Sidewinder Year to Year Performance

[Richard Hodgins]

The 19 SRX tends to be the fastest because it has the old style spindles (lower) and was the 1st year for lowered front springs and rear torsions. The front lowering springs were used in subsequent years as well but they stopped using the lower rear torsions in ‘21.

Really any 17 to 18 slide rail will work too if you want to convert. The 19 is a one-off year since they changed the rear axle in the rail but all the geometry is the same. In ‘20 and up, the radius of the rail changed as well as the front skid shock mounting point to work with the taller spindles.
All that to say that the 19 SRX will tend to be faster out of the box stock.

 

[Moodeyblue]

thanks for your reply. I really like the looks of the lowered SRX and it really handles great. Looks like I will need rails as well as torsion springs, upper A arm and spindles.

 

[Fleecer]

The higher/updated spindles on the 25 will ride/handle better than the 19. Even though the spindles are higher, the 25 will corner flatter with less roll and ski lift. Unless you are looking to create Guinness Book speed records, imo changing your 25 to mimic your 19 will not be a good return on investment.

 

[Simplespeed]

Comments and feedback are always helpful for some fellow sled heads… Back to my orginal post and that was Of the seven years this turbo motor layout has been manufactured is there any years that stood out motor and power increased and judging by these post the answer is they are all pretty equal .. That is a true accomplishment and a big compliment to Yamaha for there development and manufacturing of this power plant.. Thank You Yamaha / Arctic Cat as you have put a smile on every face thats ever experienced this motor and turbo package…. As far as a 19 being 2 to 3 mph faster thats great, but the other/ model years should be able to make that up with proper tuning and adjustments and a few tricks without a tune or changing parts…. Bottom line they are all great…

 

[Doc Harley]

True story....
March of 2019 I was slated to take a 5 day saddlebag trip. The weather turned sour and the weatherman was calling for warm temps and rain. I cancelled my trip, but was stuck talking my vacation time.

The first day of my vacation it was raining and 40 degrees. With nothing else to do, I decided to run some tests between my two sleds. At the time, I had a 17 RTX SE and a new 19 SRX. It was raining, the railbed hadn't been groomed in days, so it looked like a washboard made of sugar and slush. Not conducive for speed, but still good enough to test/compare sleds.

Both sleds were box stock.....the way they were delivered to the dealer. During testing, the 17 RTX SE pulled 107 mph on the speedo. The SRX pulled 115 on the speedo, same place, same distance......... 8 mph faster.

I thought, "Wow, Yamaha really did their homework when upgrading the clutching for the 19 models!!". I pulled both clutches from the SRX and bolted them on the 17 RTX SE. I pulled both clutches from the RTX SE and bolted them on the SRX. I tested both again, same time, same place, same distance.

The SRX with 17 clutches still pulled 115 mph on the speedo. The 17 RTX SE with 19 SRX clutches still pulled 107mph on the speedo. Both clicked off the same speed as they had previously......yet with different clutches. At the time, I wondered, "Why is the SRX 8 mph faster?"

Years later, and after further extensive testing, I've come to the following conclusions: The 1 inch Ripsaw 1 track, which came factory on the SRX, nets an additional 6 mph over the 1.25 Ripsaw 2. The skid, frontend, and the overall design of the SRX nets an additional 2 mph gained for a total of 8 mph over the RTX.

I'm getting to this subject a tad late, please forgive.
I'm assuming the SRX is using a 22t top gear vs the (21t?!?!) rtx gearing?!
So the gearing & lug height were in combination of the 8mph.
I've recently measured my worn 1.25" original track at 1.125" and wouldn't suspect very much of a shocking increase when switching to a 1" track.
All else being equal.
Didn't get enough time for back-to-back runs on a stock 35° helix versus 39° and up initial on draggy. But suspect very little gain from that as well, in 1,000ft. But again, maybe a small gain, perhaps.
In combination I'm sure both the track lug height & helix would show up on the very top end of the sleds capabilities.

 

[74Nitro]

I'm getting to this subject a tad late, please forgive.
I'm assuming the SRX is using a 22t top gear vs the (21t?!?!) rtx gearing?!
So the gearing & lug height were in combination of the 8mph.
I've recently measured my worn 1.25" original track at 1.125" and wouldn't suspect very much of a shocking increase when switching to a 1" track.
All else being equal.
Didn't get enough time for back-to-back runs on a stock 35° helix versus 39° and up initial on draggy. But suspect very little gain from that as well, in 1,000ft. But again, maybe a small gain, perhaps.
In combination I'm sure both the track lug height & helix would show up on the very top end of the sleds capabilities.

The SRX wasn't geared higher than other models aside from a few that had 24/50 like the LTX/LE

 

[Doc Harley]

The SRX wasn't geared higher than other models aside from a few that had 24/50 like the LTX/LE

OMG....my apologies. I wonder why I thought that they were geared 22/38 all these years?!?!
Ty...74Nitro

 

[74Nitro]

OMG....my apologies. I wonder why I thought that they were geared 22/38 all these years?!?!
Ty...74Nitro

They should have been...

 

[Clintww]

They should have been...

I agree they should have been. I have made the change on mine and it is hardly noticeable. I do have it tuned to 270 and a 33/35 helix. I'm starting to wonder about another step up. No studs either, so that makes a difference as I get a lot of spin starting out, but even soft starts going up ditch driveways are easy. Full of studs might make the belt start to slip, but I doubt it.

 

[sledding rocks]

i have owned 2017, 2019 srx , now 2023 srx . all my sleds have been tuned equally except the 2023 which has boost timer . all three sleds were fairly equal power wise and top end speed , but my favorite was the 2019 srx as it sat lower which made it feel faster in the trails . all and all its been a great run of sleds that yamaha produced , i will enjoy my 23 for years to come as my go fast sled on the lakes .

 

[sideshowBob]

OMG....my apologies. I wonder why I thought that they were geared 22/38 all these years?!?!
Ty...74Nitro

Apex gearing and SRX 2 stroke gearing

 

[Doc Harley]

Apex gearing and SRX 2 stroke gearing

Sorry Bob & group...I meant 22/41 as stock gearing. Ugh?!?!
It's my sled that's running 21/38, that's were I got confused. Ain't nothing like getting old. Some of us will do it gracefully, then there's me. Lol.
Still, with just a posture change and 1/4" shorter lug, 8mph is very respectable.

 

[Fleecer]

Stock gearing is/was 21/41. Cats are/were 24/50.

 

[74Nitro]

Fleece is geared 41/21

 

[Motorhead]

Never been a fan of the 21T. That small circumference gear allows chain to rub on internal gear case, whereas the 22T does not.