Anyone thought about getting away from the heavy Apex?

[CaptCaper]

Trouble is you guys complaining about getting worn out if you got a lighter easier sled you'd still complain as you'll push it harder and longer still. I think you guys like that so you go back with a release.
I know I do. I'm 65 yrs old loaded with Arthritis in my joints. I love going home after a long ride. My mind is at ease. If I had a fast small sled I'd go 200 miles instead of 100 or so.

 

[Wilbust]

I'm tired of wearing stuff out. 10400mi
I have 18 hrs of wrenching this season,it's getting ridiculous
I can rebuild top end of 2 sroke way faster than; clam shell, froze fuel pump, hyfax every 1000 , 4Y pipes,doughnuts, muffler,4 idler wheels minimum every year (30 plus) since new,side panels , jack shaft bearing 2' , drive shaft bearing 3, torque arm, a arm bushings again, hand warders-ya right!shocks need rebuilt again.
I have 4 times wrench hrs on this than my 02 zr 800 or 98 670 with similar miles.
Luv the motor and sound
Yamaha should have made new chassis do drop motor in
So I can donate this one to science fiction

 

[journeyman]

I'm tired of wearing stuff out. 10400mi
I have 18 hrs of wrenching this season,it's getting ridiculous
I can rebuild top end of 2 sroke way faster than; clam shell, froze fuel pump, hyfax every 1000 , 4Y pipes,doughnuts, muffler,4 idler wheels minimum every year (30 plus) since new,side panels , jack shaft bearing 2' , drive shaft bearing 3, torque arm, a arm bushings again, hand warders-ya right!shocks need rebuilt again.
I have 4 times wrench hrs on this than my 02 zr 800 or 98 670 with similar miles.
Luv the motor and sound
Yamaha should have made new chassis do drop motor in
So I can donate this one to science fiction

Looks to me you brought some of this on yourself. When I read that your old Cat and old Doo were more reliable I had to laugh so being you have only 48 posts I did some research.

http://www.ty4stroke.com/viewtopic.php? ... highlight=

I after I read some of your posts it all made sense. Looks to me you are hard on your equipment and you wait for it to break first. Where I work we call this a case of reactive maintenance vs. preventive maintenance.

My Attak has almost 13,000 miles on it and it is mint but the previous owner was a maintenance guru.

 

[Sasquatch]

I'm tired of wearing stuff out. 10400mi
I have 18 hrs of wrenching this season,it's getting ridiculous
I can rebuild top end of 2 sroke way faster than; clam shell, froze fuel pump, hyfax every 1000 , 4Y pipes,doughnuts, muffler,4 idler wheels minimum every year (30 plus) since new,side panels , jack shaft bearing 2' , drive shaft bearing 3, torque arm, a arm bushings again, hand warders-ya right!shocks need rebuilt again.
I have 4 times wrench hrs on this than my 02 zr 800 or 98 670 with similar miles.
Luv the motor and sound
Yamaha should have made new chassis do drop motor in
So I can donate this one to science fiction

Looks to me you brought some of this on yourself. When I read that your old Cat and old Doo were more reliable I had to laugh so being you have only 48 posts I did some research.

http://www.ty4stroke.com/viewtopic.php? ... highlight=

I after I read some of your posts it all made sense. Looks to me you are hard on your equipment and you wait for it to break first. Where I work we call this a case of reactive maintenance vs. preventive maintenance.

My Attak has almost 13,000 miles on it and it is mint but the previous owner was a maintenance guru.

I think you nailed it. I chuckle when he compares he old sleds to the new. Anyone that thinks the new any brand does not need PM work only has to read the forums. Tons of broken parts and repairs. Hyper sleds are hard on stuff.

Now some stuff on the Yami has issues, they are known, but why would you repeatedly repair without upgrading things like wheels, Y pipes and donuts. Sounds to me like he just likes to trash things over and over and over again. This site has helped to steer so many on the right path. Guess he only came here to complain, not to learn. PM in his spare time could have saved him a ton of grief!

Yami keeps the motor running I'll keep the rest on the trail. 18,000 on my Warrior and 5,000 on my Apex. Changed the Duponts on the Apex at 3,800 miles and changed two idler wheel bearings at the same time. Everything else checked out A.OK. Handwarmers are awesome!

 

[Redbeard]

Hey Sasquatch,
what happened to the creepy blinking guy in your avatar? LOL

 

[bjowett]

The Apex machines will crush the bumps when the suspension is set-up properly... the suspension is key here. Folks sometimes don't realize that lighter machines tend to deflect more than something heavier. The mass of that big 4 cylinder says I'm doing it this way, and if you don't like it, move over! To some extent, it's like a desert racing trophy truck for the snow.

 

[thor452]

journeyman; noone gets worn out on the trails up by Pats on the yamaha. It is the tight twisty trails in wisconsin and areas like that that wear people out.try putting on 250 miles around eagle river with a non eps apex and you will feel it. being in shape is a big help but that front end weight will get to you. That said the power steering fixes all that too. love my apex and if they do decide to stop making it at least it will run for ever and i wont have to get a new one.

Yes and no. We rode trail 13 behind Pat's twice. Full of twisties, plus we did the Rosseau to Alston up to the entry by Twin Lakes (very twisty), and we did the stretch to the Freda Dam full of twisty trails. Yeh I hear ya running up and down trail 3 is a railroad bed. That's is nothing. The 4 of us all had Attak's, one was the 40 yr. 2008, my buddy with that machine and I did have to wait for the other two quite often. Mike and I are very seasoned riders. We can ride with the best of them.

I am sure I will get to test it out in Wisconsin too. My work buddy has a cabin in Winter and I ride there normally once a year towards Price County.

Oh yes I agree being in good snow fourm is key. and yes there are some tight trails up there as well but you get allot of breaks from the twisties with straighter trails to get to them and the trails are wider in general as well. I am in quite good snow fourm myself put on 3500 so far this season and that is right around my average. and the apex was night and day better then the rx 1 ton was and felt very light when i went to the 07 but now that i have eps (on the rare occasion that i switch up with one of the old ones) i wonder how i tollerated the steering in the tight wisconsin trails I guess its all in what your body is used too. but now that i have eps i dont want to go back ever. I live down here and allot of our trails are 50 mph max in the straights before you have to set up for next corner and the night time speed limit is not hard to obey not that we dont have our rr grades and such but some of our best trails will wear you our with a non eps apex when you ride 12 hours and rarely see a straight away longer then 100 yards. I guess all i am saying is the apex is heavier then most in tight trails and I love the eps as i never get fatigued on it every time we get home i just want to go back out and do it some more and most in the group are worn out ready for the couch.

 

[FrostyNutz]

I traded my 11 Apex XTX for something lighter this year. I truly love the Apex on groomed trails and it held it's own in moderate off trail snow . IN my opinion nothing on the snow provides that much excitement and reliability if you primarily ride on groomed trails. Like BJ just said, it does take the light rough stuff pretty good too, when setup correctly ( add Ohlins plug) . Still , fact remains that when the bumps get deep the Apex will bring up and send you over the bars or kick like a 8 second bronco till you break something... ask me how I know. You can't tell me 450lbs is harder to handle than 700 when your bashing 2-3ft trail junk,,really ? I spend most of my time off trail and had intentions of turboing the apex after the warranty expired. After spending 3 seasons on it I came to the conclusion that I can't possibly add more weight to this thing and expect to toss it around off trail. Off camber descents are spooky when your trying to balance the beast , climbing , slow speed tree maneuvering in deep snow, I could write a list of situations that the weight was a serious issue for me. SO , I tried to trade it for a Viper at my local Yamaha dealer . They flat out refused to trade it . Said it was" too hard to sell" A quick drive to the AC dealer and after a few mins of swallowing my Yamaha pride they gladly gave me 10k for my sled. I left with a new 800 High country ltd and a truck load of accessories. First thing I noticed when I loaded the sled that really hooked me from the start . The ramp was a foot lower than my tailgate . I reached down from standing on the gate and picked the sled up by the skis and pulled it up onto the gate. I've never done that with my Apex !! I'm loving the new found freedom to go anywhere with the new sled and have 0 regrets so far. I'm not giving up on Yamaha but my back tells me it's time to ride something lighter.

 

[bjowett]

If your Apex was kicking you in the big stuff, the suspension needed tuning. The dual shock skids can't do it all, but I can make a Mono quell the big whoops and eat the stutters.

 

[number1kyster]

There in lies a different problem. Once I finally got my shocks dialed in I started breaking rear suspension parts!

 

[journeyman]

journeyman; noone gets worn out on the trails up by Pats on the yamaha. It is the tight twisty trails in wisconsin and areas like that that wear people out.try putting on 250 miles around eagle river with a non eps apex and you will feel it. being in shape is a big help but that front end weight will get to you. That said the power steering fixes all that too. love my apex and if they do decide to stop making it at least it will run for ever and i wont have to get a new one.

Yes and no. We rode trail 13 behind Pat's twice. Full of twisties, plus we did the Rosseau to Alston up to the entry by Twin Lakes (very twisty), and we did the stretch to the Freda Dam full of twisty trails. Yeh I hear ya running up and down trail 3 is a railroad bed. That's is nothing. The 4 of us all had Attak's, one was the 40 yr. 2008, my buddy with that machine and I did have to wait for the other two quite often. Mike and I are very seasoned riders. We can ride with the best of them.

I am sure I will get to test it out in Wisconsin too. My work buddy has a cabin in Winter and I ride there normally once a year towards Price County.

Oh yes I agree being in good snow fourm is key. and yes there are some tight trails up there as well but you get allot of breaks from the twisties with straighter trails to get to them and the trails are wider in general as well. I am in quite good snow fourm myself put on 3500 so far this season and that is right around my average. and the apex was night and day better then the rx 1 ton was and felt very light when i went to the 07 but now that i have eps (on the rare occasion that i switch up with one of the old ones) i wonder how i tollerated the steering in the tight wisconsin trails I guess its all in what your body is used too. but now that i have eps i dont want to go back ever. I live down here and allot of our trails are 50 mph max in the straights before you have to set up for next corner and the night time speed limit is not hard to obey not that we dont have our rr grades and such but some of our best trails will wear you our with a non eps apex when you ride 12 hours and rarely see a straight away longer then 100 yards. I guess all i am saying is the apex is heavier then most in tight trails and I love the eps as i never get fatigued on it every time we get home i just want to go back out and do it some more and most in the group are worn out ready for the couch.

Northern Minnesota has allot more tight twisty trails up in the iron range. I used to ride there years ago but lately I prefer the Michigan and Northern Wisconsin's trails. As I have mentioned my friend at work has a cabin in Winter, WI and we normally ride the Price County trails. Less traffic over there if you keep away from the Hayward crowd.

 

[journeyman]

I traded my 11 Apex XTX for something lighter this year. I truly love the Apex on groomed trails and it held it's own in moderate off trail snow . IN my opinion nothing on the snow provides that much excitement and reliability if you primarily ride on groomed trails. Like BJ just said, it does take the light rough stuff pretty good too, when setup correctly ( add Ohlins plug) . Still , fact remains that when the bumps get deep the Apex will bring up and send you over the bars or kick like a 8 second bronco till you break something... ask me how I know. You can't tell me 450lbs is harder to handle than 700 when your bashing 2-3ft trail junk,,really ? I spend most of my time off trail and had intentions of turboing the apex after the warranty expired. After spending 3 seasons on it I came to the conclusion that I can't possibly add more weight to this thing and expect to toss it around off trail. Off camber descents are spooky when your trying to balance the beast , climbing , slow speed tree maneuvering in deep snow, I could write a list of situations that the weight was a serious issue for me. SO , I tried to trade it for a Viper at my local Yamaha dealer . They flat out refused to trade it . Said it was" too hard to sell" A quick drive to the AC dealer and after a few mins of swallowing my Yamaha pride they gladly gave me 10k for my sled. I left with a new 800 High country ltd and a truck load of accessories. First thing I noticed when I loaded the sled that really hooked me from the start . The ramp was a foot lower than my tailgate . I reached down from standing on the gate and picked the sled up by the skis and pulled it up onto the gate. I've never done that with my Apex !! I'm loving the new found freedom to go anywhere with the new sled and have 0 regrets so far. I'm not giving up on Yamaha but my back tells me it's time to ride something lighter.

Boy used Apex models have been selling good around here. Up in the UP of Mich. the dealer said he couldn't keep any around. In fact the used Attak GT I just bought from him on Monday Feb. 17th was traded in Sunday the 16th. Crazy. Must be your area that they can't sell an Apex. I agree on the off trail. If that is your thing Yamaha doesn't make much. I think they are foolish to overlook it though.

 

[Murse]

After 3 years and 2000$ I have made my sled perfect for me. I can handle it as well as anyone else in our group if not better and I know for a fact that my sled has equal acceleration as the other sleds in my group and has the best top end. I can go 200km's on a tank of gas which is more than enough to get me from point A to point B and she is a blast to ride. No push in corners, no ski lift and no darting at all. The sled eats up the bumps at any speed and has been the best sled to me ever never leaving me stranded. Original purchase price of 5000$ and 9000km's later I still have that excitement every time I go on it. Yes I want a newer sled looking at another Apex I want a blue 2012 standard 128" Apex. When I can afford it I will keep this one and buy that one. I love the Apex and I have mine dialed in perfect. I am afraid to buy another one because it may not be as good. I have my doo buddies asking me if its chipped or something. It is a rocket ship and no one can believe how fast it is. Great sled all around with the aftermarket goodies added on she is perfect. 2011 Apex makes it look stupid though they are nice machines.

 

[tomanytoyz]

No way not me ! keeping my sled and i keep making it better and better! i dont care how heavy it is.

Some of my buddies whine about the weight etc etc but i tell them to GET IN SHAPE !

Wimps lol

 

[patdalr]

i went on a ride today with buddys and we were doing the trail, i have an attak gt, one of them had a new articcat 8000 snopro and the other one a freeride 800
they were hitting crazy jumps that i would have really needed better shocks at the back and even then... with that much air you want to be able to control the sled...

i'll post vids of the ride in a few days so you guys can see what i mean..


*edit*
forgot to mention.. the artic cat had clutch issues and was forced to call a friend to pick it up