just completed 2015 demo rides

[HartleRacing]

well, i can say i came out of the demo rides more confused and on the fence about which sled i want then i was before the weekend..

SNOW CONDITITONS- extremely sugary snow, half of the ride was as smooth as glass, other half was fairly beat up and icy underneath. easily 1-2 feet of snow or more in spots, others were only a couple inches overtop of ice

list of sleds i test rode
Viper RTX SE
Viper LTX SE
Arctic Cat 7000 Cross Country (they didnt have a viper XTX)
Arctic Cat 500 Sno Pro
Polaris 800 Switchback Assault
Polaris 800 Switchback Pro R
notice i didnt ride any of the Ronald McDonald sleds, and for good reason as the 15 Renegades they had were in and out of the trailer all day.. good selling point right??

biggest disappointment- no 15 sleds from Polaris or YAMAHA.. they had all 14's

most fun sled to ride-
AC 500 Sno Pro. loved the snocross style setup, light weight, snappy clutch/engine combo and fairly raspy exhaust tone. simplistic dash setup that was very easy to use. liked the toggle swiches on the dash to run hand warmers and headlight

least fun sled to ride-
AC 8000 Sno Pro. rode 2 of them and both nearly rattled my hands off the bars at idle. weak feeling power delivery, smelly exhaust and it LOVED to suck fuel.

most comfortable sled to ride-
Viper LTX SE. '14 model that had the heated seat option. extremely easy to get the feedback i wanted from the entire package while riding. low windshield had more protection than i was expecting, and kept the wind of most of my body. hand warmers were actually HOT unlike most yamaha sleds. soaked up everything i threw at it on the trail when putting up a 60-70mph run in choppy and icy sections. MAN DO I LOVE THIS ENGINE SETUP

best suspension-
Polaris Switchback Pro R. what can i say? the chassis is flat out AMAZING on this thing. no other sled that i was on could literally eliminate small trail chatter like this thing did. wish i could have ridden it for the entire loop, but the check engine light came on, the sled lost power above 5k and i had to switch onto a 600 Rush Pro R instead. short track rode similar to the 136 as well.

final verdict-
i know after this weekend, i still would never buy a ski-poopoo sled after seeing them going to the trailer early and often. Polaris scared me away until i can ride their 800 without the dash throwing lights at me after 7 miles. arctic cats 800 engine is a pile of worthless junk to me, it felt slow and nowhere near the 160 hp that they claim, it rattled and was never consistent when on and off the throttle or even at idle for that matter. so now im still on the fence about the viper and a competitors sled, but now its between the Viper LTX or XTX (i liked cats cross country 7000 sled which is basically an XTX with mountain seat and riser) or the AC 500 Sno Pro.

 

[number1kyster]

I've heard great things about that Snopro 500. Tough as nails and a real over achiever for a 500.

I'm thinking about picking one up next year.

 

[HartleRacing]

i loved being on that chassis. i liked the ride of it in choppy blown out sections of trail better than any of the other chassis i was on. it actually pulled fairly well up to 60 or so MPH. i can pick one of those up used (2010-2014) with less than 2K miles for under $5,000.. i might just go that route and save some coin over the new option with the viper. i do love the viper, but i think i might wait a couple years and find a lightly used one for alot less.

 

[Yamadog]

Great write up!!!

I agree with all of it. I have had 1- 2011 121" pro R 800 and loved it, bought 2012 pro r 800 switchback and when dialed in could out run anything non boosted. It blew up at 860 mile though. Bought a 13 the same day to save the weekend. The 2011 and 12 both would go into limp mode due to bad fuel the knock censor is on the carefull side. I still have 2013 pro r 800 switchback and a buddy bought a leftover in October Friday I took him to the UP. he had 272 miles on it when we left it blew up 16 miles later. I always ran oil in the gas tank in addition to the oil in the resevoir he did not. He rode mine on Friday and saturday. We stopped at Pat's Yamaha (also polaris dealer) in Greenland on Saturday they put it in the shop and turned up the oil 3 turns on the pump and said run it without adding to the tank.

Any how 3 weeks ago I took another buddy up with a 2014 sno pro 800 and my viper was blown up so I rode the pro R and could eat him alive and he is 25 yrs younger than me and in 2' of powder on the flowage could not get it over 75 mph.

I finally love my XTX with 9#'s of boost dialed in and love the power of 220 hp but still struggle on sugary snow with a big push running simmons skis with 32" of carbide.

 

[number1kyster]

i loved being on that chassis. i liked the ride of it in choppy blown out sections of trail better than any of the other chassis i was on. it actually pulled fairly well up to 60 or so MPH. i can pick one of those up used (2010-2014) with less than 2K miles for under $5,000.. i might just go that route and save some coin over the new option with the viper. i do love the viper, but i think i might wait a couple years and find a lightly used one for alot less.

I'm going to try to do the same. I think a lot of trail cruisers buy this sled and don't like it. I see a ton of them for sale for $4,500-$5,000 with very little miles. Perfect for me!

 

[HartleRacing]

Great write up!!!

I agree with all of it. I have had 1- 2011 121" pro R 800 and loved it, bought 2012 pro r 800 switchback and when dialed in could out run anything non boosted. It blew up at 860 mile though. Bought a 13 the same day to save the weekend. The 2011 and 12 both would go into limp mode due to bad fuel the knock censor is on the carefull side. I still have 2013 pro r 800 switchback and a buddy bought a leftover in October Friday I took him to the UP. he had 272 miles on it when we left it blew up 16 miles later. I always ran oil in the gas tank in addition to the oil in the resevoir he did not. He rode mine on Friday and saturday. We stopped at Pat's Yamaha (also polaris dealer) in Greenland on Saturday they put it in the shop and turned up the oil 3 turns on the pump and said run it without adding to the tank.

Any how 3 weeks ago I took another buddy up with a 2014 sno pro 800 and my viper was blown up so I rode the pro R and could eat him alive and he is 25 yrs younger than me and in 2' of powder on the flowage could not get it over 75 mph.

I finally love my XTX with 9#'s of boost dialed in and love the power of 220 hp but still struggle on sugary snow with a big push running simmons skis with 32" of carbide.

polaris would have gained me as a customer if they had reliable engines in them. i was grinning ear to ear riding that sled, right up until the engine fell on its face. i wasnt to crazy about the seat on the sled though, thus i found the viper more comfortable to ride when sitting down

 

[Yamadog]

I like the tapered seat cause of bad hips my legs are not spread as far but I ride mine standing close to 90 % of the time. I once rode it home from international falls to big falls close to 60 miles standing the whole way.

 

[2lapsdown]

i loved being on that chassis. i liked the ride of it in choppy blown out sections of trail better than any of the other chassis i was on. it actually pulled fairly well up to 60 or so MPH. i can pick one of those up used (2010-2014) with less than 2K miles for under $5,000.. i might just go that route and save some coin over the new option with the viper. i do love the viper, but i think i might wait a couple years and find a lightly used one for alot less.

The SP500 is a fantastic sled. True race chassis, bullet proof motor, and clutch, never eats a belt. Motor loves the crappiest 87 octane with ethanol you can find and the cheapest oil there is. There is a simple fix for the rear skid shocks which will make the sled unbelievably better than what you rode. Have owned 4 of them since 2010, raced USXC and beat the living crap out of them. Watched them beat 600 race sleds in the tight and rough right up until now. One of the best chassis of all time.....

 

[JP270NYTRO]

I was at the same demo a rode all of the sleds, the 8000s they had there had clutch problems I rode it and thought the same as you but I know better my good friend owns one with just clutching and that thing will run really well he wins in 800 mod classes with it its all stock but clutching...I actually was thinking of buying the new doo xrs renegade but after riding it that's not going to happen to me its to light of a sled I could drive the viper or the black nytro they had there right around that thing in the corners! I know the trails where beat but you don't realize how the extra weight helps you until you don't have it!

 

[number1kyster]

i loved being on that chassis. i liked the ride of it in choppy blown out sections of trail better than any of the other chassis i was on. it actually pulled fairly well up to 60 or so MPH. i can pick one of those up used (2010-2014) with less than 2K miles for under $5,000.. i might just go that route and save some coin over the new option with the viper. i do love the viper, but i think i might wait a couple years and find a lightly used one for alot less.

The SP500 is a fantastic sled. True race chassis, bullet proof motor, and clutch, never eats a belt. Motor loves the crappiest 87 octane with ethanol you can find and the cheapest oil there is. There is a simple fix for the rear skid shocks which will make the sled unbelievably better than what you rode. Have owned 4 of them since 2010, raced USXC and beat the living crap out of them. Watched them beat 600 race sleds in the tight and rough right up until now. One of the best chassis of all time.....

That's what I want. Right now I don't have a sled. Been riding Yamaha 4 strokes since 2005 and I'm ready for something light that I can toss around and beat on. I don't really trust the new high tech two strokes. Sounds like this little sled fits the bill!

 

[newfie09xtx]

My Brother-in-law has a 13 800 Cat LTD. I drove it and I also found that it had a dead spot out of the hole then found around 40-50 km/h it launched. I raced a short run against my Nytro and I didnt get a great launch but we were pertty even till I had to let off because of a corner. I am positive he would get me on top end.

You are definately right that it likes the gas! Holy crap! I couldnt believe what he burnt compared to mine. I do like the handling of the sled though. And those 800's do run really rough and I think they are sending smoke signals when they start up cold!

 

[number1kyster]

IMO the 800 Etec is hands down the smoothest most efficient 800 mill. Sounds like they last longer than the Poo 800 2 stroke too.

To bad they can't even go 10,000 miles without a rebuild.

And for what it's worth. I have a buddy with a 600 Etec with 6,500 miles. It's been rebuilt once. He is talking about getting a new one and I think he is getting a 600 again. He said the 800 uses a ton more fuel and oil compared to his 600.

 

[HartleRacing]

IMO the 800 Etec is hands down the smoothest most efficient 800 mill. Sounds like they last longer than the Poo 800 2 stroke too.

To bad they can't even go 10,000 miles without a rebuild.

And for what it's worth. I have a buddy with a 600 Etec with 6,500 miles. It's been rebuilt once. He is talking about getting a new one and I think he is getting a 600 again. He said the 800 uses a ton more fuel and oil compared to his 600.

funny thing now that you mention it.. there were a pile of ski doo guys testing the genesis powered sleds and kept mentioning how much oil their Etec engines used, way more than advertised actually. i always thought the ETEC engines were the staple children for "clean" as the magazines seem to state

 

[number1kyster]

The 600 is. The 800 not so much!

My buddies 600 Etec gets insane oil and fuel numbers. That thing would straight up blow my Apex away at the fuel pump.

I heard Doo bumped up oil consumption to offset engine failures on the 800's.

 

[frozesolid]

It'd be great to be able to ride an AXYS before plunking down 13 g's on one. I think it's going to be a home run and Poo is going to sell a lot of them tho.

I'd like to spend some seat time on a Viper too, 'cuz that RTX LE is calling my name from a distance...I've checked out the XTX my dealer has sitting in the showroom a few times as well.

Don't blame you for not checkin' out the Doo's...nice sleds but kinda boring to ride...a least the 'Gade I looked at buying was. The Freeride might be a different story all together though. Plus, there are so many Doo's, how do you know which one is yours when you come out to the parking lot? I think that's why they came out with those funky colors.