2014

[nbsledder]

Sled magazines are a joke who ever places the most ads have the best sleds. I would not waste my money on them.

Yes!!! agreed ......Remember they are just writers and editors of a certain magazine that occasionally ride snowmobiles,a better place to find in depth info on sleds are these forums!!
If you have to read one, snotech goes a little more in depth than any of the others.

 

[soldi]

Not sure why some of you get so upset or even "sick" by companys working togheter. Im quite sure Yamaha is already licencing technology for the sleds, buying, selling and licensing patents is a huge buisness. Most components are manufactured by the same companies that supply them to the sled manufactureres (siemens or bosh makes the injectors, qualcom the computerboxes and so forth...) Sleds are like everything else a bunch of parts put to gether at a factory to a certain standard... (Like apple and samsung, even though they litigate samsung delivers all apple screens, its just different parts of a buisness).

If Yamaha can use parts of an already built factory and licens current 4 stroke tech (nytro engine patents) and gain current suspenssion tech it's a win win deal. Yamaha has new patents for future four stroke tech and cat has new patents for future suspension tech. You rarely trade next gen stuff so each benifits of been able to rework components withough having to go through years of litigation.. Nothing new and nothing to be upset by...

People in the states buy the Chevy Cruez and they dont seam to be caring that they are really buying a rebranded Daewoo and honestly does it really matter as long as it gives you what you expect??

 

[yamahabandit]

Just thought I'd add my .02 to this discussion. I have put on just over 300miles on my xf turbo so far and have to say fit & finish and overall quality of build is no where near my Yamahas.( I've owned all the four strokes except the vector). Engines as well are beyond comparison, again Yamaha hands down.
Now for the positives. Handling and overall fun factor goes to Cat by a widemargin. Issues with last years Cats, I think were blown out of proportions. If you want to talk issues, Lets talk 08 Nytro! Now thats a sled with issues!
IMHO some kind of technical sharing would be of benifit to both companies. I'll have to agree with AKrider again, I don't think there is enough profit in sleds for Yamaha to redo their lineups every 3-4 years.

 

[rupprider]

The big elephant in the room may be meteorological. Whatever your politics, the availability of winter conditions is necessary for a successful/profitable business selling hardware like the existing sport of "snowmobiling" requires. Yamaha, as a corporation, certainly has climatology forecasts available to the people who make the strategic decisions, either in-house or contracted. I.E. Can't sell camels in the Arctic or sleds in the Sahara. lol If you get what I mean?

 

[OVR4D]

I get what you mean ... Minnesota now gets a real winter once every 5 years. As much as I love snowmobiling, it's hard to spend money on something you can rarely use. I will always be interested in seeing what changes, whether from the OEM's or aftermarket. But lately I have been giving serious thought to spending my money on other forms of motorsport recreation and renting a sled when the snow flys. I might try off-road bikes ... at least the season is guaranteed to be longer ... although at my age, I really want to avoid any more injuries, and dirt bikes to me seem like a recipe for dissaster in that respect. I hope Yamaha brings something exciting to market this year, but even if they do I already know that I won't be buying.

 

[dilligaf]

I get what you mean ... Minnesota now gets a real winter once every 5 years. As much as I love snowmobiling, it's hard to spend money on something you can rarely use. I will always be interested in seeing what changes, whether from the OEM's or aftermarket. But lately I have been giving serious thought to spending my money on other forms of motorsport recreation and renting a sled when the snow flys. I might try off-road bikes ... at least the season is guaranteed to be longer ... although at my age, I really want to avoid any more injuries, and dirt bikes to me seem like a recipe for dissaster in that respect. I hope Yamaha brings something exciting to market this year, but even if they do I already know that I won't be buying.

I hear yah. I'm giving it 1-2 more weeks and if there's no more measurable snow I'll have to really rethink if I want to keep my Nytro thru another bad winter. The VK Pro is staying for ice fishing!!

 

[SledFreak]

The only thing yamaha has over cat is quality. Which is the most important thing I've found since I've owned my cat. Being fast and fun to ride is zero fun when its broke all the time. My cat has broke every time I've taken a trip. It's a total drag worrying every time you go out to ride. I miss my yamaha a reliability.

I will say when my cat runs its the fastest best handling sled I've ever ridden . To bad it's a pile of garbage!!!!

Wow, this is exactly what my buddy Dirk says about his.......I'm not kidding, word for word....

Lol... Now thats funny...

 

[jedwards89]

This time of year is always interesting, I love hearing the speculation of the new sleds. I have owned yamahs for 20 years, albeit through 5 different sleds since the late 80s, I have to start wondering if Yamaha is for me. I absolutely love my nytro SE from a performance standpoint but my body is saying stop. The shoulders are just telling me no more. Half my family rides yamaha and half ski doo and I can tell you the 600 etec is one sweet sled. Easy to ride, steer, a great suspension and one hell of a good engine. Now I certainly understand the reliability part.

I hear ya about the winters. My Nytro has 2700 miles on it. Year one I put about 1000, year 2 a 1000, year 3 100 and so far this year 600 in two weekends. Is it logical to spend 12-14 K on a sled that you get to ride about everyother weekend? My opinion, Yes. There is nothing like jumping on a sled and getting from corner to corner.

In the end however, Yamaha needs to come to the table with some new technology or they will continue to be at the bottom regardless of the weather because no one will nor should spend that type of money on a sled that is two generations behind the rest of the market.

As much as I love riding team blue they will need something BIG for this loyal Yamaha owner to remain on one.

 

[SledFreak]

Just thought I'd add my .02 to this discussion. I have put on just over 300miles on my xf turbo so far and have to say fit & finish and overall quality of build is no where near my Yamahas.( I've owned all the four strokes except the vector). Engines as well are beyond comparison, again Yamaha hands down.
Now for the positives. Handling and overall fun factor goes to Cat by a widemargin. Issues with last years Cats, I think were blown out of proportions. If you want to talk issues, Lets talk 08 Nytro! Now thats a sled with issues!
IMHO some kind of technical sharing would be of benifit to both companies. I'll have to agree with AKrider again, I don't think there is enough profit in sleds for Yamaha to redo their lineups every 3-4 years.

X2... AKrider is correct about everything he posts. I think the biggest issue with Yamaha is that when there are issues, they will not address them at all and offer a fix to the public. Other OEN's always look to update there model year defects with updates the following year. for example. DOO constantly makes changes for the better even if there were Not any issues for the duration of that model and as well if there are issues, they always seemed to have them fixed the folowing year or at least put in an effort. The change may not always be right, but at least they try.

 

[Mighty]

Of all the sports I do, snowmobiling is at the top. But these In consistent winters are horrible. I got out of the high dollar sleds a few years ago. I picked up a sled for a dollar amount I could pay cash for. Now I don't feel horribly guilty while it sets in my shop on these 45 degree no snow January days in Michigan. Yet if it does actually snow, the warrior is ready. I don't particularly like making a payment on something I don't use.......

 

[Paraclete]

it would be hard for me to justify buying a new sled considering the last two winters I think I should buy a bike instead

If friggin Al Gore would have kept his mouth shut we would all be riding right now.

 

[Blue Dave]

it would be hard for me to justify buying a new sled considering the last two winters I think I should buy a bike instead

If friggin Al Gore would have kept his mouth shut we would all be riding right now.

I think that Al must be leaving the doors and windows open in that big mansion of his and that is what is really causing global warming. LOL!

 

[AKrider]

Maybe the winters in the lower 48 will start to improve in the near future and it's just a natural cycle, contrary to popular belief?
http://www.adn.com/2013/01/05/2743379/s ... older.html

The underground waterline to my shop froze up for the first time ever this year.

I can empathize with you guys that don't have snow. We have had terrible snow conditions in Valdez. We broke record for the lack on snow in November or December. That's what I always hated about snowcheck, order a brand new sled and it doesn't snow. So far I've got 130 miles on my new RMK in what are very marginal conditions for our area. Even up high you can't find much good snow because the wind blows it away. I always tell myself if I'm going to buy a new sled to wait for the spring until after the OEM's release their new line-ups. Than go and buy a left over. Its great advice if I'd only follow it!

 

[Sled Dog]

This time of year is always interesting, I love hearing the speculation of the new sleds. I have owned yamahs for 20 years, albeit through 5 different sleds since the late 80s, I have to start wondering if Yamaha is for me. I absolutely love my nytro SE from a performance standpoint but my body is saying stop. The shoulders are just telling me no more. Half my family rides yamaha and half ski doo and I can tell you the 600 etec is one sweet sled. Easy to ride, steer, a great suspension and one hell of a good engine. Now I certainly understand the reliability part.

I hear ya about the winters. My Nytro has 2700 miles on it. Year one I put about 1000, year 2 a 1000, year 3 100 and so far this year 600 in two weekends. Is it logical to spend 12-14 K on a sled that you get to ride about everyother weekend? My opinion, Yes. There is nothing like jumping on a sled and getting from corner to corner.

In the end however, Yamaha needs to come to the table with some new technology or they will continue to be at the bottom regardless of the weather because no one will nor should spend that type of money on a sled that is two generations behind the rest of the market.

As much as I love riding team blue they will need something BIG for this loyal Yamaha owner to remain on one.

What new technology has the others brought to the table in the last 10 years? Rider position stingier oil consuming 2 strokes? Who brought the 4 stroke to the table and all of them have copied after chastising Yamaha for it? Who brought power steering, electronic suspension adjustment, the dupont sliders come on now and be fair here Yamaha has always been a leader in bringing new technology to the table.

 

[marq]

What new technology has the others brought to the table in the last 10 years? Rider position stingier oil consuming 2 strokes? Who brought the 4 stroke to the table and all of them have copied after chastising Yamaha for it? Who brought power steering, electronic suspension adjustment, the dupont sliders come on now and be fair here Yamaha has always been a leader in bringing new technology to the table.

I think you're right, Yamaha has definitely been a leader and game changer with some of the higher level changes you've mentioned. Honestly, I think it's a succession of low level changes that annoy and piss people off. I'm not sure how they would go about doing it, but it would be great if Yamaha did a better job of acknowledging concerns, complaints, and wishes of customers. I think they get part of the way there with Chris Reid and the Sled Talk Blog.

People have complained about weight. Would it kill Yamaha to make an official acknowledgement of that concern and tell us they are working on it but don't like what they've come up with? Same thing with ski's (Chris did talk about this at one point before the Tuners were released), slide wear, doughnuts, hand warmers, turbos/superchargers. Why aren't Nytro race style front ends standard on newer Nytro's?

All one has to do is browse these forums to see a laundry list of mostly low level complaints and aggravations. Too me, Yamaha is on to something really good with the Sled Talk Blog, but it could be soooo much more if they really wanted it to be.