleds are tuned perfect. Prob why one burned down.

I have never trusted demo rides since riding a 06 m7 153 demo (these sled where brought to the hill by cat), to this day I think it would spank my m1000. I almost think it was a demo m1000 with a race map. My friend had a 05 m7 162 that was the best running one we had seen, he flipped the track to hillclimb and the snow was hard, the demo sled had a track in the pow position but it was a 90 duro A20 demo track. We drag raced (at 9000ft) I left the line so hard he gave up after 50ft because I was already more than 3 lengths ahead and pulling away, tried twice same results. He would set a high mark and I would go over the top pulling a wheelie. at times I could barely hold on to the thing or thought I was going over. Ever since then I can't trust it, and wish I would have stole that sled.

When the 2010 came out the dealer got some demo's that where dropped at his shop and then they took them up, some of them wouldn't pull rpm and felt lame. So who knows, But like anything setup is key. Good write up Frostbite.
 
good report... but wyo hit it rite on the head.....the demos and the early release sleds usually run better then the production ones...
 
good report... but wyo hit it rite on the head.....the demos and the early release sleds usually run better then the production ones...
when polaris did the promo rides last year...many guys who rode those sleds said the production sled they received this fall ran even better....
 
So 7-9 months later they could tell the difference. I would think they where close, but a bad setup can make any sled a bomb.
 
So 7-9 months later they could tell the difference. I would think they where close, but a bad setup can make any sled a bomb.
I have no idea..since i didnt ride a demo, just relating what some have said...but I did find that odd as well..
 
Thanks Frosbite for doing a nice write-up. I was saying similar things about the pro on the 2012 cat thread and the way cat is heading. From riding one myself numerous times and watching chris Burandt do the things he did on a stock 163 I have to say its an M series, ONLY BETTER.

I can tell you all that this pro will climb higher than my sled everytime? With the sway bars it is harder to tip over, but eaiser to balance than the M. I asked burandt about the sway bar and he said Vohk and himself removed it at first, then put it back, then last they made it out of different material and he loved it?

If cat ruins the M series feeling were all used to in the 2012. I will be buying a 12' pro rmk.
 
pos polaris

After 30 years of riding polaris and switching to ac last year i can say polaris is years behind. They live in the days of indys rule.I have said things on snowest since i bought a ac and have been trashed. look at my red label by my name. These poo people think if the can go a season and not blow a engine they are running good,Heaters work like crap, steers like crap, handles even worse. If you like to try and keep up with the other 2 mt. sleds like a m8 or summit buy a polaris and run it wide open all day. You will be buying parts buy the end of the trip. They can kind of keep up but it is a high price to pay. A lot of busted parts. And I still own 2 polaris sleds and a atv. Sleds are old enough that they still work ok and polaris does make some good atv. Otherwise they would be gone also. So come on and trash me some more polaris people. I know what you are riding. Been there and done that. STUCK NO MORE.
 
stable

Been ridin with the pro all year, and this sled is solid and stable in every area must say I'm impressed. One more thing we have noticed it gets really good gas mileage too. Seems to use way less gas than other sleds in group..
 
Glenn, tell your buddy to get the rpms' up to 82-8300 on a steep/deep climb and then try it...big big difference when they pull rpm...very good ride report frostbite, one of the best i have seen on the pro...also, the rear skid on the pro is very very sensitive to adjustments...1 turn on either shock totally changes the feel of the sled(doesnt seem to hamper its ability to climb up on the snow too much unless you go drastic on the changes), so if you ride one and dont like the way it feels....give a twist on the shocks and see what it does for you....the owners manual has a pretty good guide in it for proper weight adjustments to start with...hope that helps...
AK, I am that buddy, surprise surprise. The weird thing is I have noticed this same trait with my sled, the dealers demo sled, and one of the 800 standard RMKS in their rental fleet. Just doesn't hold the RPMS like the cats do. That being said, I agree with Glenn on all accounts. I have also had a few major issues with mine (broken motor mount, primary clutch bolt snapped, bad injector) with only 650 miles on the sled. I know of 5 other pro rmks around here that have been flawless however. I honestly do think that the pro has set the bar for future mountain sleds however. Just the chassis alone is pretty amazing. However you look at it, it will be good for the industry in general. I can't wait to see what cat comes out with next year.
 
This has generated a lot of discussion. Cat's answer to this sled should be forthcoming very shortly. I wonder if Cat will be able to harness some of the best traits from this sled like Polaris did from the M series?

However, the new M (or whatever it may be called) was probably on the drawing board and finalized before Polaris released this sled last year. The fresh ideas I would like to see harvested from this sled are the structural rigidity, the narrowness and the use of structural adhesives in effort to shave weight.

Let's keep our fingers crossed.
 
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