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First impressions (first ride on my new 08' MTX)

SledWrecker

Extreme
Joined
Dec 21, 2010
Messages
60
Location
Boise ID
Today I finally got to ride my 08' Nytro I picked up in November. I did a mix of trail and hill climbs with a lot of off camber riding and side hilling. Here's some impressions.

Sled is completely 100% bone stock.

Negative
1. Handles like a mack truck, steering is really hard and takes a lot of effort when the sled is going slow.
2. Darts like crazy when trail has uneven areas, other ski tracks
3. Really tippy in the corners.
4. Gets really squerly when you mash the throttle. (track is stock and lugs are laid over pretty bad. Def. time for a new track.)
5. When sidehilling if you lose the sled to the hill it's extremely hard to recover due to the weight in the front.
6. Front feels pretty heavy in general. When trying to jump the front end drops quickly

Positive
1. Powerband is impressive, pulls well through all ranges
2. It's a lot easier to pull over then I had anticipated. My last sled was an 09' Dragon 800 and I got quite accustom to the "burandt" style wrong foot forward riding. It's going to take a lot of work on the Nytro to continue that style but the potential is there.
3. Good seat clearance to "hop" from side to side when boondocking and sidehilling without catching the seat.
4. Gas millage so far seems to be pretty good for a non-turbo. Mostly trail riding today with light boondocking and 4-5 hard pulls, maybe a dozen mild ones. Still have 3/4 tank.
5. I like the stock handlebar position for the type of riding I do. For aggresive sidehilling I perfer the bars at a lower position.

The biggest issues I have really relate to the steering. I typicaly ride close to the right hand side of the trail to avoid oncoming sleds. On the nytro I feel like I could fly off the trail at any second. I've lost a lot of confidence in just this one ride and stay more in the middle of the trail which then makes me nervouse about oncoming traffic. It's so darty it almost feels like the sled just does what it wants and I'm only pointing it in a general direction. My other gripe is how heavy it feels in the front in regard to the steering (mack truck syndrome.)

I'll spend the rest of tonight reading tips and tricks. Money just got tight so I can't dump $1k into a front end kit... I need to do what I can with the stock setup to try and moderate the issues at hand. Limiter strap adjustments, toe in or out skis, etc.
 

SledWrecker said:
1. Handles like a mack truck, steering is really hard and takes a lot of effort when the sled is going slow. move your limiter strap out one hole and tighten your front track shock up a little also

2. Darts like crazy when trail has uneven areas, other ski tracks. the above suggestion will help with that a little, but shimming your ski's and toe'ing out your ski's 1/4"-1/2" will help more

3. Really tippy in the corners. having a mtx with the narrower suspension is the main reason for this you can help by changing your front shock compression settings to a little firmer setting, this will have some ill effects in your above two problems.

4. Gets really squerly when you mash the throttle. (track is stock and lugs are laid over pretty bad. Def. time for a new track.) I think you have the answer right there...

5. When sidehilling if you lose the sled to the hill it's extremely hard to recover due to the weight in the front. better track will help with that. but new a-arms from one of the aftermarket would be better

6. Front feels pretty heavy in general. When trying to jump the front end drops quickly. yamaha's engine break will make the snowmachine dive forward really quickly when in the air, so dont chop the throttle once you take off the jump, got to use more throttle control. these nytros fly very straight once you have that figured out.

bottom line is you have an MTX they are not made for the trail, but you can set them up to be trail ridable but that isnt what they are made for.
 
One simple solution for the handling...it is all geometry...only thing that solves it...Skinz Concept a-arms...

Makes it handle infinitely better..both trail and off trail, and that side hill thing...completely goes away!!!

Impossible to describe how significantly different it is, and worth more than every penny!!!
 
I would take a look at all the bushings and ball joints on the front end when you check the ski alignment. The control arm bushings wear out pretty fast. That is not an expensive fix.

Mtdream is right on the sidehilling. Unless you upgrade the front end it is just a cold hard reality that this sled is pretty easy to sidehill but it does not deal with bumps in off camber situations.
 
If you look back at write ups on the sled in the 07-08 season you would read the same points you are making now. Don’t worry too much because there is hope for the nytro. natedawgedog makes all the right suggestion for things that will improve the stock sled. Shimming the skies made huge improvements on my sled. Don’t use too big of a shim under the ski rubber because you will cause it to push in the corners when your riding trails to get into the good stuff. Next thing would be do what hugger70mtnmax suggests go through the front end and replace any worn out bushing. Because of the front end weight they seem to wear out pretty quickly on the nytro. If the bushings have never been replaced they will be way blown out and cause the sled to dart. Ulmer racing has a good kit for the nytro front end.
If I had it to do all over again my first mod would be a steering relocator. This is a must-have IMO. There are a lot of them out there now and they all do the same thing. The cost is related to fit and finish. OFT Racing IMO has the best one out there but its more expensive then most. A new track Powerclaw or CE are the two best options. There are some newer tracks out there but the durability is questionable on some of them. The track made the biggest improvement hands down to the overall performance of the sled. The next thing would be the Zbros or Skinz front end kit. The front end kits are expensive but well worth it i have read. I am still trying to save up for one. I replaced my front end with a TS Front end the year before Skinz came out with theirs so i missed out for now. Each one has its merits. The rest of the mods you can do to the nytro will pail in comparison to those things. Some will argue boost but I would rather have a sled that handled well rather then uncontrollable missile but that is just me.
There is no way around spending money to get the nytro to perform better. However, certain upgrade give you more for your buck then others. Even if you have a good local dealer give Michelle at Oregon Trail Sports at (541) 523-3500 a call when ordering parts. She has saved me a ton of money and is a great source for parts for any sled. She is an independent dealer and will ship things anywhere.
 
natedawgedog said:
bottom line is you have an MTX they are not made for the trail, but you can set them up to be trail ridable but that isnt what they are made for.

Just to clarify I'm not a trail rider. Backcountry big mountain rider which is why I jumped to the Nytro with the turbo prospect on the horizon. This biggest issue is for me in fact though the trail handling. My buddies and I hit the ground running. We're those jack asses that fly by doing a buck-10 with the intent to get to the back country. My problem is at 35-45MPH the sled is OUT OF CONTROL. I just lost my job so a lot of things that "were planned" are now postponed. If I can't make the sled calm down with what I have it'll have to go for this season since I'm still holding the Dragon as this was a trial run with the nytro. Sad reality I know... hoping to get back to work quickly but not optimistic in this $*#(% economy... my money is on 12/21/12 being EOD....
 
sorry about the job loss, I understand that money is tight for alot of people and if I could afford the skinz front end I would buy it in an instant. but try to make the changes to the suspension that I mentioned eirlier and that will help a the trail manners alot. if it was my sled I would be taking the swaybar out and tightening up the front shocks a little bit also, it will make the sled a little unstable in the corners on trail but the advantages off trail in the mountians far outweighs the disadvantages on trail.

my front end is stock and when I first bought it I had the same reservations as you but with the adjustments made, the power of the engine and mountian capabilities it has, I sold my crossfire and never looked back.
 
Sorry to har of the job, never easy!!!

Hang in there!!


The sled is a good sled overall, a great sled for reliability and fit finish...it can be a GREAT sled with a couple tweaks....

I did virtually everything on my T-Nytro...if I was building another, I would do the Skinz front end first...then the Timbersled skid....then track....etc.
 
I had to laugh when i read your last post SledWrecker. You said you are not a trail rider but you come back with the biggest issue you have with the sled is how the sled handles on the trail. What is wrong with that statemenet??? We all get it!!! The nytro is a ill handling sled in stock form. We have all been there. That is a known fact that is well documented in this forum Everything that has been suggested in this forum will help improve the stability of the nytro regardless of where you ride it..

The nytro chassis has a well known geometry problem with the design of the front end which is made worse by the weight of the 4-stroke engine up front.. Since 08, Yamaha has been making slight improvments to fix this issue. Not until Zbros and Skinz developed their new front ends has there been a major step forward in getting this sled to handle better.

shim the skies replace all the bushing up front and i bet you will see improvements in the handling regardless where you ride.
 
Thanks for the suggestions and like I mentioned I have read around. Before I ever rode the sled while it was just hanging out in the garage waiting for snow I was deep in the forums reading about all the handling issues. The reality of it is that we are all trail riders to some extent. You can't get from the truck to the hill without hitting the trail unless you're Team Thunderstruck and have a chopper dropping you off at the base of a 1k ft chute. So that's was my point. You have to ride the trail to get to the hill and that's were it's the most sketchy on the nytro. I'll be doing most of the suggestions like ski shimming and bushings. I asked santa for the skinz kit for x-mas so we'll see but we don't have a chimny for him to shimmy down so I think he'll be passing our house up this year! :tg:
 


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