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Yamaha Cutting Production for 2019


I always respected cats enthusiasm, race sleds and attitude, but their quality control was spotty at best. One F7 runs perfect...the next one catches fire from poorly routed fuel lines while in having a burger.....stuff like that...lol

One thing to remember is I feel changes have been happening after the Textron take-over. My Dad and I were riding in the Big Horns last March right after the purchase happened and we ran into a young man who worked in the engineering side of Arctic Cat Inc. He said they were thrilled Textron bought it because 1) Many in the company hadn't gotten a raise for years and 2) Textron was bringing in a lot of their resources to improve engineering, assembly and higher quality parts sourcing. I asked him about the Yamaha deal and he couldn't say much other then they have an engineering team that works directly with the Cat team on the shared product lines.

I think the 2019 products are the first ones where we might start seeing some Textron influence in the product lines. If you combine Textron and Yamaha resources you'd think they could come up with products that would be amazing. There isn't a lot of profit in the snow line these days. That's mainly why I see the joint venture continuing for the foreseeable future.

Spreading development costs is the only reason why we ended up with a product like Sidewinder/9000. It's a lot easier to get ROI when you're spending millions and millions developing a new product when it can be sold by two brands and two dealer networks.

We are all guilty of coming up with dream scenarios, but engineers and division managers have to make a business case to the top floor offices at Textron and Yamaha. Chris Reed used to talk a bit about this on his blog.
 
That video is nothing more than a sidewinder sitting lower to the ground. And they claim there’s no market for a triple-triple....phooey!!!!!


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Sidewinder Srx Le
 

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Well at least the engineers at Cat and Yamaha are doing something, we got a brand new kill switch, love the new stickers.

It also has what Yamaha calls iQS which is their version of the iACT suspension. If they are both using it then it was likely joint developed. The new handlebar controls look a lot higher quality and of course the tri-hub is gone. These are all things that Yamaha customers have wanted so they are listening. There is a touch more Yamaha influence in these joint sleds then we have seen previously.

Just order one. I bet you’d love it!
 
It also has what Yamaha calls iQS which is their version of the iACT suspension. If they are both using it then it was likely joint developed. The new handlebar controls look a lot higher quality and of course the tri-hub is gone. These are all things that Yamaha customers have wanted so they are listening. There is a touch more Yamaha influence in these joint sleds then we have seen previously.

Just order one. I bet you’d love it!
For sure Yamaha has their touch on the pro cross but Textron has the final say, oh yeah I seen something today you might want to take a look at on your sled just to be safe, the pivot mount where your rear shock mounts in your skid, take a look to see that it is not spreading, seen a new winder come in at the dealer today with all his center lugs on the inside of the track ripped off, the pivot mount spread enough to allow the rear shock to flip down and rip the center lugs off, there is 300 miles on the winder, the shop tech said this is not the first one he seen, said it happened to a few vipers also with more miles on them, the winder owner was not a happy camper, so it wouldn't hurt to have a look.
 
For sure Yamaha has their touch on the pro cross but Textron has the final say, oh yeah I seen something today you might want to take a look at on your sled just to be safe, the pivot mount where your rear shock mounts in your skid, take a look to see that it is not spreading, seen a new winder come in at the dealer today with all his center lugs on the inside of the track ripped off, the pivot mount spread enough to allow the rear shock to flip down and rip the center lugs off, there is 300 miles on the winder, the shop tech said this is not the first one he seen, said it happened to a few vipers also with more miles on them, the winder owner was not a happy camper, so it wouldn't hurt to have a look.

Thanks for the heads-up. I was so worried I ran right out to the garage to check on it thinking surely it’s broke. Nope it’s just fine. I’ve been riding every weekend so I try and check it over after every ride, but I thought maybe I missed that.

I know you have an agenda to try and scare everyone away from the ProCross chassis sleds, but you know what? I love my Viper. It’s not perfect, (mainly the moody cold starts) but overall I’ve really enjoyed riding my sled and no I’m not trading it off for an old school DBII sled. I bought the sled I wanted and you bought the sled you wanted. I’m sorry the sleds you like are being discontinued, but that’s how this world works. There were also a lot of upset people when Lincoln discontinued the Town Car (last full perimeter framed passenger car), but they had to move on to a more modern unibody car. I was teasing about you buying one. I know you refuse to own a Cat chassis, but you should at least acknowledge that it’s a much more competitive chassis in today’s market compared to the DBII even if you hate it.

Everything mechanical can and will break. I have a 4 year YES warranty on mine, but I haven’t had to use it. I maintain and don’t abuse my stuff. I find the Viper to be a quality product that rides and handles how I like. I like standing up in the rough and I find it carves well in the powder for a 4 Stroke.
 
Anybody think Yamaha will use some of the things they've developed in the last couple of years like the Single Shot or the linked front shocks ? Maybe those things will end up in a pro cross to stand out from Cat. Its just odd for them to develope that stuff then hardly use it.
 
Thanks for the heads-up. I was so worried I ran right out to the garage to check on it thinking surely it’s broke. Nope it’s just fine. I’ve been riding every weekend so I try and check it over after every ride, but I thought maybe I missed that.

I know you have an agenda to try and scare everyone away from the ProCross chassis sleds, but you know what? I love my Viper. It’s not perfect, (mainly the moody cold starts) but overall I’ve really enjoyed riding my sled and no I’m not trading it off for an old school DBII sled. I bought the sled I wanted and you bought the sled you wanted. I’m sorry the sleds you like are being discontinued, but that’s how this world works. There were also a lot of upset people when Lincoln discontinued the Town Car (last full perimeter framed passenger car), but they had to move on to a more modern unibody car. I was teasing about you buying one. I know you refuse to own a Cat chassis, but you should at least acknowledge that it’s a much more competitive chassis in today’s market compared to the DBII even if you hate it.

Everything mechanical can and will break. I have a 4 year YES warranty on mine, but I haven’t had to use it. I maintain and don’t abuse my stuff. I find the Viper to be a quality product that rides and handles how I like. I like standing up in the rough and I find it carves well in the powder for a 4 Stroke.
My intention was not to scare you away from your sled but to prevent you from having unwanted troubles which would not only cost you money but most importantly keep you from sledding, if you catch the problem early its a easy fix, I don't hate the pro cross, I just don't like the fact that Yamaha is using the Cat chassis and their influence with the chassis is limited or has to be approved by Textron, sorry for getting off topic, Yamaha may have something up their sleeve yet come release day.
 


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