Viper graphics kit/tunnel bag/ tunnel rack

[Nytro40th]

Ah thanks. I am hittin 40 this year lol but I like to hit the trails and ditches hard. I also ride for work lol trail patrol and border patrol. Props to you and all the volunteers that groom trails.

 

[TestMaster]

This is my second year and still am just a fill in as most of our groomer drivers are older than I am and in some cases much older. They don't all ride sleds anymore but won't give up that groomer ride. And I say let em ride what and where they like.

When Yamaha was having their Viper rides this spring one of their engineers and I were talking when a Senior in his late eighties pulled up on a nearly new Ski-doo. He has been riding for over 50 years and told us stories of riding before trails with one other guy the only one who had a snowmobile back then. LMAO

He then proceeded to ride off into the sunset! Made me feel young.

I was fortunate that I got a lot of talk time with their engineering guys. They were here for 5-6 day with Dealer and Consumer rides and I live about 10 miles from where they were staging their rides. Learned a lot.

 

[poleclimber]

Few more pics

 

[TestMaster]

Thanks for the additional pictures!

How do you like the tunnel graphics now that they are complete with the rest of the set?

 

[TestMaster]

Nytro40th,

Must be beautiful riding in God's country, the Providence of Manitoba is just loaded with Provincial and National Parks. Can you ride through the parks with your sled in the winter?

Does Manitoba have an extensive trail system? I know it has east-west trails that connect across Canada. How are your local trails?

Sorry about hijacking the topic.

John

 

[poleclimber]

Looks really good. I like the bag/rack combo too

 

[Viper2004er]

Test master did the Yamaha engineers say anything good to share with us?

 

[TestMaster]

They gave the reason they deleted the auto chain tensioner. Riding over stutter bumps the tensioner would over tighten the chain. Which I believe was part of the issue with 2013 AC sled lockup of the reverse selector and perhaps even the gear failure seen mostly on the turbo sleds. Probably why the chain case was mostly redesigned.

Explained why they changed the seat pan and seat retaining method. As we stood talking one of the days I was at the ride site the seat came off of one of the prototypes as they drove away on their test drive. If the quick release was not applied correctly loosing the seat was a sure thing.

Much of the discussion revolved around the setup of the prototypes for dealers and consumer to ride and how the warm weather was screwing with their selected engine mapping because they were set rich to protect the engines should the weather get cold. Only one setting was flashed into the sleds at this time with no capability of auto adjusting for conditions.

We also talked about the different suspensions available in a more personal way. What was the best suspension for me and based on those discussions you can see the choice in my Avatar, Viper LTX non SE. The same recommendation as the dealer.

 

[TestMaster]

One other thing, the engineer was checking the tightness of the suspension bolts on every sled in fleet after every ride. In eight hours I did not see him find one loose fastener.

That is a good thing, I did not ask why he was checking those fasteners but I'm sure he was verifying torque retention on selected critical suspension fasteners. We do similar checks on our prototypes and early production vehicles that are selected for accelerated use testing.

 

[Nytro40th]

Nytro40th,

Must be beautiful riding in God's country, the Providence of Manitoba is just loaded with Provincial and National Parks. Can you ride through the parks with your sled in the winter?

Does Manitoba have an extensive trail system? I know it has east-west trails that connect across Canada. How are your local trails?

Sorry about hijacking the topic.

John

Yes where I ride there is a park with trails that you can access. They do have a an extensive trail system. They are good and there are plenty of fire guard trails to ride as well. I also ride lake of the woods near the border. On occasion I see the Polaris test riders in my neck of the woods too as the plant is a short ride across the border.

 

[TestMaster]

Nytro40th

So basically you are a professional snowmobile rider during most of the snow season.

SWEET! And lucky!

I'm sure you will enjoy your new ride.

 

[cannondale27]

Nice sled Testmaster and comforting info about the Engineers. Thanks

 

[TestMaster]

They were in north west michigan for 6 of the 7 planned days, lost one day to warm temps and rain.

All in all I believe Yamaha learned what they needed from the dealers and consumers. And the riders had a great time riding the Jordan Valley trail.

Now that your sled is in we expect pictures any day now.