2019 release

[zr7cat]

View attachment 138924

I’ll stick with the legend, can’t be beat in the tight corners!

Heck ya, me too!

 

[yamajammer76]

Hmm! What line up? One Yamaha sled and its 20 plus years old! As I've said before Yamaha let Cat steal their thunder. Sad day indeed! Up side is my Yamaha runs like a dream!

Cat didn’t do anything to steal Yamaha’s thunder. After they went 4 stroke only the writing was on the wall. They went to Cat to get a modern lighter weight rider forward chassis that rode and handled well because hardly anyone wanted their big ol’ couches with skis anymore. The modern rider forward FX Nytro was a failure. With an aging sit down sled that sold very poorly with the “everyone rides off trail with a backpack and shovel” crowd and a failed next gen. model they went to Cat looking for something more modern and more in touch with the times.

No what really destroyed the Yamaha line of sleds was no lightweight 2 Stroke option. I mean this is the company that gave us the 1984 Phazer. I really like my 4 Stroke, but the growing off trail and mountain market want 2 strokes. If you can’t see that you need to get out of your bubble and explore the snow belt across the entire US.

 

[scuba335]

I would like the new hand controls on my 18. They look as they will function much better. I'm always bumping the heater buttons and hitting the reverse can be a pain at times.

 

[stevewithOCD]

The dealer explained these new electronic shocks to me yesterday.
He said if one wire breaks or the shock goes bad, the computer will set the other 3 for same setting.
He also said when in reverse it adjusts all the shocks to make backing up easier.
He thinks they can all 4 be adjusted at once or individually.

 

[srvfan]

where are all these leftover sleds ?? In the fall my bro was looking for a viper 129" and he couldn't find one anywhere nobody had one he ended up with a Cat 7000......... that being said I think Yamaha is done next year and Cat in2-3 when parts inventory is gone. UNLESS Textron looks to cash out and sells Cat sled line to Yamaha along with the factory.

 

[srvfan]

As far as not making lighter weight mountain sleds for the shovel crowd..... I think that fad is already fading. lots of long paddle tracker sleds for sale In the East pretty cheap. Young guys thought they looked cool or something. now reality is setting in, those things suck on our hard pack trails (duh) , AND off trail riding is illegal in every Eastern state except Maine. Its leading to more and owners threatening to close trails. Expect N.H. to increase off trail riding fines and Maine to begin cracking down. Hence why so many are being dumped right now. Sale of the 900 turbo ACE are going to be nuts.

 

[ClutchMaster]

^^^^^^^^^^what he said^^^^^^^^^
These Cool looking 2.5”paddle tracks ruin the trails instantly, they should be outlawed for trail riding! Frickin Tards can’t get around the corners and stay on their side of the trail either!

 

[srvfan]

pretty hard to stay on your side with a skinny front end and no studs in the track ...... but we're off topic

 

[sledjunk]

So after this where do we all go... Ski-doo or Polaris?

Probably 'doo for me. Likely 900 Turbo if the engine can hold together. Not expecting to get 20000 Km on it though. I don't expect it will hold together that long. Engine or chassis.

Sad day indeed

 

[WillowAce]

Probably 'doo for me

850 XCR for me. Never thought it would happen but the deed is done. Check written and VIN assigned.

 

[journeyman]

With this so called 2019 rollout for Yamaha there is lots of doom and gloom here, but understandable. Think about this, if Yamaha does have a future and there are new sleds on the horizon they are not going to come right out and say yes....that would defeat the purpose of their program to clear out inventory. As stated the snowbelts have been hurt by the lousy winters which in turn has raised the price of the machines. Don't think for a minute that Doo and Poo don't have leftover machines though because they most certainly do.

But as we know with Ski-Doo owning 45-46% and Poo having about 34-35% of the total marketshare, that doesn't leave much left. Those 2 makers are selling 80% of the total sled market. If there ever was a market where I see the Japanese very stubborn to change it's the snowmo market. It's just too small in a very select area of the globe.

At this point I would be happy to have them take the Cat factory over if Textron offered it to them and keep developing a joint sled than just leave 100%.

I guess we will have to wait another year and see if the final nail will be hammered into the coffin. I'll do my best to see if the answers are out there. I know a few people.

 

[DigitalFusion]

As far as not making lighter weight mountain sleds for the shovel crowd..... I think that fad is already fading.

I see the opposite here in my limited view. The winters have been degrading, and even when the slow does fly it just melts within a few days or weeks. People in this region, at least the 8-9 guys I ride with, started out by going to crossovers trying to have a sled that they could ride around here when there actually is snow, and try to take out west a few times a year. That very quickly transitioned into going all-in on full mountain sleds. There is always snow there.

10-15 years ago when all those EPA regulations went into effect the 2 smokes were blowing up or starting on fire left and right from the other 3 players in the game. Yamaha went 4 stroke and made something extremely reliable. All machines have their issues and everything can and will break. During that period however, the Yami's were the choice for reliability, and you sacrificed the handling that the other 3's chassis provided nearly out of the box. You had to sink piles of money into the outdated designs of the Yamaha chassis to get them to rail the trails like the 'other' guys sleds out of the box IMHO.

I jumped on the 2014 Viper when it came out, trading in my beloved Apex for it because I just wanted a more modern, rider-forward style chassis with the reliability of the Yamaha motor. The problem is, its a Cat. The fit and finish just isn't what I had come to expect with something that had the Yamaha name branded on it. I realize that there have been some improvements in the Yama-Cat since then, but in the end, we are just riding 'cats with a Yamaha motor. That seems to be the Future for Yamaha sleds, and I cant help but feel like Chris Reeds retirement/blog closure wasnt a symbolic foreshadowing of this.

I absolutely HATE to say it, but unless something changes in the next couple of years, its starting to look like my next new sled will be a Doo.

 

[allyammies]

Hate to say this but went and built a indy 850 last night. Never thought I would even think about it.

 

[nbsledder]

Hate to say this but went and built a indy 850 last night. Never thought I would even think about it.

And i'm going to do the same! Done wasting time waiting for this company to build something i want!

 

[CaptCaper]

I'm glad all these guys are leaving... more Yamaha for me... Think about it? SkiDoo will take them for a $$$$$ ride fast.. ha.. wait until they go to the local Doo dealer.. you don't think they'll be waiting for these Yami guys ? ha.. $$$$$$$$$$ have fun X Yami guys..