scottyr Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 On 2/2/2023 at 9:16 AM, Nunz said: Heading to Cochrane this weekend for a 4 day run out to Geraldton and back. other than the extreme cold Saturday should be a fun trip. Lets us know how that ride is. I have never been west of the turn to Hornepayne before. It looks like the trail just follows the highway the whole way there? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gadgetman Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 On 2/2/2023 at 9:16 AM, Nunz said: Heading to Cochrane this weekend for a 4 day run out to Geraldton and back. other than the extreme cold Saturday should be a fun trip. Back in the day, when the big loop was Timmins, Folyet, Chapleau, White River, up thru Manitouwage, Caramat and into Longlac, and then back to Cochrane we would come back across the top from Longlac. I remember the A was open and quick, maybe following a gas line? 195KM between fuel stops. Have fun. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skidooboy Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 3 hours ago, scottyr said: Lets us know how that ride is. I have never been west of the turn to Hornepayne before. It looks like the trail just follows the highway the whole way there? it "twins" it in the bush off to the side of the highway, on the pipeline corridor. you really cant see the highway though. Ski 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottyr Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 32 minutes ago, skidooboy said: it "twins" it in the bush off to the side of the highway, on the pipeline corridor. you really cant see the highway though. Ski Interesting. I always get nervous riding too fast down the trail on the way into Hearst from Hornepayne that is beside the road. I got nabbed for speeding a few years ago by the OPP along that stretch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoney Posted February 5, 2023 Author Share Posted February 5, 2023 I forgot to mention that lac Dumoulin would normally have 40+ inches of ice by now, the guy gassing up our sleds said there is only around 20 inches now this year. Huge difference in ice - reading the other posts on here about the thickness of ice around our parts made me think of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottyr Posted February 5, 2023 Share Posted February 5, 2023 I hope everyone got out to ride locally this weekend. I hate to sound like a Negative Nelly but by the looks of the long range, southern Ontario will probably be done (for the season?) after this weekend. Every day is -1 to +4c for the next 2 weeks in Mitchell. I should have gone riding today but instead I am replacing parts from my week in Quebec. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoney Posted February 5, 2023 Author Share Posted February 5, 2023 57 minutes ago, scottyr said: I hope everyone got out to ride locally this weekend. I hate to sound like a Negative Nelly but by the looks of the long range, southern Ontario will probably be done (for the season?) after this weekend. Every day is -1 to +4c for the next 2 weeks in Mitchell. I should have gone riding today but instead I am replacing parts from my week in Quebec. Don't start sounding like Strong Farmer now.....lol. But it does not look good though. What is with the above that is bold.....have some issues or mishaps? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottyr Posted February 5, 2023 Share Posted February 5, 2023 2 minutes ago, stoney said: Don't start sounding like Strong Farmer now.....lol. But it does not look good though. What is with the above that is bold.....have some issues or mishaps? Now HE is Debbie Downer - LOL!! Yeah, I clipped a rock on Day 1 of my Quebec ride and it threw my ski alignment out a bit. I continued to ride all week but when I got home and started to re-align the skis I noticed I had a bigger problem. The powder coat was cracked on the spindle and I could see something stretched inside. The spindle took the hit a lot harder than I thought and oblonged the ball joint hole. Nothing other than a new ball joint and spindle (and $400) to get it all fixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoney Posted February 5, 2023 Author Share Posted February 5, 2023 Sky is falling kind of approach…lol Oh that sucks , but happens so easily! On our trip there somehow on my brothers Cat something hit the tie rod and bent it throwing his alignment off. Whatever it was, it squeezed between the lower and upper control arm, as well missing the shock but hit and bent the tie rod. Thankfully nothing serious and able to complete the ride like you. He did also deal with frozen steering too due to ice build up behind and in front of intercooler, but there is a fix for that, that he chose not to do prior to the trip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nunz Posted February 8, 2023 Share Posted February 8, 2023 Got back last night from our 4 day trip up north, conditions were excellent, did about 900 miles. The ride from hearst to Geraldton was good, glad we got to experience it. They’ve done quite of bit of brushing and removed the tag alders from the trail, few here and there but nothing major, really starts to get awesomely from the Pagwa river west. We made it in good time and did the big loop around Longlac which was spectacular to say the least and did the smaller loop the next day. We stayed at the Between the Bridges Inn, nice place good restaurant, also had pizza at the Longlac Pizzeria which was very good. I’d definitely do the trip again and maybe stay in longlac an extra night to do more exploring in the area. On a sled note our VR1 was incredible on gas and oil consumption, had no problem going the 150 miles without topping up and still had about 5 litres left. On our biggest day of riding we did just over 250 miles and used one quart of oil. My 850 is noticeably thirstier lol. 20 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoney Posted February 9, 2023 Author Share Posted February 9, 2023 3 hours ago, Nunz said: Got back last night from our 4 day trip up north, conditions were excellent, did about 900 miles. The ride from hearst to Geraldton was good, glad we got to experience it. They’ve done quite of bit of brushing and removed the tag alders from the trail, few here and there but nothing major, really starts to get awesomely from the Pagwa river west. We made it in good time and did the big loop around Longlac which was spectacular to say the least and did the smaller loop the next day. We stayed at the Between the Bridges Inn, nice place good restaurant, also had pizza at the Longlac Pizzeria which was very good. I’d definitely do the trip again and maybe stay in longlac an extra night to do more exploring in the area. On a sled note our VR1 was incredible on gas and oil consumption, had no problem going the 150 miles without topping up and still had about 5 litres left. On our biggest day of riding we did just over 250 miles and used one quart of oil. My 850 is noticeably thirstier lol. Looks good 👍 How are you finding the new klim gloves? Care to share any info on that light you have on the back of the mission helmet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuse6 Posted February 9, 2023 Share Posted February 9, 2023 4 hours ago, stoney said: Looks good 👍 How are you finding the new klim gloves? Care to share any info on that light you have on the back of the mission helmet? Not sure what make Nunz is using but this light and power cord with a wire to charge a communicator looks like a great idea. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nunz Posted February 9, 2023 Share Posted February 9, 2023 5 hours ago, stoney said: Looks good 👍 How are you finding the new klim gloves? Care to share any info on that light you have on the back of the mission helmet? The Fuzion gloves I just can’t get to fit properly but the Klimate gloves I am wearing from last season are so much more comfortable and even Saturday at minus 24 my hands weren’t cold. Here is a link to the Bite harder Safety light kit. we have it on both of our helmets and most of our friends have also bought them, very very bright even during the day the visibility is bright. https://biteharder.com/product/snowmobile-helmet-safety-light/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiderman Posted February 9, 2023 Share Posted February 9, 2023 Noticed a guy saturday come through the field we were in - his helmet had a red light on the back that was synched with the brake light. That was kinda cool 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoney Posted February 9, 2023 Author Share Posted February 9, 2023 8 hours ago, Nunz said: The Fuzion gloves I just can’t get to fit properly but the Klimate gloves I am wearing from last season are so much more comfortable and even Saturday at minus 24 my hands weren’t cold. Here is a link to the Bite harder Safety light kit. we have it on both of our helmets and most of our friends have also bought them, very very bright even during the day the visibility is bright. https://biteharder.com/product/snowmobile-helmet-safety-light/ Perhaps wrong size on the glove.....mine seem good when I do wear them, using either of the compartments, but I normally only use the "grip" compartment vs. the "warm" one. I like the light idea, but seeing as I run with no cords to my helmet 95% of the time, I see that will not work without the cords by the looks of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ox Posted February 9, 2023 Share Posted February 9, 2023 No info on the gloves, but I got a pr of Togwatee Bibs from Klim this year, and they run at least one full size small. Had to send'm back for next bigger. So I wonder if the gloves are sorta like that? . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nunz Posted February 9, 2023 Share Posted February 9, 2023 6 hours ago, stoney said: Perhaps wrong size on the glove.....mine seem good when I do wear them, using either of the compartments, but I normally only use the "grip" compartment vs. the "warm" one. I like the light idea, but seeing as I run with no cords to my helmet 95% of the time, I see that will not work without the cords by the looks of it. I have a pair of the XL I am selling if anyone is interested, already sold my XXL ones to a friend Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nunz Posted February 10, 2023 Share Posted February 10, 2023 On 2/9/2023 at 9:58 AM, stoney said: Perhaps wrong size on the glove.....mine seem good when I do wear them, using either of the compartments, but I normally only use the "grip" compartment vs. the "warm" one. I like the light idea, but seeing as I run with no cords to my helmet 95% of the time, I see that will not work without the cords by the looks of it. I really only plug mine in when riding at night or when lots of snow dust to give anyone behind me better visibility. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ox Posted February 12, 2023 Share Posted February 12, 2023 Last Weekend: Here is our <83 yr old riding chum that we try to keep up with. This day was the 2nd day of riding [in a row] for him after 4 yrs offline. Topping out a 12,500' ridge. (Colorado) This day we were 4 sleds, and me @ 56 was by far the baby of the bunch! 50 may be the new 40, but boy - there is still hope well beyond that! 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Pete Posted February 12, 2023 Share Posted February 12, 2023 On 2/9/2023 at 8:39 AM, Spiderman said: Noticed a guy saturday come through the field we were in - his helmet had a red light on the back that was synched with the brake light. That was kinda cool I have a GMAX GM54 Snow Helmet that has an optional brake light kit that syncs the rear helmet light with the sled brake light. The light takes 2 AAA bstteries in the helmet and can be set to constant on, slow flash, fast flash or sync to brake light. A small transmitter is wired to the sled brake light and gets power from the brake light. Part number is Led Brake Light Kit Fits GM54/GM67/GM78 498-0578 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ox Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 On 2/11/2023 at 7:34 PM, Ox said: Last Weekend: Here is our <83 yr old riding chum that we try to keep up with. This day was the 2nd day of riding [in a row] for him after 4 yrs offline. Topping out a 12,500' ridge. (Colorado) This day we were 4 sleds, and me @ 56 was by far the baby of the bunch! 50 may be the new 40, but boy - there is still hope well beyond that! OK, so the Paul Harvey edit: (long winded) Me and my main riding chum for the last 20 yrs are both self employed in manufacturing in small businesses, and so what jobs or volumes that we have required of us at any time in space has a reflection on our riding schedule. We normally shoot for the week of or after New Years as that is usually the most quiet week, but it is not abnormal for at least one of us to put off a few days, a week, a month, or even not able to make it this year sometimes. (too often) My chum thinks that we may have set a new record for "put-offs" this year as we prolly edited our departure date 2wice a week for a month. We have delayed much longer, but maybe not as many times... So, one of the delays was that he found a 4 place trailer in Michigan somewhere that he wanted to drag out to Colorado with us. He has a 2nd house going up near Walsenburg, and for whatever reason, it was much cheaper and quicker to buy some of the supplies back here in Indiana and take out, then it was to buy them from the same box store out there. So bought this trailer to haul this stuff out there, and leave at the job site. But then when done there, he intended to drag the trailer to the other location in Colorado where we sled, and use it as a storage facility there, as the shipping container that he has there doesn't fit much, and it doesn't breath, and thus getting snow from sleds to vent out is a lesson in futility. (when not there for weeks/months at a time) So, I needed to fix my trailer brakes if I was gunna drag a trailer out, so I ordered a new controller, hoping that I could throw money at the problem to fix and not need to throw time at it. Turns out that it needed the time, and not the controller. (curses - foiled again!) Then I went to hook onto his trailer to make sure all worked, and we decided that the brakes on the trailer left much to be desired, but at least I was gitt'n signal to it. But I realized that the trailer was heavier than I expected, and I had a hitch actually break off here at home after dragging a trailer home from Colorado - via Wyoming one year. The thing had rusted away right at the rear face of the receiver, and while my current hitch wasn't all that old, I decided that I wanted to doo better, and besides, my ball was rated for 6K, and I guess that trailer to be all of that empty, so I bought a new solid hitch and 1.25" shank 2-5/16" ball, and now I have all the rating a fella could ever hope for! But wait! New development! Our riding chum out there is in the market for a good used sled, but all he can find out there is around $12K used! So my chum here is always scouring for deals, and so he said that he would look around for him. Turns out that he found a sled halfway between us (15 mile from each) for $8700. So we picked that up as well. Fortunately I had an open space on the deck of the truck yet, so that all worked out too. So we finally pulled out with newsed sled, heavily loaded rust bucket trailer with piss poor brakes, on Jan 31st I think, for our New Years trip. The very first corner that we came to after leaving his place - the trailer made awfull noises! We got out and gave it the once over, and couldn't find anything obvious, so I set my brake controller to zero and off we went, with full intentions to take the 4 lane most all the way so that the brakes weren't a big deal, but really, my truck didn't mind it back there at all, so ... 5 hours later, just after dark, we are in southern Illinois, and after hitting just one more bump, thing seemed to get bad somehow. Looking in the mirror I asked if that was (salt) dust or if that was smoke following us? It was decided that it appeared to be smoke, so we pulled off. No pics, but when I walked back there, the third axle was adjacent to the front two axles. Both tires were blown, and I was currently engaged in burning flat spots on the carcasses. "Well aint this just special!" Personally, I was ready to unhook, run home and unload my gooseneck and race back and winch it up on, and head back home aggin. My chum says "no", we're still heading west." So we took the tires off of the 3rd axle, and we hooked two ratchet straps onto the loose side of the axle and we worked it back and forth about 90* untill we finally fatigued the sub-frame on the other side, and tossed the axle in the ditch. The sub-frame on the passenger side had collapsed completely and the tops of the tires were wearing on the floor of the trailer, so we jacked it up as best we could, and slipped those blown tires/rims up between the axles and the floor joists. The tires still rubbed, but not as bad.... GPS says 6 miles to next exit. So off he started at 4mph, hoping not to get the tires too hot from rubbing. We made it 3 miles on our first go! Not too shabby! We had plenty of spares (and only 2 axles) so we were in high cotton! Changed out the tire and started off aggin, but this time only aboot 2 mph. Tire was still up when we got off the exit, but it was still 2 miles of country road to "somewhere". We had winders down so that we could hear what was going on back there, but when we got to the "somewhere" we found that the one tire had gone flat, and that we were running on ONE tire on that side. and it was WAY overloaded and also rubbing a bit. We backed it into a line=up of equipment at a fertilizer company, expecting that they wouldn't be needing that spot for a cpl months yet, left a note, and off we went, leaving a trailer with $40K in building supplies in someone else's lot.... This whole episode cost us 5 hours... Then there is the pics above of our time riding. Then we stopped by the fertilizer plant during working hours on our way home. So then last week my chum and another fella headed back out, planning on winching this 29' trailer up on his new 24' trailer, and continuing on out to the build site. He said that they did need to pull it forward a bit more yet for tongue weight, but they did make it the other 15 hours to their destination. I really like having my flat bed truck and not having to deal with trailers - normally... Word to the wise - don't buy 25 yr old skidoo trailers in Michigan and think that it is use-able.... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve F6 Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 Mekoos to Lac Blanc today. Snowmobiling paradise. It was busy but for the most part everyone stayed on their side. Did come across 2 crash scenes though. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoso Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 On 2/8/2023 at 4:40 PM, Nunz said: Got back last night from our 4 day trip up north, conditions were excellent, did about 900 miles. The ride from hearst to Geraldton was good, glad we got to experience it. They’ve done quite of bit of brushing and removed the tag alders from the trail, few here and there but nothing major, really starts to get awesomely from the Pagwa river west. We made it in good time and did the big loop around Longlac which was spectacular to say the least and did the smaller loop the next day. We stayed at the Between the Bridges Inn, nice place good restaurant, also had pizza at the Longlac Pizzeria which was very good. I’d definitely do the trip again and maybe stay in longlac an extra night to do more exploring in the area. On a sled note our VR1 was incredible on gas and oil consumption, had no problem going the 150 miles without topping up and still had about 5 litres left. On our biggest day of riding we did just over 250 miles and used one quart of oil. My 850 is noticeably thirstier lol. Looks like an awesome trip. My mother in law lives in longlac, the trails might make the trip worth it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve F6 Posted March 6, 2023 Share Posted March 6, 2023 The yellow bombi had a cummins in it! They were heading to Parent! Excellent trails all 4 days except the run between Shawville where we parked and Gracefield. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ox Posted March 6, 2023 Share Posted March 6, 2023 Are the coaches allowed on trail? Seems too wide to be able to git over in many places? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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