More ride review 2011 Apex XTX

[iahacker]

After sitting for a couple weeks, finally got more snow to ride on.
Got to ride 75 miles at my favorite place...the Des Moines river and a chance to stretch the Apex legs a little.

Put studs in and some bergstrom tripple points with ski savers since ditch riding two weeks ago.

The suspension on this sled works very well. I'm still impressed with the front shocks. They are every bit as good as Ohlins. Skid is slightly stiff for me as I'm not that heavy but, rides very well with the 144. Ride and handling very good.
Hand warmers work great for me. Set both at half and was toasty warm all afternoon. Engine started first try every time, no issues. 253 miles to date and no slide rail wear at all. Still not seeing over 10K on the tach.

With the new set of studs, this thing really hooks up good. The engine is extemely powerful when it gets a good bit. Anyone who compares the 2011 to previous Apexs will be in for a big surprise if they ride or race one that is studded and hooks up well. Yamaha said they improved the corner to corner power/torque and they weren't kidding!

Did notice some darting around of the front end at 30 to 50 mph when on the hard pack. Faster and it goes away. No darting out of the trail in fresh snow. Seemed intermittant, not sure what the deal is with that. Wasn't really interested in the EPS when I got this sled but, it sure is nice to have
Trying a set of Simmons flex skis from my SRX for Saturday riding just to see what happens.


Have made no suspension adjustments at all so far.

 

[sleddog66]

Went from stock skis to curve xs, and darting is gone. By 500 miles, the tach went to 10,800(was about 10,000 when new). I agree, most everything about this new apex is 5-10 percent better than old. Read my compare post from today!

 

[iahacker]

Simmons up date

Did 90 miles with the Simmons yesterday. Little if any darting at all. Sled is like a slot car and can make it go where ever I wanted with ease. The EPS removes the hard steering that goes with these skis. Is a good improvement in control and confidence in the ride.
Just a hair under 350 miles on the sled and saw 10,500 on the tach. Engine is really strong.
Still no starting issues, no slide wear, running hand/thumb warmers at half.

 

[yamahahaapex]

yeah right about 300-350 miles once and awhile on good ground im hitting 10300. hopefully in a couple more hundred miles its more consistent

 

[iahacker]

More ride review

Got 1030 miles on the new XTX now. All our snow melted and the ice went out of the river already so, I had time for some feedback:

The engine runs very strong. I'm running 152 studs and the XTX skid hooks up extremely well. Still say anyone who thinks the previous Apex will run with the 2011's is out to lunch. These things rock and keep getting stronger with more miles.

Mods now include a 13mm sway bar up front to keep the front end flatter due to higher cornering speed thanks to the Simmons flex skis. This stuff with just 2 turns in the front shock, this sled is phenomenal. It handles and turns like driving your care on dry pavement. Very precise and predictable, quick and easy to make it go where I want it to. It carries a lot more speed throught he corners than my SRX does. The sled is a lot of fun to play in the deeper snow, hop off of bigger bumps etc...just fun all around.

Hand warmers work great for me. Had them on half all winter. Don't understand the complaints from others?

Got 700 miles on first set of slides and changed them before they needed to be because of all the talk about them on here. They still had a lot of miles left in them but, oh well.

For all the bad mouthing about the 2011's I see here on TY, I'm very impressed and happy with mine. Now that I'm used to it comming from 2 strokes, I don't want to get on any other sleds. This includes previous year 4 strokes. The one I have has been perfect...no issues at all.

Gee, I really miss dragging my sled off the trailer backward, then dumping in a quart of oil and yanking the rope for all I'm worth to get the tripple fired up. It's just too fast and confusing for me to turn the key, back it up and drive off to the trail.

Have a couple hundred miles in the ditches, the rest so far is on the local river. We are going to the UP in two weeks and I can't wait to run this thing on the trails there and will give a season end report for that.

 

[zeke-xtx]

 

[SRX Boy]

picking up my XTX tomorrow - can you explain what adjustments you made to the sled - suspect you are up one hole on the limiter, but what about the front shocks (do you set them so the arms are level like we did with the older Apex models) and what about the rear shocks??

 

[iahacker]

current suspension settings

Congrats on the new sled Hope you like it as much as I like mine


Two turns in front shocks. BTW, the front shocks work very well.

Limiter strap has not been moved...yet. I may take it up one hole for UP trail trip just to keep the front end down a little when on the throttle. The Simmons skis with wise use of the throttle make it very easy to control.

Center shock has not been moved.
Rear springs on soft setting and the shock is 3 clicks from full soft.
Transfer rods have not been moved.