2014

[pat the rat]

Chris reed confirmed it twice that there will be no partnership with cat so why keep talking about it,yamaha doesnt need any help from others,they build the most reliable sleds of all oem,and will keep doing so by themselves

 

[cat hunter]

From 1998 -2005 I had bought 4 new sleds 2 Ski-Doo's,2 Yami's.In 2006 I got a Apex GT and for my liking there is nothing on the market since that will get me to part with old faithfull.If this NEW sled is not head and shoulders better than what I got i'm sure my old lad has a nother 15,000 miles left in it.By far the best sled I have ever owned and I don't think I will ever part with it!!! Hope every ones wishes come true!!!

 

[yamajammer76]

If the new sled is a Pro-cross with a Nytro engine I'll be stoked. I couldn't care less where the sled is build, don't give a damn whether the factory is clean or dirty, if it is filled with rednecks wearing sweatpants or Japanese wearing tidy uniforms. All I care about is performance. Cat delivers that. A Cat chassis with a Yamaha motor will be very impressive. I'd have a lot more faith in that sled working well than something new from the ground up pure Yamaha design.

I think there are going to be some disappointed people on the 20th. The speculation and hype is way out of hand.

The reason we buy yamaha is because of the quality. everything is straight, true, precision, and everything fits. and the sled does not fall apart in 2000 miles like cat and polaris. Cats are Junk, the same can not be said for products rolling out of TRF. If we get a re-badged Cat i cant imagine how crooked the yamaha engine will be coming off the production line. oh and drop a few bolts down in the bellypan during assembly and just leave them there.

you will have more faith in an arctic cat working than a yamaha??? wow, what are you smoking....

Do you feel the rebadged 120 a piece of junk? Yamaha has their name on that and I've not read about people complaining about the quality or how it performs. The Procross belt issues can be fixed, it isn't rocket science. My buddies who own Cats aren't blowing belts left and right. There are three teams running 1100's in the Iron Dog right now. Hard to believe they are that big of a POS to survive that race.

I suspect some type of pics will be leaked in the next day or two. It's going to be very difficult hiding the sleds in a hotel ballroom in this day and age of camera phones. I'm amazed nothing yet has popped up.

Just to point out the rather funny irony...but yesterday when I was clicking through the status of the teams in the Iron Dog...2 of the 3 arctic cat teams where laid up with "working on sled" in their status!

You know to be honest I grew up on Cats. My first sled was a '79 Jag 340 F/C when I was 10 years old. I owned several and some were better then others. My last Cat was an '02 ZL 550. It was a good sled. No real issues. When I came back from a year tour of duty in Iraq in '05 I stopped by the dealer and I saw the Rage. When I lifted the hood and saw that 3 cylinder 4 stroke... I said... "I gotta have it!" The Rage served me for 7 years and about 5,000 miles without one issue. I finally decided I wanted something a little better on rough trails and I wanted a more modern rider forward sled so I got my new Nytro XTX this fall. With that said, even though I knock them hard I don't "hate" Cat. My Dad is still a loyal fan, however his '07 Z1 always has something wrong with it. lol

Cats do have a lot of quality control issues Yamahas don't and you can just tell they use "lower budget" components. I honestly believe that Yamahas are the "Lexus" of the snowmobile industry and I guess I just hate to see that change. I think a lot of us do. I don't know what is coming in a couple of days, but I really hope whatever it is it will be built the way I expect a Yamaha to be built.

 

[Skydog]

If the new sled is a Pro-cross with a Nytro engine I'll be stoked. I couldn't care less where the sled is build, don't give a damn whether the factory is clean or dirty, if it is filled with rednecks wearing sweatpants or Japanese wearing tidy uniforms. All I care about is performance. Cat delivers that. A Cat chassis with a Yamaha motor will be very impressive. I'd have a lot more faith in that sled working well than something new from the ground up pure Yamaha design.

I think there are going to be some disappointed people on the 20th. The speculation and hype is way out of hand.

The reason we buy yamaha is because of the quality. everything is straight, true, precision, and everything fits. and the sled does not fall apart in 2000 miles like cat and polaris. Cats are Junk, the same can not be said for products rolling out of TRF. If we get a re-badged Cat i cant imagine how crooked the yamaha engine will be coming off the production line. oh and drop a few bolts down in the bellypan during assembly and just leave them there.

you will have more faith in an arctic cat working than a yamaha??? wow, what are you smoking....

Do you feel the rebadged 120 a piece of junk? Yamaha has their name on that and I've not read about people complaining about the quality or how it performs. The Procross belt issues can be fixed, it isn't rocket science. My buddies who own Cats aren't blowing belts left and right. There are three teams running 1100's in the Iron Dog right now. Hard to believe they are that big of a POS to survive that race.

I suspect some type of pics will be leaked in the next day or two. It's going to be very difficult hiding the sleds in a hotel ballroom in this day and age of camera phones. I'm amazed nothing yet has popped up.

Just to point out the rather funny irony...but yesterday when I was clicking through the status of the teams in the Iron Dog...2 of the 3 arctic cat teams where laid up with "working on sled" in their status!

You know to be honest I grew up on Cats. My first sled was a '79 Jag 340 F/C when I was 10 years old. I owned several and some were better then others. My last Cat was an '02 ZL 550. It was a good sled. No real issues. When I came back from a year tour of duty in Iraq in '05 I stopped by the dealer and I saw the Rage. When I lifted the hood and saw that 3 cylinder 4 stroke... I said... "I gotta have it!" The Rage served me for 7 years and about 5,000 miles without one issue. I finally decided I wanted something a little better on rough trails and I wanted a more modern rider forward sled so I got my new Nytro XTX this fall. With that said, even though I knock them hard I don't "hate" Cat. My Dad is still a loyal fan, however his '07 Z1 always has something wrong with it. lol

Cats do have a lot of quality control issues Yamahas don't and you can just tell they use "lower budget" components. I honestly believe that Yamahas are the "Lexus" of the snowmobile industry and I guess I just hate to see that change. I think a lot of us do. I don't know what is coming in a couple of days, but I really hope whatever it is it will be built the way I expect a Yamaha to be built.

Well said!!

 

[AKrider]

Just to point out the rather funny irony...but yesterday when I was clicking through the status of the teams in the Iron Dog...2 of the 3 arctic cat teams where laid up with "working on sled" in their status!

They are all required to take layovers. Seems more ironic to me that two of the total POS, unreliable, belt eating, made with Chinese parts, fireball Cats are in the top ten. The third team, rookies, are in 26th ahead of the single Yamaha team who are veterans. The 4th Cat team, also rookies, is still in the race. Weird. How can that be? They must have an unlimited supply of belts, fire extinguishers, and be towing trailers full of replacement nuts and bolts.

I wish we'd get some new, verifiable info in this thread about the 2014 release.

 

[RoyalBlue]

gm

Yamaha corp had 291 million dollars in free cash flow at the end of the fiscal year. Arctic cats whole shareholder equity is only 179 million. I think yamaha can afford to do its own r&d and since it has stated it recommitted to the North American market and regaining market share I believe it will be yamaha blue clear through. Maybe a cat design thrown in here and there. Yamaha could reach in its pocket and pretty much buy cat.

GM had 19.2 Billion with a B in cash and liquid assets in 2006 , what happened there in 2008 , 291 million is chump change.

 

[yamajammer76]

Maybe they will just re-release the '84 Phazer.

 

[De250r]

Re: gm

Yamaha corp had 291 million dollars in free cash flow at the end of the fiscal year. Arctic cats whole shareholder equity is only 179 million. I think yamaha can afford to do its own r&d and since it has stated it recommitted to the North American market and regaining market share I believe it will be yamaha blue clear through. Maybe a cat design thrown in here and there. Yamaha could reach in its pocket and pretty much buy cat.

GM had 19.2 Billion with a B in cash and liquid assets in 2006 , what happened there in 2008 , 291 million is chump change.

Ok I don't really see its relavance to snowmobile r&d though. I was making a point that yamaha is a bigger company with more resorces than cat

 

[greenthumb]

That new thread with the pic sure disappeared quickly!

Since yamaha sponsors this site, I wonder if there are some non-disclosure rules in effect?

 

[yamajammer76]

That new thread with the pic sure disappeared quickly!

Yes it did. I'm glad I snagged the pic when it it was up. It sort of makes you wonder why it got pulled so quickly? Hmm...

 

[De250r]

What?

 

[brad d]

You could kinda see the Yamaha spindle in the photo... Or was that some built up snow

 

[brad d]

Yeah wonder if it was a photo shop

 

[brad d]

Yeah wonder if it was a photo shop

 

[agriffinjd]

Just to point out the rather funny irony...but yesterday when I was clicking through the status of the teams in the Iron Dog...2 of the 3 arctic cat teams where laid up with "working on sled" in their status!

They are all required to take layovers. Seems more ironic to me that two of the total POS, unreliable, belt eating, made with Chinese parts, fireball Cats are in the top ten. The third team, rookies, are in 26th ahead of the single Yamaha team who are veterans. The 4th Cat team, also rookies, is still in the race. Weird. How can that be? They must have an unlimited supply of belts, fire extinguishers, and be towing trailers full of replacement nuts and bolts.

I wish we'd get some new, verifiable info in this thread about the 2014 release.

They weren't doing their planned layovers though...if you check it now it shows an average MPH on the first leg of like 14 mph for the one team, while the other teams that didn't have sled problems were a 50-60 mph avg on that leg... And I guess there are actually 4 AC teams.

Here's hoping the yamaha team finishes ahead of at least one other team!