Relax! Yamaha is not lying Down.

[1nc 2000]

Yamaha had called a big meeting in Toronto Ontario last week, I know my dealer was there, wonder what Yamaha has on the table for 2020.

20/80 sounds like you have a good source over the years on what's coming so....

 

[20/80]

Yamaha is very tight lipped with their power sports products , the only info from Yamaha will be something new is coming and you will not know what category, could be SXS, ATV,BIKES, WATER products or SLEDS, any employee of Yamaha that lets the "Cat" out of the bag loses their job.

 

[1nc 2000]

Does the bag fit the whole "Cat"?

 

[20/80]

Does the bag fit the whole "Cat"?

I hope so, do I think there's a new chassis... yes, will it be released in 21..who knows, but there could be a twist, the new chassis could be for Cat only, leaving Yamaha with the aged pro cross, how long did Yamaha refine the delta box may be a indication how long Yamaha keeps the pro cross, other than the 2 up utility with the exception of the 2 stroke 600, Yamaha has moved its line up to the new body style pro cross, you may see a new engine from Yamaha though.

 

[Deeppow16]

I totally agree the AC/Yamaha OEM Agreement was extremely exciting to me when it began. Unfortunately neither company maximized and harnessed the product development and the potential to produce a leading edge snowmobile with eps. They could have but just didn’t and shoehorned engines into the procross which worked well considering it was a piecemeal approach to product development. Something exciting could still happen if Textron cares to collaborate with Yamaha but Textron doesn’t seem interested which is totally understandable since snowmobiles was never part of their acquisition plans.

They had the chance to come out with a mind blowing product but instead they just supplied parts to each other. All they are to each other is vendors. I don't see any co-designed part of these sleds. I see a chassis from cat and engine from Yamaha, that's it. I have not heard Textron mention Yamaha once since they bought Cat which tells me they want nothing to do with Yamaha.

 

[Wannaviper]

They had the chance to come out with a mind blowing product but instead they just supplied parts to each other. All they are to each other is vendors. I don't see any co-designed part of these sleds. I see a chassis from cat and engine from Yamaha, that's it. I have not heard Textron mention Yamaha once since they bought Cat which tells me they want nothing to do with Yamaha.

I think you are right about Textron not really wanting anything to do with Yamaha; after all Textron and Yamaha are two giant corporations that have competing interests in the powersports world. It is sort of like having the Yankees and Red Sox sharing a AAA team. Each one will want to get all the benefit out of the arrangement, and hope that the other one falls on its butt. You have to wonder how much longer the two corporations will be tied together by the terms of the original contract. I just hope Yamaha comes out of it with rights to the Pro Cross chassis. Yamaha could revise and build that chassis to be the best in the business.

On the other hand, I think the Viper, while it might not have been "mind-blowing," was innovative, and I don't know whether you have ever ridden a Sidewinder/Thundercat, but if that isn't a "mind-blowing" snowmobile, I don't know what is.

 

[Deeppow16]

I think you are right about Textron not really wanting anything to do with Yamaha; after all Textron and Yamaha are two giant corporations that have competing interests in the powersports world. It is sort of like having the Yankees and Red Sox sharing a AAA team. Each one will want to get all the benefit out of the arrangement, and hope that the other one falls on its butt. You have to wonder how much longer the two corporations will be tied together by the terms of the original contract. I just hope Yamaha comes out of it with rights to the Pro Cross chassis. Yamaha could revise and build that chassis to be the best in the business.

On the other hand, I think the Viper, while it might not have been "mind-blowing," was innovative, and I don't know whether you have ever ridden a Sidewinder/Thundercat, but if that isn't a "mind-blowing" snowmobile, I don't know what is.

Sure while the sidewinder is an awesome sled I wouldn't call it min-blowing. Its just and engine with a turbo. Guys have been doing that for years now. Its still put in the same procross chassis as before. Something mind-blowing is like the alpha. That is something nobody or company has ever done and it turned out to be and awesome product. That's the type of stuff I was hoping for when Cat and Yamaha got together.

 

[cannondale27]

Sure while the sidewinder is an awesome sled I wouldn't call it min-blowing. Its just and engine with a turbo. Guys have been doing that for years now. Its still put in the same procross chassis as before. Something mind-blowing is like the alpha. That is something nobody or company has ever done and it turned out to be and awesome product. That's the type of stuff I was hoping for when Cat and Yamaha got together.

Yup. Up to this point every cat chassis has been designed for a 2 st engine. Would have been nice to see what cat would have come up with.

 

[Wannaviper]

Sure while the sidewinder is an awesome sled I wouldn't call it min-blowing. Its just and engine with a turbo. Guys have been doing that for years now. Its still put in the same procross chassis as before. Something mind-blowing is like the alpha. That is something nobody or company has ever done and it turned out to be and awesome product. That's the type of stuff I was hoping for when Cat and Yamaha got together.

The Alpha was definitely innovative, but the idea of a single rail had apparently been around for quite a while before Cat went into production with it. Yes, guys have been adding turbos for years, and there have even been some factory turbos, like the Cat 1100 in the Pro Cross chassis. The difference between the 1100 and my Sidewinder is the difference between a Suburban and a Corvette. The factory Sidewinder, right out of the box, is an amazing ride, and it comes with a factory warranty that most of those guys who added after-market turbos to their sleds probably voided.

 

[cannondale27]

The Alpha was definitely innovative, but the idea of a single rail had apparently been around for quite a while before Cat went into production with it. Yes, guys have been adding turbos for years, and there have even been some factory turbos, like the Cat 1100 in the Pro Cross chassis. The difference between the 1100 and my Sidewinder is the difference between a Suburban and a Corvette. The factory Sidewinder, right out of the box, is an amazing ride, and it comes with a factory warranty that most of those guys who added after-market turbos to their sleds probably voided.

They changed a lot more than just the rail on Alpha.

 

[74Nitro]

Sure while the sidewinder is an awesome sled I wouldn't call it min-blowing. Its just and engine with a turbo. Guys have been doing that for years now. Its still put in the same procross chassis as before. Something mind-blowing is like the alpha. That is something nobody or company has ever done and it turned out to be and awesome product. That's the type of stuff I was hoping for when Cat and Yamaha got together.

Sure, there were Turbo sleds in the past, but they showed the undesirable effects of Turbo charging. Lag, poor power delivery and unwanted noises.
The Winder is the only package to date that finally got the Turbo package spot-on.

 

[Wannaviper]

They changed a lot more than just the rail on Alpha.

I don't intend to make light of Cat's engineering feat with the Alpha skid, I just think that Yamaha's engineering feat of developing the 998 turbo and putting it into the Pro Cross is worthy of "blown away" status.

 

[cannondale27]

I don't intend to make light of Cat's engineering feat with the Alpha skid, I just think that Yamaha's engineering feat of developing the 998 turbo and putting it into the Pro Cross is worthy of "blown away" status.

I was more blown away by the Alpha than Sidewinder. Why? Because the whole sled is narrower than a Winder. It fits. Like Doo and Polaris chassis.

 

[cannondale27]

Sidewinder is what so many Viper owners did already. Yamaha took low risk cheapest way of giving the people what they wanted a Viper to be. That’s all.

 

[ClutchMaster]

Sure, there were Turbo sleds in the past, but they showed the undesirable effects of Turbo charging. Lag, poor power delivery and unwanted noises.
The Winder is the only package to date that finally got the Turbo package spot-on.

F1100T has literally no lag even with poor clutching. It’s a giant vibrator tho.