I"m not sure how many TY members have been riding Yamaha sleds as long as I have and I can remember "back in the day" when their snowmobile division actually cared about their customer satisfaction and made good on their mistakes.
The first year 1980 SS440's were delivered with a heavier track that the R&D department had tested and signed off on. It delivered a lot less speed than what the owners expected and Yamaha actually exchanged tracks to owners who weren't satisfied with the top end of their new sleds. With the amount of sleds sold back in 1980 I'm sure that this cost some serious coin.
1982 was the year of the 500cc SRX bumped up from 440cc. These sleds never made it to the dealers because Yamaha found some serious reliability and durability issues with the carbs and cylinders in testing. After the sleds were built they completely scuttled their release. Kudos to them for biting the bullet for one year and not releasing them. Can you imagine the cost involved at that time for doing the right thing?
The first year Vipers of 2002 were heralded by the media who rode them in the spring as a great replacement for the aging SX and SX-R buyers who were looking for a performance and suspension upgrade. Somewhere between the spring and production the shock calibrations were changed and the production models had a less than stellar ride aka as ride like a brick. Any owners of the '02 Vipers were offered a complete set of new shocks for a very reasonable price. That also had to cost a few bucks for Yamaha.
That's the last time I can recall their snowmobile division being proactive and actually not hiding behind the "specifications subject to change".
In the current state of the snowmobile industry with fewer and fewer units sold each year I actually wonder how many RTX and LTX LE models were actually sold during the spring order period. It can't be anywhere near the numbers of these previous models where Yamaha actually did something to correct mistakes made. That is the biggest issue that I have with how they have chosen to address the issued of the "race skid" as advertised the the spring and not delivered with the production units.
Instead of just saying "specifications subject to change" and sweeping this issue under the carpet they actually have a genuine opportunity here to do something to make things right to those of us who feel short changed. What's the old saying..........
"Under promise and over deliver"?
