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Real World 1500 Mile Low Down of new Ski Doo XR-S 900 Turbo vs. SideWinder

ClutchMaster said:
Yea the least reliable engine currently is the Ski-Doo 850. Touted in the beginning to be the most reliable 2 stroke ever made, yea sure.....wanna buy a bridge?
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Actually the 850 Patriot turned out to be the biggest DUDD of all in the reliability claim wars.
They had to re-design the block & fuel map for the second year.
Some dealers had 25% of them blow up. 4 blew up where i was riding last week of season.
The irony to it is Polaris STOUTLY claimed they were the MOST dependable 2-strokes of all time!
 

stevewithOCD said:
Actually the 850 Patriot turned out to be the biggest DUDD of all in the reliability claim wars.
They had to re-design the block & fuel map for the second year.
Some dealers had 25% of them blow up. 4 blew up where i was riding last week of season.
The irony to it is Polaris STOUTLY claimed they were the MOST dependable 2-strokes of all time!
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Higher hp two strokes are time bombs Steve just waiting to blow. The really surprising thing is the 850 Doo uses a ton of oil and in the older 2 strokes they would make them more reliable by throwing more oil and fuel at them. I guess just throwing more oil at them isn't enough.

The 850 Doo is a very good performing engine but it's anything but reliable, uses a ton of oil and many of them are belt blowers. Sounds good to me where do I sign up! :-o
 
stevewithOCD said:
Actually the 850 Patriot turned out to be the biggest DUDD of all in the reliability claim wars.
They had to re-design the block & fuel map for the second year.
Some dealers had 25% of them blow up. 4 blew up where i was riding last week of season.
The irony to it is Polaris STOUTLY claimed they were the MOST dependable 2-strokes of all time!
Click to expand...

Well maybe I had things confused and I had ski-doo / Polaris mixed up?
All I really heard was the 850’s we’re BLOWING UP LIKE BALLOONS AT A CARNIVAL...... I’m a very well misinformed story teller with a new pack of crayola’s
:moon:
 
stevewithOCD said:
Actually the 850 Patriot turned out to be the biggest DUDD of all in the reliability claim wars.
They had to re-design the block & fuel map for the second year.
Some dealers had 25% of them blow up. 4 blew up where i was riding last week of season.
The irony to it is Polaris STOUTLY claimed they were the MOST dependable 2-strokes of all time!
Click to expand...
No stk 2 stk was worst than the Yamaha 570 Exploders of the 80s
 
krm said:
No stk 2 stk was worst than the Yamaha 570 Exploders of the 80s
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Any Polaris Big twin other than the first 700 is a turd.
The joke around here was the Rev 800 odometer STARTED at 3000 miles and counted down to let you know when the crank was giving up.
I have ridden the new big twins. After riding a Sidewinder, I feel like I am on the bar all the time when on a 2 stroke "big" twin. They seem to run out of power quickly....
 
STAIN said:
Any Polaris Big twin other than the first 700 is a turd.
The joke around here was the Rev 800 odometer STARTED at 3000 miles and counted down to let you know when the crank was giving up.
I have ridden the new big twins. After riding a Sidewinder, I feel like I am on the bar all the time when on a 2 stroke "big" twin. They seem to run out of power quickly....
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But they have a lot of torque:hide:
 
The 600 3 banger Yamaha motor run forever .
 
XP123 said:
This is the problem with the Sidewinder. All cat but the engine. We can't blame all the issues on Cat though. The once best clutch in the industry is now pretty much the worse.
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The sidewinder only needs a few engineering updates.
Purpose built chaincase, jack shaft/ bearings, clutch components only for 998turbo.
Stronger front arm shaft in the skid.
Cat’s front end and the slide action suspension, yes considered old tech can handle the abuse IMO.
 
krm said:
No stk 2 stk was worst than the Yamaha 570 Exploders of the 80s
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I think that was only true of the 87's with butterfly carbs that had a lean spot in the midrange. I had an 88 with the slide carbs and drove it for many seasons with no engine troubles at all. I really enjoyed that sled in its day.
 
74Nitro said:
I think that was only true of the 87's with butterfly carbs that had a lean spot in the midrange. I had an 88 with the slide carbs and drove it for many seasons with no engine troubles at all. I really enjoyed that sled in its day.
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I had 87,88,89,92 Even the Mic carbed ones needed PSI needles .
 
Why people buy big bore 2s for lower 48 typical trail riding is beyond me? For powder yes completely understand big pony 2s for mountain and boondocking. 2s makes sense for trappers as well but that’s about it for me other than extreme cold environments where batteries don’t hold up. 4s a more reliable engine for all other riding.
 
They have the technology to make 4S motors work. Probably only be 25lbs more weight.
Fact is they cost about twice as much to manufacture if not more. Performance N/A motors will need to rev high to get the power out and would need a gear reduction.
Turbo motors would have the extra expense of a turbo charger and associated air box/ intercooler. It’s just not cost effective.
It’s better for them to sell a sled that you throw away after 5 years and buy new. Keeps new sled sales high. It’s just like most things nowadays with limited lifespans. They just are having issues with how long the sleds tic toc before they blow up IMO.
Look at Ski-Doo and belt longevity. They used to have 150hp sleds with hard belts and 2k~3k belt life. Well they figured out going to a softer belt limited the life of the belt to 800~1K miles. It also restricted you to running the Ski-Doo belts. If you put a hard aftermarket belt on a rev 800 it would slip and smoke the belt in 100 miles. Now at +$100 a belt every 1K miles, belts for the life of the sled would run upwards of $1000! Pure Genius
They claimed it was the HUGE TORQUE of the twin cylinder motors causing belts to go bad. Lol
 
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Throw 250 plus hp at any one of those other chassis and see how they hold up. Even 190 hp box stock and see how they hold up.

Then run it through the twists, over 2ft mogals, with luggage strapped to the rear tunnel for days on end for a couple seasons and see if they don't need any maintenance.
IMO this Cat chassis and drivetrain are pretty darn good.
Ya the PAINT on the Doo will still look pretty good, the Walker Evans on the Poo will still work fantastic, BUT not too sure about the rest of it.
 
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