wayne
Extreme
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2005
- Messages
- 67
How do most vk pro owners feel about the overall performance of the machine. In my neck of the woods it seems mostly positive but I hear rumors of how people in Labrador are not overly satisfied with these new vk pros. Most of what I am hearing seems to be coming from the competition but I would like to hear from somebody from the Big Land
Any truth to this
Any truth to this
Alexa
Newbie
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2006
- Messages
- 6
Wayne,
I live in Labrador and purchased one of thse VK's early last winter. I put the machine in summer storage with 3500+ km on the clock. The machine was used as for short 10 km runs to the cofee shop, 50+ km runs on groomed trails, and one 580+ run (36 hr run).
As for the machines reliability, gas milage, quality, it is a great machine - as are all yamaha products. It also starts in -30 weather (not plugedi in)
The only maintenance I have performed to date is one oil change ($55.00 CDN) and I have replaced the hyfax ($35.00 CDN).
I have had the unit stuck in 3+ feet of powder and in 2+ feet of slush. With the assistance of the Warn snow winch I had no difficulty getting the uniit out.
There are only two issues with this unit and Yamaha has corrected one of these.
The windshield frosts over when you are plowing in deep powder when the temp is below -20 (minor issue)
The lack of low range was a major miss for Yamaha. Not helping the people who purchased these in 2006 is another issue.
The machine, without low range, is not as good as it can be in the deep powder, when the going gets tight. Low range will cure this.
Chris
I live in Labrador and purchased one of thse VK's early last winter. I put the machine in summer storage with 3500+ km on the clock. The machine was used as for short 10 km runs to the cofee shop, 50+ km runs on groomed trails, and one 580+ run (36 hr run).
As for the machines reliability, gas milage, quality, it is a great machine - as are all yamaha products. It also starts in -30 weather (not plugedi in)
The only maintenance I have performed to date is one oil change ($55.00 CDN) and I have replaced the hyfax ($35.00 CDN).
I have had the unit stuck in 3+ feet of powder and in 2+ feet of slush. With the assistance of the Warn snow winch I had no difficulty getting the uniit out.
There are only two issues with this unit and Yamaha has corrected one of these.
The windshield frosts over when you are plowing in deep powder when the temp is below -20 (minor issue)
The lack of low range was a major miss for Yamaha. Not helping the people who purchased these in 2006 is another issue.
The machine, without low range, is not as good as it can be in the deep powder, when the going gets tight. Low range will cure this.
Chris
Attachments
Jack_Shaft
TY 4 Stroke Junkie
As per my previous post, I too am in Labrador:
"The biggest problem that I observed last year without the low range was that people would spin the track out when starting off; basically they were used to their old two-stroke wide tracks that made little power before you really opened up the throttle so they continued to do the same with their new VK Professionals. Guys that upgraded to the VK Pro from RS Ventures seemed to have no issues with this at all since they realized that the 120 had plenty of torque down low and would just feather the throttle when starting out with a load in tow. Low range will help keep owners from spinning out the same way but in my opinion is not a "must have" feature."
Now, with that said, would I buy a leftover 2006 VK Pro when there are 2007 VK Pro's with low range readily available? No. But that doesn't mean the 06 is a dud.
The people in Lab West and on the South Coast love the 2006's (combined sales of 70 or more units), it's just the Goose Bay and North Coast people who seem to have issues with them.
I went on several long runs with 06 VK Pro owners last year and they did fine once they got used to feathering the throttle. I have a 2000 Skandic WT 500 F/C with 20k on the clock and I wished I had the VK's stump pulling power when crawling up over some of those big hills with 6 caribou in tow.
Like any new technology, you have to give it time and adapt to its differences. I will be buying a VK Pro as soon as the finances allow.
"The biggest problem that I observed last year without the low range was that people would spin the track out when starting off; basically they were used to their old two-stroke wide tracks that made little power before you really opened up the throttle so they continued to do the same with their new VK Professionals. Guys that upgraded to the VK Pro from RS Ventures seemed to have no issues with this at all since they realized that the 120 had plenty of torque down low and would just feather the throttle when starting out with a load in tow. Low range will help keep owners from spinning out the same way but in my opinion is not a "must have" feature."
Now, with that said, would I buy a leftover 2006 VK Pro when there are 2007 VK Pro's with low range readily available? No. But that doesn't mean the 06 is a dud.
The people in Lab West and on the South Coast love the 2006's (combined sales of 70 or more units), it's just the Goose Bay and North Coast people who seem to have issues with them.
I went on several long runs with 06 VK Pro owners last year and they did fine once they got used to feathering the throttle. I have a 2000 Skandic WT 500 F/C with 20k on the clock and I wished I had the VK's stump pulling power when crawling up over some of those big hills with 6 caribou in tow.
Like any new technology, you have to give it time and adapt to its differences. I will be buying a VK Pro as soon as the finances allow.
Logan
Newbie
I bought my vk last march and went out on one ride before spring, to see some land that I wanted to buy on the north arm of Stuart Lake BC. 80 kilometers on the end of the lake. The VK was one smooth machine. I went through the motor breakin procedure, but had to open up on the throtlle just once . 110km per when I eased off and still not full out.
On the way home we stopped at Mcbride BC to see if the wife and I could go up a mountain with this work horse. One person at the top of the mountain told us that he thought that there was a harley with a track coming up the mountain. I took that as a compliment.
So far this year all we have done is to go out riding with a snowmobile club.
Mid Feb we plan on going back out to Fort Saint James to do some serious hauling of material down the lake to our land. Build a cabin there this summer. Retirement calls.
Only problems with the Vk.
Can't see all the nice gages when it's cold. they are totally fogged up.
And riding on the trails, the back end bottoms out quite often. Hard on the back.
Other than that It's a great machine.
Be nice to see a spot here under vk for pictures and instructions on how to post them.
On the way home we stopped at Mcbride BC to see if the wife and I could go up a mountain with this work horse. One person at the top of the mountain told us that he thought that there was a harley with a track coming up the mountain. I took that as a compliment.
So far this year all we have done is to go out riding with a snowmobile club.
Mid Feb we plan on going back out to Fort Saint James to do some serious hauling of material down the lake to our land. Build a cabin there this summer. Retirement calls.
Only problems with the Vk.
Can't see all the nice gages when it's cold. they are totally fogged up.
And riding on the trails, the back end bottoms out quite often. Hard on the back.
Other than that It's a great machine.
Be nice to see a spot here under vk for pictures and instructions on how to post them.
