My Viper ride review.

[jp111]

I also was able to attend a demo ride this weekend in Old Forge NY. We too were told that the these are pre-production sleds, and that their will be many changes until we see them in the fall. My dealer who is #2 in sled sales on the east coast and #1 with csi ratings told me Yamaha has only had the sled a little over a year.
I currently ride a Nytro XTX with a but ton of goodies to make it a good ride.
As for my thoughts on the sleds during the demo since you get to ride them all as they switch you out several times during the ride. With that being said while the viper may only be 30 lbs lighter than a nytro it feels a hundred pounds lighter. They definatley do not have the clutching or the tunes right which I found funny BUT after riding the AC 7000 which is our motor with thier clucthes AC has it figured out. I went on the AC test ride with my dealer and while I was on the turbo cat (which one caught fire on a yamaha guy ) we switched quick. Their sled was spot on back shifted impecably and pulled like no tomorrow, made me feel good that it can be cured. They ran so good my dealer got off and said Yamaha better get their heads out of their a## and get the viper right!! I liked the Viper LTX it hnadled well, extremely well. No ski lift went where you pointed it, it could be rode easy or hard however you wanted to. Easy to use hand controls, brakes are ok I dont like the look of the lever, and the heated seat was nice (don't bust my chops you probably have them in you car). By the time we got to these sleds they were beat, some had been rolled over, other ran into stuff.
I rode the other brands as well:
Ski Doo has the best rear suspension in the R-Motion, rest of the sled still feels like a bean can and I am waiting for stuff to fall off
I rode the 900 ace with Fly By Wire, chiroprators are going to love those owners it has terrible throttle lag and gives you whip lash when you take off. You cant tell if the motor is reving up till its to late. One guy rear ended a guy in the waiting line, the demo guy was pissed! The 3 selectable modes thing is cool and you can feel a huge difference.

Artic cat, I thought thier new 600 2 stroke was fantastic , and had more snot then the doo e-tec, and so did many other riders
The 800 smokes like a mad man
And the turbo while it sounds cool when you get out of the throttle is more than I need.

So the long of the short is , I will be putting a deposit down on friday night for a new viper, I liked it. Do I wish it was all Yamaha you bet! But will I enjoy it being a half breed , damn skippy!!!

 

[09nytro]

I liked it to.....

 

[Reaper]

So whats the concensus... LTX SE the one?

 

[AKrider]

Some of the Yamaha sales reps are trying to convince customers that the Pro Cross chassis was designed by Arctic Cat and Yamaha TOGETHER. That it was meant to carry the Arctic Cat two stroker, the Arctic Cat four stroker AND the Yamaha triple from day one. That it was designed like this already back in 2009-2010. That Yamaha engineers already spent years in Thief River Falls, performing R&D together with Arctic Cat engineers, teaching Arctic Cat engineers about Yamahas quality system.

I don't believe that. If it were true, the Nytro motor wouldn't sit so high off the bottom of the belly pan. I also don't recall (until very recently) reading posts from people saying that Yamaha was in the Thief River Falls plant. I think the lack of an official dry weight is due to Yamaha still not having the production Viper spec's finalized.

Don't get me wrong, they desperately needed to do SOMETHING. Just (Yamaha) don't blow smoke up my butt that this sled was years in the making. That's right up there with Polaris and the 2010 Rush. They claimed that POS was tested for 100,000 miles and it was a game changer. Than comes the Iron Dog and one of the top teams was so frustrated with the rear skid breaking they installed a regular tunnel and traditional rear skid out of an IQ and were going to race that (they created an Indy). Polaris said no but Polaris didn't have a fix for the junk rear skid so Greatland Welding in Wasilla had to completely rebuild the skids, strengthen them, basically backwards engineer them and Polaris then took the improvements and put them on the 11's.

I just get irritated when the OEM marketing guys make claims that can't be backed up.

 

[Nytro40th]

Well yamaha's trailer had been seen at cats test ground a year or two ago.

 

[jp111]

I was told by my dealer that they have only had the sled about a year. In my mind about a year is a little less than a year. I highly doubt that yamaha had their hand in the creation of the chassis.

On a side note not to jack the thread, but has anyone picked up the brochure for the sled? In the pics of the Viper their is no radiator. Also most of the sleds on display at the demo tours have the panels rivited closed with black cloths covering whats under the hood. I am pretty sure this sled was put together rather quickly with only a hand full of sleds that are actually rideable.

 

[Off Trail Mike]

Well yamaha's trailer had been seen at cats test ground a year or two ago.

Yeah, that was for the SR120....

Sorry guys....couldn't resist!

OTM

 

[kingedwards99]

I highly doubt that yamaha had their hand in the creation of the chassis.

I really doubt it as well! Otherwise I don't see why they would give there Nytro engine for them to sell i think it was part of the deal i supply an engine, you give me a chaisis.

 

[2BLUE4U]

I rode the XTX in Grand Rapids on Saturday. I thought the handling was absolutely perfect. Zero ski lift and I didn't think it pushed in the corners at all. Got on my nytro XTX right after I got off the viper, took the same trail and it wasn't even close. I rode that same section of trail much faster and with 200% less effort than with the nytro. I don't understand why people are complaining about the gauges either. The viper gauge is a 300% improvement over the nytro, which is an F- at best. You can see way more info on the viper gauge and it's easy to read at a glance. The hand warmers actually work!! I didn't even have to buy a $200 upgrade to do it. The 1.6" cobra track is super sweet...loved it on the viper and on my buddy's XF 800. The motor was lacking, my stock nytro and modded nytro would've had zero problem beating the viper in any kind of drag race. Hope they get that dialed in for production. I still can't believe how much lighter the viper feels than a nytro. It didn't feel much different than the XF800. Overall, I was very impressed and wasn't looking forward to riding my nytro XTX in 4 feet of powder after riding the viper, but I did it anyway and had a blast!

 

[Master of Faster]

The variation of the reviews on this sled so far are really something. There is no way anyone could objectively evaluate the sleds I rode and describe the handling as "perfect" or make statements like zero ski lift and no push in the corners. Unless there are sets of demo sleds out there that are light years ahead of what was in Elmira, it simply isn't true. Maybe the slow speeds that the some of the demo rides limit people to plays a role, as I'm sure riding styles and preferences do.

I think it is important that people hear opinions from both sides and understand that not everyone thinks this chassis is the miracle that some claim it to be, rather than buy based on overzealous reviews only to be disspointed next year by their purchase.

There is only so much that can be done within the confines of typical snowmobile design as it is today. You have two skis on the front that turn, and sometimes they fit into the tracks of other skis. You also have a center of mass that is above the ground. Designers have many "buttons" that they can turn to reduce negative characteristics like ski-lift and darting, but it is all but impossible to completely eliminate these things. To say that this sled is perfect, and doesn't do these things at all, is crazy talk.

The gauge pod is horrible, as is the Nytro's. A digital tach.....ugh

I remember when the Nytros debuted, and everyone marveled at how spectacular that chassis was after the demo rides. It didn't take long into the following winter though for people to start complaining about steering effort, darting, ski-lift, etc. This sled will be the same way. It may be a different set of complaints, but they will be there.

Everyone screamed for something different, and that is what we got, something different. Better for some? Sure. Better at everything? No way. For me, the test ride proved that the grass is not always greener.

 

[Off Trail Mike]

MOF
At least you got a test ride to be subjective. Our dealer has one for a club day but sorry... No rides, look only. Thanks Yamaha Canada you just guaranteed I won't be buying one. No testy, no purchasy. Like you, ive learned that you need seat time to make an "informed" decision.

OTM

 

[09nytro]

Well I rode it for two hours so I must say it was waaaaaaaay better in every way than my nytro or apex ...I would totally agree with 2blue4u ...I got off and was like WOW that was very nice.....then I had to ride my nytro home

 

[Master of Faster]

Well I rode it for two hours so I must say it was waaaaaaaay better in every way than my nytro or apex ...I would totally agree with 2blue4u ...I got off and was like WOW that was very nice.....then I had to ride my nytro home

Way better in EVERY way than a Nytro or an Apex? So it had more power than an Apex? The brakes were better? The fit and finish was better? It rattled less?

I'm sorry, but statements like that completely discredit your review. Maybe you've had a bad experience with your Nytro/Yamaha, and that sucks, but remember people may be basing their next purchase based off of what they read here. Just try to be real.

 

[gmcman2012]

I think he is being real the viper out handles any yamaha out to date no question's and guess what you dont have to spend hundreds to make it feel safe to ride.......... just because you don't like it does not mean that ever one will feel the same as you and im sick of the fit and finish bull s*** its a sled. other then some of the hand built proto types that might have a panel gap that is not the same all well do you buy one to look at it or RIDE IT.... and no it does not have more power then a apex that's just a dumb statement.

 

[jp111]

Well I rode it for two hours so I must say it was waaaaaaaay better in every way than my nytro or apex ...I would totally agree with 2blue4u ...I got off and was like WOW that was very nice.....then I had to ride my nytro home

Way better in EVERY way than a Nytro or an Apex? So it had more power than an Apex? The brakes were better? The fit and finish was better? It rattled less?

I'm sorry, but statements like that completely discredit your review. Maybe you've had a bad experience with your Nytro/Yamaha, and that sucks, but remember people may be basing their next purchase based off of what they read here. Just try to be real.

Really c'mon man. Its an opinion he has. He is entitled to it, if it makes him happy let him be happy. If we all liked ONE sled it would be really boring.

And seriously the sleds were prototypes get over the fit and finish thing! Lets hold off and discuss that when the real consumer sleds come out.