Ox

I know that you are highly safety conscious - or at least you like to think so... You will have your helmet and your chest protector on, and then go out and buy a new KTM, hop up the motor, intend to get in a race with hundreds (?) of other people on the same course at the same time. That is obviously "reasonably safe" in your mind. But if I want to take my ATV and cruise through the bush with maybe 1 or 2 other people, not racing, but rather enjoying the natural beauty of the Algoma bush, you are going to say that I should have all that gear on too. "Well of course, be safe aboot it eh?" But if it takes all that to be "safe" in what I doo, how is it even remotely safe for you to doo the other at all? Who is more at risk? So, you jump on your Rice. You have your helmet on, IDK aboot your chest protector here(?), but I'm sure that you will be sporting your Power Ranger suite on (in place of your sledding jammies?) and then not only intentionally run the Tail of the Dragon, but you will intend to doo it as fast as you can reasonably make it through. While if I happen accrost the same stretch of road in my dually crew cab, I need to have my seat belt on? And then once I was told by a fella with a screen name of Need For Speed, that I need to wear my seat belt. "Oh really... ?" Eric, I am not here to tell you not to play like you want, but don't preach safety, let alone legislate it. .

I saw that when it came out on the Yukon page a few years ago, but I don't recall the canoe in tow thing? I wonder if that was edited in since then? This is aboot all I have to say aboot pancakes:

A) I cannot imagine sledding w/o a bucket, but only for the porpoise of staying warm and dry, and maybe keeping the wind out. However - I doo ride with one fella that wears a bomber hood and goggles in stead of a bucket. (off trailer rider) B ) I despise any law that is there specifically for my own safety. You worry aboot you, I'll worry aboot me. I'm a big boy now... C) In the name of the health care cost argument - I can counter that easily. So, let's say that Billy gits into a jackpot. C1) Billy will be off werk for a few weeks, but is expected to make a reasonably full recovery. He will now retire and suck off the tit of other workers and the system (that he paid into while he was working) for the rest of his life. C2) He is all messed up. He will likely be on disability for the rest of his life, but he will live - b/c he had his brain bucket on. Billy will now be a drain on society for the rest of his life. C3) Billy is a veggy, and will be for the rest of his days, however long that may be. He will be a drain on the system for the duration. He will be a financial drain on The System and his family. He will be a source of angst for his family for the duration. But lucky for Billy, he had his bucket on, and he would have simply been pushing up daisies sooner than later. C4) Billy got into a pickle, he did not have much safety equipment on, he died on the spot. 3 days later he is pushing up daisies, and life for the rest of the world goes on and recovers. Billy is not a drain on the system at all. The System actually saved a BUNCH of $ b/c he paid into it for the time that he was working, and will now not be drawing off of in his retirement years, saving The System a SCHIDT POT full of Loonies in the end! Billy was out taching out his rice rocket and missed the turn, and pile drove into something a wee bit harder than feathers, but at least he was safe aboot it - he had his bucket on - per the law.... .

I don't normally pony up for all that fancy schtuff. In this case - I just use 2" rattshit straps. You'll rip an A-arm off before you rip the strap.

Well, if they are limiting builds this year, then the used market is likely to stay strong.

Again - you laugh, but I ride with an old fella [in the mountains, gotta be aboot 80 by now] that has not had a seat on his sled in the 20 years that I have known him. We met up with the Ski-Doo spring test ride promo @ Grand Mesa, Col once - maybe a six - eight years ago now, and the first thing that he did was take the seat off and toss it in the snowbank. (OK, well maybe not toss in snowbank, but it makes a good story better eh?) The Doo tech was like .... "What the heck? You don't want the seat on it?" "Naw, Bill doesn't need no stinkin' seat! Just a waste of weight!" LOL!

... just ... sorta .... fell off?

I snow checked an '02 Summit 8 151 from Dan Guay in Deubrilville. I rather doubt that I got one that he was already going to be getting. Purty sure that he "ordered" it. I'm guessing it is more of a pressure sales pitch. Has anyone been told on the last day of Snowcheck that they could not take their order b/c it was sold out? Other than possibly the case of a limited build...

I can't say that.... 25 yrs ago in Da' U P eh we were up on Friday Dec 15th. Had no clue that it was actually opening day. Trails were fresh glass and no-one else out there. Except one lone rider on a corner. WE were over. Not sure aboot him? Me and my chum both stuffed it in the bush and he kept rolling. There was no reason for him to stop. We were fine and at fault. He was THE ONLY sled we saw ALL DAY! Sleds were a lot slower back then.

If the previous guys are in control enough to give the count down - it is nice to know if there is more coming. We had one group that said that there was still one or two more, and they didn't come, and they didn't come. We got so that we almost stopped on the corners - knowing full well that they were gunna have a full head-o steam trying to play catch up. When they finally got there - they were OK, but I wouldn't count on that being the case the next time.

My man Lenny Brisko!

All this talk aboot the new Mach Zed, but I don't think that anyone has mentioned the new Lynx? I know that most of y'all are more aboot fast trails than boondocking, but Shirley there's a boondocker on here - somewhere.... Other than SDB, as he rides those green things.... Not a week or so ago I was reading in Snowtech why you won't see a Lynx model sold west of the Atlantic. Then my chum texts me aboot maybe buying a Lynx. What? I can see him buying a Lynx to have for heading North. (Algoma) He likes to have the new tech. We picked up a factory demo sled from Fast in Eveluth, Minnisnowta once back around 2003? A mountain sled called the "Blade". Has an 800 Poo in it. No chaincase? Or running backwards? .. something odd aboot it anyway... He said that he just sold his 600 Summit that he kept around for going north, so maybe? Or he will bring an 800 165 Summit that he keeps in Colorado - like a 2015 maybe? That last I knew was almost through "break-in" (He found 174 soon after, and has ridden that exclusively since) and bring it back home for North, and buy a Turbo for out there. He just found out that they have been selling OEM turbo's. LOL! He hasn't bought a new sled in maybe 5 years or so. Has to be an all time record for him! Same guy showed up at my shop one day - aboot 15 yrs ago, and says "I'm thinking aboot buying sumpthing". But he wasn't sure, new bike? (he did buy an ATK) Sled? ATV? He wasn't sure what, but wanted to buy a new toy of some flavour.... First world problems I guess eh? Fast Blade in the rear. I think that he still has it? .

"New Sleds Faster" Nothing new here.... I remember when I got my '96 Grand Touring 580. Coming off of a '75 Deere and '80 Yammi I was ditch banging to fast, and I ended up in a tree. My chum told me that I needed to slow down, that I was going way faster than normal with this new sled. New bumper and some fancy work on the hood, and I was back in business. I don't know if it is really a "faster" thing tho. I think that it mostly boils down to handling and ride comfort. We already have a preconceived feel for safe speed. It's like every time that my wife gits a newer, better handling, and quieter 'Burban. It's just that easier to git a ticket. I like to hear my tires and/or motor, just enough to have an audible notion of speed. Well, on a snowmachine, you get a new machine that is tight and quiet, able to run fast with no motor revs, and soaks up the moguls 100x better than that old leaf sprung / bogie wheeled machine, or maybe your last machine wasn't quite THAT old? None-the-less, it takes a while for a new rider, or even an old rider on a much newer machine - to get the new "safe speed" feel. At least that's my experience. When we git stuck on the trail to git from point A to point B sometimes, I am absolutely amazed at how fast others can ride on these newer machines. Obviously that wide 129 is going to corner a whole lot better than my narrow 165! So that is what I am used to. We let these groups around as soon as we see them back there, and for the next 50 klicks, I'd like to have those sleds!

I'm not an authority on the Freerides, but I think: A) They have a shorter tunnel now'days? Meaning that the 165 will have a 151 tunnel and no snow flap. It will overheat on the packed trail, but if you are jumping/dropping these, if you come down on the back end, you are less likely to damage the tunnel. Also - snowflaps are a big drag in deep snow, and especially if you think that you want [try] to back up in deep snow. I will bungie my flap up when I want to back up. B] I believe that these have stiffer suspensions - as they are designed for those clowns that like to jump off cliffs, cornices, and build ramps. C) They may have a shorter running board, but I'm not sure. When you are trenching in 4' deep, floating on the boards is a problem. .

March '08 (I think) me, my boy, and a chum were planning to make a huge ride from Hearst up to Moosonee, and if all was fine at that point, I wanted to run up the shoreline and bring the Albany back on return. Marc said that the Albany part wasn't worth the bother as there was nothing to see, but still, would be cool to doo it once eh? We had sleighs all in tow, all set to camp out at night. Enough spare gas to git 2 strokes from Albany all the way back to Hearst. We did leave the kitchen sink t'home, but I did have heat (if needed for whatever) many spare bearings and such, cots, dbl -30 sleeping bags for everybody. (From my experience, at least one of my -30's was cool at +20F sleeping on the snow, so) I put new (2 ring) pistons in my boys sled before we left as the compression was not what it could have been, and I'd had a 2st ATV die on a trip recently - and all I can figger is that the compression was just too low to start. Didn't want that to happen! All this prep werk, and not too far outta town, we had burnt down 2 of the 3 sleds already. (My boy's sled being the only one alive) Those flatslides are known to have a lean spot, and with the sleighs in tow, we were steady on the gas and just hitting that lean spot in the carb. We loaded back up and headed south. I decided that I wouldn't try that run again until I had a 4 stroke. I have ridden with a few 4 stroke sleds in the mountains. The heavy nose makes descending a big hill a bigger deal as the front end wants to settle into the snow that much more, making the descent seem even that much more steep. And when (not if) you git stuck, they are just that much heavier. Now with the 3" paddles, we don't git stuck NEAR like we did just one generation of sled before, but still. The 4 strokes that I have rode with were all turbo's. Sure, the OEM M11's that I posted recently, but also an RX1ton that the dealer in Gunnison had back in the day. That thing was amazing! We were at a big hill - Napoleon Pass I think. The snow had a slight crust on it that my ski's kept wanting to break through and try to fall over.... and under that was sugar. I think I had a 151 x 2 Challenger on at that time? I made it 1/3 of the way up the hill was all. My chum made it 1/2 way? Along comes What's-His-Name with the RX1 with a 165, and not only did he make the top, but he cought a lot of air up there as well! I'm sure he'd been over the top of that many times in his day, so he knew what was up there, but being an outsider, I would never hit the top like that, so that was REALLY amazing! Then another guy that I ride with - that makes the sled jacks - he had a 4str Phazer that he had a turbo put on. That was impressive for what it was, but I didn't expect him to have it next year. He blew a belt on "our" hill, and I went to help him with it, and with it laying over on the side (turning it back down the hill) he was dripping oil down onto the pipe. Not good.... 2 weeks later he rolled it down a hill and lodged it into a tree, and he was riding alone, and it caught farr and burnt to the ground. Not sure if I have a pic of that or not. I might - somewhere.... So, for my application - I have decided that maybe 4 strokes aren't for everyone. While I think I might like one for on trail use, I think I will stick to the 2 strokes, and the 850 seems to be built much stronger than traditional, and with fuel infection - that lean spot should be gone. So I may give that another shot one day. Although I am sure that a 4 stroke would be fine for the river run.

Boy, this sorta mirrors the concern aboot making a "living wage" at their part time job at Timmy's. Just like there are starter jobs, there are entry level machines, and a whole used market that runs from "barely ridden" to "popular local trail only" sled. Want a Mach Zed? Don't got 23 Large? Well, there are some mid 2000's "1000 CC" machines out there in the Rev chassis. Or an 800 trippple trippple from around 2000. Or maybe you settle for a good used MXZed in stead? Or, maybe you find a carbed 600 MXZed that is only a few years old for really cheap? It's not an all or none game here.... You don't HAVE to have a 28' fully enclosed and heated trailer, towed behind a new crew cab 1 ton diesel with 3 brand new snowmachines inside and all new gear to go ride.

My chum [still] has an [had 2] M11. Boy that thing Schidt and Git! Climb a hill - yep! But gitt'n it back DOWN the hill is a whole nother issue! I think that I can find a pic of a hill that he took all the snow off of in The Badlands. (Wawa) OK, I guess it didn't all slide down like I thought, just where he spit polished the rock I guess... Big pile'o snow at the bottom now!

A 130 is turbo'ed? And yet the same motor is in the M Zed @ 180? Good grief, what is it N/A? That must be a LOT of boost ???

Well, that cleaner pic does look more "cornery" than the grainy vid appeared.

That should git to 50 Klicks pretty easily.

I think you need to go watch that vid again! This guy was in the bush when he was hit! Not saying that this guy wasn't over the yellow line on a previous corner - maybe, but he Shirley wasn't left at this point. On the other hand, I don't see this being a line-of-sight issue. That wasn't a "corner" hardly at all. Just looks like the other guy was gauking at a GPS, or sumpthing in the bush, or .... Not that I can see the other guy, just saying that it doesn't appear to be an "overshot the corner" situation. Hopefully both guys left feet were OK! .

Don't overdrive your line of sight. It's that simple. Easy for me to say when I don't have a sled that will even think of keeping up with y'all.

Well - I gotta say - not much evidence of a curve there....

Not heard aboot Canada's numbers yet, but I did hear a report that said that the Yank's numbers were down to mid November numbers (before the big outbreak started). Since we are still well within "flu season" I never would have expected this _ this early. Seems like a WAY positive trend! Not sure that I would give much credit to the "vaccines" already either....

I don't understand "Compression Bump"? It sounds like you were on land?