Sell me on a Viper

[murdered141]

I put 9000 miles on a Nytro and liked it. But it was heavy and tippy . I could go pretty fast in the tight stuff but it took a lot of work. So I went to the Viper. I was disappointed from the outset. The motor never pulled as well as the Nytro, it used more fuel and then came the starter issues. It rides and handles well but I just never warmed up to it. My wife rides it now. I bought a Rush Pro S 800 last year and put 2400 miles on it. I was never so sad to see winter come to an end! And as far as 2 stroke motors wearing out...I've never seen it happen to a modern 2 stroke. I put 8000 miles on a SX700 and I have a friend that had 14000 miles on an F7 before he did a top end. And if my battery ever dies or my starter quits I'll just pull the rope and go on my way.

2 stroke motors nowadays don't wear out, they just blow up.

 

[fatchance]

2 stroke motors nowadays don't wear out, they just blow up.

Yup, I can attest to that. I've been on the front of a rope many times with a late model 2 smoke behind me. Some of them in the first season.

 

[Yamadog]

I blew up 2012 and 13 pro r 800 both with less than 800 miles

 

[Snowaddict]

Everyone is gonna have there good and bad experience stories with 2S (or 4s for that matter.) I personally know of 2 Pro R 600s that blew with little mileage. To each their own.

 

[cannondale27]

Even the Cat 800 goes down with crappy fuel which I have personally witnessed happen twice on buddies brand new sleds. One within 50 ft of the pump. Ruined the ride. Our four strokes filled on same pump and never missed a beat. Another thing to consider. Not as rare as a person would think.

 

[murdered141]

My riding buddy blew up 2 brand new Polaris switchback assault 800's this past season, both within 600 miles, now he's a happy viper owner.

 

[upei93]

To cut the 2 stroke guys a little slack I blew up my 09 Nytro at about the 8000 mile mark...center connecting rod blew a nice hole through the base taking out my starter along the way. So it can happen on a 4 stroke...I figure I'm a 1%er.

 

[Jim D]

The Axis 800 will out perform the Viper in all ways. The 2S will use more fuel (and oil) and needs premium, but for me, those are small prices to pay for superior performance. What stopped me from buying the Polaris was the need to rebuild every 1500 miles. The short rod 800 loads the cylinders walls too much on the power stroke and your compression will be down 20 lbs at the 1500 mile mark. It can ridden probably to 4000 miles before failure, but if you are putting on a lot of miles, then this could be a rebuild each year. And certainly, you will be down power most of the season.

A few companies make a kit to raise the cylinders and use longer pistons, but I didn't want to take this path.

My Viper is a fun and fast ride. It took a few rides and a little tuning to really wake it up. It still won't quite hang with a well ridden Axis, but the difference is small enough to be invisible most of the time on the trail.

Jim from Canton

 

[nytrorider28]

The Axis 800 will out perform the Viper in all ways. The 2S will use more fuel (and oil) and needs premium, but for me, those are small prices to pay for superior performance. What stopped me from buying the Polaris was the need to rebuild every 1500 miles. The short rod 800 loads the cylinders walls too much on the power stroke and your compression will be down 20 lbs at the 1500 mile mark. It can ridden probably to 4000 miles before failure, but if you are putting on a lot of miles, then this could be a rebuild each year. And certainly, you will be down power most of the season.

A few companies make a kit to raise the cylinders and use longer pistons, but I didn't want to take this path.

My Viper is a fun and fast ride. It took a few rides and a little tuning to really wake it up. It still won't quite hang with a well ridden Axis, but the difference is small enough to be invisible most of the time on the trail.

Jim from Canton

Interesting input here because I have given the Axys some consideration. For me switching to 4s I never thought I'd consider going back. I did give it some thought and slowly have talk myself out of it again. Main parts being the amount of miles I ride, using oil again and premium fuel. I've made up my decision to stay 4s. I fear to much I'll regret otherwise.

 

[mtotguy]

The Axis 800 will out perform the Viper in all ways. The 2S will use more fuel (and oil) and needs premium, but for me, those are small prices to pay for superior performance. What stopped me from buying the Polaris was the need to rebuild every 1500 miles. The short rod 800 loads the cylinders walls too much on the power stroke and your compression will be down 20 lbs at the 1500 mile mark. It can ridden probably to 4000 miles before failure, but if you are putting on a lot of miles, then this could be a rebuild each year. And certainly, you will be down power most of the season.

A few companies make a kit to raise the cylinders and use longer pistons, but I didn't want to take this path.

My Viper is a fun and fast ride. It took a few rides and a little tuning to really wake it up. It still won't quite hang with a well ridden Axis, but the difference is small enough to be invisible most of the time on the trail.

Jim from Canton

My 800 Rush gets 2 MPGs better than my Viper. I never burn premium fuel (I run it on the ethenol setting). I got 2400 trouble free miles on it last winter and compression is still great. Just lucky I guess.

 

[cannondale27]

My 800 Rush gets 2 MPGs better than my Viper. I never burn premium fuel (I run it on the ethenol setting). I got 2400 trouble free miles on it last winter and compression is still great. Just lucky I guess.

I would call your sled a Axis. Haven't heard of many early failures of the new 800 in Axys. Fun sled!

 

[murdered141]

There's no denying that 2 strokes are light, fast, nimble and less tiresome to ride, but everything comes with a price, I rather have piece of mind than a ticking time bomb.

 

[yamadoo]

I have thousands of miles on both, the difference now is a tank of gas in weight, and since I am trail riding not trying to win a race in the woods I will take the gas and go, much lower # or % of failures of the four stroke.
"Everybody knows they cant do the steep and deep" yet didn't a fourstroke/turbo win the biggest mountain hill climb at Jackson Hole, Hmmmmm must not have been any 2 strokes there."

 

[Cfpdscott]

I think the two stroke reliability issues get exaggerated here just like the weight issue gets exaggerated about 4s on 2s forums. Our group consists of around 10 guys who all ride various 600 or 800 2s and I can't think of a single time we have had an issue other than running out of fuel a couple times. Granted we aren't racking up big miles each year 1000 miles is a good year but we ride them hard every one of those miles. When I switched to a viper reliability wasn't as much of a concern for me as I wanted more torque and to be able to do more aftermarket mods to the motor. The reliability is just an added bonus

 

[Allan]

I put around 4000 miles a year. I don't want to be buying a sled every year or maybe not even get a year. we had a real bad year for snow and I put 3500 miles. I love my stx dx 146. Can get 200 miles on sled with out needing gas a, it as the extra tank piped in. Great sled for 2 up and can change to solo sled in a few sec.