GETTING READY TO RIDE!

Snow Goer getting the sleds ready to hit the trails!

1st ride Yamaha Vector LTX

With respect to the hard working OFSC club's that have not yet opened their trails , Gord Avann and friends ventured up the Haliburton Forest for a ride on our new Yamaha Vector LTX. Along on the trip was an identical Vector LTX , both with under 300kms. Our SGC Vector had new Yamaha accessory Dooly carbides and the accompanying Vector had Shaper bar's. With the suspension setting the same the Yamaha Dooly were a much better runner in this soft groomed snow with no darting and very easy steering and some push under acceleration. The other Vector had aftermarket Shaper bars and had a more positive firm hold on the trail, but darting was noticeable. Both riders agreed with some suspension tweaks the Dooly's would be the route to go with the easy steering and lack of darting.

After that NEW Sled smell burned off the Vector we toured around the groomed trails of Haliburton Forest noticing the much refined Vector's fuel-injected motor is now sneaky fast and very smooth. A much improved motor over the previous Carbed Vector. On these groomed trails I went with a soft shock preload in the rear and relied on the Ride-Adjust dial to refine my ride. The longer LTX really came to life over the chopped up trails with sharp hills on the inner loops in the main trail sections of the forest. After my first ride I came to the conclusion that this is a great solo touring sled. I would certainly add accessory bags and a taller mid height windshield. What I won't need now is a ultra warm pair of gloves left over from last years Nytro XTX, the new hand warmer element works much better.

I have to add the new Triton trailer is a very well balanced trailer. I didn't get the usual flashing of apposing headlights with the better balanced load of two Yamaha Four strokes in this Aluminum enclosed trailer. I easily pulled this loaded trailer with a Minivan and unlike other enclosed trailers my headlights stayed on the road.

600 Rush Early Season Report!

The months of talk are over and now it is time to see what the 600 Rush is all about. Is the new chassis all hype or is it a game changer?

I have gone over the sled and the specs with a fine tooth comb and this past weekend it was time to fire up this baby and get some seat time.

All though the trails are still closed in many areas, I am lucky enough to have some property to break the engine in and do some playing with the rear suspension.

The rear suspension is real easy to adjust. The tool kit comes with the easy adjust guage. Out of the box the rear spring preload was set for

a 200 lb rider weight. I fired up the sled and headed out to a nearby field to do some test riding. The tank was filled with 91 octane and a litre of oil as per the owners manual to break the engine in. Its running real rich right now but the 600 CFI 4 still pulls really strong. It lifts the skis from a dead start ( no studs) with ease. The weight transfer is outstanding. The new wide skis that Polaris has installed keep the front end planted when cornering . Where I was riding there was no area to do any high speed sweepers so the jury is still out on its handling capability.

The seating position is very familiar. You know your on a Polaris. The hood design gives good knee protection and the tank is narrow enough that your not sitting bowlegged. The clutching is seamless and back-shifts and up-shifts with ease. The motor does over rev easy( 8200 rpm) which according to the just published Dyno-tech report is over the max rpm of 7800 rpm where the 600 CFI4 engine produces max hp. Heavier weights may be needed to bring the rev's down to get max performance.

I backed off the rear spring pre-load as I weigh 185 lb. This is done real easy by turning the spring by hand untill the spring guage read 185lb.

Back on the trail the softer spring tension improved wgt transfer as the sled would pull a catwalk real easy for 30-40 ft. before the skis touch down. Simply shifting your weight forward brings the nose down faster.

This pic shows the rear suspension front torque arm position when it encounters a bump.

The underside pic shows the new ski profile , one of the engine coolers and the IQ front end geometry. The plastic "wings" act as running board skid plates which are becoming more common on Sno-X sleds. The 1 1/4" Ripsaw track hooked up really well in the loose snow I as riding on.

We installed the mid height windshield but the sled still needs a set of hand guards to deflect the wind away from your fingers especially when the weather turns colder.

I can't wait to get it out on the trail and put the rear suspension through some big whoops. I owned a IQ 440 Sno-X sled and that machine is just unreal through the bumps. I hope the Rush is equal in big bump performance to the IQ racer.

Keep watching the blog for more updates

Last minute stuff before riding......

The flatland trails are starting to open thanks to some snow and colder temp's. I dropped by Central Ontario PowerSports in Barrie to pick up our SnowGoer RUSH and IQ Turbo Touring.
It is pretty obvious what sled is sitting on this trailer.......
SGC staff opted to order the higher windshield for the RUSH. It not only holds both our SGC and STV decals, it also provides some much needed wind protection. Last year we had two sleds with low (no) wind shields and we froze. ( Some lessons we must re-learn.)
At SnowShoot, I asked Polaris brass about touring/luggage bags for the RUSH. They said they were coming for this winter and they were right. Hal had them on in minutes with no drilling or riveting.
Hal and his son Aiden are getting to ready to adjust the rear spring setting, but Hal had to first tell his son that he does not actually weigh 145 lbs anymore. (So much for those yoga classes.)
The decals from Kael at Promotional Graphics in Cambridge match the colour scheme of the RUSH..... Thanks Kael!!!
The windshield is on, the decals are attached, the bags are in place, the sled is full of fuel, now we have to be patient like all reponsible sledders for the "Trail Closed" signs to come down. We do have a secret test area that we are heading to very soon, so stay tuned.
****Phil****

CSRA Snow-X at Sault Ste Marie.

Gord is running tech at the big ski hill where lots of snow has fallen this past week. He sent some pictures from the track, and here they are:

#603 Ben Holmes won his race on the new Cat Sno-Pro 500.
Did you notice all the snow hanging off the Chalet?????
Mike vs Mike...Mike Van Dolder and Mike Island battling it out.
Mike Island on his way to a win.

Do the Cat racers just look sweet or what?
Thanks for the update Gord.

So close......

Last week I dropped by London Recreational Racing to see how the race fleet was fairing. The guys were hard at it, getting ready for the delayed start to the snow-x season.

Nice decals Ric!
John is installing the new skid plates for the running boards. That should eliminate some of the drag when skipping over the tops of the moguls.

Mike is always smiling when he is working on the sleds.
Just part of the fleet that the crew is working on this year.
Hey! That's a 1980-ish Moto-Ski ####-Sonic! You never know what you'll find at the race shop!
***********************************************************************************
Now for some snow pics......
I closed up the Muskoka cottage today as 6+ inches of snow came down during the day.
The snow is falling, and it's time to get ready to ride.........once the trails are open......

Warnert Racing in BC

My niece is really pushing my buttons this year. Today she sent me pic's of Warnert/Ski-Doo racing practicing on the ski hills of Panorama BC. (www.skipanorama.com)






Thanks Theresa!