2011 Mystery Sled!!!

[Rockmeister]

I don't need revolutionary, evolutionary will do. But the ski lift, high CG is what I want to go away. The spindles have to help, I guess we won't know until the 2nd if they did anything to lower the motor in the chassis. But so they lowered the sled cg 2 inches, then raised my body cg up 2-3. Net effect is TBD. The longer track, more protection, some weight savings, EPS, all sound good, but to me it has to handle better.

Lowering the CG of the machine is a very good thing.
This is built into the machine (fixed) and you want them to get it as low as possible.

As far as raising your body up possibly being a net zero gain, that is definitely not the case.
(Don't think you were saying this, think you were simply wondering.)

Many don't know that when you stand up on a Quad or Sled, you LOWER the center of gravity of the whole.
The reason is that you LOWER your weight contact point to your feet, from your seat.

Any vehicle that is "Rider Active" (real word/phrase), meaning that the riders movements change the handling characteristics, will gain by lowering the CG, even if the rider has raised up.
This is because the rider can move, thus moving the combined(Machine & Rider) CG around with the rider. (Left, Right, Up, and Down)

The lower the Fixed CG of the machine, the less effort the rider has to put into it to navigate a corner at speed.

Will cheer on any efforts to lower the CG of our machines.

 

[BlueByYou2000]

Let me get this straight...Tom posts his findings and impressions of the sled and some of you feel the need to think its some sort of conspiracy and that Tom can only post positive information?

Let me ask you doubters this:

1: Do ride exactly as Tom does?
2: Do you weigh exactly what Tom does?
3: Are you the same height as Tom?
4: Is your criteria of what makes a sled good the same as Toms?
5: Are you Tom?

If you answer is no to any of the above questions, maybe you should just reserve judgement until you ride one yourself. Until then, you can gripe and complain all you want, however your opinion is completely an uneducated one at this point!! Period...

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Rockmeister]

As far as the review, thanks for the info Tom!
Believe you pointed out what you really liked & also what could be improved and/or tuned in.
Thank you for sharing.
Appreciate the info & your opinion!
As far as bashing him for it, lay off already, he WAS willing to share & that's more than many.

Is the sled perfect? Probably not.
Will any sled made by anyone ever be perfect? Probably not.

It's the nature of the beast, we always want more.

As for myself, I am VERY happy with my Yamaha.
I beat the snot out of it (once in a while... lol) & it simply runs.
Everytime.
Have never been able to say that before about any sled I have ever owned.

Do I bleed Blue? No, not really. (Have owned everything but a Poo)
Can simply say I really like my sled, and I see no reason to even consider changing brands.

 

[RX-Eskimo]

I concur with those who appreciate the efforts of Tom to pass along his sled review. Many posters just seem to want to look at the negatives and/or bash BB.

This is after all, a totally yamaha site, not a general snowmobile site. Thanks for that review Tom, a lot of us are silent but we support this website and its sponsers because we buy Yamahas.

 

[hook-n-book]

All A's huh? Best sled ever?

You forgot to mention it is about 15+ lbs heavier and only slightly faster than the current Apex..

I know Yamaha has had TY in their back pocket since the mid 2000's, but a little objectivity would be appreciated.

Cant agree more They are so far deep into Yamahas pocket, I would just sell out and dump the site before it really bleeds blue....

If its not i'll shut it down,Then its i'm sellin .

 

[cmharcou]

There may be a lot of things different about this sled, but the appearance of the sled doesn't look any different that my Attak or Apex's out there. There are no drastic changes in design cosmetically. If I was on the trail running 30 or 40 I don't think I could say or there is a new 2011! You can't tell the difference until you really start looking. The first thing I notice is the front hood has the notches and the older Apex does not.

 

[fxr]

2011

All A's huh? Best sled ever?

You forgot to mention it is about 15+ lbs heavier and only slightly faster than the current Apex..

I know Yamaha has had TY in their back pocket since the mid 2000's, but a little objectivity would be appreciated.

how do you know it,s 15 lbs. heavier? everyone seems to be forgetting this sled is a pre-production unit. also this is one model you don,t even know what else they are coming out with. i won,t speak for the guys on the canadian ride but i didn,t here any complaints about the handling or the ride. sheesh!!

 

[y_guy]

Seriously, i am not sure i would want EPS on a sled. Seems quite dangerous to me. That said, i have never needed it on my Grizzly either. Maybe its nice, but certainly not worth what they charge for it..

I just can't figure out the excitment over EPS on a sled. What would be exciting is 160hp, 25lbs weight reduction, new rear skid design.

I loved my 06 RTX and love my 09 GT. But these things are getting up to 12k in price. i better get 12k worth of goods if i am going to buy a new sled.

 

[greenmntpass]

Tom, thanks for the review as well as all others who posted one. I wish I could be so lucky to as to take part in a demo ride. I like a lot of people look forward to the new posts every day before Feb. 2 for a little info. on the new model. From what I've read will it make everyone happy? No. There is no pleasing everyone. If it is EPS I can't see how it won't have a positive effect snowmobiling. I don't post a lot but I read a hell of a lot of posts. Where EPS would be huge for Yamaha sleds as it becomes more introduced is over on the NYTRO. After riding one and reading all the posts over there it would be greatly appreciated. Back in 2005 when we purchased our Apex's most of us had to spend some coin (some more than others) to get our sleds to handle, save our hyfax and keep our hands warm. Its taken 5 model years but it seems like the issues have been taken care of. Maybe for someone who trades every year for a new sled, the changes year to year don't seem that big a deal. Another side note thought. How many of your wives would like a sled with power steering? I know mine would. My wife is under the impression that her sled should handle like a BMW. Keep the reviews coming.

 

[marq]

Let me get this straight...Tom posts his findings and impressions of the sled and some of you feel the need to think its some sort of conspiracy and that Tom can only post positive information?

This sled could be the valedictorian of the 2011 class, or it could be a turd. I haven't driven it so I don't know. My thoughts when I read Tom's review were not of a conspiracy, but I'll admit to a smirk when I saw all but one "A" for the grades. I could see in my mind's eye how this thread would turn. Not because I didn't believe him (the sled has received nearly universal praise from those who rode it), but just from the fact that the owner of a Yamaha enthusiast website received an offer from Yamaha to ride a new sled, and then proceeded to give it high grades across the board. Frankly, I'm surprised that he's surprised at the "backlash".

Judging by Tom's response it does seem like Frank wasn't the only one who complained about aspects of the sled: " Darting... are you kidding me...LOL, I took the sled that everyone was complaining about and drove that the rest of the day with some minor adjustment on the tunnel and there was no darting... I too noticed the ski lift and push of the front end as far as bleed blue... " I was a little confused by this statement - was there no darting in your opinion, yet you adjusted the dial to tune other aspects of the ride, or are you saying that you made an adjustment that eliminated darting?

It does seem as though Frank has/had a biased towards negativity, but it sounds like he was hoping for a facelift and that didn't meet his expectations or hopes. Maybe that soured him to the rest of the sled? Not trying to put words into his mouth, just thinking out loud... One question I thought of immediately after reading Frank's review was if these sleds were the same sleds rode in Canada? I thought I only saw red sleds up north, and blue sleds used in Hurley? Seems as though the people who rode in Canada didn't have a bad thing to say, whereas Frank (and others?) weren't as happy? I wonder if there was a difference in setup? Nothing intentional by the company, just perhaps not dialed in to the same calibration?

There are a number of people who were hoping for a change. Maybe not in the chassis, but maybe a different look to the plastics. If that's what you were hoping for, it looks like you'll be disappointed. I personally didn't care if they made any cosmetic changes, but that is a legit gripe for a segment of potential customers.

I think the negativity by some towards the EPS is premature. One could probably only determine if it's worth it by taking the sled for a ride.

 

[Mighty]

Reading Tom's report someone might trade their Apex expecting something more than what it really is and get a new slightly improved sled and be several thousand dollars out of pocket and question whether the improvements were worth it.

Others will read Franks report and be pleased that it isn't a revlotionary game changing sled, just a refined apex and be happy with theirs.

I think Tom may be a little too optomisitc and Frank may be a little more pesimistic. So I'm thinking it's somewhere in between; A refined Apex improved over the previous years that will make a great replacement for RX-1/Warrior owners and guys coming over form 2-strokes and inferior 4-strokes.

With the economic conditions and my income being down I am pleased that it isn't a "must have" sled if you already have an Apex/Attak.

 

[peterdb]

nice post marq and mighty.

my thoughts were...what are all the A's in reference to?

i wish tom could have had a new 800XP, RUSH, Cat.... side by side...then graded them out. but then...i guess we would need to call this site a sled magazine

 

[gr8vintage]

OP-Ed piece

Holy crap, voices of reason. Marq & Mighty, you guys hit it. It is an improved Apex, albeit slightly. If the average Joe is willing to drop thousands to ride a SLIGHTLY improved Apex….God Bless. My point was the improvements don't justify the expense.

I admit I was surprised by Tom’s glowing report card, so maybe I went the other way. I am not a hater. I am also not drinking the corporate Kool-Aid. I have ridden everything and I do like my Apex's and most likely will buy another. Until the domestics pull their heads out of their collective behinds, what choice do we have?

These sleds nowadays have nearly an infinite number of adjustments and set-up possibilities. Every sled has a sweet spot in the suspension set-up. It is up to each individual rider to find his. Maybe I just expected too much from these test mules.

Frank

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are just that, opinions of a washed-up old racer.

 

[arteeex]

Imagine what we could accomplish if all this effort was put to something that really mattered. It would be like, goodbye hunger, goodbye war, goodbye cancer, goodbye orphans, goodbye tyranny, hello functional government, hello peace and prosperity...

On the other hand, worrying about this crap would really cut into an already too short season.

Hammer down, brothers with power steering and all!

 

[zoomzoom]

I for one think that cosmetically the apex is STILL the sweetest loking sled out there!

ALL of the stockers dart!

Mono skid is an awesome design if they just went to flat or rising rate vs falling rate!

Ski lift can be virtually COMPLETELY eliminated with proper setup and couple small inexpensive mods!

I loved my Apex when it was new and I loved my Apex even more after mods!

These are all my opinions so please don't do to me what u did to MrSled