Pictures & Thoughts of Riding the Viper this Weekend

[Caveman]

Rode into Snodeo in northern NH this weekend. Snow for another month plus up there with great trail conditions. Yamaha had 10 Vipers there to ride and 3 in the tent to look over. Ignoring all the cheerleading and the doom/gloom, I was there to check it out myself. It's a ballsy move by Yamaha and I wish them well. Rode it 3 times, by far the longest demo line of any sled there. It was fun to ride, handles great, felt a little underpowered, but compared to my Apex XTX, almost everything feels underpowered. Granted these were closer to prototypes than production but 2 Vipers would stall when we switched to another machine in the woods and on 2 others, the high beam switch wouldn't go off...not sure what the bulb was doing. "Artic Cat junk" - Yamaha's words, not mine, I was told is being used for switches, pod, electrical etc. Get the extended warranty! I'll spare you all the scuttle butt flying around up there about the 2015 Apex, but if you like it the way it is, I'd get one now!

After riding a Polaris 800 ProR Switchback, SkiDoo MXZ 800 ETec, Arctic Cat SnoPro500, and I think an Arctic Cat XF8000 SnoPro, they're all good machines. BUT - for where and the way I ride, there wasn't a machine there that I would rather have than the one I'm on. Not even close - repeat - not even close, that APEX is just AWESOME...I love it - thank you Yamaha and good luck with the Vipers!

 

[SnowBandit]

I was first in line to test ride the vipers. In fact I was told I was the first rider in the northeast other than a dealer or Yamaha employee to test ride them. I went around twice in a matter of a 1/2 hour trying both the XTX and LTX as I want a long track sled. The sled handle like a dream and had plenty of down low power. Does not have the top end my Attak has but for northern NH its a great sled. As for the stalling that was explained to us as being a pre-production issue as they are dialing in the EFI programming. Which I have to agree with as if you looked on the some of the sleds there was a sticker that said prototype! But on the other hand they have the motor in other sleds why do they have to change the programming that much? Maybe for the shorter exhaust?

Here is what I was told about Cat and Yamaha

Sled is going to run almost everything Cat expect for Motor, Clutches and there are upgrades to the Cat Chain case, shocks and a few other minor things. It also sounds like the Cat version is going to be detuned a bit..


Like I told the Yamaha reps I am not going to buy the first year run of this sled. I have for my last two new sled bought first year and it bit me in the butt. 2002 Viper and 2006 Attak.



All in all the sled was a blast to ride.

 

[IAVECTORGT]

"I'll spare you all the scuttle butt flying around up there about the 2015 Apex, but if you like it the way it is, I'd get one now!"


Don't spare us, I wanna hear it!!

 

[BADSLED]

"I'll spare you all the scuttle butt flying around up there about the 2015 Apex, but if you like it the way it is, I'd get one now!"


Don't spare us, I wanna hear it!!

X2, Let's here it....

 

[Stone9]

Granted these were closer to prototypes than production but 2 Vipers would stall when we switched to another machine in the woods and on 2 others, the high beam switch wouldn't go off...not sure what the bulb was doing. "Artic Cat junk"

I wouldn't get your hopes up for anything more than "Artic Cat Junk". I hope they surprise the hell out of us but if they have been working on these sleds for "years" as the yamaha big shots say they should have a sled that is ready for production. The sled you rode could be the same thing that is being sold in a few months
I am not bashing in any way I just am not getting my hopes up

 

[Grimm]

I've seen a couple of posts now regarding the Vipers failing to move after using reverse. Did anyone else experience this or even tried the reverse?

 

[Caveman]

"I'll spare you all the scuttle butt flying around up there about the 2015 Apex, but if you like it the way it is, I'd get one now!"

Don't spare us, I wanna hear it!!

X2, Let's here it....

Ok, twist my arm. I mentioned standing in line for the Viper to one of the boys in blue that I was wondering if they had any plans to radically change the Apex in the next year or two, he smiled, me realizing that even if he knew anything, he wasn't blabbing to some demo rider in the sticks of NH and then he did...no more rear exhaust, radical body style change, bigger gas tank. I asked about the chassis and he nodded toward the Arctic Cat trailer - god help us. He either knew squat and spilling BS or is in a lot of trouble if even remotely close to what's up with the Apex. One thing that does sound definite next year is a Viper Mountain with a factory turbo, long track and big paddles to quiet the mountain guys down. Speaking of the Arctic Cat trailer, it was a day late, broke down somewhere, something about a blown belt...haha...but supposedly true, good laughs all around on that one.

 

[Caveman]

I've seen a couple of posts now regarding the Vipers failing to move after using reverse. Did anyone else experience this or even tried the reverse?

I tried the button when we stopped - hard to push even without gloves, nothing happened, it probably wasn't even hooked up, who knows?....but agree that for this sled being "years in the making" they've been taking some awfully long lunches....but it was fun to ride...just like the Arctic Cat I tried after it.

 

[Tycho998]

I was at the Demo rides in Cornwall on the weekend.(No Vipers) Got to ride different Apexs and Nytros, oh and a Phazer. The real question most of us had was about the Viper. While the Nytro pulls pretty good it just isn't a apex, so since most of us had Apexs we wanted to know about factory turbos. The Yami rep said "IF there is a turbo it will be a dealer install, not factory. The install will not affect warranty."

 

[F7 Racer]

I was first in line to test ride the vipers. In fact I was told I was the first rider in the northeast other than a dealer or Yamaha employee to test ride them. I went around twice in a matter of a 1/2 hour trying both the XTX and LTX as I want a long track sled. The sled handle like a dream and had plenty of down low power. Does not have the top end my Attak has but for northern NH its a great sled. As for the stalling that was explained to us as being a pre-production issue as they are dialing in the EFI programming. Which I have to agree with as if you looked on the some of the sleds there was a sticker that said prototype! But on the other hand they have the motor in other sleds why do they have to change the programming that much? Maybe for the shorter exhaust?

Here is what I was told about Cat and Yamaha

Sled is going to run almost everything Cat expect for Motor, Clutches and there are upgrades to the Cat Chain case, shocks and a few other minor things. It also sounds like the Cat version is going to be detuned a bit..


Like I told the Yamaha reps I am not going to buy the first year run of this sled. I have for my last two new sled bought first year and it bit me in the butt. 2002 Viper and 2006 Attak.



All in all the sled was a blast to ride.

and why would The Cat be tuned.......Typical BS

Not really a stretch to think rear exhaust would be gone is it, its gone from the Viper. And new chassis, gee ya think ? You really think this is a one sled thing with this chassis ? After 9 years of the same motor gee you think might change too ? The guy didnt tell ya crap........

 

[yamy07]

I've seen a couple of posts now regarding the Vipers failing to move after using reverse. Did anyone else experience this or even tried the reverse?

I tried the button when we stopped - hard to push even without gloves, nothing happened, it probably wasn't even hooked up, who knows?....but agree that for this sled being "years in the making" they've been taking some awfully long lunches....but it was fun to ride...just like the Arctic Cat I tried after it.

I tried the reverse and it worked fine. Also watched the Yamaha reps jockey them around using the reverse- no issues.
One thing however - when we went to to switch machines, I turned the key to start & cranked and cranked for about 10 seconds and it wouldn't fire. I stopped to make sure the kill switch wasn't on ( it wasn't) and then tried again til it finally started. That sled also had a much quieter sound to it than the first one I rode.