Have you guys heard this news about Arctic Cat?

[rtx moose]

https://www.snowtechmagazine.com/top-secret-2020-arctic-cat-firecat-300/

 

[Wannaviper]

https://www.snowtechmagazine.com/top-secret-2020-arctic-cat-firecat-300/

It is quite a coincidence that Snowtech was talking about this 2020 sled almost exactly a year before the release date. I wonder how close it is to what's coming?

 

[Sasquatch]

The reason Yamaha has only 4 to 5% market share is because of corporate decisions made 10 years ago, their own doing. Now they use it as a reason not to invest in new product. Lots of car models follow the same path.

Yamaha was on to something with the four stroke, proof is everyone is building them. Where Yamaha failed is not so much the delta box but in the suspension and the inability to make it work. So many swapped in different rear skids and loved them. I put a ADBoivin ZX2 in my warrior and it was a joy to ride. They did try and build a big bump sled but it failed mostly because of a week front end. Then they just gave up. They continued on refining the Apex and that was great but the company could not stand on that sled alone. The Partnership with Cat basically killed off all their own sleds. Now they kinda sit in limbo, built one hell of a motor but killed their own manufacturing doing it. So where do they go from here? Its not unheard of to contract out your production, maybe not to this extent but it is done. Usually the end of the company follows that. Lets hope not.

 

[Monster Max]

I get to buy a new sled this year and would love to see a new MTX with the alpha skid in it. Hopefully Cat releases the King Cat/alpha on the 19th...then maybe Yamaha will get it.

 

[Sasquatch]

Only reasons for me are this site,Yamaha Warranty and hope of a true Yamaha that’s as good as what I have.

Warranty was always better at Cat for me then Yamaha. Cat admitted they had a problem and fixed it Yamaha never heard of the problem so it did not exist.

 

[Sasquatch]

So if Yamaha comes out with their own sleds again, which brand will the Yamacat riders go with? Cat or Yamaha?

Been on this site since 2003 and watched people dream about what Yamaha was going to do, maybe next year or the anniversary of something. So I'll go with we don't have to worry about it. Best that can be hoped for at this point is Textron Selling the sled division to Yamaha. What that would mean is Yamaha having a say in what goes on but Yamaha and Cat would still sell sleds. Maybe Cat two stoke side Yamaha four stroke side. Well I can dream. Really they already have that.

 

[Sasquatch]

I wouldn’t be surprised if Yamaha had a hand in it...

Here we go again, is that like they built the two stroke for Cat?

 

[Sasquatch]

I just don't get some people all everybody did was bitch before 2014 they wanted something new with a lite weight chassis. So Yamaha teams up with Cat and gets the pro cross with probably the best front suspension on snow to date, the rear is not the best out there, but it is way better than Yamaha has ever had or tried to develop. I will be the first one to admit that the pro cross is not perfect but like I said a 100 times before there isn't one. So until that machine is made I will stick with Yamaha and deal with the small problems that come with the pro cross chassis. It is worth it in the end for me because of the suspension and ergo's alone. I know of a lot of Vipers and SideWinder out there with a lot of miles with no issues. YAMAHA is going to go down the path that is best for them and unfortunately are input means very little to them and it has always been that way. I personally think that this merger with Cat and Yamaha is going to last a lot longer than a lot of people think, and you know what? I hope it does, because I'm getting to old to go back to an all new YAMAHA like all you guys want because my back won't be able to take the out of date suspension it will have. I have bought new YAMAHA sleds since 1994(and a lot of used ones before that) and I new then and there that Yamaha was behind the times and they have been trailing the competition since but I have stuck with them with very little complaining because it is my choice. If you don't like the direction Yamaha is headed you need to move on to a different brand and then you might realize the grass is not always greener on the other side.

And yet the reason I don't like Doo or Cat or now Yamaha is because the sleds shove you forward when they raise you up. My poor old knees only bend so far and pain follows that bend. So is it to much to ask for a bit longer seat so one is not forced into one seat position. I could live with the top heavy tippy feel but make it comfortable. The only Doo I could ride was the 1200 XP and it was borderline. The Sidewinder which could be a nice sled keeps pushing you forward on every bump. Not everyone stands to ride and worse still is the two touring models give up front seat leg room for the passenger making two ups worse. I dream of the old days when seats where flat from the back to the front.

 

[sk-rx1]

Yamaha was on to something with the four stroke, proof is everyone is building them. Where Yamaha failed is not so much the delta box but in the suspension and the inability to make it work. So many swapped in different rear skids and loved them. I put a ADBoivin ZX2 in my warrior and it was a joy to ride. They did try and build a big bump sled but it failed mostly because of a week front end. Then they just gave up. They continued on refining the Apex and that was great but the company could not stand on that sled alone. The Partnership with Cat basically killed off all their own sleds. Now they kinda sit in limbo, built one hell of a motor but killed their own manufacturing doing it. So where do they go from here? Its not unheard of to contract out your production, maybe not to this extent but it is done. Usually the end of the company follows that. Lets hope not.

The Yamaha 4 stroke is not a bad thing although I really appreciate the lighter hi tech 2 strokes. Polaris has no 4 stroke, Cat only has the Turbo 998 left. When Yamaha dropped the 1056 into a Cat chassis they did absolutely minimal engineering. The motor sits 3 in the chassis too high. In the deltabox chassis the pipes go under the jack shaft, in the Cat chassis they go over. They just did not want to spend the money to do it right. Since then they have not really done any engineering except for the Turbo, a great motor with many compromises in the way it fits the chassis. IMO they actually have done 4 strokes a disservice in that they never spent the engineering to fully integrate the motor in a modern chassis to show its true potential.

 

[rtx moose]

And yet the reason I don't like Doo or Cat or now Yamaha is because the sleds shove you forward when they raise you up. My poor old knees only bend so far and pain follows that bend. So is it to much to ask for a bit longer seat so one is not forced into one seat position. I could live with the top heavy tippy feel but make it comfortable. The only Doo I could ride was the 1200 XP and it was borderline. The Sidewinder which could be a nice sled keeps pushing you forward on every bump. Not everyone stands to ride and worse still is the two touring models give up front seat leg room for the passenger making two ups worse. I dream of the old days when seats where flat from the back to the front.

The new winder has your flat seat.take a look at the STX-GT... BOOM

 

[whitedust1]

And yet the reason I don't like Doo or Cat or now Yamaha is because the sleds shove you forward when they raise you up. My poor old knees only bend so far and pain follows that bend. So is it to much to ask for a bit longer seat so one is not forced into one seat position. I could live with the top heavy tippy feel but make it comfortable. The only Doo I could ride was the 1200 XP and it was borderline. The Sidewinder which could be a nice sled keeps pushing you forward on every bump. Not everyone stands to ride and worse still is the two touring models give up front seat leg room for the passenger making two ups worse. I dream of the old days when seats where flat from the back to the front.

Can’t say I feel my legs are shoved behind me on the doo g4 wide Enduro 900t and comfort seat not like the procross knees bent back. My legs are pretty much straight to the footwells and locked in. Higher than the Apex and more forward but not extreme. You should try the g4 wide I think you will like it.

 

[SXRider7Hundo]

When or if a pure bred sled comes out I will have my popcorn ready to listen to the following comments:

Apex replacement is released- all new with the 4 cyl genesis that 90% of the haters in this thread constantly carry on about:

oH mY gOd ToO eXpEnSiVe- I wOnT bUy It!

A new two stroke comes out- all Yamaha in a rider forward chassis:

i DoNt BuY fIrSt YeAr SlEdS- oH mY gOd ToO eXpEnSiVe! iT gOnNa HaVe ToO mAnY pRoBlEmS!

Then the vicious cycle starts all over again- and then we get to see #*$&@ show threads like this pop up with the same old song and dance.

This is why we won’t see anything new in the near future- the very same haters here will be the first ones to howl over the cost of all the R&D that is passed down to the customer to design, tool up, and build these sleds they’re crying crocodile tears for. I saw over a dozen snow checks at Port Yamaha alone when I picked mine up. Obviously there is a good thing going with all the dealers inventories being low and a decent amount of snow checks. I think if they toss the awesome Phazer engine into one of these chassis they would sell even more- it’ll hit that mark they are missing. I know we would buy one!

Point being- Yamaha is smart enough to know that what they have right now is making them money. Why go and reinvent the wheel for a small market segment that will not buy their all new unit because they will have something else to howl about.

For fooks sake this is exhausting.

 

[SXRider7Hundo]

I will go ahead and add too- I LOVE Apexes, Nytros, and all the classics. I would love to have one of each in the stable for one to rip around on- they are great machines- but as far as one that can do it all? I’ll keep my hybrids until I find something that keeps up.

 

[ClutchMaster]

When or if a pure bred sled comes out I will have my popcorn ready to listen to the following comments:

Apex replacement is released- all new with the 4 cyl genesis that 90% of the haters in this thread constantly carry on about:

oH mY gOd ToO eXpEnSiVe- I wOnT bUy It!

A new two stroke comes out- all Yamaha in a rider forward chassis:

i DoNt BuY fIrSt YeAr SlEdS- oH mY gOd ToO eXpEnSiVe! iT gOnNa HaVe ToO mAnY pRoBlEmS!

Then the vicious cycle starts all over again- and then we get to see #*$&@ show threads like this pop up with the same old song and dance.

This is why we won’t see anything new in the near future- the very same haters here will be the first ones to howl over the cost of all the R&D that is passed down to the customer to design, tool up, and build these sleds they’re crying crocodile tears for. I saw over a dozen snow checks at Port Yamaha alone when I picked mine up. Obviously there is a good thing going with all the dealers inventories being low and a decent amount of snow checks. I think if they toss the awesome Phazer engine into one of these chassis they would sell even more- it’ll hit that mark they are missing. I know we would buy one!

Point being- Yamaha is smart enough to know that what they have right now is making them money. Why go and reinvent the wheel for a small market segment that will not buy their all new unit because they will have something else to howl about.

For fooks sake this is exhausting.

LMFAO!
Small inventory’s are not good for consumers, this means higher prices.
Narrow variety of products, not good for anyone.
A company that sits back and does no R&D or product development won’t be around long.

I have never bought a first year engine anything, it’s just common sense.

You will never see another 4 cylinder in a snowmobile, but we can dream about a V4 cant we?

Here’s an idea, yamaha could just give Gus Bohn a couple million and let him design their new turbo 2 stroke. Get rid of all the steel frame parts on the procross and replace with titanium. Actually make the whole sled titanium! Ace the electronic gimmick BS shocks and give me full blown racing shocks. Charge me $30k, I’ll be happy


Prolly only sell 50 of them.... but hey there would be 50 guys out there with
HUGE SMILES!

Point being- you can’t make everybody happy

PS. the Phazer engine is total garbage performance wise. Please don’t advocate it’s use in anything other than a youth sled.

 

[STAIN]

I don’t like sitting with my legs strait out, on your tail bone. Every time I sit on older sled I wonder how we did it. The pro cross to me is the most comfortable rider forward sled made. Yes I have ridden them all.
those that prefer the old leg out, tailbone down , knees above your hip seating are in the VAST minority or in denial