Apex/Attak/RTX Compared to other "Top Dogs"?!

[RoyT]

Just curious how YOUR stockish Apex/Attak/RTX compares to your riding buds' "top dogs" sleds for general all-around performance? Sleds like 800-1000 stockish Doos, 700-1000 stockish Cats. Not so much curious about ultimate top speed, as I am just about everything else: ride, handling, reliability, throttle response, acceleration (0-100 REAL speed), and all-around fun factor?

This is my second season on my '07 F1000, which is by far the best, most comfortable, and most fun sled I've ever owned. As far as ride and handling on the trails, I have a hard time imagining anything better!

Performance-wise, I'm also pretty happy with it, despite the big honkin' twin that hopefully doesn't vibrate everything apart... LOL! Having said that, there are a LOT of sleds nowadays that are just as quick/fast and plenty that are now probably quicker/faster, but I don't let that inhibit the enjoyment I get on the trail with her.

Just looking to hear some of the great feedback I've gotten here from you guys over the last couple years, on how your Yamis compare in general to some of your buds' top-dogs that you've had first-hand experience with in one way or another.

Thanks as always for your time and helpful feedback! – Roy

P.S. Love the reverse on my F1000, but sure wish I woulda' got the electric start!

 

[SledFreak]

Stcok for stock, I raced an F1000 and won, a few times. Raced it with a stock Apex and white secondary spring change and the F1000 had bullseye and y-pipe and the Apex lost by about 4 lengths. I have made several changes this year and I think I made that back and more, so we will see. This guy I run against is my buddy and he is always over on HCS, so I know what he is doing this year with the upgraded kit from cat and what ever else he throws at it, but he does not really know what I have done except for some clutching and stud changes that I made. I think my sled now will beat what he had from last year, but I'm not sure if the upgrade kit is beatable or if it is working for him or not and if it is, how much will he gain from it. With what I have changed to this year, I think we are both setup pretty good and I believe who ever gets the hole shot will dictate the outcome. We will see.....

 

[schmeg]

I raced a friends F1000 5 times and won 3 times. The last 2 times he had a fresh belt. He also has the y-pipe, bullseyes, boondocker control box, and clutching. I drove the sled for about 30 or so miles and it does handle quite nicely. Its got plenty of torque, but I can't get over the vibration the motor makes compared to my Apex. I'm much more comfortable on mine, get much better fuel economy, and I'll give him a run for the most part.

 

[Apex18]

I have ran a stock 05 F7 with 96 studs, beat it from bottom to top, a stock 2005 REV 800...also beat if from bottom to top. I have yet to line up with a Mach Z or F1000, or the new XP that is down my street, but i'm a little scarred about that one lol. My sled is bone stock, no studs or anything.

 

[RoyT]

Thanks for the good feedback guys! Anyone else care to add their first-hand experiences concerning this topic? – Roy

 

[ReX]

I've been riding for the past 3 years mainly with 2 REV 800s, 5 Apex ER/RTXs, an XCR800, an F7, a few older Skidoos & Polaris's, a Vector ER, 2 REV 600 SDI's and a REV 600 HO (I've been sledding for 30 years).

Compared to the other sleds in the same ballpark (F7, XCR800, REV 800's), the main "real world" thing we all notice is how smooth Yamaha 4-strokes run (almost no vibration through the handlbars relatively speaking) and how they don't stink when being followed. We find you can ride an Apex more miles per day and for more hours without getting as tired. I'm sure this is because of the lack of vibration.

We don't really line them up very often, but the XCR800 was the fastest (he traded for an Apex ER and now a REV-XP 800R) and it sucked up at least 2x the amount of gas. Out on the trails the Apex's are just as quick as the other brands, possibly a hair quicker (but it could be the riders).

Other than that, in general and once dialed in they are all a total blast to ride.

Maintenance wise the Apex's have been the worst of the lot by far (the guys riding Apex's and REVs put on the most miles). Some argue our Apex issues sound minor, but they still require attention and cause downtime - many blown idler wheels, several leaking chaincases (and 2 damaged chains/gears), many exhaust donut leaks, 2 fatigued & cracked drive axles, 2 cracked exhaust pipes, many badly worn front end bushings, 2 snapped limiter straps, 3 fatigued & broken radiator mounts, many (10 or more - all Apex ERs or 06 RTXs) fatigued & broken monoshock pivot arms and a couple of cracked slide rails (and I'm sure there are other things I fogot about).

We are a group of aggressive riders in our late 30's and early/mid 40's who like to ride 600-800+ km per day and typically over 10,000 km per year.

The reality is as of next week me and one other will be the only Yamaha 4-stroke hold outs. Every other of the hard core aggressive riders will be on either REVs or REV-XPs.

Out of the Apex's I've got the machine best suited for aggressive riding and on the maintenance side of things it really shows. The only issues I've had in almost 4000 miles (no local snow last season) are a leaking chaincase (when new) and now a leaking exhaust donut and two snapped limiter straps (the limiter straps is a strange failure I've never seen before). The RTX suspension was WAY too soft for aggressive riding as delivered, but at least all of the structural parts are build very strong on the 07 and 08 RTX (Yamaha has also updated the shock valving for 08).

Everyone agrees that the Yamaha engines are absolutely incredible. They have excellent performance in every way and are so incredibly smooth running. Unfortunately the rest of the sled has had trouble surviving our aggressive riding, while the guys on REVs have had no problems at all (in the past 3 years at least - prior to that there were motor failures).

The good news is Yamaha has addressed most of the weaknesses we've had, especially with the RTX option. Personally if I had to select a new sled tomorrow it would still be an 07 or 08 Apex RTX.

 

[170plus]

1000 ft radar run on sunday,several machz's got best runs of 101,stock f1000 little clutch work pulled a best 102,f1000 with lots of extras run a best of 104,my buddies wound up 03 f7 run several 101 and 102 runs,my worst was 101,had several 102 a 103 and a 104,lots of stuff was running 96-100 but not many of us broke the 100,i entered 4 classes and won 3,tied for 1st in the stock open class where the modified f1000 tied me but shouldnt have been allowed to run in that class with all the extra stuff he has on it but for 190hp sled compared to my 150 hp lead sled i think we did pretty well,him and i had the top speeds of the day in all the stock and improved classes,best run of the day was 129 on a 4cylinder 00' machz,2nd was a supercharged rx1 with a 126 and then a modified thunder cat run around 123,there was no 800xp that showed up so who know but talked to the local doo mechanic that was teching the radar run and he said no complaints yet for the guys trail riding them

 

[RoyT]

Thanks Rex and 170 – couple excellent, detailed reports there! – Roy

 

[larrypolaris]

I've raced only three sleds with the Attak.
03 800 rev. Beat him both from a dead start and a role.
'06 600 sdi Renegade. He gets me out of the hole then
at around 50 mph I go by him like he tied to a tree.
'07 F1000 piped, ported, clutched, boondocker, heads.
We raced four times. Three times he got me by about 1 1/2 sleds.
One race I got him out of the hole and he couldn't go by me.