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Polaris is giving me new crate motor,clutch & starter in my 3rd yr of warranty with 8700 miles,i have access to demo sled until mine is ready...u must find a good dealer who works for u...no bs

I can understand the desire to ride PQ trails but I would rather explore our own first and give my tourist dollars to the hard working people in our province. (Especially mom and pop establishments.) The few northern trails that I have ridden were pure heaven to me. The northern hospitality is second to none. If I can ride, and there is still snow, it will be in Northern Ontario.

Clubs need to take some responsibly also, I know of some clubs that where always broke, no paid groomer ops, same number of kms then similar clubs and traffic and some how the club is broke every year. They where paid the same as the other clubs around. Some people suck at managing money running a club. But we blame the OFSC head office for that.

This is not the first season the C101D is reopened, this is the 3rd season. They moved some sections of the trail back to the old one making it better for a more permanent trail, they installed culverts in some places. I've heard lot's of good things about section from Chapleau East .this season

From what I understand this position is going to only pay $150K per year. That is not enough money to attract the talent required to steer the OFSC in a direction of leadership change. I know of corporations that pay their purchasing and or marketing managers this amount of money. Director of Marketings income for a major corporation exceeds $250K plus it has an incentive bonus attached if goals are met. I have not seen any other social media site that has the commitment to an industry or the passion of it's membership that I see coming out of this site. I have looked at the social media sites of the likes of CAA, Costco, Loyalty Card programs and even private golf course membership sites and nothing comes close to this snowmobile forum. CAA does not have members passing their ideas along on services, Costco does not have their members advising on product selection, Loyalty Card programs do not have their members commenting on the cost of point redemption and the golf course members are not telling the greens keeper how to grow the grass. But the Ontario snowmobile industry has compassion and loyalty like I have never seen. When you see the camaraderie at lunch tables with groups excited for their brand of snowmobile over another is amazing. Other than Harley Davidson (and this is debatable) sledders are loyal to their brand without exception and loyal to the industry. So it is understandable that people want to voice their ideas and opinions and this site is the only one that allows them this freedom. Even if a small crumble of an idea gets picked up and acted on from this web site it is well worth the effort of everyone trying. Kudos to Ontario Conditions. The reality is this sport is expensive to get into and expensive to keep running. I believe that there are more people leaving the sport due to many factors (age, lack of money, other interests) than there are entering it. The OFSC would know by the permit sales year over year. The issue with attrition is the costs do not go away or down because of ridership decline. The riders in the sport still expect groomed trails regardless of the funding issues. The only way to keep the funding available is to raise money from a third party source or increase trails pass fees. If there is no effort or money coming from ANY third party source we have no other option but to expect the trail pass fees to go up. Keep the ideas flowing and the positions you have for positive change, as it at the very least, allows you to vent your frustrations on a forum that has followers who care. The OFSC has a stronger voice than many think with 30,000 plus??? paid members in the province. The one thing politicians like and need is votes. Show a politician you can help them along the way and they will return the favour.

It will probably drive their cost down. If you sell say 500,000 sleds across 20 different models the cost of producing the individual unique to each model parts will be higher than if you sell 500,000 sleds across only 10 different models. The standardization will reduce costs and those can be passed on to the customer or depending on their balance sheet restore profitability.

As a very successful veteran proposal writer during time spent working within the First Nations Industry, I believe many points that SteveB is making are valid. There are many pots of money that can be accessed - as a matter of fact am detailing some of these and various commercial relationships in my email drive to alert marketing firms to upcoming possiblities with the OFSC. However, in my opinion, the lack of response to three poor seasons in a row in populous areas due to climate change is the biggest concern. Anyone who expects the current weather patterns to improve for sledders in southern Ontario is nuts. A giant change in thinking and a requisite supporting plan are required to adjust to this if snowmobiling in this province is to survive.

knew u would say something,i do like to joint alot

JOINT. Surprised WD isn't commenting on this one.

SteveB here is some info for you. The OFSC executive elections are being held at the Board of Govenors meeting on March 24. So there will be a change in leadership at the top and that person may be interested in hearing your pitch. I am sure there will be some sort of announcement so it should be easy to get contact info. Personally i I think that the Ministry of Tourism has already decided that snowmobiling gets $1.0 million of the $38 and that’s it. (Note: every penny of TDF funding has been spent by clubs in the last number of years and I believe there were projects that did not get approved as the funding was already committed) Snowmobiling despite its large economic benefits to the economy just goes not fit the Governments anti Motorsport agenda. And given that the snowmobiling population of let’s say 100,000 are too dispersed and uncoordinated to mount any political influence. Should we be getting a bigger share. I would say yes especially when you look at some of the projects that did get funded. And a final note. The MOTS agenda included 6 new regional positions at the OFSC. 4 were to be operationally focused (trails/grooming) while the other 2 were business focused with an emphasis on finding and obtaininfo those elusive government grants. Despite budget allocations in the last 3 years, none of these positions have been hired. Maybe an opportunity for some post retirement income. So have at it. I wish you the best but I am not holding my breath waiting on a bag full of new money. PS: going to be accused of being in the old boys club and resistant change but in fact I would prefer to spend my energies in areas that have at least a fair chance of succeeding.

ride pics link

Different clubs also have different fixed operations costs as well. How do you compare a club that does not pay or pays a minimal cost for a groomer shop to a club that pays all costs (heat/hydro/taxes). With the groomers being as complex as they are having access to a space to thaw them out is important for longevity. Our club needs to pay full costs for our facility and conversely we while not broke need to pinch pennies to the extreme, comparing us to a club that has free access to space and has extra at the end of the year. We are paid the same for our grooming but our costs vary wildly for performing the same task. Does that make us bad at managing money or just unlucky? In our case the decision was made years ago when economics were very different( heating fuel costs were 30-40cents/litre not 1.20/litre now. As well costs are not the same for all club in similar situations. We have to heat with Oil when you compare us to a club that can heat with natural gas our heating costs are substantially more expensive but we have no other options. Again bad at managing money or unlucky and have to make the same amount of money go further? I don't know what the answers are but treating everyone with a one-size-fits-all approach is not ideal and creates discrepancies.

Hmmm Jeff Bezos built his business on one focused thought; "your margin, is my opportunity" In the information age the majority of customers are buying informed and aware of almost everything impacting their market options. Considering this reality, and the HUGE overhead of running inventory in hopes for walk in customers this might be brilliant if Yamaha can deliver top product, at DECREASING prices. Thats the key there A $10k sled that competes with the competition at $15k will almost overnight become a runaway success. Hmmmm

Thanks Luc. Maybe we will see you on the trails. I have a T-cat, so I can assure you, you will be intoxicated by the power of the Sidewinder! There will be 4 of us, Two T-cats, an XF7000 and a Doo 600.

I think people are trying to keep you guys away from where they ride lol, my area is fine.

Nice looking sled, so ready to go

We are in NW Quebec all this week. Trails are mostly very good and more snow is coming over next few days. It is worth the trip if anyone is on the fence. Started in Ville Marie on Sunday, went east first day, then North to Senneterre. Now in Amos heading to La Sarre

But the windshield will slow it down nulling the speed benefit of the other changes.

That new srx is sweet but holy man she's pricy. Once you add tax, and a windshield you'll be the better part of 25G

Ski coming up with saying that guys drank poo-laid is pretty lame. I do not need anything to justify a purchase. We all like different machines, cars, etc. I think we all do research before a purchase and make our own decisions on what to purchase based on many variables. You can do a search for almost any snowmobile part online and there will be multiple companies offering parts. https://www.google.ca/search?q=ski+doo+m+800+pistons&client=safari&rls=en&dcr=0&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwitzYLrndrZAhVHjK0KHY8JC8oQsAQIpgE&biw=1278&bih=655 What are these known problems you speak of?? The 800ho is a strong running motor with very few problems i sleep just fine at night. I have only heard of 2 800's going down. One was purchased from my dealer and it was suspected to be a bent crank right from the factory as the sled only went half a mile. The other one was a member on here.

Yup, somebody had to do it and be first, All brands can't go on like that, Dealers can't no longer keep those non current sleds in stock. Something has to change and Yamaha is stepping up to do something. It's smart business.

Yup, people assuming things on facebook. So many people trying to stir stuff and have no clue how the system works. I'm not working Saturday, I'm might be riding as I have a chance to use a Sidewinder BTX for day, going to see what this beast is all about. I would start in Wawa and take the D trail north to Dubreuilville then take D trail west (White River/ Marathon) direction and hit Dub 5 trail on the Magpie Reservoir down to Steep Hill Dam and trail to D trail back to Wawa. That's a great loop. if you want to extend the trip you can do what I said but you take trail 7 but turn left on trail 6 (Old rail bed) and take that back to the town of Hawk Junction and get on the D trail back to Wawa from there. Or lol if you want to make a loop but head right away to HH From Steep hill Dam take trail 7 down to D trail intersection, make a left on The D trail, then go to intersection of D and trail 5, go down trail 5 and you will hook up with D trail south to HH.

It wasn't working last week when we went past it, not even when the old doo went by.

If Yamaha owned both companies they could market 4 strokes under the Yamaha brand and put the 2 strokes under the Arctic Cat brand. Saves the Yamaha = 4 strokes philosophy and provides a great outlet for their 2 stroke technology. Common chassis and suspensions just different engines. Maintains the efficiencies in a larger production run but gets them back into the 2 stroke market.

Too bad, maybe you could have got royalties and used it on the new Patriot.

Scott the pictures look Amazing Thanks for spending the time posting them ,maybe next Winter Zrtkat &Crew will make it there

Yep it's all about the dealer, my local Polaris Dealer Blacks Corners in Carleton Place gave me a demo sled when my Yamaha was in the shop waiting for a new shock ( warranty)

lol...u r like a hawk,don't miss a thing

VR he put a picture at the top.

Not my sled anymore!

Wonder if they are getting ready to buy Arctic Cat from Textron and just rebrand everything. Would be complimentary since Texteon has already rebranded their atv/utv ptoducts away from the Arctic Car name. Full R&D and production facilities already in place and they would not have the baggage of the off road vehicles to compete with the current Yamaha atv market.

Take care of yourself Luc. You have nothing to prove to anyone and you can't do anything for yourself or sledding if you are sick. I know the volunteer pool is running short but nobody wants you to make yourself sick. You are awesome and there is no amount if appreciation extended to you that would be enough. Thank you for all you do and get well.

The software probably wasn't fast enough to display your speed before you were past it

LMAO Terry saw this post and said I saw that too!!! Me not so much........................................But he said there was no speed on it. Probably blew it up. LMAO Now I'm going to have to check out my video from today. It was fast and fun. YEEHAW Well at 50 that is

My new Cat 800cc is at just under 4,000 miles (not Kilometers). It seems to run rich as it looks like a flame thrower out the exhaust when you first stop after running hard for a long period. No issues that I know of at this point, but my daughter has let me know about it several times. It goes away after just a few seconds and I have never seen it myself. Without others input I would not even know it was doing that. Better fuel economy and lower oil use. Better low and mid range power for sure, but not too much more on top. Maybe it will last like the Suzuki Motors? It will have to go well over 15,000 miles with no issues to even become eligible to be termed "reliable" in my world. Sleds that don't make 10,000 miles without motor work are not for me. Keeping my fingers crossed and hoping Cat made a good motor. My Daughter's 800 Suzuki lost a coil (electrical issue) at 8,000+ miles. The first ever Suzuki Motor issue we have had in lots & lots of miles. Cat fixed it free in about 4 hours and saved our big trip. And I was always under the impression that warranty work had to be done in the States if bought in the States. NOT TRUE. Arctic Cat did us right! Unimagined Great Service!!!

Green dream

You mean with a ski soo doing the pulling I presume..

Polaris cant keep the 800 together, what make you think the 850 will be a better performer, or have better longevity. never buy a first year model... NEVER. Ski

You make a lot of excellent points there. I do think overall its the cost of snowmobiling that drove so many out, and the pass was only part of that, and a relatively small one, although an often target for gripes, fair or not a lot of people gripe at permit costs. New sled prices and Insurance especially is what really cooked the goose in terms of cost imo. The snow conditions are always the biggest factor and theres nothing we can really do about that. There are a lot of fussy elements to the sport of snowmobiling in general to get out and have a perfect day where the sleds are running mint, the temperatures are cold but not "too" cold and theres plenty of snow AND its groomed, and your healthy enough to ride. A lot of ducks in that need to line up. I suppose my rant above was meant to serve that regardless of ducks, a good attitude going in improves the outcome of any circumstance good or bad.

Adding a few more pictures.

sorry for doubles,little rusty 20180211_100507.mp4

I’d say someone from the OFSC needs to look at district 14’s books. Jackpine club has a similar comment up tonight on their page. Waiting for all the snow to fall before grooming again to save money. There’s no reason you can’t run a groomer for $58 an hour. Especially when the unit is being purchased outright for the club by the OFSC. Is this a cashflow problem because the equalization hasn’t been finalized and re-distributed? Or is there irresponsible spending going on? It’s disappointing to see the club reverting to making a publicity stunt out of this. Why can’t we solve these issues internally? It’s sad how some clubs decide to air all the dirty laundry. Obviously some frustrated volunteers here. One of the OFSC governors needs to step in and deal with this. If it’s a legitimate cash flow issue get an advance to these clubs. If it’s the other heads need to roll. Ungroomed trails in March in Northern Ontario when there is 3’ of snow on the ground is unacceptable. MOTS was created to avoid these issues. Not create them.

I was thinking the same when I read it, knowing some stuff that Big Pete has touched on. 'The squeaky wheel gets the grease?"

There may be more to the story than what was stated on Facebook by a club president.

I am certainly no fan of the current OFSC operation, but this funding formula was accepted by the membership at last years AGM. So the membership have no-one to blame but themselves. The funding formula contained significant cut backs on trail prep funding and grooming funding. But when I tried to put the Equalization model on the agenda for discussion, could not get enough support (actually virtually no support) to have the discussion. So either they don't understand or are too afraid to stand up and challenge the current management practices. This club/district, and every other club/district is getting exactly the amount of cash that was agreed to. The only caveat I would make is that all the money goes to the district and the district divides the money up for the clubs. Maybe the club did not get a fair shake at the district level. I don't know and frankly don't care. This is one of the results you get when you give up control of your own destiny. As to where is all the cash. The last EQ payment report showed a $2.3million surplus at the OFSC level. What are the plans for that. If the history of the last 2 years hold that surplus will be used to fund next years groomer purchases. Too bad we don't have enough money to put fuel and a operator in them. Every district is receiving the $53.09 per km of trail and $58.24 per hour of grooming. So is the club saying that the $58.24 is not enough? Or is the district not allocating addition dollars according to the extra hours they are doing? Maybe this is not an OFSC problem at all. Those 2 rates were reduced by $10.00 each this year and there was not a whimper at AGM.Maybe people need to get informed and pay attention as to what is happening.

I would take the money saved on fuel and use it to buy a qc pass and drive half the distance.