Gadgetman

Thanks. I'll look that up, although I'm not sure how the 6 and 4 would work. Do 2 guys stay on their sled on the trailer? But I see that 705 is a private group with sign up required. I'll wait to see what the club comes back with, for now.

I reached out to the Timmins club. There may be a sled shuttle available for my group. They are looking into it and will get back to me.

Reached out on the Timmins club FB page and it may be possible to have someone to provide a shuttle service. They need a few more days to get the info together and then post. I suggest you hold off on cancelling plans, but you may wish to have a backup reservations, as I have done.

I couldn't get two beds per room in Duberville as part of plan B of the trip, and had to push to Wawa. Now (plan C) we'll do what we often do and just take a day trip to Hornpayne and back from Hearst (and sometimes pop up and do the trails north of Hearst on the way back.) Missing out on staying at the Moose Horn Lodge is a huge disappointment. (Why I'll give it a bit longer to cancel; but will give her a heads up that I expect us to have to cancel.)

I would have 6 sleds needing this type of service on 3 March, from the Chapleau side to Timmins, should it materialize. However, I have now added contingency room bookings in Hearst and Cochrane, anticipating not being able to do the big loop. The Chapleau and Wawa rooms get cancelled in about a week and half.

I track fuel and trip data very closely, (20 years) and I'm not seeing how I would ever be able to make that level of determination, when you consider the variance in trails, ambient temperatures or even how much ice was in the tunnel for extra weight.

Agree. I'm making back-up hotel bookings today to reflect not being able to do the big loop. thank you.

Trip starts 26 Feb in NL, Cochrane, Hearst, wawa, timmins and back to NL. Doing it in the opposite direction to our normal direction. Good point on that last piece, I may book some alternate rooms if that section doesn't open at all.

thank you. Our normal start is 8AM sharp, is that early enough? If not too cold, I may elect that it is a trail side sandwich day, or repeat the wiener roast from a decade ago :-). Cheers

Dub1 is about 10KM longer, but may look quicker than D108A? This years trip we have to go from Hearst to Wawa in 1 day, so looking for the quickest routes. We'll take Dub5 if we make it in day light all the way to the end, otherwise it is the D trail. (No river in the dark.)

Agree. But unlikely you will want to go back once you run them. There are two depths of snow trackers if I remember.

For my 4S, 900TR, he said running 87 was fine, and there was no caution that running 87 could affect the warranty. No idea what his position is on 2S.

Agree with you a 100%. Dealer leaves all the setup at the Base or bottom setting. Leaves it up to the rider to setup his suspension (unless purchaser asks). I figure it will take most of this m season to tune the suspension to my liking. After 17,000KM on the Vector, I know there is some personal driving adjustment needed, and I'm also coming off Snow Tracker ski runners. Thanks again.

Spoke at length with the dealer, who stated that if I wanted to run 87 and didn't need or want the performance of 91, run 87 in the 900TR. What he didn't want me to do was add Octane Boost. I didn't buy the REN X 900TR for the power, I would be happy with the 130, same power as my Vector. But all of the guys porting over from the 2S 850, are picking the 900TR, so increases my buyers market in a few years.

I guess some of you were interested in the power aspect of the two sleds. Vector LTX pulled fine for anything I need trail riding, and aside from it not liking to start on its own from about -30c and lower, one of the best engines on snow. Same drive belt 17,000KM later. Breaking in the 900TR, so pulls were light in the morning, and yes it can pull - reminded me of the Apex, but a few notches more. In the afternoon tried some more deliberate pulls, hit about 6600/7000 RPM and was surprised just how smooth the pull and the turbo was (assuming that it must be a linear turbo, as I never once noticed a kick or jolt or surge. (I also assume the turbo must have been working on some of the pulls, for the sled to pull like that - I don't know what a stock 900 ACE pulls like). Also noticed that the 900TR was lighter on engine breaking than the Vector is when you let off the throttle. With the Vector, letting off the throttle, I could use it to slow down, didn't seem that way with the 900TR.

That was a double take on the two names, as I was stationed at Cold Lake and there is also a Wolf Lake near there, both in Alberta.

But no comment on the open door to the toilet in the last picture?

Not much left.

Rode mostly north of the East-West A trail, east of Ottawa Sunday. Did dip down and back thru the Larose forest on the way back. Overall, the trails being Yellow is accurate. The old rail bed (A) far East end of the area was barely covered where it is wind swept. Some fields you noticed the frozen ground chattering the skis. The long bridge at the A213 and the 40 ( north of Casselman) is brutal (even for this time of year - even the shoulders north of it are bad). Looks like many new riders - hand signals were only displayed about 50% of the time. Many single riders out Sunday. Looks like some of the trail number signage is better this year - thank you to the clubs and volunteers. Next weekend may ride down towards Cornwall.

I'm back to Ski-Doo after two Yamaha sleds, a 2010 Apex LTX and a 2013 Vector LTX. Sunday, my buddy and I did 160KM as a first ride on our new sleds in the area east of Ottawa (mostly north of the east-west A trail(Yellow status). (My REN X and a 2022 Mach Z); First Impressions: Wow - the suspension on the REN is fantastic (I may start riding without a kidney belt); Seating position is good, easy to stand-up; I have the 7.2 dash, liked the extra info it offers; I like @stoney may move the front shock springs to 2 (from 1) - I did drop the TX blade down for better bite on corners; Rear Spring adjust was at 2, for my weight. Wind deflection with the Medium windshield (and Ski-Doo mirrors) is good - oddly, the Mach doesn't have the Ski-Doo windshield mirrors and I noticed right a way wind blast at the shoulders on his Mach; Easier to put my feet back on the running board, compared to the Vector; I worried about cold air and my feet with the open running board on the REN X - not an issue today (-12c); I did notice snow dust coming up around my legs which I didn't have on the closed and heated Vector running board. Tunnel on the REN didn't ice up as bad as the Vector does (no loaf of bread size ice blocks falling out of the tunnel); The 1.5 Ice ripper bites well on the trail, and I will have to learn how to get it to slide in a holly molly curve where you need to lock the track to slide the skid around, and then pin it to make the sharp turn; REN 900TR seems louder compared to Vector rear exhaust - I may start wearing foam ear plugs; REN seat more comfortable (wider). The front dash storage compartment is great. Only negative is that I do miss the power steering on the Vector, as my wrists are a bit tender now, I'm glad I've been doing my pre-season sledding exercises in addition to my knee replacement stuff the last month or so. (Hey now, I'm 65, and both shoulders have also been operated on.) The Mach used 27 litres of fuel, I used 26 - so 160/27= 6 km\litre - Vector was about 7KM\litre (REN X on break-in) (Regular fuel); Spring decision was to drop $2-3K on Elka shocks on the Vector, or get a REN X; Decision: Glad I opted to go to a new sled - no way I would get this kind of ride out of the 100lb heavier Vector, even with Elka's. Side item - found out a 3-day pack works great on the tunnel, making it my saddle bag trip bag at the end of the month.

Can you confirm that your Smart Shocks is also 100% functional? I was out with a Mach today, and we're unsure if his SS is 100% functional? (PIcked it up last week.) (I didn't notice any real difference between his Mach and my REN X in handling.) Thanks

My DNSL (REN X, 1.5 900TR is SN 16, built 10 Nov. My buddies Mach is SN 1523, picked it up last week.

Heading out Sunday to break-in both sleds. I expect we'll head south from Orleans\Navan, not sure if we'll go south of the 417. Likely through Larose, 40, 51 and 30. I know driving past some of the fields, if the farmer plowed the field, may be a bit tricky with the current snow depth.

Here is my mock-up (not actual bolts) of installing the Qual Pieces Ice Scratcher on a REN X. Looks like on the MAch you can do this on one side, as I'm trying to use existing holes. The block I downsize the bolt to 8MM from 3/8, no drilling. The front I will only have to enlarge about 1mm for the main mounting bolt, and then drill the smaller anti-rotation bolt hole. (I saw someone mention using a plate under the running board. I don't think this are long enough to do that, but will have a look tonight. It will likely bulge a bit like it did on my Vector - but I'm ok with that. Installing 1 on the right side this time.

A 51-year-old Kemptville man has died in a weekend snowmobile crash southeast of Ottawa. Emergency crews responded to a single-vehicle crash involving a snowmobile on a trail east of Des Benevoles Street in Limoges, Ont. at approximately 3:30 p.m. Saturday. Ontario Provincial Police say the driver of the snowmobile was pronounced dead at the scene.