Drove the XF 9000 Cross Country Limited (137)

[upei93]

I heard they got rid of engine braking.....did you notice that?

No engine braking that I can remember...I did notice when I first started off that the clutch seemed to be still engaged a bit when I was off throttle...this could be because I'm used to engine braking and it just felt like this at beginning of ride...feeling went away once I got going. It's also been my experience that the Yamaha clutching is usually better then others (still run stock on an Attack that I have)...except on my Nytro...I hated stock clutching on it!

 

[stevewithOCD]

Yamaha clutching spot on? That'll be a first.

My experience in the last 20 years, especially with the APEX, is that Yamaha clutched their sleds better than the others out of the box, with the exception of the Viper. I believe they had more time to work on the "winder". My Ape is spot on & very little gains with clutch kits if any at all...

 

[Sledroll]

Snowmobile.com says the Sidewinder has longer legs than the Thundercat , due to the clutches !

 

[Dealerjohn]

My experience in the last 20 years, especially with the APEX, is that Yamaha clutched their sleds better than the others out of the box, with the exception of the Viper. I believe they had more time to work on the "winder". My Ape is spot on & very little gains with clutch kits if any at all...

I completely disagree. My father in law has an Attak that woke up big time with a clutch kit, and then an air box mod and exhaust mod.. The SRX was clutched OK! Huge gains to be made with a little clutching. From my experience Polaris has been the best at putting their little bit of power to the ground. Yamaha seems to clutch their sleds some what "friendly".. The machines I mentioned before were user friendly before clutching and after were somewhat scary.. but what ever you are into.

 

[AXR]

Theres a write up on Snowmobile.com that I read today that says that the Sidewinder with its Yamaha clutches is noticeably faster than the Cat , in an actual head to head drag !!!!!!!!

If you are talking about the Yamaha vs SkiDoo article. It does not say anything about a head to head drag Yam vs Cat.

"Based on horsepower numbers and actual seat of the pants experience with both the Ski-Doo and Yamaha turbo, we readily admit to trying the two brands head to head at every safe occasion we could and the results were clear. The Yamaha turbo wins, even when the Sidewinder rider got a poor holeshot to a cagey Ski-Doo rider. The Ski-Doo is extremely stout from mid throttle to wide open, but the turbo more than matches that and is extremely smooth all the way across the power band. We give the edge to the Yamaha Sidewinder versus Arctic Cat’s similar Thunder Cat, as we felt that the new YSRC Yamaha clutching on the pre-production models we rode shifted out and interacted better with the 998cc triple. Advantage, Yamaha. Been quite a while since we’ve been able to say that, but for model year 2017, Yamaha delivers the power to satisfy."

http://www.snowmobile.com/features/impressions-on-the-2017-ski-doo-850s-and-yamaha-sidewinder

Either way, good to hear they were more impressed with the Yamaha clutching.

 

[Sledroll]

If you are talking about the Yamaha vs SkiDoo article. It does not say anything about a head to head drag Yam vs Cat.

"Based on horsepower numbers and actual seat of the pants experience with both the Ski-Doo and Yamaha turbo, we readily admit to trying the two brands head to head at every safe occasion we could and the results were clear. The Yamaha turbo wins, even when the Sidewinder rider got a poor holeshot to a cagey Ski-Doo rider. The Ski-Doo is extremely stout from mid throttle to wide open, but the turbo more than matches that and is extremely smooth all the way across the power band. We give the edge to the Yamaha Sidewinder versus Arctic Cat’s similar Thunder Cat, as we felt that the new YSRC Yamaha clutching on the pre-production models we rode shifted out and interacted better with the 998cc triple. Advantage, Yamaha. Been quite a while since we’ve been able to say that, but for model year 2017, Yamaha delivers the power to satisfy."

http://www.snowmobile.com/features/impressions-on-the-2017-ski-doo-850s-and-yamaha-sidewinder

Either way, good to hear they were more impressed with the Yamaha clutching.

I was a little disoriented as I just came back from the Sneak Peak preview , and edited my original post.
I meant the head to head was with the 850 , and the turbo ' More than matches it ' !!!!

 

[AXR]

LOL I could see the Sneak Peak doing that for you.
I can't wait to beat up on some doo's

 

[stevewithOCD]

I would go longer but that's me...we don't ride with studs so usually longer is better for us...again hard to tell on an icy trail with a couple inches of fluff on top.

I'm glad you said this. I don't run studs either. Not anymore after WAAAY toooooo many stud failures cutting expensive trips short. BUT, I also realize that i loose some traction. You & others have 90% convinced me to go 137''

 

[super_rash]

if we are talking clutchs... i have a 2016 and 3 or 4 of my ridding buddies also...team clutchs where soooooo crapy, they lost 10mph on the 2015 setup...many guys just simply threw them in the garbage after trying to make them work...real garbage..sooooo Yamaha can't do any worse IMO, but in 2017 it is supposed to be TEAM 2 clutchs in the Arctic cat.. me personally i just had a super crappy year because of Team clutchs, so i'm not going back there...and beleive me, my other sled is a stock 2011 apex, and the clutchs are wayyy ahead of the team..plus back in 2009 when i wanted my apex to really become a beast, i had it put on roller secondary...let me tell you it was a beast..so i am really confident Yamaha clutchs will be superior to Arctic cat Team clutchs... but big thanks for the report..

 

[stevewithOCD]

if we are talking clutchs... i have a 2016 and 3 or 4 of my ridding buddies also...team clutchs where soooooo crapy, they lost 10mph on the 2015 setup...many guys just simply threw them in the garbage after trying to make them work...real garbage..sooooo Yamaha can't do any worse IMO, but in 2017 it is supposed to be TEAM 2 clutchs in the Arctic cat.. me personally i just had a super crappy year because of Team clutchs, so i'm not going back there...and beleive me, my other sled is a stock 2011 apex, and the clutchs are wayyy ahead of the team..plus back in 2009 when i wanted my apex to really become a beast, i had it put on roller secondary...let me tell you it was a beast..so i am really confident Yamaha clutchs will be superior to Arctic cat Team clutchs... but big thanks for the report..

So you didn't like Team Clutches? Kinda' re-enforcing my opinion on Sidewinder may be clutched better

 

[stevewithOCD]

I completely disagree. My father in law has an Attak that woke up big time with a clutch kit, and then an air box mod and exhaust mod.. The SRX was clutched OK! Huge gains to be made with a little clutching. From my experience Polaris has been the best at putting their little bit of power to the ground. Yamaha seems to clutch their sleds some what "friendly".. The machines I mentioned before were user friendly before clutching and after were somewhat scary.. but what ever you are into.

Well lets back-up & compare apples to apples. There is always room for improvement for type of riding you do that can also hurt other styles of riding. The manufactures have to find a happy medium between engagement, traction, back-shifting, shift out, top end, middle & bottom end. I clutched every sled i ever had up until my Apex. I tried different kits with so so results. Even Allen Ulmer himself told me if i don't run studs, then i can't beat stock especially for top end. So in my experience i'm going to trust the Yamaha clutches over the Cat. I AM still gathering & watching info because there's a small chance i'd buy a Cat LXR...

 

[Sledroll]

So you didn't like Team Clutches? Kinda' re-enforcing my opinion on Sidewinder may be clutched better

It is clutched better , as per snowmobile.com comparison to Thundercat !
Smoother and longer legs .

 

[Dealerjohn]

I haven't said anything about the team clutches as I have no experience with them minus on Polaris sleds.. where they work flawlessly. However if it is a debate as to weither or not Yamaha can do clutching better than Arctic Cat I think we all know the answer to that. Yamaha does a good job clutching for the masses but you can be certain there will still be performance left on the table, even if it does out perform the Thunder cat by a large margin.

 

[snowbeast]

Local Yamaha/AC dealer had test rides yesterday on the XF 9000...ride was about 15 min on twisty trails with one good straight stretch. I'm coming off a Nytro XTX with a ton of mods to make it handle.

Engine...no lag at all, wouldn't have known it was a turbo. Don't think clutching was bang on and trails were icy ...pulled hard but not as crazy as I expected...buddy with me who has MC Express 180 kit on his Nytro said his pulled harder...again probably clutching/icy trails.
Rear Suspension...this is what impressed me the most...I have the Star kit on my XTX and the cat skid is better.
Front suspension...I found it twitchy on the icy trail (I have mountain tech a-arms and slydog hellhounds on my xtx) I would have liked more ski pressure but that's me...my buddy had no complaints about front.
Brake...worked well but squeaked the whole ride...this sled has been going from dealer to dealer doing demo rides so probably part of the problem.

Overall I didn't get off machine with the feeling that I had to have one, having said that it was an Arctic Cat with Team clutching not a Yamaha ...probably will wait one year and let you guys iron out kinks.

Was this a 2017 proto sled? Glad you got to try it out,why did that dealer not get the Yamaha sled in? Also the xf used to be a single shock rear on the old xf 9000 turbo zuk in 141 length 1.25 lug height,ya icy trails are no place for any unstudded sleds of this power.

 

[upei93]

Was this a 2017 proto sled? Glad you got to try it out,why did that dealer not get the Yamaha sled in? Also the xf used to be a single shock rear on the old xf 9000 turbo zuk in 141 length 1.25 lug height,ya icy trails are no place for any unstudded sleds of this power.

This particular sled was going from dealer to dealer here in New Brunswick...my dealer told me no Sidewinders until next year.