may throw in the towel on Yamaha

[Meadowbrook]

My first new Yamaha purchased last year left me more than disappointed. My new Apex had a pile of broken wheels, worn sliders, suspension bottomed out on quick shutter bumps, and the handling was terrible! To its credit, I loved the motor and clutches. I contacted Yamaha about my experiences and they simply would not admit they had any issues with there sleds. I corrected the wheel and slider issue myself with some Arctic cat wheels that were a 1/16" smaller than the regular size wheels, but 1/16" larger than the Yamaha wheels. I milled the supports to maintain the correct center tracking. NO MORE PROBLEMS WITH WHEELS OR SLIDERS PERIOD. When I told Yamaha about the fix they told me the warranty would not apply to a modified sled and could not see the benefit of what I did since they do not have any problems. Also as you all know,the skis are terrible! I installed shapers and it helped a lot but still wont carve the turns or hook up even with chisels. I really wanted this sled to work but I have to tell you after coming off a firecat that I had over 10,000 miles of the most fun I ever had on a sled, I am wondering if I am better off to sell the sled and cut my losses or spend a lot of money to re-.vamp the handling and suspension. Please understand that my purpose is not to bash Yamaha but to simply ask for advise if this sled will ever meet my expectations. I am trying to decide if I should go to a CRF 8 or F8 Sno-Pro., or go through the learning curve and see f the Yamaha can make the grade.
Thanks for your help in advance.

 

[Grimm]

An unfortunate and frustrating situation, but also a common theme if you buy new Yamahas these days and echoed amongst many..."bulletproof engines, but questionable handling out of the box."

 

[mr.pitstop]

Its one thing or another no matter what brand you buy. I had polaris for years and replaced more engines than I have wheels on my apex. I've owned cats too and had many of the same issues. The only brand I have not owned is skippy doo and If I were to buy another sled today, it would probablyt be a new doo. My problem is I love to hold the flipper to the bar for the entire length of our lake (12 miles from one place to the next) and no matter what brand you buy, 2 stroke twins CAN NOT handle that. I've tried with them all... Its all in what you ride, I ride all groomed trails and lakes, for me the apex handles great and carves the trails with the best of em. Of course I've done alot of mods to the suspension and front end... But the engine is what sold it for me. I love that 4 stroke pull....

 

[LJ 452]

Which model and year did you get? Unfortunatel, as with all brands there are some good years and some bad ones. I had an 06' RTX and it was far from what I had expected. My Nytro on the other hand, is pretty much what I had expected, both the pros and cons. With the yams your probably never going to have the steering effort of your firecat or the f series. The mono is not a great big bump skid by design, it's a groomed with chop trail skid. The wheels that came story k up to the 10's were a joke, I put on yams accessories wheels, the spoke ones, and only replaced two in 7,000 miles. My buddy's If series eats at least 1 or more a season,not to mention the center shock lower body cap rubs on the track so bad he's had to replace it two or three times. On the other hand he didn't have to touch the suspension from the dealer. It's all give and take. If a company made a perfect sled there wouldn't be any other company's. If you plan to keep the sled for over 10,000 I would stick it out and deal with the issues, there is a ton of info one here and ussually four different ways to improve on whatever issue you are having. If you think you may be switching within 5,000 I would probably sell now as the price of the new ones is high still, so the resale value should be good.

 

[sleddingfarmer]

I think a lot of the problem is in the rear suspension and bad shock valving. A rather cheap modification is to switch rear suspensions. I'd throw a Edge or Xtra 10 or maybe a pro-x suspension under it and get your shocks valved by a pro, slap some C&A skis on it... It should handle whatever you throw at it then.

 

[APEX 06]

It takes a new way of riding to be fast on a 4 stroke. You have to forget how you rode the cat and learn from the yamaha.

 

[rightarm]

Patience grasshopper no one sled is perfect

 

[Riceburner]

My first new Yamaha purchased last year left me more than disappointed. My new Apex had a pile of broken wheels, worn sliders, suspension bottomed out on quick shutter bumps, and the handling was terrible! To its credit, I loved the motor and clutches. I contacted Yamaha about my experiences and they simply would not admit they had any issues with there sleds. I corrected the wheel and slider issue myself with some Arctic cat wheels that were a 1/16" smaller than the regular size wheels, but 1/16" larger than the Yamaha wheels. I milled the supports to maintain the correct center tracking. NO MORE PROBLEMS WITH WHEELS OR SLIDERS PERIOD. When I told Yamaha about the fix they told me the warranty would not apply to a modified sled and could not see the benefit of what I did since they do not have any problems. Also as you all know,the skis are terrible! I installed shapers and it helped a lot but still wont carve the turns or hook up even with chisels. I really wanted this sled to work but I have to tell you after coming off a firecat that I had over 10,000 miles of the most fun I ever had on a sled, I am wondering if I am better off to sell the sled and cut my losses or spend a lot of money to re-.vamp the handling and suspension. Please understand that my purpose is not to bash Yamaha but to simply ask for advise if this sled will ever meet my expectations. I am trying to decide if I should go to a CRF 8 or F8 Sno-Pro., or go through the learning curve and see f the Yamaha can make the grade.
Thanks for your help in advance.

If you are willing to invest a little time on here and a little money for a fantastic "Trail Sled" , keep the Ricer.

Let us know what you want the sled to do and someone here will help you out.

Examples.

[ Snotracker extremes on your stock skiis will likely make you happy if you are a northern Maine reasonably aggressive trailrider]

Hook up is no problem for most of us . Set more transfer into the transfer rod and loosen the limiter strap a bit. If you want to do wheelies all the time you can take out the transfer rod.

Rear suspension can be tailored for a riders preferences and weight by Hygear, Shocktec, Carver ,Pioneer etc. Pick your poison and send them your rear shock for a setup for your type of riding and trails.

Riders come from 90 lbs to 400 lbs plus, from put put old people to those aggressive as hell, from areas like Quebec with super smooth trails to the states with trails with moguls all the time. There is not a set up that fits all.

If you did not have to set up your Firecat for you, you were lucky. Me I did not care for the Firecat at all for my type of riding.

If you really liked the Firecat that much, and are not willing to put the time and effort into the Apex get the CRF 8.

Spend some time dialing in the Yammie, lay a little boost on the engine and likely you will forget there are other brands.



Rice

 

[sherlock29]

Well said rice!... these beasts are sometimes hard too get used to... but once you get yourself and the machine tuned in, they are hard to beet.. when i got off my rev and got on my first apex i thought i had made a huge mistake... but after i set the machines up, i will never go back. especially after a combined milleage of over 17000 miles... try that on a 2 smoke without multiple motors.

sherlock.

 

[sleddheadd]

Meadowbrook, could you please add your location to your profile. It is a site requirement. Thanks!

 

[Meadowbrook]

Thanks for the replies. You guys are great! I ride mostly in northern Maine and still ride more aggressive than this 52 year old body should. That said, I am going to explore the set up mods that can possibly make this sled better. I will spend at least $2,500 to switch to a hold over CFR8, so maybe for a little less I can make this acceptable. I wish I could ride one with the right set up to be convinced it can be done, then I would not hesitate to make the changes. I still feel parts of the sled was designed by some college kid in Tokyo who is not in touch with real world ridding. I realize that I can learn a lot from this forum and the knowledge you share is valuable and I would like to express my thanks. I will do the research and will keep you posted.
Regards,
Meadowbrook

 

[ahicks]

FWIW, I shared your disapointment within just a few miles of getting mine. Some focus for your search -

Check out how many have replaced the factory skis.

then...

Look at how many have replaced the entire rear suspension with something different. ANYTHING different.....

While doing the suspension mods, many have installed extroverted drivers as well.

I've done all that, actually replaced the rear suspension at 700 miles I was so disappointed with it, but now, there's still nothing out there I'd trade for.

As mentioned, there is a learning curve regarding driving the 4 stroke. Big inch quads have the identical issue trying to get them around a corner. You simply cannot back off the throttle entirely once entering into the corner. You HAVE to carry some throttle going though it, even if you aren't accelerating. It doesn't take much to make a HUGE difference. Once you get used to that, the engine braking will become one of your biggest assets. Until then, it'll be a PIA.

 

[Super Sled]

If you really liked the Firecat that much, and are not willing to put the time and effort into the Apex get the CRF 8.

Like RB, part of me says this. If you liked the 'Cat that much and miss it, then switch. Just depends on what you want out of a sled......






Mike

 

[Super Sled]

Look at how many have replaced the entire rear suspension with something different. ANYTHING different.....

Just disagreeing here, that's all. A vocal minority have given up on the Mono suspension. Seems like many of them are real big guys, if my observations are correct. This is no slam, so please don't take it as such. Seems like Mono can't take abuse from a heavier guy.


For me, I'm 195 - ish without gear and I ride lots of twisty trails up here in Northern MN. And trust me, by any given afternoon our trails have moguls that would make Olympic skiers envious. In 2 years with my Attak, I have not had anything break.


I also find that the mono is a very comfortable ride. And performance wise, I'm close to where I want it. With some more tinkering/ trial and error, I hoping to get it dialed in perfect this year. And this is partly my fault as I spent most of this past winter dialing in my Mt Viper after I put new Ohlins on the rear skid and Fox Floats on front of it.





Mike

 

[Super Sled]

I wish I could ride one with the right set up to be convinced it can be done, then I would not hesitate to make the changes.

I totally agree here. That would've made things sooo much easier to have another Apex there that was dialed in perfect to use as a starting point. I only know one guy with an Apex close to me and his is set stock, so no help. Do lots of searches on here about setting up the Mono skid, it'll assist you a lot. I'd have been lost without this site.

I still feel parts of the sled was designed by some college kid in Tokyo who is not in touch with real world ridding.

This is funny stuff here. Possibly quite true!

Actually, Yamaha worked on the designing the Mono skid for several years "perfecting" it before release. I'm serious here. It is/ was considered their crowning jewel in skid development internally inside Yamaha. They are very proud of it.

I realize that I can learn a lot from this forum and the knowledge you share is valuable and I would like to express my thanks. I will do the research and will keep you posted.

Enough said on this point!










Mike