2011 Apex XTX ride reviews yet?

[KnappAttack]

Snow in the Twin Cities. Any ride reviews at all? really thinking about trying the new XTX with power steering. Wife wants a sled with real easy steering with her bad shoulders. The old man isn't far behind with the bad elbow either. LOL! Not sure I'm quite ready to give up my turbo XR1200 just yet though.

How easy it it really in the steering dept.? Hows the ride, fuel mileage etc.?

Inquiring minds want to know!

 

[Grimm]

Come on...just buy one...only one person's opinion matters...and that's your wife...she'll love ya for it and you get to ride it too.

 

[KnappAttack]

First want to make sure it is all that in the steering dept. Did you see the latest issue of SnowTech?

They claimed they couldn't tell that it had power steering. they said it felt like it had lost about 40 lbs. Trouble is in reality it appears it has gained 30+ pounds over the machine it replaces according to posted weights.

Wet weights full of fuel for Attak according to MaxSled @667 lbs. Wet weight according to Yamaha manual @ 699 for XTX. The Ski-Doo Renegade XR1200 is 607 full of fuel weighed by AM Snow and it has a 10.8 gallon tank, so it is really over 90 lbs lighter full of fuel. Even lighter than the Nytro XTX!

How easy is the new Apex with aggressive carbides like the Sno-Trackers or 8" Slim Jims going to be? Real easy or just somewhat easier? Feeling less confident after reading the article in SnowTech, you would think with power steering it would feel feather weight right?

 

[Turk]

I rode a proto last winter. I could not tell it had eps but thats a good thing as turning was not even an issue nor did i even think about it. The same skid in the xtx rode 10X better then my nytro xtx & it was way better then the se they had. Best riding yammie i ever rode. I might wait till they put eps in the vector ltx as it was a real eye opener at the demo rides & probably yammies biggest secret.

 

[SledFreak]

First want to make sure it is all that in the steering dept. Did you see the latest issue of SnowTech?

They claimed they couldn't tell that it had power steering. they said it felt like it had lost about 40 lbs. Trouble is in reality it appears it has gained 30+ pounds over the machine it replaces according to posted weights.

Wet weights full of fuel for Attak according to MaxSled @667 lbs. Wet weight according to Yamaha manual @ 699 for XTX. The Ski-Doo Renegade XR1200 is 607 full of fuel weighed by AM Snow and it has a 10.8 gallon tank, so it is really over 90 lbs lighter full of fuel. Even lighter than the Nytro XTX!

How easy is the new Apex with aggressive carbides like the Sno-Trackers or 8" Slim Jims going to be? Real easy or just somewhat easier? Feeling less confident after reading the article in SnowTech, you would think with power steering it would feel feather weight right?

You are thinking the same as me... Not sure about this sled. I'm going to wait for snow and take one for a good rip before I decide anything. Power Wise, it looks pretty good, but with the added weight, I want to see how really good the EPS works on this sled. Adding a Yamahacharger, would give you 184-185hp and with an exhaust change I heard it's closer to 190. That would be a nice trail package. I also want to see how good it handles as my 06 GT, handled like junk if you ask me...

 

[evil eagle]

I rode two of the eps sleds last March. The first 3 miles of the ride was on a road that had trucks rutting up the snow surface a day or two before when it was above freezing and was frozen hard when I tried the sleds. The rest of the trip was on normal trail conditions.
First thing compaired to the older apexs on the rutts was the lack of feedback through the bars, the sled just drove strait through the rutts without any pull in the bars. Second the steering feel was very light and would take a day or two to get use to, you can steer it with my finger tips, and I did try that. I would pull the bar as normally as I would with my sled or like any others. But I would find myself over steering the bars. This is not a bad thing, once you get use to the effortless movement of the bars. Them I would'nt over correcting myself.
These sleds had the snowtrackers on them also.
These sleds are an improvement over my 06 apex, but I still feel right at home on them.

 

[slimjim2525]

I can tell you this, not that it is actually riding the sled. Just last night, I finished changing the oil in my phazer. So i decided to put the phazer and my 2011 apex in my trailer, and bring them to my buddys shop to get them out of the garage. I had them both started. I move the handle bars on the apex and was thinking, holy crap, I can't believe how easy it is to move the handle bars. Went to move the bars on the phazer, and noticed how hard it was to move the bars, whie the apex i could move the bars with one finger. It was very noticeable.

 

[whitedust1]

Snow tech was written when Yam was not revealing specs like EPS. Why Yam did vast mag test rides with tell me what you think marketing seemd weird as hell to me. All you had was impressions based on riding not on understanding new tech. Seemed to me Yam was copping out on weight issues & still doing it. Apex needs weight reduction too heavy horsing around in stuck powder & on trailer. Great sleds but come on reduce weight too.

 

[KnappAttack]

Snow tech was written when Yam was not revealing specs like EPS. Why Yam did vast mag test rides with tell me what you think marketing seemd weird as hell to me. All you had was impressions based on riding not on understanding new tech. Seemed to me Yam was copping out on weight issues & still doing it. Apex needs weight reduction too heavy horsing around in stuck powder & on trailer. Great sleds but come on reduce weight too.

I'd have to agree. For them to say it felt like the sled lost 40-50 lbs is not saying much for the power steering. Perhaps they were running over 35 MPH where the power steering starts to sign off. 35 MPH seems pretty low. 35 MPH is idling along unless your in tight trails. I would think with power steering it would steer easy at all speeds.

Problem is they added over 30lbs to the sleds over the machine they are replacing, which I don't like the thought of. There is lots of steel and unnecessary weight in these things they could get rid of without sacrificing any strength at all.

 

[SledFreak]

Snow tech was written when Yam was not revealing specs like EPS. Why Yam did vast mag test rides with tell me what you think marketing seemd weird as hell to me. All you had was impressions based on riding not on understanding new tech. Seemed to me Yam was copping out on weight issues & still doing it. Apex needs weight reduction too heavy horsing around in stuck powder & on trailer. Great sleds but come on reduce weight too.

I'd have to agree. For them to say it felt like the sled lost 40-50 lbs is not saying much for the power steering. Perhaps they were running over 35 MPH where the power steering starts to sign off. 35 MPH seems pretty low. 35 MPH is idling along unless your in tight trails. I would think with power steering it would steer easy at all speeds.

Problem is they added over 30lbs to the sleds over the machine they are replacing, which I don't like the thought of. There is lots of steel and unnecessary weight in these things they could get rid of without sacrificing any strength at all.

I agree.. The japs don't want to suffer QDR, which is over kill on this machine. I heard they can take off as much as 80lbs off the Nytro and suffer no ill effects as far as durability is concerned.

 

[journeyman]

I rode the demos at Waldoch's last season. The snow was a little mushy and muddy but it was still good enough to get a feel for the sleds. They took us out on the trails and we got to try them in the twisties and across some fields. There were also some pretty rough patches of stutter bumps too. The first sled I got on was the Apex XTX being they only had one I grabbed it right away or I might have never got to try it. After that I rode 3 different 128 models including the SE, a Nytro XTX and a Phazer. I had a hard time deciding if I liked the 144 better than the 128. I was surprised at how well that thing rode and hooked up.....much better than the former 121 models. The exhaust note is quieter with the new EXUP system. In the twisties I could really carve these new Apexes unlike what I have experienced with the previous non power steering models. I think it is a huge improvement. Finally a Yamaha 4 stroke I could carve like my old Viper. If you ride in the UP alot I could see getting the 144. I just thought I could corner the 128 a little better. All personal I guess on that one. If I was choosing between the SE and a std. Apex I may save my money and get the std. I thought they had them set up pretty well and could not tell much difference in the SE which is a good grand or so more. These things felt pretty fast too. I sensed they had more juice than the old Apex and I guess the new dyno reports show almost 13 more HP and even better torque. If you get the XTX the red sure is sharp looking!!

just my 2 cents......