My wife wants a sled

[Bigsaint]

And I need some input. I've never owned a snowmobile. I need one that will handle two adults and or 1 adult and 1 child. I don't need the biggest and baddest, though the HP junkie in me has already started to look at the ones with 140 HP . I wouldn't mind one with the reverse feature as my wife will be undoubtly piloting the sled without me at times.



Any suggestions as what to lean towards or stay from would be greatly appreciated



TIA!



Scott W.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

I recently bought a used one off Ebay. . . turned out the seller was Doug Hofeldt, the cool hood guy

I guess before that, it belonged to Barry Sadler, aka Dr. Performance LOL



It is a '93 Polaris Indy XLT 600 3-cyl. , I guess I'll find out how I did here in a couple weeks. I have been on a snowmobile only once since 1983



Vaughn

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

Hey scott I'll come to the rescue again for ya. Me ... I have a ZRT 600 tripple Artic Cat ..... 130 H. P me... . I Love it (in fact it has caused wars when I beat a SRX 700 Yamaha and a MAch Z SkiDoo) Granted I have just a set of reeds , clutch , M~10 suspension , and silencer.



My buds wife has a Skidoo #ad
MXZ Fan cooled 500. (Now there 550's) I think its great , Light , nimble , great trail rig. Perfect for women who are not grabbing fistfulls of throttle standing the skis. The Mxz is no joke either its handling is what makes it shine especialy on the less groomed trails.



Yamaha is more or less on the performance scale of things (First year of the X~1 ... . Sweet but someone else can ginnuea pig it. Polaris ... . Great sled indeed just I haven't really gave much thought to 'em. I saw that 140 Hp look in your eyes Artic cat ThunderCat 1000 170 HP ... ... BAM!

or the zr900 ... ... ... ... 150 H. P



#ad






Think your 12 R is fast? No comparrison to a sled whatsoever! The above sleds mentioned hurt ... ... BAD. Accel is double the bike (I dragraced my 7R racebike against my own sled (Incredibly stupid thing to do) and it just beat me up til I hit 3/4 of a Quarter and I CREPT BY And that can be bad on the trail when whoops are there and whatnot wrenchin you arround it can ruin a day.

 

[RedRam1]

Tim,



Are you serious about those sleds being quicker than Scott's 12R!!! I'm an old(er) guy and have been out of the bike scene for a while. My last street bike was a bombed 1260cc GS1100 Suzuki that would run 10. 20's @ around 132mph - probably a tick slower than a 12R huh? Anyway, I've never been on a sled (Georgia boy), but can't imagine one of those things running 10 sec 1/4's. Are they really that quick? What's the top end?

 

[rspinks]

A 1000cc Thundercat is ~ 175hp and 600lbs so power/weight is probably comparable to an open class bike. Clutched right and on asphalt I wouldn't be surprised if a stock Tcat was in the low 10's.



Unless you are strictly trail cruising you may find 2-up sort of bites on a sled. Sleds require alot of rider input, weight transfer and sometimes acrobatics to make them go where you want. Kind of like 2-up on a dirtbike sucks, enduro maybe OK, street bike no real problem. Again trail riding no problem 2-up and they do have specific 2-up touring sleds with longer seats, tracks, stiffer springs, etc.



I own one but I have to say it anyways, Yamaha triples are smooth, powerful, reliable, well-built and the '97 and up chassis is a great design. Plus they get awesome fuel mileage which just means you end up refilling your friends' empty AC and P sleds near the end of the day.



Let the AC and P versus Yamaha wars begin!



Rich

 

[Bigsaint]

Thanks Guys, good info for sure . LOL@ toolman, leading me down the path of more self destruction



BTW, Toolman, the 12R will be bottle fed next spring ( dry shot, single stage) for some kick a$$ attempts at low 9s in the 1/4. Should put me around 190+ RWHP, unless I add a full race exhaust, then some more.



Scott W.

 

[Whitmore]

Bigsaint

Do yourself and your wife a favor before you commit to anything yet, stall the purchase for awhile and make a trip to jellystone park this winter, they rent 2up machines there and have a few different kinds to offer. do the trip and then you can decide if you want 1 or 2, I bet you go for 2 sleds, much more fun that way.

If you do go to the 2up make sure you get a water cooled sled, that goes for any sled in my opinion.



happy trails, Kevin

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

Originally posted by Bigsaint

LOL@ toolman, leading me down the path of more self destruction



BTW, Toolman, the 12R will be bottle fed next spring attempting low 9s in the 1/4.

Hate to tell ya scott we pulled a 9. 56 on a 12 R ... ... Bone Stard Stock! (Tiedowned the front forks) (bennys 12 r banged out 181 on the momentum dyno with a power commander , muzzy exhaust and k&n)



Or you could allways ride the GsXR-1100 supercharged nitro street ... . STREETbike (Fully legal) That SMASHED 236 rwhp Man I remember lou's face when the screen showed that run Man 236 can be hairy



Ahem



<div align="center">



<h2>So you see... </h2>

Artic Cat Rulz



*Atchoo!* *Sniff oh look Rich, How'd that get there?

 

[Bigsaint]

Toolman, cool stuff. I'm going with the throttle in a bottle first, only mod to the pipe so far is a Yoshi Race bolt on, the the cat will be gutted pre-N20. I'm replacing the front sprocket with a 17 tooth'r ( 1 down from 18). I will strap the front before I run and then hold on for dear live !!! 9. 56 is very respectable, I doubt I'll see anything that low until I get my launches down. If I change out the exhaust, I'm leaning towards a Akra or stepped Hidle full system. The bikes so damn fast stock, just can't see spending 700-900 just for a full exhaust and a 20 HP gain. The N20 kit cost me $300. Should be a big enough kicker when I want to really play, at least for now . If I push it above 200 RWHP, I'll need one of Muzzys clutch baskets at a minimum.



Thanks again for the advice. Once I told the wife how much a new sled was going to cost, she's having second thoughts. Last winter $ucked here, hardley any snow. The winter before was great, so it's kinda hit and miss.



Kev... thanks for the info. I'd love to get out there, but the trip would be eatting into my sled money. Maybe I'll try something closer in New England or the Poconos.



Scott W.

 

[JHansen]

I just got myself a new sled-a new REV-chassied MXZ800..... man is it nice! I fully anticipate getting tossed into a powerline as I make my way up the learning curve as the last sled I rode before this was a 77 T'NT 440 fan 10 years ago or better. When I informed the salesman of this fact he said with a straight face "I think you're gonna notice a little more suspension and a little more power"... .....



And RER kicks butt! You wouldn't believe how many people's eyes get big when you hit the magic button and the sled seemingly stalls and then comes back to life with a backup alarm blaring away. Pretty cool to spit snow out the front at casual onlookers too! ... ... .



I don't think I'm ever gonna touch the capabilities of this baby-and I realize with the 121" track it's next to useless in the mountains... . but avalanche rescue ain't my thing and I've never been on anything that rides so nice over nasty terrain-I think it rides better than my truck. It actually lulls you into thinking the ground is a lot more even then it actually is-which I found out when swapping with my fellow riders a few times on Sunday... ...



Jason

 

[FATCAT]

Artic Cat

Artic Cat all the way ... go with a Batteryless sled.



Remember ... . "If it ain't a Cat ... its a dog".

 

[JHansen]

Something I meant to mention initially but forgot about as well is that you can get a 2-up seat for the REV chassis that just pops off and on-it fits over where the rear storage compartment is. A little over $500 CDN-but an option to make the sled usable for 2 people... ... .



Jason

 

[Sled Puller]

Through the 1980s and up to about 95, Polaris just flat out RULED in the handling department, it is a wonder the others stayed in business.

When the 90's hit, the others started catching up, Ski-Doo made HUGE leaps the last 10 years, so did Yamaha.



Of course, they all started to use Polaris ideas on suspension.



I think it is to the point now, you can't buy a bad one, any make.





I have found out, the lighter, the better. A 700 twin would be great, decently light, plenty of power.