Test Pilots/guinea pig letter to Yamaha...

[shagman]

I put just shy of 1600 on my XTX this season and once I adjusted it to my riding style I loved every mile. But with that being said a top end speed of 82mph is absolutely ridiculous. I can live with the stutter starts but this sled is a dog. If wasn't so comfortable to ride it would be headed down the road.

Sorry to hear about your poor speed. It is all in the clutching. Read the post on here about that. I run the same sled with one change. 46/40 helix. I can get mid 90's with stock belt and when I reshim the secondary for the 8DN I have low 100's. all depends on conditions. stock belt pulles better in short runs but doesn't pull top mph. still a work in process. done testing this year. putting on miles now. will be at the ty ride in muni this weekend. 4 days. lots of snow here in the u.p. by the way my dealer thinks Yamaha will have clutching update by fall.

 

[1tp]

I for one have not had any so called issues other than my slide wearing terribly bad and rear shock blowing. Yes I have the hot start issue..but it starts every time no matter what, just takes 2 extra turns and it always fires right up. No fluid leaks, no codes, no roll over issue and I've had mine on it's side a couple times. I love my viper and after driving all the other new top sleds I wouldn't own any sled other than what I got right now. Most fun I've had on a sled in years!

You know bud, that's great if you are not having these problems. But most people are. So maybe your just lucky. But when some of us have had some more major issues and had them sitting at the shop for weeks during the short season. Not really wanting to hear that your not having any issues which you are.

Not being mean!! I'm happy that there are people out there with no to minimum issues with there Vipers I have around 4000 miles, and over three weeks in the shop. So I think it's about time Yamaha makes some major changes!!

Let me get this straight. You can complain about all your problems but no one is allowed to say that they have had no issues??

 

[LM7800]

this is what I've have been saying since day one! Best and worst sled I have ever owned! Best ridding/cornering sled, worst fit n finish build quality and servicability! Bottom line Yamaha didn't have a chassis that turned and cat didn't have an engine with any torque! Grips and throttle were much nicer on the Nytro, Nytro fuel injection great no start issue and NO O2 sensor, Chain case no drain plug $13000 sled can't use a .10 bolt, a joke! Paint flaking off spindles, paint flaking off tunnel, Hi-low indicator not working, we don't need a yamaha 4-stroke engine in the viper because the chassis will NEVER last that long!!!!!

 

[Studroes144]

I think this is a good topic and some great info that hopefully can get relayed to yamaha..but in my opinion, a good share of the stuff isn't worth mentioning..no offense to anyone on this but too big of hand grips? Come on lol. Issues that need to be addressed are ones that like Tim stated, are keeping guys sleds in the garage when they should be out riding. The clutch issues have caused a lot of grief for many guys..mine wasn't one of them, but if I had 500+ miles on my sled and the fastest speed I had ever seen was 85 mph, I'd be at my dealer and having a talk with a yamaha rep to get that fixed in a hurry! If I had a sled that when it tipped on it's side and shut off, and I had to pull panels and hoses off and plug this hose or that hose so that it was able to start back up..again, I'd be talking with someone about that or getting whatever it takes to fix it. Again, I problem I haven't experienced and thank god I haven't, sorry for those that have. We can complain about this stuff all we want but I guarantee that yamaha knew about the problem, prolly before half the people on here even took delivery of their spring ordered vipers. Hot start issues suck! But I haven't heard of anyone that truely can't get their sled to start because of this..yamaha will have a fix for this guys don't worry. Like I stated earlier, easier engine and chaincase oil changes would be nice, but if they didn't do it, it wouldn't change my decision of owning the viper. By the time they get all the little "bugs" worked out on the viper they will come out with a completely new sled, it's no different for Polaris, doo or cat. Until then I hope everyone gets as much enjoyment out of riding their vipers as I have and hopefully yamaha solves the issues quickly that are keeping some guys from riding. One thing I will say on a side note, if people with modified or turbo vipers are experiencing some issues, that's going to be a hard one to explain to yamaha, they didn't build these sleds to be altered or cranked up. Maybe some issues are coming from adding more hp maybe they aren't but I don't figure that even 75% of consumers (myself included) understand why things are the way they are on these machines. Just gotta put the trust in the machine that you put your hard earned money into.

 

[LM7800]

I also forgot to mention it only took me 2500miles to finally get over 13.5 MPG. My apex and two nytros always got 14+MPG

 

[LM7800]

Good point Studrose144 some points aren't worth binging up. My experience with Yamaha is they act like your the only one with the problem and have never seen it before. How ever, a sled with a retail price around $13,000 should not have little chicken #*$&@ issues! When the price goes up my tolerance for problems goes down!

 

[shagman]

I also forgot to mention it only took me 2500miles to finally get over 13.5 MPG. My apex and two nytros always got 14+MPG

poor mileage is also a result of bad clutch setup. before I made changes to the clutching I was getting around 12 mpg, no I am around 15 mpg. when cruising around 60 mph with the new clutch setup I am 1000 less rpm than with stock clutching but still have 8800-8900 wot. jmo

 

[Studroes144]

Good point Studrose144 some points aren't worth binging up. My experience with Yamaha is they act like your the only one with the problem and have never seen it before. How ever, a sled with a retail price around $13,000 should not have little chicken poop issues! When the price goes up my tolerance for problems goes down!

That is true but the issue we are having with our $13k sleds are minimal compared to the doo and poo sleds that will have an engine grenade or a cat that blows a belt so bad it takes out side panels and can bust an ecu in half so the sled had to be towed in. Heard of one case of that, not pretty. I've also seen a few two stroke engines go down, also, not a pretty sight. As for poor gas mileage, I agree that bad gas mileage is a direct result of bad clutching, but it can also be other issues. My clutching was dialed right in at around 200 miles. I never got good gas mileage until I installed the extra wheels on the skid and DuPont slides. I average 16+ mpg every time I ride. I'm not a mogul masher but love lining up to drag race, I still mainly just trail ride at 50-60mph tho as long as trails are smooth

 

[YamahaTim]

Good point Studrose144 some points aren't worth binging up. My experience with Yamaha is they act like your the only one with the problem and have never seen it before. How ever, a sled with a retail price around $13,000 should not have little chicken poop issues! When the price goes up my tolerance for problems goes down!

That is true but the issue we are having with our $13k sleds are minimal compared to the doo and poo sleds that will have an engine grenade or a cat that blows a belt so bad it takes out side panels and can bust an ecu in half so the sled had to be towed in. Heard of one case of that, not pretty. I've also seen a few two stroke engines go down, also, not a pretty sight. As for poor gas mileage, I agree that bad gas mileage is a direct result of bad clutching, but it can also be other issues. My clutching was dialed right in at around 200 miles. I never got good gas mileage until I installed the extra wheels on the skid and DuPont slides. I average 16+ mpg every time I ride. I'm not a mogul masher but love lining up to drag race, I still mainly just trail ride at 50-60mph tho as long as trails are smooth

Ok, my belt issue blew apart a lot of things! Which was payed by warranty. The oil separator was also payed under warranty. There is a pretty big list of pretty major issues! And really I don't think any of us are worried to much about fuel mileage, this is not a ACE engine. Fuel mileage is based on how it's ridden. I ride hard and don't expect good fuel mileage. I'm on par with pretty much all the people I ride with and it's a variety of different sleds. Yes two strokes go down! But not that much money to fix. 3 weeks mine was in the shop! And for 13,000 dollars that's not acceptable! No matter turbo or not! Cause none of my issues were turbo issues. I didn't have small things happen! Just major ones. After paying that much money no one expects to be in the shop. 4000 miles is nothing for this engine.

 

[yamafart]

My old exciter was quicker and more bullet proof out of the box than the x. I am in right now for about 17 k and I know it needs a turbo. I will never buy a fixer upper sled again. Shouldve test drove

 

[yamafart]

We were all assured the clutching would be taken care of, To me that means I shouldn't have to buy a clutch kit

 

[yamafart]

oh yeah and for any math fanatics the money you spend trying to get these dialed in you could have bought that etec drove the living crap out of it and still had money to fix it after the 3 year warranty was up. If Yamaha wants to dump engines they should have made a deal with doo.

 

[stingray719]

oh yeah and for any math fanatics the money you spend trying to get these dialed in you could have bought that etec drove the living crap out of it and still had money to fix it after the 3 year warranty was up. If Yamaha wants to dump engines they should have made a deal with doo.

Somebody with 17 posts talking Ski Doo makes me suspicious.

 

[ghost rider]

First model year of anything is a hard year... The bleeding edge is
Wrought with problems that all manufacturers are aware of before selling to the public.
Marketing is based on what the public will accept not necessarily on what is problem free
It's an emotional purchase and it's no secret to yamaha their marketing is exact and they know all of the issues mentioned above.....saving 100 bucks per sled is
worth 100's of thousands in a world market it's all about the Rate of return
So make the manufacturers pay attention, make them accountable, make them update the products they sell us to our (the buyers) satisfaction
Send your complaints directly to yamaha... They will listen (if they get enough letters) and make the necessary changes if they feel that their market share will suffer.
you can even insight a recall if the complaints are high enough.....they don't build sleds because they are philanthropists.
Over the years I worked on various advertising campaigns for Suzuki, Honda, Toyota, Chevy
so I'm not just speculating.... You can make a difference.
.
By the way the new viper is a very cool looking sled...

It's highly doubtful that they read these posts so posting hear is not enough.
M2c

 

[NOS-PRO]

oh yeah and for any math fanatics the money you spend trying to get these dialed in you could have bought that etec drove the living crap out of it and still had money to fix it after the 3 year warranty was up. If Yamaha wants to dump engines they should have made a deal with doo.

Somebody with 17 posts talking Ski Doo makes me suspicious.

I thought the same thing

Yamafart - My XTX is bone stock except for an 8DN belt and a helix I already had so where do you see money saved on buying a Doo? I own 2 stroke sleds and buying oil all the time sucks! Not to mention the smell..... Then grenading an engine? No thank you! My XTX does well over 100mph and the only sleds that have beat me was a worked over 1000 Thundercat by 1mph, my Nytro by 2 feet and a turbo Apex by 1 sled length.

If I would have wanted a Doo I would have bought one, take your Doo talk somewhere else