Leaderboard

I'm not happy either about the tank size on the ZR9000. Not sure if I could make 200km on a tank especially if there is any lake running. Never pushed it that far as I don't carry extra fuel. I will say that the ZR, (and I'm sure the 900R) is a smooth, civil sled that can be run at a slow or quick pace. The power is addictive but needs to be respected. Agree with Stoney and Baylaker that 140-160km/h is all you need but it sure feels good when you can hit that 160km/h with a quick squeeze! After riding the ZR for a bit and then hopping on the Pantera 7000, I feel like I'm on a Safari 377 powerwise..lol.. It feels so anemic but I know it's not. Love the Pantera!(and the built in 4 gallon gas tank in the back)👍 It would be hard for me to give the ZR power up. I've become accustomed to it and it seems normal now. As Blackstar says, you like what you're comfortable with, whether it's 90, 135, 160, 200, 270hp. Love the grunt of four strokes. Love the lightness and flickability of the two strokes. Tough call. I'm sure Nunz is thrilled about all this YamaCat/Doo talk in the 2024 Polaris thread...lol..

That’s not accurate.. run with a gps and see the difference..

Well fat lady sung for us. left 8:30 am Timmins - back at truck in new liskeard 3:45 , 291km Total trip 1541 km from Tuesday 11am. had some challenges finding trails this am out of timmins with the 10-15cm fresh snow on ground . Broke trail for first 60 km or so. The outdated 7S map did help alot though. Rained from elgenhert south . Great season for us - looking forward to Quebec next year as son will be 16 and able to ride legally .

I’m the same, I get used to my sleds, how I set them up to my style and liking, so reluctant to switch or ride other guys sleds, like I used too. I’ve been nervous for a while about buying a 4 stroke for fear of not liking it, rode a 900t fews years ago and was thoroughly impressed, twitchy front end, base shocks and all….lol Last year when I switched with my brother so he could try the 900, I felt his 998 to be far more twitchy than mine, granted his sled still needed a lot more suspension set up, but even he said after getting off my sled, it was no wonder after riding all day repeatedly I am not tired like he is, and I’m the older one…

Still riding great trails in northern Haliburton

Its not too bad in HGR territory either! Ripping around on the ol blizzard! Made it to Baysville for a burger

Snowmobiling is about enjoyment. Its a hobby/pastime that's gives us some pleasure. All you need shouldn't be a part of that equation in my thinking. Its about want. My buddy and I both bought REV 600 Sports in 2003 and we rode together all the time. He says to me Wednesday, "You remember those? That was all we needed. They were plenty fast." I said "Ya, I remember we topped them out at 164 kph many times. That was it. All they had. And that was why I bought a 900 Fusion next. I didn't want a sled that I could find the limits of. " As it turned out the 900 Fusion was barely faster than the 600 Rev but that's besides the point.....lol And he bought a 2007 Blizzard 800 next. I had a ZR7000 for one year. I was so disappointed that it was slower than the 1200 Doo I had been riding that I traded it for the ZR9000. I'm happy with the 9000. I did put a trail tune in it but I didn't need it. ....lol But I understand why people go to 250-300 hp. Power is additive and if you can then why not?

2 feet plus here since Thursday afternoon... still snowing, and high winds. Pushed snow over front bumper from dub to hawk yesterday. Less snow in hawk, and wawa than us. We got HAMMERED! Managed to get the barn cams running again. Sorry for the slow update... didn't think anyone looked at this. LoL! Ski

As WinderFab said, Skidoo speedo is way off. My buddy that was following me on the railbed Wednesday said "how faster were you going? I seen 82 on the display." I was doing 75 tops and pulling away from you....lol I watched a Snowtrax youtube video tonight and they said the same thing. And all manu's lie, just some more than others.. Begs the question, Why don't they use GPS driven speedos at this point? The tech is there. Its used on Seadoos. Because they don't want to deflate any egos....

They're all shrinking the fuel tanks which sucks. Doo's are a 35 liter tank. You have to go to Polaris or an expedition to get a tank at 40 or 45 liters. Guess they figure 75% don't need any more than 35 liters. The 25% that do will buy fuel caddies. Seems silly. Shrink the tank for mass centralization and weight loss. Then strap a fuel caddy on the back in the worst place you could add that weight from a handling perspective.

Well made it back to the Chateau Travel lodge . 563.8km for the day - Hearst and back. Little under 12 hrs round trip. Oil light on the little 650 , which ran 1-2l more than the 850 every fill up. was first out on the trails it seems at 8am and minus 18. Didn’t see anyone till Kap. Was hard , smooth fast trails this am. even with some playing in the powder at smooth rock - we made it to kap for gas at 10:17am and 154.8km. had a nice long stop at Tims in kap for late breakfast and chatting to dealer on new sled deal next year. Finally on the trail 11:30 ish. made it to Hearst from south end - great trails mostly. Some more snow but still not lots. In town really minimal snow like kap. gas stop @286km and 1:44pm - time to turn around! made a little trail side snack of Mr noodles - takes a lot longer to melt snow and then boil it btw! met a mother and daughter on trail (little girl went wrong direction and was lost ) - they had the cutest throttle stop - maybe next year she will graduate to a AAA! Filled up in kap again , then a great dinner at Ellies in smooth rock (our favorite food place). all gassed up and ready to do Abitibi (4 oil jugs and 1 linq can) , late lunch in SR/Ellie’s then onto Timmins tomorrow. Hoping weather holds . Friday will be a mess getting back to New Liskeard and trailer home (7 hrs), but we will play it as it comes. If we have to stay a night won’t be an issue. All part of the adventure. Only have 45 miles going east out of timmins at start of AM on Friday that I won’t have fresh GPS tracks back to New Liskeard .

Completely agree with you. The Pantera has everything I need and I am very happy with it but I wanted more. Hence the tuned ZR9. I love and crave acceleration...lol.. Pantera pulls good to 140km/h and tops out at 160km/h(gps) on a long lake run. Takes a few miles to get there. The ZR9 is playing in a completely different league. It just pulls and pulls, even after 160km/h. Addictive!! However, I don't care about overall top end speed but just love the seemingly endless acceleration and pull! That's currently my want. Everyone's "enjoyment criteria" is unique. To some it's corner to corner, top speed, deep snow or flat cornering performance etc.. My wants now are different than 20-30 years ago and they will be different in 10 years from now. Get all the wants you can for our 2 months a year hobby!!

If your hesitant on going back to a 2 stroke, you need to try the new Polaris matryx chassis if you haven’t already. I’ve never been a Polaris guy and most of my sledding has been on Yamaha 4strokes, but I always have an open mind towards other brands. I did try a skidoo 850 about 4yrs ago but found the front end way too twitchy, far from planted, so I sold it after 450kms. Polaris chassis really is incredible though. Exact same planted feel as my viper, and the wife loved it too! This is why when the time comes, the wife will be getting a 650. Once I decide to upgrade from my viper, I’m seriously considering going back to a 2 stroke. If Polaris puts a turbo on the S4, which I think they will, I will opt for it instead over the 2stroke. The 2 stroke is very playful, felt like riding my old yzf 250, and very planted….and the 650 has more than enough power. EDIT: I just finished reading your post above, if it’s about wants, maybe the 850 Polaris turbo would be something to consider. You’ll get the planted feel, and lots of power.

Power and internet are out…lol

The CKX 1.5 tranz AMS looks fairly budget friendly plus its a modular which i prefer over the mission and oxygen and the contact. A riding buddy of mine has one and says he's cord free now too just like my mission. The cordless thing to me is a huge game changer especially with wearing glasses. Good bye no-fog mask!!

That statement is why I'm having a hard time buying my next sled. I had a '15 MXZ-X 800 for a couple years while I owned the Cat and when I rode it I couldn't wait to get back on my Cat. I thought I'd like to get back on a 2 stroke but I found the lighter weight too twitchy. I like the more solid, planted feel of the Cat. Stability at speed. Everyone likes what they like. But often what we like is what we get comfortable with. I'm sure if I rode a 900 Gade for sometime I'd get to like it.

Ya, she gets heat soaked real good. When ignition is first turned on, temp is spiked, but once moving it comes down fast and back to normal. Heat works nice to heat up gloves if you place them just in front of steering post. I’m pretty sure with his tune you can adjust those factory thresholds though.

On the PB80, I think they were back ordered, if I am not mistaken he ordered end of last season and it arrive this past fall. Only negative remark he said was it runs warmer, nothing crazy, but felt it was warmer. Than again, the 998 in general seems to put out a lot more heat.....when he shuts his down, the amount of heat that it generate is crazy - not sure if that is from the tune or they are all like that. The 900 with the turbo is the same, just not to the same level.

Yep, about 8 km/h on the high side

A good dialed in 900 will do 163 km/hr wide open. 137” track, no turbo. Did a run last week and that’s what I got.

On the gas tank thing, did they change the size in the last few years? My brother installed a PB80 clutch this past year/summer, not sure if it was that or perhaps something else, but his gas mileage improved quite a bit - last year I was putting in less consistently, this year he was by a few litres, he was getting best fuel consumption in the group, with a tune. Over 200KM was not an issue for sure......he likely could have made the run between gas stops coming down from Chiboug with out carrying fuel, but we all carried and used it.

I had some issues with the Mach Z last year but the dealer upgrades straightened them out, can't even imagine what a Yamacat would be like for power. Let the son give it a run to see what it would do, this is what 'Dreamometer' says

whoaaa. I’m just a working grunt. Make my living with a shovel and a wheel barrow. And I got a woman in Florida and a child in my basement I’m supporting…lol The sled is sexy. No doubt. I looked at the specs and I’m a bit disappointed that this thing has a 33.6 litre fuel tank. Really? That has to put fuel range well under 200 kms. It needs a new gauge package and track options. Where are the smart shocks? Even with the disappointments, it’s still the best looking sled on snow, just like the red/white and Blue/white editions. I seen an ad where a dealer was offering these for $24500. That helps. I haven’t made the call to my dealer for a price quote. But in the end I think I’m going back to Doo and probably lightly used. I passed on a ‘22 Renegade X 900 R last week at $15500. 4800 kms was too high for my next ride. Another thought thrown in to the mix. My buddy who’s been riding my back up sleds for 12 years since getting out of the sport called today to say that ride yesterday has convinced him to get back in. He’s disgusted with the prices but he’s shopping…..lol He’s talking trips next winter since I won’t be working and neither will he. Could means big miles.

Nice easy day today - nothing like feeding the birds! left La Grand Travel Lodge and heading to Timmys for breakfast - as we weren’t going to eat again until Ellie’s in Smooth Rock. left 9am. Tons of ice on ice road - they almost need another digit! dropped the 4 oil jugs of fuel in at warm up shack 86 km in. Trails hadn’t been groomed for a while - but mint. Soft and a little bumps in corners. Made it to dam 11:28am, 165 km. NO water flowing at all! Made it to smooth rock after playing on hydroline for a bunch - son getting good at wheelies! guess what kind of gas they had left ? NOT premium ….. emptied out linq into the 850 and put her on ethanol mode. great lunch at Ellies. We will stop there every chance we will get! Think we have tried every sandwich on their menu - and all great! C trail was great heading south. timmins is HURTING for snow anywhere near a roadway. After filling up gas , checked into Travellodge (east side Mario’s next door). Don’t have to clean skids tonight ! in at 4:41pm at 363 km for the day. we will see what weather brings us tomorrow !!!!!

When a permit to ride trails on a provincial level cost less than my son's hockey stick - anyone complaining about the cost seriously needs to take a step back and understand the value they are getting for that permit and realize what an idiot they are being questioning it. It's insane really.

Spent more time off the ofsc trails this year as my girls are getting older and riding their own sleds. 7 and 10 years old on Polaris Evo's. We've been able to get some decent day rides on private trails & crown land.

Rumour going around that @Blackstar has some of that FU money....might hear some reviews and see some pics next year .... lol

Me too..I would put it up on a shelf beside my 1980..loved that sled..It would handle any sled top end..That is until up in Durham one weekend,and got run down by the Durham OPP.Didn't realize that Polaris made a sled with one of those extra cylinder things,,🤔..when he got me stopped,I said wha the Hellll is that..he replied,thats for aaasshh......like you😄

Took six days, in which time a new phone was purchased and activated, but there has been a development in the 'missing' phone case. Seems there has been a senior's moment involved. Last week was my buddy's first ride on his new-to-him Skidoo which came with a different Linq tail bag than he had on his previous sled. Seems this new bag has a small zipped compartment on the underside of the lid. That is where he found his phone today, hidden by a spare balaclava. And my wife thinks I am bad when I 'lose' a pair of drug-store reading glasses for a day or two.

Some interesting "out of the box" ideas for sure. I agree that the sport needs new ideas to continue to be viable. My thoughts are simplistic in comparison, I would like to see some functionality on the OFSC Trail map: 1. FCMQ has has a layer which shows when last groomed, why can't the OFSC map do the same; (Heck, New Brunswick shows the groomer in real time.) 2. I would like a third color (purple?) which identifies road running, and or bridges when the trail is open but be advised lack of snow. I see some clubs flip to Yellow for lack of snow, but no snow for a few KM's is a whole other matter for sleds. Example, the section in red is a long bridge, which is a road way, I expect that the club has identified that there is no snow on the bridge, not that the province told the OFSC that snowmobiles can't use the bridge. Flip that section to Purple - no snow road way. As we all know, no snow on roadways or shoulders is very different than in the dead of winter when the ground is at least frozen. Also, I'm not talking about simple road crossing, I'm flagging when we have to drive along a road for hundreds of meters, and it is dirt, or rocks, or bare pavement. My 2 cents.