your last sled?

[radianguy]

What sled did you have previous to the viper? Looking for some real world honest opinions. How does it compare, better, or lacking in certain areas?

 

[monte1214]

I'm coming from an '11 Apex XTX, and 2 Apexes before that.
Looking forward to riding the Viper this year!

 

[RTX]

I came off an 06 apex which i spent a lot of time and money to get to be what i feel is a great trail sled.
But, i am 47 years old and my back can not keep up with the rest of my body and it was time to get a sled with a more upright seating position.
I purchased my viper rtx at the end of the season and I only have 400-500 miles on my viper.
I was very unhappy with the viper after my first 125 mile break in ride.
Previously I rode a nytro and thought i knew what to expect of the viper motor.
My honest opinion of the viper motor was that it felt severely underpowered to me. In my opinion, My 2002 viper feels like a stronger motor than my 2014 viper
I got 2 more rides on the sled and during those 2 rides i fell in love with the handeling, the suspension and the seating position/ergonomics, but i was still very very upset with the performance of the sled. And not exactly wild about the fit and finish.
I could not get the top speed over 85 mph and each ride i was watching all my riding buddys leave me in the dust.
Last season i had no opportunity to work on or tweak anything. The sled was ridden all stock.

At the end of the season i installed the 8dn belt and the clutching changes suggested on this site in hopes of improving the overall performance. I know this sled will run, plenty of guys getting them to run 100 +
I also studded the track, installed simmons flexi skis, installed hand guards, installed a 4th wheel kit, a skidoo linq bag, heated shield wiring kit, fox float airprene covers
I have a skid plate in the works. hygear dual pressure canister kit in the works, and am saving for the EVO header,muffler,reflash kit.
So if you have not guessed, im keeping the viper. LOL

My biggest issue right now is I hope the clutching i did will wake this sled up a little because i am really struggeling with how it performs.
Im positive the evo kit will wake things up but that purchase is expensive and might be closer to the end of this season than the beginning.

There is a lot to love about the viper but you have to be able to over look all the little things.
Its a dam sharp looking sled, that handles awsome, takes the big bumps and is just plain comfortable to ride,
but when you look close you see a lot of little issues that all add up and leave a bit of a bad taste in your mouth.
So far i have experienced the hot start issue more than i care to speak about, and to be honest it has me stressing out each time i start it around a crowd, or gas station, or restaurant.
I have a terrible squeal to my brakes that drives me insane.
I have a swaybar that rubs the belly pan.
I found a bracket that the seat mounts under that was never riveted from the factory.
I tore into most of the cooling system because i kept finding coolant leaks. I finally found that it was leaking from the cast thermostat housing. Had to file that down and clean it up to stop the leak.
When doing my oil change i found the top tab on my chaincase was cracked.
So it will be going back to the dealer for all these little issues but its really a big pain in the azz.

Right now if you asked me if i would buy a 2014 viper again, knowing what i know now i would say no. A big part of me wishes i bought the 2015
Mines paid for so im gonna stick it out and make it work but in the back of my head im always thinking about exploding mufflers, frozen oil check valves, hand warmers, thumb warmers and gauges that quit working etc etc.

I think the 15 models will be more fine tuned and will be ok except maybe some clutching

 

[radianguy]

Wow!
But exactly what I was looking for! Thanks for the honest review.

 

[cannondale27]

I had a 98srx and my 07 Phazer which I still have. The Viper is so much easier to ride than the Phazer it's not even close. Power is obviously better but doesn't seem so different because the Viper is so easy to ride. My rear suspension is not as good as the Axis suspension my Phazer has. Both ends are better by a mile than the SRX but the SRX and possibly my Phazer would beat the Viper in tight twisties just because the front will push on occasion. SRX and Phazer never push. Jumping the Viper and hitting 3-4ft moguls and holes that get you airborn are as fun on Viper as they are on Phazer. Front to rear balance is perfect. You don't have to be on the throttle like a Nytro. Very confidence inspiring. My RTX is not a off trail sled but it definitely works better than the Phazer even with the free ride track. Ditches can be deep! I agree with RTX almost 100%. There were a lot of little issues. But most were just a minor inconvenience. I kind of expected issues with a first year sled. I also am disappointed in the top end power of this sled. All of us here are collectively addressing all these issues and the aftermarket has hugely jumped on the Viper. Possibly more so than any other Yamaha. Mine still looks sexy after 3700mi and am looking forward to a bit of improving this year and many miles after.

 

[Studroes144]

Previous sleds, 03 rx1, 06 apex, 08 nytro and had a 2011 Phazer my wife rode, viper is hands downs far more fun than any of the other 4 stroke yamaha sleds, I put on 2300 miles, my complaint would be stiff suspension. Speed was never an issue, hit 100 for the first time with only 50 miles and it's been above 100 mph many times after that, all with stock 8jp belt. That's true speeds, not 115mph on the apex dreamometer. The viper in stock form won't be able to hang with an apex for too long, but it doesn't take much at all to wake them up and get them going. For me it's hard to know how to classify fit and finish, personally I don't think the side panels fit as nicely on the viper as what the apex or nytro are, but on that same note, the apex and nytro would eat up boggie wheels and exhaust donuts, haven't had any of those issues on the viper. With stock carbides mine darted more than I could handle, but didn't feel any different than any other yamaha with stock carbides. I did a clutch kit on mine right when I got it, other than that it stayed all stock and it put a spanking to a few 800's and got beat by some too. Over the summer I had my rear shocks revalved, swapped out the front floats for coil overs to give me a more plush ride, got curve skis, and did a stage 1 mpi turbo..but when it comes right down to it I'd ride the sled in completely stock form before I went back to an apex or nytro

 

[stingray719]

Wow previous sleds would be a list you don't want me to list...lol.

Last year I bought a 2014 M8 and then in December we bought a 2014 Viper for the girlfriend. Initially it was slow as mentioned earlier and I found that odd as it should not be. I went to work on clutching and you can see what I did in the clutching for cheap thread. Bottom line is her Viper went from slightly slower than a Nytro to pulling two lengths on that same Nytro from 0 to 60 both tests on the same day. I was so impressed I sold the 2014 M8 and bought a Viper and now have it set up as stage 3 in the clutching thread with air box mod and MBRP can. Oh yeah just before I sold the M8 we ran it against the Viper and although it was on asphalt the Viper beats it!! SO if your Viper is stock and wimpy by a clutch kit or do my clutch mod it is NOT a wimpy sled or is not supposed to be.

Side note both of ours are 2014 XTX converted to MTX

 

[stingray719]

Previous sleds, 03 rx1, 06 apex, 08 nytro and had a 2011 Phazer my wife rode, viper is hands downs far more fun than any of the other 4 stroke yamaha sleds, I put on 2300 miles, my complaint would be stiff suspension. . That's true speeds, not 115mph on the apex dreamometer. The viper in stock form won't be able to hang with an apex for too long, but it doesn't take much at all to wake them up and get them going. For me it's hard to know how to classify fit and finish, personally I don't think the side panels fit as nicely on the viper as what the apex or nytro are, but on that same note, the apex and nytro would eat up boggie wheels and exhaust donuts, haven't had any of those issues on the viper. With stock carbides mine darted more than I could handle, but didn't feel any different than any other yamaha with stock carbides. I did a clutch kit on mine right when I got it, other than that it stayed all stock and it put a spanking to a few 800's and got beat by some too. Over the summer I had my rear shocks revalved, swapped out the front floats for coil overs to give me a more plush ride, got curve skis, and did a stage 1 mpi turbo..but when it comes right down to it I'd ride the sled in completely stock form before I went back to an apex or nytro

"Speed was never an issue, hit 100 for the first time with only 50 miles and it's been above 100 mph many times after that, all with stock 8jp belt" and "I did a clutch kit on mine right when I got it" are a little misleading to new guys. You got 100 mph NOT on the stock clutching, and almost all stock clutches with 8jp belt had issues. Not trying to start a spat just trying to make it clear for future Viper buyers.

 

[Studroes144]

Sorry my clutching got done at the beginning of the season I should say, it had maybe 80 miles on it when we started messing with clutches, the first videos that I took and posted are of it completely box stock. The one where it was against the cat 7000, that was a 100mph run. At 80 miles it got dynoed, that video was posted as well. From there the clutching started. This was all in about a three day period. So yes it was a true out if the box 100 mph sled with nothing touched on it, no clutch or belt changes, no suspension changes.

 

[cannondale27]

I also thought at first that the clutching was really good stock. But I made a point of riding tight woods trails the first 600 or so miles and the few times I kept it pinned for a bit I was beating 600's. Didn't notice a issue till conditions changed like had a spot on nice railroad grade where it hit 95-100 next day same spot 90 pushing it. Changed belt and cleaned clutches at 500 mi and noticed big improvement. Inconsistency is the reason stock clutch setup is bad. Studroes have you cleaned your clutch faces in past 500 mi? If not take a picture. I will take a pic of mine at over 1000 mi since cleaning and the difference is dramatic. No way a clutch can shift properly with rubber all over it.

 

[Studroes144]

Cannondale, I actually had mine off a month or so ago and cleaned them. Here was my thing, to most this will be old news, to some it'll be new. 50 miles on my sled, broke the 100mph mark, 80 miles the sled got dynoed. After that the clutch tuning started. Sled ran top notch for the first 4-500 miles then started slowly losing speed more and more until it was deadlocked at 85mph. It got there real quick but then would just die. Clutches were very hot, a lot of belt dust. I knew other people were having the same issues and traced it back to clutching, so I talked with the dealer, who is also a cat dealer and well known racing group so they're familiar with the procross chassis, told him everything I just said here and asked if I should be trying a different belt or changing clutch stuff, he walked out back and got 2 sets of the extra wheel kits for the skid. Told me to throw them on cuz my slides were shot and that they were what was slowing it down. I was kinda dumbfounded and was hoping for a clutch explanation. Anyways I took the sled out in the back field which you can hold it for 1000'. Ran it prolly 8-10 times and best I could get was 85mph. This was a frozen grass field with an inch of snow on it, I knew it should've been faster than that. Anyways, pulled the sled in the garage, put the 2 extra sets of wheels on and still left the old slides on. Went back out, literally 20 mins after I could only get 85mph the first run in the same exact spot was 100mph. Never touched the clutches or belt. Ran half a dozen more times and fastest speed I seen were 102. Not saying this is everyone's case with the speed but the worn out slides and lack of wheels proved to kill my performance. Now, when this all happened it did cause belt slippage because of the rolling resistance, clutches had burnt rubber on them and the belt was worn pretty hard. So after I had all the wheels taken care of and put new slides on I pulled both clutches and took them all apart, cleaned sheaves and put everything back on along with a new belt. This was around the 500 mile mark. 2317 miles on my sled at the end of the season so I had 1800 miles on my 2nd 8jp belt. Where I live at the base of tug hill we leave right from our house to ride the hill. Last ride of the season for me we rode the hill in early April, they had 3 foot of snow yet and ours was basically gone, could've trailered the sled up to ride more but I hate doing that. Anyways there is a long frozen reservoir we race across a lot. My self, dad with his apex, and a buddy on his pro r 800 lined up, viper launched out and I never seen either of them. Good snow conditions, I ran 102 mph with the belt that had 1800 miles on it, no different than the day it was brand new. If the 8dn belt works for people, use it, I'm going to be switching to it this year for the sole reason that I can buy an 8dn belt for $40 cheaper than the 8jp and the aftermarket replacements for the 8dn are more readily available. I'd say if anyone is having speed issues, look the sled over real good before you go and start spending money and changing things on it, could be a chassis issue, could very well be the clutching/belt inconsistency. The one thing we all know is that if your seeing slow speeds, continuing to run it is only going to wear things out faster and make the problem worse in the clutch/belt area so do yourself a big favor and address the issues right when they come up. Your sled will thank you and you'll be much happier with it.

 

[new rob]

Everything is better with the viper except the power (top end pull ) and the sound nothing sounds as sweet as an apex. 2011-2006

 

[Studroes144]

^^that is very true right there. That 4 cylinder screamin at 10k rpms, not much of a sweeter sound than that lol

 

[yamaha1973]

My last few sleds are listed in my signature. The Viper handles better, is more comfortable, better off trail, and is more fun to ride than any of the other sleds Ive owned. I also put 500 miles on a 2014 Apex this year and although that sled was faster the Viper handles better and has a more comfortable seating position for me (Im 6'4")

 

[RTX]

For me it's hard to know how to classify fit and finish, personally I don't think the side panels fit as nicely on the viper as what the apex or nytro are, but on that same note, the apex and nytro would eat up boggie wheels and exhaust donuts,

just wanted to point out that you are comparing fit and finish with wear and tear items.
Theres going to be wear and tear items on the viper that fail early (tri hub) its just that no one has the miles on them yet to see what wears