ROCKERDAN
OCD Sledhead
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2005
- Messages
- 7,496
- Location
- Huntsville Ontario & Niagara NY
- Country
- Other
- Snowmobile
- '18 RTX 50th "Winder"
I understand your decision....For trail riding and less worry the 900t seems to do well. Keep eye on ice buildup in belly at colder temps.
We got out on a 900t XRS version too....I did not think I would like it as much as I did, but we both actually liked it alot. My bud who has been back on 2s for many yrs now, even liked it alot which speaks volumes. For handling, lightweight feel, light steering effort, big bump absorption(XRS shocks work amazing), agile feel, and a much better cornering "planted'' feel over their 2s brothers, the 900t is quite good we thought. I owned a 16 1200XS and liked that alot, but this G4 chassie with 4s power and most importantly XRS package shocks, makes a huge improvement over any previous 4s offering from BRP. So the handling dept is BEST IVE RODE in any 4s to date.
Power wise, stock obviously and only 250kms on ticker....was better then I thought it would be. Since I ride a 270hp Winder daily, I thought for sure Id be very dissappointed with the power. But in the tight trails, corner to corner the 900t snaps to attention nicely and feels plenty strong, On the lake it does pretty well, albeit nothing like the big top end pull power im used to. I would like this sled more with Dave's 205hp tune which should put the little turbo into stock Winder territory which would be nice overall.
Point of contention for us both is the iTC....Stupid throttle by wire BRP has married themselves to on their 4s sleds now, which just is awkward to put it simply. Not only is the lever itself odd shaped/sized in its throw distance and backpressure, but the ON/OFF power at trail speed is my biggest issue with it. Sport mode MUST be used to have the closest feel of "connected performance" to the throttle body(closest to a real cable feel) but then what happens is you get this On/OFF feel which is something that makes it hard to stand up ride at all, and is plain annoying. We both felt after a few hours of riding it(swapping back and forth with a 600r 2s) that this was the ONLY drawback for us, and we actually loved every other aspect of this sled. We also agree that this was a quirk that would be less noticeable after more time on the sled, and simply getting used to the way it makes power. Definitely would be a home run with a proper throttle, but BRP needs the iTC as their 4s intake design is simply not performance oriented(too long).
So in the end, I feel like the 900t would be the only alternative for most Winder owners....But power wise you will need to be ready to step back in pure jam....While the 900t corner to corner actually will feel more snappy then a STOCK Winder with it's docile bottom end power delivery....anything beyond corner to corner tight trails, the stock Winder will drive away hard certainly. So the 900t will need 205 tune IMO to get into that realm of a stock Winder.
Im hoping YAM brings back our full lineup and gets their act together in this Winder game. YAM has the name and the Winder is very popular among us power junkies, they need to FIX 3 or 4 of these simple engineering deficits and that would go a LONG way to prop up many of us TY members with a warm and fuzzy feeling of where we are headed. Give us back our RTX(129) and that model could come with the real shocks(Qs3r) all around and leave the electronic shocks for certain models. It wont take but a few moves by YAM to keep this ball rolling the right direction. But if YAM fails another season to do much of anything, I can see MANY guys running back to BRP as you just cannot deny BRP engineering is usually spot on, and if not they at least update things even if they don't admit it.
Looking forward to all the '20 releases....less then 1 week now for the BRP release Monday 18th.
Dan
RTX
TY 4 Stroke God
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2005
- Messages
- 1,796
- Location
- massachusetts / maine
- Country
- USA
- Snowmobile
- 2014 viper rtx
2006 apex rtx
Dan,
I owned an apex and absolutely loved it, but it really beat me up on rough trails. So I bought a viper and while it was night and day better suspension, power was way down from what I was used to with the apex and I felt I could really corner better on the apex. the viper burned and being Yamaha loyal the next progression was to the sidewinder even though I never drove one.
being that the sidewinder shares a lot of the viper issues ( relay issues, oil tank sealing issues, shitty skis) and then adds on a few more (hose in the tunnel, belts blowing/clutches) I was really hesitant to make the move.
I really had no interest in the ace turbo till I rode one a few weeks back. the one I rode had the xrs package which is simply incredible and pretty much sold me on the sled. I agree the throttle is kinda screwy. I don't find it uncomfortable, but I do find it incredibly jerky in sport mode and am learning to adjust my riding style around it.
In the tight twisty trails it is easy enough to reach and flip to std mode if needed, but I seldom do.
the power is up from the viper and feels about equal to the apex. the apex has a roar to it that makes you feel fast while the 900t is so darn quiet its hard to tell you are going fast till you look down at the gauge.
I can already see myself turning up the power some in the off season (just because I can) and am currently watching what precision, hurricane, and TD are doing. I have heard a few reports that guys seem to feel the tunes "help" to clean up some of the throttle issues, so I am waiting on more feed back before deciding who to take the plunge with.
I agree I am also excited for the 2020 release and being Yamaha loyal for the past 18 years I have mixed emotions. one part of me really wants to see an all new Yamaha sled, while the other side is hoping for BNG so I am not upset about leaving the team.
I still have the apex so I guess I am not officially gone, lol
