Should Yamaha build a small introductory sled?

[Dano]

There seems to be trend amonst current Yamaha owners where it seems they either owned or rode a small Yamaha sled when they were young. Sleds like Sno Scoots, Enticers and Bravos. It seems brand loyalty is developed at a very young age and our childhood memories stay etched in our heads today as we stick to our brand thinking how nice it was when we were kids and the good memories tied to our brand. I can think back to when I first started riding and today can’t really understand the concept of riding around the house 110 a day on the same tracks, but understand today why I eat snow and roll in it.
The first sled I owned was a new 1982 Skidoo élan 250. While a POS in terms of function, I had fun! If I made the track spin, it put a smile on my face. lol Also rode an 82 Bravo, an 84 enticer 340 which were big improvements and moved up from there. Having that said, I've owned mostly Yamaha my whole life, but also owned a couple skidoo's which my last one was a Mach Z back in 96/97.
I know many people that owned kiddy cats when they were kids and they turned out to be long time cat fans.
Could it be an investment into Yamaha’s future to cater to the young crowds? Maybe its time to dust off the Snow Sport and reintroduce it to the young crowd? It seems this sled was introduced ahead of its time and would fit in the market just nicely today. Introductory sleds would play a big role for a successful future IMO. All OEMs build a small sled except for Yamaha.

Dan

 

[Tantrum]

Id like to see it.
Ill be in the market next year for my daughter.

 

[yamahaforlife]

I would be interested as well. My three year old daughter loves her kitty kat, but I can't hardly stand to see her on a cat! In a few years I will be faced with putting her on another non Yamaha. I wish they would build something!

 

[pro116]

There about 15 years over due ffor a starter sled.You know how many painted polaris 120's I see made to look like a yamaha.

 

[richierich]

I dont have kids but i think it would be good idea even though they might loose money on them on production.but would make it up in the future on brand loyalty.

would be cool to just see new slightly updated sno-scoot's and they would fit in with the new sleds like the phazer,nytro.i saw one in paper all beat for $1200...pretty good for being 20 years old.

 

[AKrider]

The first snowmachine I ever rode was a red Bravo. Even back then when I was a kid, the thing was light. Back then I really wanted one but a much older friend of mine was a dyed in the wool Polaris guy and talked us into some springer Polaris sleds. The '78 TX 250 was a lot higher performance than the Bravo.

Brand loyality is pretty strong with snowmachines. Once I started off on Polaris, I stayed with them exclusivly for almost 10 years.

Rather than a small kids sled, I'd rather Yamaha come out with a light weight, fan or air/oil cooled, 4-stroke sled similar in size to the old Ovation. i'd think they could use the motor and Ultramatic tranny out of one of their 4-wheelers. You could have a work sled and a sportier version of the same chassis.

The Sled Talk blog had a post about kids sleds and Yamaha didn't feel they'd get a good return on investment (ROI) from a 120 size sled.

 

[SlowPoke]

Your pool questions need to be tweeked. I voted yes that they should start making an intro sled, but my first sled was a ski-roule.

Maybe they should be:
Yes they should
No they shouldn't

 

[bashley]

Maybe it's a geographic thing but they're still selling "NEW" Bravo's up here in Fairbanks. Ski-Doo did the same thing with the Tundra. They were going to take it off their line-up but there was such a response from folks in the northern regions they kept it for these locations only.

 

[maim]

i started on my dad's 1979 et250. i remeber doing laps on the ice in front of my grandmothers camp for most of the day. drove that sled well into my twenties as it is still a great little sled to throw around in the trails. they need to bring in a 340cc class sled to the line up for the ice fishing/entry level riders. most of those guy want nothing to do with todays high performance sleds. all they want/need is a small cc air-cooled snowmobile that gets the job done.

 

[2X700MM]

I wonder if the "mini" is Cat/Doo/Poo's most successful entry into the 4stroke market to date.

I bought my girls their 120 Poo in 1999 and never expected to not have a 120 Yamaha available soon there after. Dealer predicted it would never happen when I bought our second MM in '01 and time has proven him correct. I have my hopes on a smaller Phazer MTX style sled so I do not have to buy a Freestyle here in '09/10, even used that may leave a mark.

 

[Bakemono]

Look at how much SnoScoots go for even to this day. There is definetly still a demand for them and Id love to see Yamaha come out with a new, state-of-the-art version of the SnoScoot and the Bravo.

 

[rightarm]

No I don't think they need it in there line up,some on here were saying how expensive snowmobiling was getting on the forum not to long ago and how it was getting harder for a family to continue on in the sport.

 

[Bakemono]

No I don't think they need it in there line up,some on here were saying how expensive snowmobiling was getting on the forum not to long ago and how it was getting harder for a family to continue on in the sport.

Thats exactly the reason why we need more smaller sleds. I think we need more sleds in the 80-120 hp range and less sleds in the 150+ hp range.
The vast majority of average, weekend riders have neither the talent nor the courage to ride a 150 hp sled at it's limit.

 

[rightarm]

No market for entry sleds like a Sno Scoot,just not a money maker. It's tuff to sell to a kid that dosen't have a job, and even though dad and the kid want it what about the real decision maker in the Family the WIFE!

GOOD LUCK

Anything is possible

80-90 percent of Married Men cannot make a purchase decision without the approval of the WIFE!

 

[JohnWI]

My thought is that they should produce a "bridge" sled.

The little ones are already out there. The big ones are there, so why not build something akin to a 20 HP "junior" ski?

One that's not a "child" ski, but one that's for someone who's 11-15 so they can really get into it but not be overpowered or more importantly, overpowering. That's also the kid who will probably be brand loyal as it's the first sled they loved.