ecarnell

Cheval stay and food (dinner , 5 course meal) was fantastic last time we where there a couple years ago. actually looking at a possible run in march to stay and eat there specifically for the night .

Great sled , loving it so far . The 7s in Quebec 98 % perfect . 3x better than a $1,000 garmin front end handling / geometry fantastic Power more than enough still getting use to using a key !!!! does have short comings , as any new sled has. now broken in , have 6” sag on high . HD springs on order can’t count how many times read bottomed out and trails were in great shape ! Not acceptance for a “cross country “ sled imo stock pro steers push in loose conditions - will upgrade to gripper skis next year.. hard groomed trails work well. <~20 C the medium windshield doesn’t do much . May have to upgrade again to a larger one for touring . The 900t and Alex were soooo much warmer !

some long pulls on a private groomed field to 165 km/hr he would be a couple lengths ahead and Slowly increasing gap. Either I may have a dud stock 850, or his tune and clutching is set up right. I don’t think it’s a dud.

Left Val Dor 6:59 am, early lunch and gas in rouyan noranda . 365 km back at truck in new liskeard 3:00pm. fantastic 51 hrs! Beauty day. Lots of sled traffic from rouyan as expected . -27 this am . Didn’t see anyone for 3hrs on the trail this am. 900T with 180 hp tune and clutched walks away from the 850.

Takes it in every night - X seats in past have been an easy lift and resale. the 900T and matryk are TOTALLY different. No comparison. One feels like a couch , other a dirt bike. I suspect new gen5 will be similar to matryk.

Well a very beautiful relaxing ride today. La sarre - Amos - senteterre - Val dor left 9am , checked in 4:30. Approx 350 km. lots of fresh snow , and lots of pushing in the corners - need to upgrade to some gripper skis next year . after swapping back and forth between the XCR, 900 T and Apex , no way I can ever go back to a sit down sled - XCR positioning is wonderful once you get 100 miles under it. Mid windshield doesn’t do much - and if touring lots in <-20 degrees would want a bigger shield for sure. the four strokes were always 10% better on fuel than the 850 though . Room tonight not as nice as last night

Trailered up to new liskeard - left 12:30 pm to Quebec. awesome ride to rouyan noranada , then to la sarre. 256km for the afternoon. Crazy snow for a while . +5cm on the trail and lots of pushing off the sleds and clearing shield every 15 seconds of or so of wet snow. normal hotel we stay at - Repo - fully booked on a Wednesday night (????) - so we got last two rooms at le bivouac …. mine the honeymoon suite by myself- moon lighting and all!!!

Wonder if the days of snow check X$ or X% under msrp are over, if dealers are going to be limited in their supply.

Beautiful ride this am from the backyard . Maybe last of the season if we get the rain we are calling for. Down to cowbells for an early lunch . besides the rear suspension and no studs yet - this thing is better all around than the old 2018 mxzX 850x! The 7s and tracking sleds is perfect for my son and I. So no nice to just glance down and know exactly where he is / crossed road no problem/ ect.

Thanks! with snow conditions hooks up really really well ditch banging. I describe the xcr 850 like the vr1 650 on steroids !!!!

If you ordered with hand guards, no windshield. Or you order with mid windshield, no hand guards. Costs more $ if you want both!!!!!

Better late than never! Picked up the 850 this am. hopefully heading north later this week! have to put higher windshield and mirrors on when home. Dealer back ordered on tunnel protectors and HD rear springs .

Well that’s 400 miles of the bumpiest , bare, gravel running , Ditch banging I’ve ever done in two days. Think maybe we road 20 miles of the same trail past two days . Got to see most of SW Ontario ! Sure miss the hills around blue mountain - great dual sporting riding. couldn't convince son to trade the vr1 all day. the old 800 etec was consistently 10% better on fuel than the 650 - but I was never on the bar much on the 800 (10 years old, on a trip, and not mine anymore…). regular vs high test though. traffic was really light on Monday and almost all riders very alert. Had three close calls yesturdays of guys not sticking to their side meeting them on corners with mild temps coming a lot of these trials will be going red I suspect Overall a great day riding with my son , and probably the best single day I’ve used a vacation day for!

Wow - what a difference a day makes! What a beautiful day to ride with your 14 year old son! late start after 10am from orillia - trails in great shape!!! Recently groomed. nice ride over to collingwood for lunch stop at Montana’s !!!

Started out today 8:30 am (leaving the house), my XCR isn’t in yet , so have borrowed my old 2012 800 etec GSX from my father . We call it the couch compared to the new vr1! Ditch banged into kincardine and off we went … plan was to park at friends place in orillia as trails into gravenhurst still not open , and father was to drive down and pick us up. Was a long and slow 212 miles / 340 Kms . Arrived 6pm in orillia . Couldn’t expect much with all yellow trails, minimal snow / grooming , Sunday traffic , ect snow was very limited around Hanover / neustead . And trails were a 3-5 /10 mostly for the day. Planning our ride home tomorrow and plan is to try and Avoid ALL trails we were on today !

XCR has “shipped” now. could be WEEKS with all this border stuff going on 😢 going to pick up my old 800 etec from my dads place to be able to ride with the son , now that trails are open around here.

So no update on my XCR, but son is well past break on the VR1 now , at 21 hrs and 500km and not on a single Ofsc trail yet (ditch banging and concession roads). Suspect this weekend with all the new snow some trails around kincardine and port Elgin will finally open up!

After costs of shipping it up there, labor to serve , hydro, heat the place , taxes , mtc, ect? I would think lucky to break, even at $4/liter come end of season.

On my 850 yes - shapers then Dooley's. On 650 not yet , going to see how stock compares to the stock 850 XCR (8” carbide) before making any changes.

Used them (similar) on a stock 2018 850 X 129” ice cobra 1.6” . Was great for an experienced rider - but could use more studs for sure. Only had 97 stock I believe. No issues with them at all and still in great condition when sold sled at 8,100km. The new 650 (less power), with a 137” storm track (longer track ie. more contact area) and 240 igrip studs seems to be just fine (only 10 km on sled thus far) and will be a great set up for 6,000+ miles.

I’m not too worried as can’t pack them that hard with them still on the sled and with only a needle on grease gun (to get under bearings best I can) and my thumb pushing /spreading grease then popping the seal back in - but point taken. It’s 10 x better than the minimal and thin grease that comes with them.

Definitely not a “Polaris” made bearing , but the original white grease has a history of being too minimal/thin and jackshaft bearings failures at 2,000 miles on these Polaris’s is very popular due to lack of Mtc. on this particular bearing (water gets in from inside tunnel). Years ago Polaris had a grease zert on this location, but not anymore ….. the red and tacky is a much thicker grease and stays “in place” a little better than the thin white stuff.

Nice having a extra helping hand do at least 50% of the work! One drilling , other installing studs goes alot quicker! Sons now knows how (by doing and not by you tube!) to rip apart the hood/panels, install studs, remove belt and secondary clutch, remove jackshaft retainer, pick a bearing seal, grease gun with a needle, adjust track, install a linq bracket for gas can, more proficient in the 7s display than me already , ect….

All studded up (240 total). Driveshaft and jackshaft bearing seals picked off , crappy Polaris white grease cleaned and repacked with Red and Tacky. Snows a blowing tonight here (kincardine) - let’s just hope it stays on the ground! Played around with the awesome 7s display. I’m interested to see how the regular/premium fuel setting works out if we ever end up having no premium available. Nice not having to worry about bringing any octane booster.

1.5 Storm. Putting in Igrips SS32R / SS28R today/tomorrow. mines got the 1.6 cobra with pre drilled holes that I will install ST-25R (117)