(Season 2007-08) TY Mileage - mdkuni

[mdkuni]

I spent a lot of time getting my sled ready this year. I tore both the front and rear suspension down and checked all bearings and bushings and replaced as necessary. I had my brand new w-arm reinforced in hopes of it lasting this season. And I cleaned every part of the sled I could get to. I also had a new muffler installed last year due to it being cracked. It was replaced under warranty.

New additions to the sled include new USI X2 skis, Ulmer's air box mod, Yamaha marginal wheel kit, and a set of Skinz Heatloc hand guards. I have switched back to my 07 updated bars since I purchased the hand guards.

I am now living at Houghton Lake so I am hoping to get many more miles on this year since I can ride any day there is snow!

We did get about an inch and a half on Thanksgiving and on Friday night I took the sled down to the power lines for a quick couple runs (about 2 miles) to ease the pain and make sure everything is in working order. Everything is great and it felt real good to be on the sled again!

I did find one last set of bushings that I missed though. The sway bar bushings were shot so I have a set on order.

I plan to do a review of the whole sled when I reach 10,000 miles. I can't wait!

My starting mileage is 8,169

Think snow!

 

[mdkuni]

Saturday I headed to Kalkaska and arrived at about 8:15. I rode until about 4:30 and put on 230 miles. The trails had anywhere from 6"-12". The snow was light and very little to no base. With all of the traffic the trails did not last to long but still were good enough to ride on. I started to ride to Charlevoix but had to turn around due to lack of snow. I did make it to Gaylord.

The sled is running awesome! The Skinz hand guards are the way to go! I have my 07 bars on and I can feel the heat finally!

Saturday it snowed enough (about 6") at Houghton Lake that I was able to ride the local trails on Sunday. They were far better then any I rode on Sat. The snow was wet and it was raining/freezing raining most of the day. This did create a nice base. I rode the local loops and headed to Roscommon and back. Total miles was about 140.

After riding and wiping my goggles every couple minutes, I washed my goggles with Bio-Kleen polish and it is the best thing you can do to goggles or shields in the wet weather. The water beads right up and blows off.

The X2 skis are DANGEROUS in powder or deep heavy snow. I will be calling USI tomorrow. When you let off the throttle at speed the skis sink and turn hard left or right. SCARY! I put the Project X's back on for the day.

I did run the lake for a little bit but kept close to shore or turned around on the island. Still needs a week or so of cold temps.

I cannot believe how strong this sled runs.

 

[mdkuni]

I have been riding every night after work. About 70 miles a night. The trails are beautiful! The temps have been great to. Not to many pictures to show you from the night riding.

I plan on trying to make it to the Mackinac Bridge and back on Saturday so hopefully I will have many pictures then.

The X2 skis are a little better after some more tuning. Not what I expected them to be but they are ok.

Some of the trails were groomed tonight. What a great sight!

 

[nyattak]

Glad to see you in the contest again this year. Nice pics.

For 6-12" of snow, the snowdrifts look pretty deep.

 

[mdkuni]

Glad to see you in the contest again this year. Nice pics.

For 6-12" of snow, the snowdrifts look pretty deep.

Thanks!

The wind was really blowing so some of those drifts were pushing 2 feet!

 

[mdkuni]

As you may have seen in my other post, I was heading to the Mackinac Bridge on Saturday when my drive axle snapped in half. 110 mile away from home. Trails were some of the best I have ridden on. This is how you ruin a great trip. After an expensive ride back home, got the truck headed back north and picked up the sled, thanks to a couple Yamaha guys on Nytro's who helped me drag it to the side of the road and on to the trailer.

Since the sled was going to be down, I removed the shock and sent it in for another revalve 1500 miles since the last one as it was blowing through the stroke again.

I spoke with USI and since I am so unsatisfied with the X2 skis they will be taking them back and giving me a refund. Hopefully they come through.

I did order a set of Slydog race version skis today for the replacement.

I have spent some time on my Dad's 98 Vmax 600 that has over 10,000 miles on it this week. There were sleds before this but I really spent a lot of time on this sled when it was bought until 2004 when I bought my first sled. So riding it again had brought back some great memories and it is still a blast to ride! Even more so since I added my old Project X skis to it. It corners like it is on rails! It also makes me wish I never sold my Viper. What a beautiful sled, I will always beat myself up for letting that one go.

I did get some nice pictures in before my problems!

 

[nyattak]

mdkuni
Its always nice to get some help from other Yamaha guys. Sorry to hear about your axle, hopefully everything works out. As usual, nice pictures! Also, I am curious how many miles the lake is and how thick the ice is.

 

[mdkuni]

mdkuni
Its always nice to get some help from other Yamaha guys. Sorry to hear about your axle, hopefully everything works out. As usual, nice pictures! Also, I am curious how many miles the lake is and how thick the ice is.

I wish I could have got more pictures, especially of the bridge. I guess you have to pay to play.

Houghton Lake has 32 miles of shoreline. It is awesome running for sleds. The ice is pushing about 8" right now. It will get much thicker if we get a cold winter. It freezes solid, I have seen anything from helicopters to monster trucks on the ice. It is close to 8 miles straight across. Average depth is only about 7-8ft.

 

[rxrider]

I envy you the great conditions you have. Here up north temps have been in the 40ties for some time now with heavy winds and rain. Almost all snow is gone at sealevel, damn even the grass on my lawn are starting to show. Weathergirl calls for warm weather until tuesday night when it's going to get colder any finally starting to snow again.

 

[mdkuni]

Well, it has been a very long time. Too long. I have had some issues with my sled and has caused some down time. I have spent a good amount of riding on my Dad's 98 VMAX XT that has just shy of 12,000 miles on it. I have rode about 600 miles on that sled this year so far while my sled was down.

I have still captured pictures of my rides and would like to share the pictures with you all even though I do not have a daily report to go with them, but I will try to go over the basics.

The ghost town picture is on a trail that leads to Kalkaska. It is an empty sight with this sign and a couple other markers. It is weird knowing a town use to be right there. Pretty cool.

After my failed attempt to reach the Mackinac bridge this year I headed for another attempt. This time I am happy to report I was successful ! It is about 280 miles round trip. I put on about 70 miles earlier in the day with a couple people and then started the ride to the bridge at about 1 PM. It was about 8 hours round trip and I posted 357 miles that day which is the most I have ever put on in a day. The ride back was slower as it was during our Jan thaw and the fog was thick. For about 30+ miles it is long a straight which becomes a very quick fast trail. Many miles at 90+mph. What a blast! This led me to learn thought that I need ear plugs with a MX style helmet. The wind noise is unbearable and left my ears ringing. I have been riding with plugs now. Although I wish there was a quiet helmet. What a great trip though!

 

[rxrider]

Bike helmets are usually very quiet, at least the AGV racing helmet I used when I had my Kawasaki ZX9R crotch rocket, even at 250+ kmt or 150+ MPH it was fairly quiet. Bike helmets may not suit riding in cold weather tho, but I may give it a try. I have a Cold Wave sled helmet, it is not quiet :-( Air plugs would be nice. Wearing my AGV Snow-X helmet and Scott face mask are much more quiet than the Cold Wave, but on the cold days the Snow-X is out of the question.

 

[mdkuni]

Bike helmets are usually very quiet, at least the AGV racing helmet I used when I had my Kawasaki ZX9R crotch rocket, even at 250+ kmt or 150+ MPH it was fairly quiet. Bike helmets may not suit riding in cold weather tho, but I may give it a try. I have a Cold Wave sled helmet, it is not quiet :-( Air plugs would be nice. Wearing my AGV Snow-X helmet and Scott face mask are much more quiet than the Cold Wave, but on the cold days the Snow-X is out of the question.

My full face does not have near the wind noise of my MX style helmet. You were probably crouched down on your bike behind the fairing? Yea, the MX style is a colder helmet but I love getting the cold air to breath as opposed to the warm air created in the enclosed helmet.

 

[mdkuni]

Here are some pictures from several weekends of riding. The woods have been quite the sight all covered in snow. It is a beautiful ride. Have seen a fair amount of animals in the woods.

Tip Up Town drew quite the crowd on the second weekend! It is the most sleds I ever remember seeing. Fireworks are the best around.

Enjoy the pictures.

 

[mdkuni]

Here are a couple more Tip Up Town pictures with all of the sleds, the crowd for the Polar Bear Dip, me diving in, and some other activities. Over 200 people jumped in the lake this year!

My ride on Saturday I rode all the way to Oscoda which is the east side of the state. I have never rode those trails before and they were great!

I am now running the ZX2 in my Apex so I was able to give it a work out this weekend.

 

[rxrider]

Cool pics