Ski-Dog
Expert
Took the Warrior for its second ride from Tuesday to Sunday. Rode 920 miles in some of the coldest riding I ever experienced. Temps ranges from -30 C (-22 F) to -50 C (-60 F) not to mention any windchill. To put it in perspective we pulled out a bottle of Cherry Whiskey when arriving at our destination late Tuesday to celebrate our arrival and it was froze solid. I never saw that before. Impressions are based on serious trail riding.
The Good Stuff
Gas mileage continues to improve. Now up to 23 - 24 MPG (canadian gallons). Riding buddy has a Pantera 1000 and each fill up he spent exactly double what I did. I saved about $275 on this trip over him in expenses when you factor in his injector oil usage. We figure this sled will be about $1200 lower in operating costs for the year over him.
Ride remains good. I continue to tweak the rear skid and there remains some ski lift but as I said before it isn't near as bad as a ZX chassis Ski-doo.
Hand warmers are unbelieveable. Even at -50 C (-60F) I couldn't put them at the highest setting because my hands would be too warm. On my Ski-doo I doubt that I could even ride as they would have been frozen.
Still haven't experienced any ratcheting although I am unstudded. Track hookup is good with the ripsaw with the exception of ice and I think I will remain unstudded.
Oil usage is almost non existent. Thus far I've added a couple of spoonfulls of oil. Hardly worth opening the bottle. The sled has endured some long distant high speed running as well.
The Not So Good Stuff
Sled starting is not fun in these cold temperatures. At -40 overnight the sled would not start in the morning. It rolled over but would never fire. My buddies T-cat as usual would not start but he always pours a few jugs of hot water and it can be pulled by hand (electric won't do it at these temps) and it starts. As we had no way of warming the sled up I decided to try this. First jug of hot water softened the rubber snow dust cover enough to flip it out of the way. Three more over the motor and it fired right up. Looks like a block heater may be necessary. Also means carrying an extension cord on a sled with no storage room. Good thing the other colder nights we had indoor storage where we stayed.
Sled still won't do any more than 102 - 104 MPH. Obviously clutching is off. This annoys me. The sled should be better out of the box. Other makes seem to be better tuned out of the box. Now one must spend time and money to tune it up. Problem for me anymore is that I don't have the time. I would have to decide over riding or spending a few days playing on the lake.
Ice build up is annoying. Ice builds up under the tunnel like mad. Sled ejects it every so often with a thunderous bang. Ice builds on top of the tunnel extension as well when in powder not to mention all over my saddlebags.
Although sled does not overheat when riding I was amazed that at -40 C (-40 F) when idling for 15 minutes waiting for buddy to defrost his helmet sled warmed up enough to perform an auto shutdown. Even at -50 (-60 F) the sled blinked the heat light when idling for 10 minutes.
Instrument pod froze up to the point where I could not see it. When inside in the warm you could see water running down inside of the bezel it was that bad. Dealer says it will be replaced.
Watch the exhaust. As we all know exhaust gas is hot. Strapping on the trunk bag the rear straps are out behind the exhaust. Even though they are a distance away on the Warrior my straps still melted. I thought my sliders were burning but it was the straps on the rear trunk bag. Make sure you keep them to the center and tie off any loose ends.
Accessories
I have the semi - rigid saddlebags and they have worked great thus far. They look good too for sled luggage. They tend to collect ice from melted snow off the running boards so place the zipper strategically at the top if you want to get in there otherwise the zippers will be encased in ice and it can take a few hours to thaw. Stuff remained dry inside although I place contents in plastic bags as well.
I have the SMA-8EK53-00-00 trunk bag. Works great look good. Do not get the SMA-8FA63-10-00 trunk bag as it does not fit. It was designed to fit on the rear rack accessory. Both the saddle bags and rear trunk say they fit the Warrior but they were really designed for the stubby track. You will have to make extender straps for the Warrior. Yamaha should include them to fit the Warrior.
I have the deluxe cover and have travelled a few times with it. Fit is excellent and no marking on the sled. The one I have is the SMA-8FGCV-BL-DX. I originally ordered the canvas cover with the under cover protector but the under cover was back ordered and I ended up getting this one instead. Glad I did. Not much more money than canvas + undercover.
Sled is great for big trail riding but I still look at the REV's and wonder. They smoke and stink though and I am happy with the smoke free life. I'll be interested in seeing what the manufacturers are bringing out next year. There you have it from a serious trail rider. If interested I made a previous post after 350 miles earlier on this site.
The Good Stuff
Gas mileage continues to improve. Now up to 23 - 24 MPG (canadian gallons). Riding buddy has a Pantera 1000 and each fill up he spent exactly double what I did. I saved about $275 on this trip over him in expenses when you factor in his injector oil usage. We figure this sled will be about $1200 lower in operating costs for the year over him.
Ride remains good. I continue to tweak the rear skid and there remains some ski lift but as I said before it isn't near as bad as a ZX chassis Ski-doo.
Hand warmers are unbelieveable. Even at -50 C (-60F) I couldn't put them at the highest setting because my hands would be too warm. On my Ski-doo I doubt that I could even ride as they would have been frozen.
Still haven't experienced any ratcheting although I am unstudded. Track hookup is good with the ripsaw with the exception of ice and I think I will remain unstudded.
Oil usage is almost non existent. Thus far I've added a couple of spoonfulls of oil. Hardly worth opening the bottle. The sled has endured some long distant high speed running as well.
The Not So Good Stuff
Sled starting is not fun in these cold temperatures. At -40 overnight the sled would not start in the morning. It rolled over but would never fire. My buddies T-cat as usual would not start but he always pours a few jugs of hot water and it can be pulled by hand (electric won't do it at these temps) and it starts. As we had no way of warming the sled up I decided to try this. First jug of hot water softened the rubber snow dust cover enough to flip it out of the way. Three more over the motor and it fired right up. Looks like a block heater may be necessary. Also means carrying an extension cord on a sled with no storage room. Good thing the other colder nights we had indoor storage where we stayed.
Sled still won't do any more than 102 - 104 MPH. Obviously clutching is off. This annoys me. The sled should be better out of the box. Other makes seem to be better tuned out of the box. Now one must spend time and money to tune it up. Problem for me anymore is that I don't have the time. I would have to decide over riding or spending a few days playing on the lake.
Ice build up is annoying. Ice builds up under the tunnel like mad. Sled ejects it every so often with a thunderous bang. Ice builds on top of the tunnel extension as well when in powder not to mention all over my saddlebags.
Although sled does not overheat when riding I was amazed that at -40 C (-40 F) when idling for 15 minutes waiting for buddy to defrost his helmet sled warmed up enough to perform an auto shutdown. Even at -50 (-60 F) the sled blinked the heat light when idling for 10 minutes.
Instrument pod froze up to the point where I could not see it. When inside in the warm you could see water running down inside of the bezel it was that bad. Dealer says it will be replaced.
Watch the exhaust. As we all know exhaust gas is hot. Strapping on the trunk bag the rear straps are out behind the exhaust. Even though they are a distance away on the Warrior my straps still melted. I thought my sliders were burning but it was the straps on the rear trunk bag. Make sure you keep them to the center and tie off any loose ends.
Accessories
I have the semi - rigid saddlebags and they have worked great thus far. They look good too for sled luggage. They tend to collect ice from melted snow off the running boards so place the zipper strategically at the top if you want to get in there otherwise the zippers will be encased in ice and it can take a few hours to thaw. Stuff remained dry inside although I place contents in plastic bags as well.
I have the SMA-8EK53-00-00 trunk bag. Works great look good. Do not get the SMA-8FA63-10-00 trunk bag as it does not fit. It was designed to fit on the rear rack accessory. Both the saddle bags and rear trunk say they fit the Warrior but they were really designed for the stubby track. You will have to make extender straps for the Warrior. Yamaha should include them to fit the Warrior.
I have the deluxe cover and have travelled a few times with it. Fit is excellent and no marking on the sled. The one I have is the SMA-8FGCV-BL-DX. I originally ordered the canvas cover with the under cover protector but the under cover was back ordered and I ended up getting this one instead. Glad I did. Not much more money than canvas + undercover.
Sled is great for big trail riding but I still look at the REV's and wonder. They smoke and stink though and I am happy with the smoke free life. I'll be interested in seeing what the manufacturers are bringing out next year. There you have it from a serious trail rider. If interested I made a previous post after 350 miles earlier on this site.
LazyBastard
TY 4 Stroke God
The closest thing canada has to a gallon is less than 1/4 gallon. You mean Imperial (british) gallon?
Switch to synthetic oil when you have (if you haven't already) 2000 miles. Mineral oil turns into a goo that resembles TAR when it gets below -20, whereas synthetic remains fluid. I ride in Ontario in the seriously cold temps that you described, and with an engine that is well broken in and on synthetic (pennzoil 5w30), it ALWAYS starts VERY EASILY. I store it in an UNHEATED, DETACHED garage and have NO heaters on it to warm it up AT ALL.
Switch to synthetic oil when you have (if you haven't already) 2000 miles. Mineral oil turns into a goo that resembles TAR when it gets below -20, whereas synthetic remains fluid. I ride in Ontario in the seriously cold temps that you described, and with an engine that is well broken in and on synthetic (pennzoil 5w30), it ALWAYS starts VERY EASILY. I store it in an UNHEATED, DETACHED garage and have NO heaters on it to warm it up AT ALL.
Snomad
Extreme
Yamaha sells a great in-line heater that would solve the problem as long as you have a plug-in. I'm still running the Yamalube and this solves that problem. My battery seems to be unable to recover in these temps so I also bought the Optimate charger. It's the best charger I have seen. It has a desulfate setting that automatically kicks the voltage to 22 volts with a set current output. When it senses that the battery can charge properly it sets itself to a .6 amp charge and charges normally to full charge. At that point it goes on auto and has lights to indicate whether the battery is weak or good. You can leave this charger on a battery indefinitely without damage. Obviously the RX-1 battery is a gel cell and so will not benefit from the desulfate feature of the charger but it will sure be nice for those quad and regular snomobile batteries and also your deep cycle types. Got it at my yammi dealer for about $88 CDN. People are telling the dealer that it has brought batteries they thought were toast back to life. One or two of those and it has payed for itself.
