Yamaha done with sleds

[fxnytrortxkid]

Nice post Stain. I always laugh when the rags claim the hyper market is too small yet when i go out riding all i see is 998s and boosted 900Rs lol.

Agree, but if I can’t do it with the comfort in reliability that I do with a sidewinder I wont. The thought of getting to 250hp and then having to rebuild a motor every 2-3 years on a 30k sled (with the mods) is just to much. Bad enough sleds doubled in price the past 2-3 years now they are less reliable for less power. Sure a weekend toy and drag sled can be made but a true hyper sled that’s rideable for 10s of thousands of miles no.

 

[Doowithblue]

Agree, but if I can’t do it with the comfort in reliability that I do with a sidewinder I wont. The thought of getting to 250hp and then having to rebuild a motor every 2-3 years on a 30k sled (with the mods) is just to much. Bad enough sleds doubled in price the past 2-3 years now they are less reliable for less power. Sure a weekend toy and drag sled can be made but a true hyper sled that’s rideable for 10s of thousands of miles no.

I think it depends how far one goes. I know a 300hp 998 with auto tune and knock will go for miles of smiles. But a 900R yeah not so much but they are extracting more and more power from them lately so time will tell how reliable they are. Technology has come a long way with built in knock and closed loop.

 

[STAIN]

The sad part of all this is that I think people where really waking up to what a great sled the Sidewinder/ Thundercat is.
Of course, when it came out, all the 2 stroke clowns where crowing about " it is too heavy!!!" but as time went by and more and more open-minded people got to throw a leg over one, they came to realize what a great all-around sled it is. EPS really brought the platform to another level, and I personally have seen people completely amazed at how the EPS sled felt after riding mine back-to-back with any other sled. A friend of mine luckily got one this year and is trading in his 850. I have 2 others that are wanting that EPS also.
I am not saying that it is the end all be all for everyone, but it is a far more well-rounded package than most people realized and think more and more riders were getting on board.

 

[Upstater57]

The sad part of all this is that I think people where really waking up to what a great sled the Sidewinder/ Thundercat is.
Of course, when it came out, all the 2 stroke clowns where crowing about " it is too heavy!!!" but as time went by and more and more open-minded people got to throw a leg over one, they came to realize what a great all-around sled it is. EPS really brought the platform to another level, and I personally have seen people completely amazed at how the EPS sled felt after riding mine back-to-back with any other sled. A friend of mine luckily got one this year and is trading in his 850. I have 2 others that are wanting that EPS also.
I am not saying that it is the end all be all for everyone, but it is a far more well-rounded package than most people realized and think more and more riders were getting on board.

Acat has always chased the "world's fastest sled" category since the 1970's. Most of the time since then, they can make that claim. When the triple triples were done after the 2002 season many thought the world was coming to an end. I kept my old 200 hp two stroke Tcat until I bought my 2014 turbo. Ran that with 240hp to 300hp tunes until I bought my 2022 EPS Tcat. The 2022 is the best sled I ever had in 50 years of riding.
If the 998 is done, I will keep 2022 for a long time like I did with my old Tcat. I suspect cat will continue to chase the world's fastest sled going forward. It's in their DNA. However, until the new "world's fastest sled" (whatever that may be) can go by the 998 and spin it around, we will probably all continue to ride what we have. Shock and suspensions parts for the pro cross chassis will be around for a long time.

 

[Mototown]

The Yamaha Japan could almost not dream up a more perfect time to walk away from snowmobiling … what sled in the history of snowmobiling has dominated the king of the lake (totally & basically with no motor upgrades) ) , and with what most 2 stroke riders will debate king of the trails ( but I haven’t come across any that can keep up .lol
It’s going to be 8 years they drop the bomb on every other manufacturer , and they are just now getting close , but Yamaha could easily dump a new program in to be 2 steps a head again . It’s kinda embarrassing for everyone else .

 

[fatchance]

The sad part of all this is that I think people where really waking up to what a great sled the Sidewinder/ Thundercat is.
Of course, when it came out, all the 2 stroke clowns where crowing about " it is too heavy!!!" but as time went by and more and more open-minded people got to throw a leg over one, they came to realize what a great all-around sled it is. EPS really brought the platform to another level, and I personally have seen people completely amazed at how the EPS sled felt after riding mine back-to-back with any other sled. A friend of mine luckily got one this year and is trading in his 850. I have 2 others that are wanting that EPS also.
I am not saying that it is the end all be all for everyone, but it is a far more well-rounded package than most people realized and think more and more riders were getting on board.

I'm glad that friend of yours got one Stain. Seemed like a real nice guy. I was slightlyrcheck nt when I snow checked mine, but now very pleased I did because we'll only all have one more shot to get one and allot of people have been left out the last couple years. I would imagine it will be even harder next year to sno check and the price will be another $2-3k more most likely. The Winders were priced on the low end of the scale compared to other offerings for flagship models.

 

[74Nitro]

The sad part of all this is that I think people where really waking up to what a great sled the Sidewinder/ Thundercat is.
Of course, when it came out, all the 2 stroke clowns where crowing about " it is too heavy!!!" but as time went by and more and more open-minded people got to throw a leg over one, they came to realize what a great all-around sled it is. EPS really brought the platform to another level, and I personally have seen people completely amazed at how the EPS sled felt after riding mine back-to-back with any other sled. A friend of mine luckily got one this year and is trading in his 850. I have 2 others that are wanting that EPS also.
I am not saying that it is the end all be all for everyone, but it is a far more well-rounded package than most people realized and think more and more riders were getting on board.

It's to bad that cooler heads couldn't have prevailed between Cat and Yamaha.

 

[stgdz]

Thinking Polaris may wedge their own new 4 cyl 225 hp 4 stroke engine in a sled, they may even turbo it, Polaris alway's use to put out a hot rod sled, maybe they will, their new 2L 4 cyl with a turbo in a sled would be fast, real fast, they may take over the Winder's title, just a thought

The two cylinder NA is even heavier than the 998.

 

[KnappAttack]

Well its so dang sad to here that Yamaha is exiting the snowmobile market, its not surprising however with global warming, winters not like we used to have, the unpredictable weather no doubt has an effect on the entire market and sales decline of machines every season, COVID years not included as that is just a blip or an anomaly that will self correct over time.

Yamaha has built some of the finest snow machines to ever hit the market. There are so many to list. I feel for the dealers/shops that sell Yamaha snow product, the employees and us end users/enthusiasts.

In the end it will drive up the value of our existing Yamaha machines. I'm so glad I scored my 23 LTX-LE with EPS you have no idea. With Yamaha leaving the snow arena, my fear is you wont see the others innovate like they should or bring product we end users want. Ski-Doo still has no power steering on their four strokes, and they need it the worst! You will see higher prices from the other OEM's as well. Its been a tough hit no doubt.

From the sounds of it they still plan to sell engines to Cat. I hope Cat continues to use them and provide EPS to us that want them. I sure hope that wont go by the wayside with Yamaha exiting the market. We're now down to 3 OEM's that produce snowmobiles from what seemed like hundreds of manufactures back in the early 70's that all went by the wayside when there were scads of machines sold per year. Hopeful that the 3 OEM's left can still stay afloat with this dying sport we all so love.

 

[20/80]

It will have to be the younger generation that will have to keep this sport alive, but sadly environmentalists, tree huggers, special interest groups and many more are stacking up against this sport, they are painting us all environment and noise terrorists with our 2 strokes and 4 strokes ruining the country side trail riding, the governments will have us all running electric sleds drinking Bud light.

 

[Doc Harley]

Some company was asking Congress for 50 trillion dollars over the next 10 years to turn the trend around on climate change.
And when Congress asked the company how much change can they expect to make, the answer was up in the air.
Due to the fact that United States only contributes to 13% of the problem. Lol
There is definitely a problem coming, I'm pretty sure man can't stop it. All they can hope for is to slow it down.
Point; we are about to go on a long ride of expenditures. One we have never seen before.

 

[tjmrtx]

My thoughts on this whole situation. This is for all the guys like me 55 and older. It’s a sad day to see my favorite manufacturer leave the industry. But looking back we were able to live through pretty much the complete evolution of sleds. From sleds with two skis and a motor to the most technology advanced sleds of today. We’ve seen and lived through it all. What’s great about history is the known factors that we’ve lived through. So far no one has come out with a crystal ball for the future but if I were to guess I think in another 50 years snowmobiling will a lot different than today. An already niche market will be even smaller with sledding mainly in upper elevations. Or I could be wrong and we get a great cooldown and sledding explodes again. Wishful thinking! I’m not saying I’m done by any means yet with sleds but I think we all should tip our hats and raise a beer to ourselves for living through the greatest era in sleds that will ever happen again. Cheers
.

 

[acpantera]

It will have to be the younger generation that will have to keep this sport alive, but sadly environmentalists, tree huggers, special interest groups and many more are stacking up against this sport, they are painting us all environment and noise terrorists with our 2 strokes and 4 strokes ruining the country side trail riding, the governments will have us all running electric sleds drinking Bud light.

I don't think the environmentalist are gunning for the sleds as much as they used to, we're kinda off the radar these days, we mostly run on approved trails, on much quieter/cleaner sleds, in very rural areas, in small numbers. The jobs and economic benefits out way our declining ecological negative effect. We're in a good spot, by the time anybody gains steam of opposition, spring comes and it's all good. Much like snowmobile death totals in March, it's outrageous, but by 4th of July nobody cares, except for the families of the dead of course. We don't even have as many loud can A holes as we used too, it's frowned on by the majority of sledders. All the Mufflerless Harley Fags (Southpark "F"word episode)are getting all the heat now, they run 9 months of the year setting of car alarms and disturbing suburbian peace. The sport in general is safe from eco activist for a couple of decades, till it never snows again. Just my opinion of course.

 

[20/80]

What kinda strikes me funny is we all half to meet emissions whether your running a new snowmobile ATV or SxS, cars, all new big trucks and heavy equipment have to meet tier 4 emissions, not one thing said about all the planes flying over head or ships sailing the sea's, some ship companies burn what they call heavy oil for fuel which is just not as refined or clean as diesel but better than bunker C and some do burn diesel, but there is nothing ever said about the planes, they burn fuel by the ton and there are probably 50,000 of them in the air every minute just dumping fumes next to the ozone, you never see a eyebrow raise on the subject but yet us Canucks are now paying a new carbon tax on fuel, should make a huge difference, f#%king crazy government, just my opinion and rant

 

[KnappAttack]

What kinda strikes me funny is we all half to meet emissions whether your running a new snowmobile ATV or SxS, cars, all new big trucks and heavy equipment have to meet tier 4 emissions, not one thing said about all the planes flying over head or ships sailing the sea's, some ship companies burn what they call heavy oil for fuel which is just not as refined or clean as diesel but better than bunker C and some do burn diesel, but there is nothing ever said about the planes, they burn fuel by the ton and there are probably 50,000 of them in the air every minute just dumping fumes next to the ozone, you never see a eyebrow raise on the subject but yet us Canucks are now paying a new carbon tax on fuel, should make a huge difference, f#%king crazy government, just my opinion and rant

WTH does of this have to do with Yamaha exiting the snowmobile market?