What could Yamaha offer to make you buy a new sled?

[Riceburner]

Who asked for EPS ?.....I don't remember anybody wanting that. Also who asked to run premium gas in Apex?

You ridden a 2011 Apex?

I did not ask for either item above but my 2011 Apex SE is a whole different, much better sled than my 06 Apex GT.

Steers like a dream, Lays a woopin on 800 R's and nicely takes an 800 E-Tech in anything over 600 feet. My 06 would not do either.

Not sayin it's perfect but it is quite an improvement over the previous iteration. 60 lb weight loss and a little better rear suspension would be nice.

 

[Andyfreeze]

This.

Exactly! Now add a heated seat, convertible top, ABS and ESP and it'd be perfect!

Yeah I want a sled with ESP too. That way it could adjust itself to my riding style. No need for trial and error suspension adjustments. Sorry Ruckus couldn't resist.

 

[whitedust1]

Who asked for EPS ?.....I don't remember anybody wanting that. Also who asked to run premium gas in Apex?

You ridden a 2011 Apex?

I did not ask for either item above but my 2011 Apex SE is a whole different, much better sled than my 06 Apex GT.

Steers like a dream, Lays a woopin on 800 R's and nicely takes an 800 E-Tech in anything over 600 feet. My 06 would not do either.

Not sayin it's perfect but it is quite an improvement over the previous iteration. 60 lb weight loss and a little better rear suspension would be nice.

Hmm... so you want weight loss too even with EPS. Maybe if weight loss was managed well Apex would not need EPS. 07 Apex Attak Gt is plenty fast for power cruising with regular gas in Northern WI & UPMI. I can get good regular gas in boonies premium has been sitiing their along time & not so good kinda stale gas. If Yam could lose 60-80 lbs maybe 145 hp would be fine with better gas milage & use regular gas & whoop current Apex Se. I'm not seeing other Oems cutting over to EPS they could but don't need to they prefer to reduce weight with new platforms. No doubt Yam is the heavy weight champ & everyone says reduce weight but does not happen. Too me 150HP is plenty can cruise for miles at 80 mph no problem. Sure the HP wars can continue up but why for power cruising & trail riding. Why not keep 145-150ish HP make a lighter sled that uses regular gas & gets 20mpg for under 10K new. If Yam cares to sell a bunch that is what they need to do. If they want to sell a few at big bucks they will continue current path. I just don't see a profitable future for yam sled biz if they don't change & lower price with good bang for buck sled. Price is holding sales down & Yam knows it ....I'm just not sure they care.

 

[BoneDaddy]

I was a die hard yamaha fan !

My first was a 88 enticer 340 than 95 vmax 600le then a 2000 sxr700, 92 exciter and a 2007 apex .

My buddy that I ride with has given me his yamahas when he was hurt or couldnt go ,
98 srx,2002 viper 700, 2005 rx1, 2006 attak , so Ive ridden alot of different models .

Ive ridden all of the current line ups except the new apex with EPS and I am disappointed in all of them.

Apex is there best model but if you are a aggressive rider it shows its true colors ,nytros motors are nice but get some chop going into a turn and there goes steering .Phazer was fun but I was laying on the the front keeping up with everybody in the twisties .

Yamaha makes great trail crusiers and there nothing wrong with that , they are building to the demographic . 49 year olds with disposable incomes. I hate to see what they build when the demographic is 62

So I bought what I was asking for in that survey they sent us 2012 Ski doo mxz 600

 

[FireStone]

-New front suspension geometry for Apex
-R1 Crossplane motor for Apex.
-Solve Hyfax problem
-No more ice under.
-New complete Nytro, less weight, a couple more HP...Turbo?
-More fuel capacity, 10 gal.
-New rear suspension design.
-no more 121, only 128 and 144 for trail sled.
-What else?....light 2 cyl Turbo(160Hp) in a light body?

Yamaha doesnt have anything for me for the moment.

 

[marq]

-New front suspension geometry for Apex
-R1 Crossplane motor for Apex.
-Solve Hyfax problem
Yamaha doesnt have anything for me for the moment.

I did a quick search on the Sled Talk Blog but couldn't find the article.. maybe it was in the comments, but I specifically remember reading a statement from Chris that said the crossplane motor probably would never see the snow due to some engineering reasons. He didn't get into those reasons, but it was pretty definitive "no" from him if I recall correctly.

Yamaha may or may not have solved the hyfax problem, but at a cost that many aren't willing to try. Time will tell on this one. My thought is that if Yamha believes in them that much, they should be standard equipment on a new snowmobile. Maybe they will in future model years, but probably they won't.

 

[AKrider]

Nice write up Throttlejockey.

Marq.
My thoughts on the hyfax "issue" is it's a regional problem that has everything to do with riding around with not enough snow. I've not noticed my Nytro burning through hyfax any faster than any of my other sleds and I've had Polaris and Ski-doo's in the past.

 

[smoothride]

hay maybe yamaha can be the first to put a HORN on there sled's WISH I had one on my sled.

 

[SXlover]

Plain and simple

A new mtn sled, 162 with HORSEPOWER out of the big 4 cylinder. I'm an Apex guy not a Nytro person.

The neweset skid I've rode is an 08, from that they need something new.

And yes the rear exhaust can be gotten rid of, it looks cool but thats about it

 

[Grimm]

hay maybe yamaha can be the first to put a HORN on there sled's WISH I had one on my sled.

I installed a horn on my sled last year, I love it. Comes in handy when you want to gets someone's attention. Got it from Canadian Tire, here: http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/4 ... ?locale=en

 

[Ruckus]

I'm glad this thread is not being deleted. Several posts I have made, including which manufacturer I have switched to were quickly nuked. Sometimes the truth hurts but its time for Yamaha to see the writing is on the wall. North American manufacturing has surpassed Japanese. We should rejoice in this and help support our own economy, rather than some disconnected giant corporation halfway around the world that doesn't listen to its own customers...just sayin'.

 

[attak-d]

Factory Turbo, in a new Chassis!!!

 

[jaydaniels]

Nice write up Throttlejockey.

Marq.
My thoughts on the hyfax "issue" is it's a regional problem that has everything to do with riding around with not enough snow. I've not noticed my Nytro burning through hyfax any faster than any of my other sleds and I've had Polaris and Ski-doo's in the past.

I do agree that some of the hyfax issue's are a result of snow conditions, However, Yamaha's are still more suceptable to wear than most other sleds. On a late season trip last year we had a group of 10 sleds including a Viper, 2 SRX's, 08 MXZ600, ZR700, MXZ 700, Polaris Dragon, XC700 and 2 Apex's. Of all the sleds the Apex was the only one with sticking slides and overheating. I love my Apex but really wish they would address these issues. While everyone was enjoying their drive I had to keep stopping. My thoughts are that both the overheating and slide issue are a result of the exhaust. This particular day the snow was very hard and I really feel that any snow that was kicked up on the rear was melted from the exhaust, The rear suspension in every other sled had some snow melting and kicking around where both Apex's were completely dry. The only difference over every other sled in the group is the rear exit exhaust. While I do believe the rear exit exhaust has some benefits it also has some flaws.

 

[low slung]

I'm glad this thread is not being deleted. Several posts I have made, including which manufacturer I have switched to were quickly nuked. Sometimes the truth hurts but its time for Yamaha to see the writing is on the wall. North American manufacturing has surpassed Japanese. We should rejoice in this and help support our own economy, rather than some disconnected giant corporation halfway around the world that doesn't listen to its own customers...just sayin'.

I wasted my money on sleds built in north america with a hole in my wallet(poo,cats).I perfer to give my money to yamaha .With my warrior i have no need to buy a new sled at the moment(if i had a two-stroke right now i would consider trading it) so in return i saved enough to buy a brand new 2012 raptor 700 last month.One more thing,i was at a yamaha dealer last year when the guy behind the counter said something that really hit me."just about everything that comes into newfoundland for sale is imported'so that kind of thinking ruckus belongs back in the 1980s.Were in a global village right now,and BRP gets plenty of kickbacks from the canadian government(i wonder who will make the stealth sled the army wants :exc: )Your want your moneys worth,buy yamaha.

 

[sherlock29]

This is a really good thread.... Over the last 15 or so years i've gone thru alot of sleds, from all of the big 4. I went to yamaha fully well knowing their shortfalls. (they all have them).. but it was the motors i fell in love with. If the Engineering department could pull up their pants and flex their muscles on the rest of the sled like they did the motors, yamaha would have some crazy machines on the snow. Just look at what the aftermarket companies are frabricating for yammy now.

Now my small group of frends we have sleds from the big 4 and we routinely drive each others.... Cat this year is leading this race... I'm completely sold on 4-stroke sleds. just for high mileage reliability, this is where yahaha shines.... but they need to pull their heads out of the snow and look around.

I have 2 apex's and a phazer... love the big 4 cylinder.. best sounding sled on the snow, but when you look next door and are offered a 4-stroke with turbo.. it sure raises an eyebrow.

this winter i will be getting some seat time on a new cat trubo... and if everyhting is what i think its gonna be i think this will be my next... especially when you can get one out the door, tax in cheeper that a apex sitting on the floor with a salesman wispering in your ear.

here is what i am comparing too....