rxrider
Jan-Ove Pedersen
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2003
- Messages
- 7,356
- Age
- 59
- Location
- Lakselv - 70N & 25E
- Country
- Norway
- Snowmobile
- 2014 Phazer XTX, 2013 Phazer RTX, 2008 Apex RTX, 2007 Warrior, 2006 Attak
Wyoming has some great nature and wildlife. Guess you guys had a blast riding out west 
I got to ask, how did you find the M8? I currently have a 07 RTX and am looking at getting another sled for climbing and such. 2010 Summit XP or 2010 M8 were the top 2 on my list (I know not a popular choice around here) but the Apex isn't going anywhere, I'd just have 2 sleds.
tkuss
TY 4 Stroke Junkie
I found the M8 to be a great sled. The thing I did not like about it is the fact that the ergonmics feel pretty dated. The seat was very low, so when cruising down the trail the bars, with a 3 inch riser, felt nearly eye level, so it felt very uncomfortable when riding the trails. Also the fuel mileage was terrible with it. It felt like when I just cruising down the trails, I could just watch the gas gauge go down.
However, once off the trail the sled was awesome. I could carve the 153" track it in as tight of a circle as I could with my 121" apex. Sidehilling was so easy with it. I never bottomed the float rear suspension and the holes in the running boards evacutated snow pretty good.
For boondocking in tighter areas, I would think it would be a tough sled to beat.
I sure would like to try an XP summit in the deep stuff.
However, once off the trail the sled was awesome. I could carve the 153" track it in as tight of a circle as I could with my 121" apex. Sidehilling was so easy with it. I never bottomed the float rear suspension and the holes in the running boards evacutated snow pretty good.
For boondocking in tighter areas, I would think it would be a tough sled to beat.
I sure would like to try an XP summit in the deep stuff.
tkuss
TY 4 Stroke Junkie
I was up north from Tuesday all the way to Sunday this last week. It was freezing cold for most of the week so I did a little bit of riding each day.
Tuesday I just fooled around and hit up some of my favorite unplowed roads around the area. I probably did about 50 or so miles.
On Wednsday I brought the sled in to the dealer for the first time this year. Since there are no Yamaha dealers in the area anymore I brought it to Sportmans Service in Three Lakes Wisconsin. However supposedly Track Side in Eagle River Wisconsin now works on Yamahas as well. I do not know if they are becoming a full Yamaha dealer however. Anyway the reason for me bringing the sled in was track clips, or the lack of track clips. At the end of last year I wore through a set of hyfax in 100 miles only to find that I was missing quite a few clips. The dealer then replaced about half the clips. Well now the clips that they did not replace wore and fell off, so Sportsmans added clips where they were needed. Luckily I noticed the right side hyfax were nearly worn through while the left side showed little wear, upon further inspection I again saw I was missing track clips again. Sportsmans also said that my track is coming to the end of its life span, which I already knew. I am just trying to get to the end of the season with it and then I am extending out to a 144" by 1.5" lug track.
Unfortuntely since I brought the sled in Wednsday afternoon, the dealer was not going to be able to start working on it till Thursday. And Thursday was the day that a friend came up and we decided to head to the U.P. So instead of the Apex, I had to use the phazer up in the yooper.
As we were leaving the outside temp was -15F. We decided to trailer straight to the deep stuff so we unloaded at Mass City. Here you can see the Lake effect as we get close to Mass City.
Here we are unloading the Phazer and Ryan's 08 Nytro RTX
The snow conditions were great. There was a foot or so of powder with a 2-4 foot base depending on where you were.
I was not use to the phazer at all, as we head to some of the offtrail spots I know of, I was trying carve the phazer around a corner and it ended up in me getting close to a tree and sticking it.
I was really hurting for my Apex all day. The snow was deep and I could not handle the phazer off trail like I can my apex. The power difference and smaller track of the phazer made it much harder to keep from getting stuck.
The Nytro on the other hand had more power and a 1.5" intense track, which made it quite a bit better in the deep snow than the Phazer.
Here I go for a carve with the phazer and fail miserably.
We do a bit more off trail before lunch at Krupps.
Even thought it was freezing out, the trails were in Excellent shape.
After lunch we found some untouched logging roads.
Again the trail phazer is just not in its element in the deep stuff. Here I got a good run and was able to go full throttle for a good 4 seconds before this slight incline, still the phazer made nice trench and got stuck so we had to swing it around and head the other way.
All in all we went from Mass City to Houghton and back and had a great deep snow, cold day on the Phazer and Nytro.
Tuesday I just fooled around and hit up some of my favorite unplowed roads around the area. I probably did about 50 or so miles.
On Wednsday I brought the sled in to the dealer for the first time this year. Since there are no Yamaha dealers in the area anymore I brought it to Sportmans Service in Three Lakes Wisconsin. However supposedly Track Side in Eagle River Wisconsin now works on Yamahas as well. I do not know if they are becoming a full Yamaha dealer however. Anyway the reason for me bringing the sled in was track clips, or the lack of track clips. At the end of last year I wore through a set of hyfax in 100 miles only to find that I was missing quite a few clips. The dealer then replaced about half the clips. Well now the clips that they did not replace wore and fell off, so Sportsmans added clips where they were needed. Luckily I noticed the right side hyfax were nearly worn through while the left side showed little wear, upon further inspection I again saw I was missing track clips again. Sportsmans also said that my track is coming to the end of its life span, which I already knew. I am just trying to get to the end of the season with it and then I am extending out to a 144" by 1.5" lug track.
Unfortuntely since I brought the sled in Wednsday afternoon, the dealer was not going to be able to start working on it till Thursday. And Thursday was the day that a friend came up and we decided to head to the U.P. So instead of the Apex, I had to use the phazer up in the yooper.
As we were leaving the outside temp was -15F. We decided to trailer straight to the deep stuff so we unloaded at Mass City. Here you can see the Lake effect as we get close to Mass City.
Here we are unloading the Phazer and Ryan's 08 Nytro RTX
The snow conditions were great. There was a foot or so of powder with a 2-4 foot base depending on where you were.
I was not use to the phazer at all, as we head to some of the offtrail spots I know of, I was trying carve the phazer around a corner and it ended up in me getting close to a tree and sticking it.
I was really hurting for my Apex all day. The snow was deep and I could not handle the phazer off trail like I can my apex. The power difference and smaller track of the phazer made it much harder to keep from getting stuck.
The Nytro on the other hand had more power and a 1.5" intense track, which made it quite a bit better in the deep snow than the Phazer.
Here I go for a carve with the phazer and fail miserably.
We do a bit more off trail before lunch at Krupps.
Even thought it was freezing out, the trails were in Excellent shape.
After lunch we found some untouched logging roads.
Again the trail phazer is just not in its element in the deep stuff. Here I got a good run and was able to go full throttle for a good 4 seconds before this slight incline, still the phazer made nice trench and got stuck so we had to swing it around and head the other way.
All in all we went from Mass City to Houghton and back and had a great deep snow, cold day on the Phazer and Nytro.
tkuss
TY 4 Stroke Junkie
I got the Apex back Friday and On Saturday and Sunday I was at the World Championship Snowmobile Derby in Eagle River Wisconsin for most parts of the day.
The ice oval racers are just insane. They really fly around the track.
And of course snocross is always my favorite to watch.
At some point through out the week I broke 8000 miles with the Apex. I am still loving the ZX-2 Suspension. I think the long term durability is going to be great. I will occasionally bottom it out, so I am going to up the preload one more setting so that it is on the stiffest number 7 setting. Also I plan on changing the revolver from 2-4 to 2-5, with will supposedly decrease coupling, making the ride bit more harsh, we will see.
After getting a bit more time on the Phazer I am starting to think that the torsion springs need replacing. All the settings are on full hard, and the shock was just rebuilt in the beginning of season, and I can bottom the suspension pretty easy. When we get the phazer back I will just inspect the suspension and see if I can see any obvious things that are wrong with it, but I feel like it is just not getting the preload that it needs.
I say when we get the phazer back because on Saturday my dad hit rock at about 30 mph or so which ejected him and ended up rolling the sled once. He is fine and It doesn't really look like to much damage is done. One of the shocks is not dead center in the A-arm anymore, but it was also like that earlier in the year from when my dad hit a log at slow speeds. The handlebars are turned to the a bit to the left when the skis are straight, so that is the main thing that needs fixing. Also the windshield is somewhat cracked. Anyway the dealer says the phazer will be out of commission for about 2 weeks. Unfortunatly I do not have any pictures of the wreck because I was not with my dad when it happenened.
The ice oval racers are just insane. They really fly around the track.
And of course snocross is always my favorite to watch.
At some point through out the week I broke 8000 miles with the Apex. I am still loving the ZX-2 Suspension. I think the long term durability is going to be great. I will occasionally bottom it out, so I am going to up the preload one more setting so that it is on the stiffest number 7 setting. Also I plan on changing the revolver from 2-4 to 2-5, with will supposedly decrease coupling, making the ride bit more harsh, we will see.
After getting a bit more time on the Phazer I am starting to think that the torsion springs need replacing. All the settings are on full hard, and the shock was just rebuilt in the beginning of season, and I can bottom the suspension pretty easy. When we get the phazer back I will just inspect the suspension and see if I can see any obvious things that are wrong with it, but I feel like it is just not getting the preload that it needs.
I say when we get the phazer back because on Saturday my dad hit rock at about 30 mph or so which ejected him and ended up rolling the sled once. He is fine and It doesn't really look like to much damage is done. One of the shocks is not dead center in the A-arm anymore, but it was also like that earlier in the year from when my dad hit a log at slow speeds. The handlebars are turned to the a bit to the left when the skis are straight, so that is the main thing that needs fixing. Also the windshield is somewhat cracked. Anyway the dealer says the phazer will be out of commission for about 2 weeks. Unfortunatly I do not have any pictures of the wreck because I was not with my dad when it happenened.
tkuss
TY 4 Stroke Junkie
I got up north Friday afternoon and before I hit the trails I bumped up the preload on the ZX-2 from 6 to the stiffest 7 setting. I also changed the revolver from 2-4 to 2-5 to see what difference I would notice.
I did not get to many miles with the is setup (20 or so) but I seemed to like the difference, I could notice it was slightly stiffer and the inside ski lift could have been slightly reduced, again I did not get enough time on the sled to really tell. Also it seems like setting 7 on the preload was very close to what I like stiffness wise, if there was another 2 or so higher settings I would definitely bump it up. So since I plan on extending to 144 over the summer I think I will contact AD Boivin and see if they have and would recommend getting a stiffer spring for the shocks.
The sled is in the shop for the week. Like I said earlier in the thread, I was waiting for the exhaust donuts to burn out again like they did last year. Well it happened this weekend. When I starting the sled up, I noticed a little rattling under the tunnel in front of the track. I was thinking about the exhaust donuts when I heard it, but the exhaust was not abnormally loud so I figured I would go for a quick ride and see what happens. Well throughout the ride, everytime I slowed down I still heard the rattling and it was not getting any better so I headed back.
So I threw the sled on the trailer and headed to North Country Yamaha in Tomahawk WI Saturday morning. It is the first time I have every did anything with this dealer and so far they seem to be a great dealer to work with. They should hopefully have my sled done by this weekend, all other dealers I called could not even look at for 2 weeks or so, so we will see how things turn out. I am going to make sure that my YES warranty will pay for whatever needs to be done. The donuts first burned out at about 5000 miles, and now they burned out again only 3000 miles later. I don't why this happens with all Apex's, but it sure looks like Yamaha is not doing anything to fix it, which I don't mind as long they pay for the fix. Also hopefully the very expensive titanium Y-pipes are not cracked and need replacing.
I did get about 30 miles of riding in Saturday on a 01 Polaris Edge 500.
I decided to hit a trail nearby that I knew no body had been down all year.
It is a very old logging road that is overgrown with trees and just dead ends at a swamp a few miles in.
Hopefully we will have both the Phazer and Apex back next weeked.
I did not get to many miles with the is setup (20 or so) but I seemed to like the difference, I could notice it was slightly stiffer and the inside ski lift could have been slightly reduced, again I did not get enough time on the sled to really tell. Also it seems like setting 7 on the preload was very close to what I like stiffness wise, if there was another 2 or so higher settings I would definitely bump it up. So since I plan on extending to 144 over the summer I think I will contact AD Boivin and see if they have and would recommend getting a stiffer spring for the shocks.
The sled is in the shop for the week. Like I said earlier in the thread, I was waiting for the exhaust donuts to burn out again like they did last year. Well it happened this weekend. When I starting the sled up, I noticed a little rattling under the tunnel in front of the track. I was thinking about the exhaust donuts when I heard it, but the exhaust was not abnormally loud so I figured I would go for a quick ride and see what happens. Well throughout the ride, everytime I slowed down I still heard the rattling and it was not getting any better so I headed back.
So I threw the sled on the trailer and headed to North Country Yamaha in Tomahawk WI Saturday morning. It is the first time I have every did anything with this dealer and so far they seem to be a great dealer to work with. They should hopefully have my sled done by this weekend, all other dealers I called could not even look at for 2 weeks or so, so we will see how things turn out. I am going to make sure that my YES warranty will pay for whatever needs to be done. The donuts first burned out at about 5000 miles, and now they burned out again only 3000 miles later. I don't why this happens with all Apex's, but it sure looks like Yamaha is not doing anything to fix it, which I don't mind as long they pay for the fix. Also hopefully the very expensive titanium Y-pipes are not cracked and need replacing.
I did get about 30 miles of riding in Saturday on a 01 Polaris Edge 500.
I decided to hit a trail nearby that I knew no body had been down all year.
It is a very old logging road that is overgrown with trees and just dead ends at a swamp a few miles in.
Hopefully we will have both the Phazer and Apex back next weeked.
tkuss
TY 4 Stroke Junkie
Good news. I called North Country Yamaha today and they were finishing up my sled. No Y-Pipes were damaged, apparently two of the donuts were bad and the other two were good. Also the phazer is done, after doing a bit of research it sounds like the torsion springs on the phazer are still good, what is sounds like it needs is a good cleaning and grease. Early on in the season, one of the zerks did not accept grease at all, but after tons and tons of trying to grease I thought I saw grease coming out. But I bet very little grease got in it, and now it is all rusted and pitted inside, again this is what I think but do not know for sure. For now the dealer is hopefully going to get the zerk to accept grease, or grind it off and put a removable one on. Then over summer I think I will tear it all apart and clean, grease and replace any worn bushings.
Can't wait to get some miles on this weekend.
Can't wait to get some miles on this weekend.
tkuss
TY 4 Stroke Junkie
Man this last weekend just flew by. I got my sled back from the dealer with the exhaust donuts all replaced. Luckily I brought it in early and the Y-pipes were not cracked, everything was covered by warranty which is great. I have got to say that I am very happy with the way Yamaha lives up to there extended warranty. Every time something on the machine breaks, Yamaha covers it no questions asked. Unless of course I am the one who breaks it. Also I would like to thank North Country Yamaha in Tomahawk Wisconsin for getting my sled fixed in a few days when all other the places I called were saying it would be at least 2 weeks before they even look at it. They were great to deal with.
The Phazer is still in the shop. When we told the dealer to look over the rear suspension, he noticed that the track was shot. It is hard to explain but he said that the a section of the fiberglass rods that run in the track were broke and it was not safe to drive. I did not actually see what was wrong with it, so I can't really explain it. However, in the end my dad brought the Phazer into North Country Yamaha and ended up trading it in for a 08 Nytro RTX. He ended up paying around 5000-5500$ for the Nytro with the trade-in, which isnt to bad considering the front end is all bent and the track is shot on the Phazer. So I am now researching the 08 Nytro's a bit, I know that the front ends seem to bend easy, also I think there is balljoint update, so I need to do a bit of homework to make sure the dealer has everything covered before we get it. Unfortunately he is not picking it up until 2 weeks from now, so I can't get any miles on it this next weekend.
Now for the riding.
I did about 35 miles of riding friday afternoon on one of my favorite short loops in the area. At one point there is a little short cut if you cut across a lake and head right up into the woods.
A few hundred yards away from that lake on the other side of the woods there is a few other small lakes.
As we were riding the sun was going down.
My dad with no sled to ride was riding my Uncle's 2003 MXZ 700.
We were racing a bit today and the MXZ would hook up right out of the hole and get a few lengths on me. Then probably 2 to 300 feet later I would catch up and slowly pull away.
Satuday came and it was warm. It was a nice break from riding in 0 degree weather like the last few weekends. However there was a slight fog or mist that would freeze up on my helmet shield and I would have to scrape it off every mile or so which got annoying real quick. I was wishing I had the biggest windshield they make for the Apex so all mist would blow right over me and not right into my face.
We stopped for lunch in Eagle River, and then a few miles after lunch the freezing mist stopped which made the day so much more enjoyable. Here you can see the trees with the branches covered in the stuff.
We headed over to Phelps on some very nice trails.
We got back to Three Lakes and by that time there were clear blue skies so I decided to keep riding. I drove by some lakes that I drive by with the motorcycle in summer. Here are some summer/winter comparison pictures.
The Apex is running and sounding brand new again.
I just looked today and it has 8350 miles on it. I am keeping my eyes open for good deals on 144 by 1.5" lug tracks for when I extend it. Since these tracks are not very common, no one ever sells them cheap. Therefore I think I am going to by a nice used 144 mountain track and then trim it down the lug size I want. This way I will only spend 2-300$ for the track instead of 550$ for a brand new one. But who knows what I will do.
Can't wait to get out riding again.
The Phazer is still in the shop. When we told the dealer to look over the rear suspension, he noticed that the track was shot. It is hard to explain but he said that the a section of the fiberglass rods that run in the track were broke and it was not safe to drive. I did not actually see what was wrong with it, so I can't really explain it. However, in the end my dad brought the Phazer into North Country Yamaha and ended up trading it in for a 08 Nytro RTX. He ended up paying around 5000-5500$ for the Nytro with the trade-in, which isnt to bad considering the front end is all bent and the track is shot on the Phazer. So I am now researching the 08 Nytro's a bit, I know that the front ends seem to bend easy, also I think there is balljoint update, so I need to do a bit of homework to make sure the dealer has everything covered before we get it. Unfortunately he is not picking it up until 2 weeks from now, so I can't get any miles on it this next weekend.
Now for the riding.
I did about 35 miles of riding friday afternoon on one of my favorite short loops in the area. At one point there is a little short cut if you cut across a lake and head right up into the woods.
A few hundred yards away from that lake on the other side of the woods there is a few other small lakes.
As we were riding the sun was going down.
My dad with no sled to ride was riding my Uncle's 2003 MXZ 700.
We were racing a bit today and the MXZ would hook up right out of the hole and get a few lengths on me. Then probably 2 to 300 feet later I would catch up and slowly pull away.
Satuday came and it was warm. It was a nice break from riding in 0 degree weather like the last few weekends. However there was a slight fog or mist that would freeze up on my helmet shield and I would have to scrape it off every mile or so which got annoying real quick. I was wishing I had the biggest windshield they make for the Apex so all mist would blow right over me and not right into my face.
We stopped for lunch in Eagle River, and then a few miles after lunch the freezing mist stopped which made the day so much more enjoyable. Here you can see the trees with the branches covered in the stuff.
We headed over to Phelps on some very nice trails.
We got back to Three Lakes and by that time there were clear blue skies so I decided to keep riding. I drove by some lakes that I drive by with the motorcycle in summer. Here are some summer/winter comparison pictures.
The Apex is running and sounding brand new again.
I just looked today and it has 8350 miles on it. I am keeping my eyes open for good deals on 144 by 1.5" lug tracks for when I extend it. Since these tracks are not very common, no one ever sells them cheap. Therefore I think I am going to by a nice used 144 mountain track and then trim it down the lug size I want. This way I will only spend 2-300$ for the track instead of 550$ for a brand new one. But who knows what I will do.
Can't wait to get out riding again.
Cody
Expert
how many miles are those sleds usually getting?
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2004
- Messages
- 2,436
- Age
- 64
- Location
- Clinton, Wi.
- Country
- USA
- Snowmobile
- '11 Apex XTX, '09 Venture GT, '06 Attak, 08 Nytro Hybrid
Yes, Larry and the crew at NCY are great!! They have saved my butt MANY times. My Father inlaw has a house just Southeast of Tomahwk, and I have spent lots of time at their shop. Straight shooter and he has some good help in the shop.
tkuss
TY 4 Stroke Junkie
Cody said:
What do you mean?
Cody
Expert
tkuss said:
like how many miles can u put on that sled before its miled out.
tkuss
TY 4 Stroke Junkie
If you are talking about the Apex's or Yamahas in general. The engines should go forever, at least easily 20,000+ miles if you do your oil changes when you should. It is the other parts on the sled that will wear over time. I guess it just comes down to how long you want to keep paying to replace parts. It seems to be with the Yamahas, if you replace the exhaust donuts every 3000-6000 miles or whenever they burnout(at least on the Apex's) and the bearings every 5000 miles or so, you will go for a very long time.
Cody
Expert
thats lots of miles and years i dont think i would be riding that sled for 20000+k without buying a new one lol. That would be around 17-18 years before i put that many on it.
Phatboyc
TY 4 Stroke Master
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2007
- Messages
- 1,038
- Location
- Ottawa, Ontario
- Country
- Canada
- Snowmobile
- 2022 Sidewinder
Thanks for sharing your stories and pictures.
I would think 144" tracks will become more popular now with the Nytro XTX.
I would think 144" tracks will become more popular now with the Nytro XTX.
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