My sled is still over at G-Force, they have installed the Yamcharger and are expecting the new fly-weights in any time now. I’m not in a big hurry to put on the Snowtrackers as I inevitably incur quite a few rocks around here in the early season. I am also curious to try a set of the new MT9 skis which are on track for December production provided they meet all the final testing parameters. Our vendors are also busy coming up with a couple of carbide selections.

This ski was originally intended as a lightweight mountain option for the Nytro MTX but it was discovered that they worked pretty good on the trail and consequently it was decided to modify the tooling so they would fit onto our other key models hence a bit of a delay. I can’t elaborate on the performance as I have not had an opportunity to try them but I’m told they handle really good and will be somewhere around a couple pounds lighter per… time will tell.

On another note, I purchased a really cool device last week that allows you to easily scan to .jpg files,  all the old print negatives and color slides that have been collecting dust in the basement. I have only just started using the Wolverine but its really easy and is conjuring up a lot of ghosts. Here is  a couple of pics of one of the weirdest snowmobile adventures I ever had. It was spring of 1975. I was working on a survey crew in the high Arctic, I remember going into camp right after Christmas, 24 hour  darkness and temps never above minus 40F. I spent all my days bouncing around in a little Bombi tracked vehicle and nights, locked down in a small trailer with three other guys, meals were all ‘boil-a-bag’, no running water (showers etc…) no time out. Our machines were left to idle all night while we rested and our camp followed us along, dragged by a D4 Cat while we mapped the ocean bottom during the day. It was May when our equipment really began to fall apart (mostly we used Bombardier products ) and the party chief requistioned my Bombi for the drill crew. I was asked if I would be willing to use a snowmobile instead as they could get one out of Resolute… ‘well alrighty then.’

I spec’d a couple of units which I thought would work well (Yammi GP338 or MotoSki Nuvik / Skidoo Olympic), but mostly I wanted something reliable as we were working in Polar bear country. Well you can imagine my shock when they took away my Bombi (pump shotgun and SSG’s included) replacing it with this little gem.

Turns out a nurse had been running around Resolute on it for half a dozen seasons and my boss got a good deal on it (the SOB)… I quickly learned my way around the OMC 2-stroke boxxer, but outrun a Polar bear with it?? No way, this baby was my ticket home. After struggling to keep it running for two weeks, I pulled the pin and left it to seek a watery grave come break-up. Don’t know many guys who have snowmobiled north of the magnetic north pole (especially on an Evinrude Snow Crusher) I just had to share! Occurs to me there is something in my Karma linked to BRP in some twisted way and destined to torment me forever   cr

On another subject, shock absorber maintenance is something that is often overlooked. Under certain conditions, ice crystals (comprised of water, salt, dirt, etc.) can build up on the damper rods. Hit a good bump and the rod is knocked past the seals and will deposit it’s payload in the warm shock oil. Combine this with the constant cycling of the oil through the damping system and it doesn’ take too long for the oil to break down and become contaminated. Most of our shocks are rebuildable if you have both the know and parts. Our factory is only able to supply complete shock assemblies to us from the shock vendors which largely takes us (and our dealers) out of the loop for shock rebuilds. The good news for Canadians is there is an option. Factory Connection Canada located in Drummonville Quebec is now offering complete shock service for Ohlins, Fox, Soqi and KYB. They provide both retail and dealer sales. I’ve heard good reports on their service (they are the certified FOX warranty rebuild center). The recommended interval is every 5000km or less depending on use. Factory Connection is also available in the USA. You might be surprised at what a difference a clean fresh shock means to your ride.

While I’m endorsing some cool stuff outside of genuine Yamaha offerings, check out Bullhead Motos site. They have specialized in SnoScoot and SnoSport restoration and mods. Pretty cool, I know one eight year old in particular that would absolutely love a pink (or maybe blue) one!

Jon and I have been kicking around some more ideas on how we could include some of our Sled Talk friends in  select development projects. It’s hard given two can only keep a secret when one is dead but I think I have an idea, we’ll call it the ‘YBTT’, y’all know how much we here at Yamaha like our acronyms!… stay tuned.

cheers  cr

Had a bad run last week starting with the discovery of a cracked frame on my full suspension mountain bike which forced me to ride my Ti hard-tail on the technical trails of Buckwallow. I took a nasty highside on a rather large rock structure and impaled myself on my handle bar taking the butt end in the chest. Finished the ride by blowing out a rear wheel, popping a bunch of spokes and packing my sorry butt back to the cottage and my old pal the Cap’n …

‘Nough about me. We’ve been working on an interesting accessory over the summer. Ice scratchers have been on the market for quite some time, evolving with the track applications found on  mountain sleds. The combination of taller lugs, fewer idler wheels and spring conditions created a need to have more lube and cooling to the skid and exchangers. No one in Canada has taken this idea very seriously with the average trail rider in mind, that is until now. Our new Tric Ice Scratcher, is designed for trail use with a simple ‘plug and play’ installation.

I  saw the first version in Europe a few years back and after a little investigation, discovered our factory has been building and supplying the Euro Yamaha distributor for a long time. The easy route would have been to import them to Canada but after getting the cost estimates from factory, we decided to pursue our own version. The factory scratcher mounts directly to the front sway bar link and is a plastic coated steel cable with a captive, non replacable, hardened steel pick. We have upgraded this system by using a flexible, stainless steel, braided cable with an adjustable stainless steel fitting, threaded to recieve a standard, replacable, carbide traction stud.

The Tric scratcher also comes with a universal mounting bracket which allows you to mount it anywhere on any sled given a maximum height (8 inches) from the ground. The cable can be rotated forward and aft to get the optimum angle and preload plus the stud can also be rotated to get the prefect 90 degree contact point… The benefit is a nice spray of ice and snow crystals to supply the hy-fax and heat exchangers in marginal snow conditions. Thus increasing slider life and insuring enough engine cooling. There is no worry about reverse gear or trailer loading with the flexible cable provided your mounting point is not too close to the track.

We haven’t released this yet to our dealers but the suggested retail is only 89 bucks for a pair including the universal brackets for retrofit to sleds without a sway bar link arm.

cheers cr

Okay right about now I probably have offended someone or triggered a complaint to my superiors, just because… but before you get all sensitive I truly believe this is a practical (and somewhat entertaining) product that could benefit our sport.

I can imagine what it must be like for the girls out on the trail every time they need to relieve themselves and have to remove three (or more) layers of clothing, exposing themselves to a 30mph frigid cross-wind, not to mention trying to squat in three feet of snow with out ‘bottoming out’ after having trudged a 100 feet into the bush to get out of sight (and snowball range).

Probably about the only thing left that a modern women would envy in a man is our ability to whip it out and take care of business whenever nature calls. Well leave it up to the French to come up with a solution. The Liber T pocket urinal may well be the best thing for women snowmobilers since Snow Cruiser introduced electric start. Think about this for a minute. What we often take for granted can be a big hassle for our wives or GF’s, perhaps to the point of cutting a ride short or at the least having to suffer out on the trail. This little doo-dad, given half a chance, could make everyone’s day a little brighter… It certainly does fit the definition of ’stocking stuffer’ with Christmas just around the corner. I especially like the camo version

Our G-Force friends ran their first test at Bonneville today experiencing a mechanical problem with the overdrive mechanism (they disconnect the secondary clutch and go direct somewhere over 170mph) but they did manage to hit 186mph prior to shutting down. The marshalls were concerned about the impact G-Force 1 would have on the race track but this trial proved it was just fine. They are green to go for a world record attempt. Check out the pics on PassionYamaha (photos courtesy of Richard Hotte).

On another subject, we have some cool hardware  we are working on for release sometime this season. Jon and I have been kicking around some ideas and I think it may be time that we use SledTalk readers for some new product feedback and I plan to enlist some ‘test riders’ as soon as we get snow. We may supply some special parts to the right people or even invite them to join us on a test ride. Not sure how I’ll be able to choose but I figure I’ll start with the guys who have left comments here in the past and see where that takes us. If nothing else it’ll be worth a free lunch and some gas for somebody    Cheers cr

Today will be their first test session and they plan to limit the speed to 200mph while they dial everything in to the traction offered by the salt. Sounds like they have already encountered some of the unexpected. Personally I am finding this quite intriguing. I just hope the tracks hold together and the boys return  home safely.

There was quite a send-off for the team in Coaticook and I understand the Discovery Channel has taken quite an interest in the project. On another note, I was privileged to speak at the OFSC AGM last week in Ottawa, opening their first convention session along with Mark Lester from Supertrax and Claude Aumont from Ontario Tourism. I was please to report that the snowmobile industry in Canada is coming into this fall stable and healthy. From the Federations point of view, permit sales last year were strong and there will not be any increase in the cost this season. They are making good use of the federal grant money available and this organization is still a shining example of how it should be done.

Mark challenged them with the topic of ‘free-ride’ / off trail riding and how it should be viewed by organized snowmobiling with infrastucture in the future. His point; that most young enthusiasts entering the recreation are coming from the X-games, vert-park mentallity and are not attaracted by seeing how many miles they can cover in a day, opposed to doing tricks and challenging themselves off-trail. Mark is a brave man!!

cheers cr

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Simple answer: horsepower. A few years back Nick King who was with Kelowna Yamaha at the time, now with Vernon Motorsports built me up an MCXpress, front mount turbo Warrior with input from the ‘Bellymon’ Randy Swenson. The sled was a blast but not the most ‘user friendly’. Even with the boost dialed down well under ten pounds it still outran every single machine that I came up against. Funny though, in the two years I had it, I never really trusted it like I would have a ’stocker’.

There is something about mod engines that leaves a nagging thought in the back of my mind. Kinda like when you go for a ride knowing the spouse or significant other has something else in mind for you and it ain’t sleddin. This surfaces often enough to counteract some of the ‘juice’ of riding a kick-butt, sleeper-sled. The only difference is, with one the worry is about what happens when you get home and with the other the worry is if you will even make it home… but I digress.

My Apex has been in the capable hands of Gilles Gagne and the good folks at G-Force over the summer. Gilles showed me a prototype supercharger last spring when I visited his shop that really caught my attention. Unlike many of the current boost devices, this system is designed to deliver only low pressure and requires no engine mods or octane. The logic Gilles applied is not everybody needs or wants a 250 hp plus snowmobile . The Apex is already so close to the perfect balance of power and acceleration that a little ‘kick in the pants’ in the upper range is all that most trail riders will want.

Gilles system is so simple it’s brilliant. Based on the fact that the Yamaha 4-cylinder engine is geared down to facilitate clutch durability and the crank turning over 10,000 rpm, a direct drive impeller has the potential to create enough boost to effectively increase the power, in this case, by a minimum of twenty horsepower from a completely stock motor.

The ‘Yamcharger’ is a work of art. It bolts onto the end of the crank and feeds a custom air-box through a simple duct tube, no inter-cooler, no belts, gears, head shims or exhaust mods. In fact all that is required is a simple relocation of the oil surge tank, some additional hood duct work and a filter. The required bits and hardware are all included in the kit

What it all boils down to is for the old school cost of a set of pipes and some cylinder grinding, you can have an additional twenty horsepower at your thumb and no nagging thought that the engine could grenade at any time, that’s not to say the wife may not be peeved when you get home but at least you’ll get there!

We have a whole bunch of RX based engines still reliably spinning away out there with many customers waiting for the next iteration of the 4 holer. I’m thinking that the Yamcharger could be just the ticket to freshen up the old ride (RX-1’s included).

According to G-Force testing last winter the lake sled to beat was the Z1 turbo Cat, the stock Apex would hole-shot but given enough distance the boosted kitty would eventually real it back in, as it should having over 170hp. With a Yamcharger installed the Apex won the holeshots even more convincingly and also stayed out in front consistently.

I have a bunch of pictures and information on the development and testing of the Yamcharger and will save it for another day if anyone is interested. Note the images I posted are all of pre-production parts, G-Force is using hard tooling for production.

I’ll close now by saying Gilles is a perfectionist and has gone to great lengths to develop a kit that meets Yamaha quality and durability standards.

The Yamcharger is going into production later this month and will be available to Canadian Yamaha dealers direct from G-Force. The retail pricing as far as I know will come in well under 2500 Canadian loonies and installation is  a snap.

So let me ask you, if given the choice  and the cost wasn’t at issue, what would you pick to ride. A great handling new Vector FI or a mildly blown but reliable Apex beast? Yeah, that’s what I thought!

Right now Gilles and his team are in their final stages of preparation before leaving for the Bonneville Salt Flats on the 13th with their Yamaha powered streamliner set on breaking the world speed record for snowmobile. Bon chance mon amis! Storm in bonneville

cheers cr

I had noticed some color change in the trees up north last weekend but hey it was still a muggy 28, hot August weekend. Nope it happened this morning. Fall fever. It is officially the snowmobile pre-season according to me, which means the same for Yamaha Canada.

I just checked the Sledtalk blog stats and traffic is up 60% over the past two weeks. That tells me something. In fact I figure because you are reading this now, you also have the gut desire to pull the sled out of storage or at least consider what the options are for new gear, upgrades and what, if any, sled shows are happening in the hood. And just as importantly, wondering what winter will have in store based on the weather trends thus far this year.

It’s no secret that the motorsports industry has been in the dumper this summer. A very general snapshot sees the marine, ATV and motorcycle business down in Canada around 25%. Some product groups more, some less. Interestingly enough, the used market appears to be up and the parts and service business has been practically recession proof.

I have another gut feeling and it is directly connected to the change of seasons and the affect upon me the snowmobiler (not me the Yamaha employee). The snowmobile world has its own form of Kryptonite, fending off the doom and gloom of global economic strife. We have more passion, more desire and more attraction to our winter wanderlust than any of our other wheeled or propped pastimes.

I predict sled sales will not reflect the the 25 point downturn of the other product lines and I highly doubt that any significant number of riders will hang up their helmets this year because of the economy. So be patient, if it hasn’t hit you already it most surely well over the next few weeks. It’s time to start thinking snow.   cheers cr

And so it was, the SX Viper became a highly refined variation of the SXr. The new engine proved to be extremely efficient and bullet proof. I’m not so sure the FAI (ram-air) feature was near the benefit we had hoped, although Saito still swears it makes a difference of three to four horsepower at  top speed. I remember how much attention was spent on the air management and layout, one example of the  level of detail that goes into a Yamaha can be seen in this sound hologram analysis: 0MC0717.

The engine was sneaky fast, not as hard hitting as the big twin 800’s but far smoother and more linear in it’s delivery. Although the horsepower numbers didn’t peak that high on the dyno, the torque was very ‘usable’ and ‘tractable’,  it ‘got ‘er done.’ More importanly (at least to Yamaha), very few ever ended up on the wrong end of the tow rope and we also set the bar for low fuel and oil consumption. I found this report on the competition which I wrote after ridng all the new stuff at the Snowshoot in Yellowstone, I think it was:              Snow Shoot 02

The Viper’s marketing had to be tweaked somewhat due to all the changes in the original plan. Several ‘creative briefs’ occurred. I found this marketing strategy document from the ad agency working on the Viper account. It is based on their market understanding after meeting and discussing with our people. Note the names have been changed to protect the innocent : 2002SXViperBlueStrategy . I can’t duck the bullet when it comes to marketing hype, I also found this letter I wrote, which was part of a direct mail campaign to Canadian owners of SXr’s and SRX following the release of the new Viper. Hey I only had to swallow hard once!     Snake Bit

The first season we had a lot of feedback regarding the ride comfort of the SX Viper. Most were pointed at the shocks and skid frame set-up while some questioned the seat firmness. This eventually led to some countermeasure specs and I remember taking off for a few days with my riding partner Mike Collins and Steve Brand from TekRiderto do some real world testing and evaluations.  Steve volunteered to do the trucking and we headed north after picking up the Supertrax Viper press sled which Mark and Kent had been struggling to dial in. I still remember the Supertrax article recommending everyone remove all pre-load from all four shocks as the ‘hot set-up’ for trail riding, it was that sled I wanted to try. We also had a base line stocker and one with the latest countermeasure spec from factory.  Steve wanted to have us test some of his latest TekVest products and he had acquired a set of the then ‘new’ Precision skis from Skidoo. Here’s my report from the archives. It dosen’t include the part where after breaking trail for many miles we all ran out of fuel. If it had not been for an abandoned Cat with a very tight engine and full tank of gas we’d of been in some serious doo-doo. Steve did the honors of sucking on the siphon hose and remarked how much better the premium fuel in the kitty tasted compared to the regular gype he had just sucked from Mikes sled to stay in the game. The way I saw it is; we made the Cat much lighter for the tow out, no worries, you are welcome…

Made me smile to review after this many years. I’ll let you read between the lines. After the report was written several of the items I referred to were addressed in different ways, including at least one lawsuit for Skidoo (we have been and still are, struggling to find a good ski / skag design that is not patent protected):   reportSXV02

The second year Viper’s had most of the wrinkles removed with improved suspension settings. We also came up with a controversial shock update kit for owners who found their 02’s too stiff. The rear heat exchanger was also addressed (originally left off to save weight and cost based on testing that indicated we could live without one). And then there was the ViperS complete with adjustable Ohlins front shocks and the Ripsaw track / deep keel ski cloned from the RX-1… what a difference, what a great sled! (not unlike the Exciter SX scenario), get it right and discontinue… d’oh!

So there you have it. What started out as a clean sheet of paper became a nicely evolved snowmobile based on many existing parts and refinements. It is my perception of this which led to my post entitled:  ‘The Last 2-Smoke’ which talked about the SRX being the final new 2-stroke developed by Yamaha before going full-on 4-stroke. It’s debatable whether the Viper is truly the last 2-stroke that Yamaha developed, just depends how you look at it. Matter of fact I understand that the Bravo is getting a clutch update next year, maybe that should qualify

I hope you enjoyed this little series. If Saito comes up with any more details or images I’ll do an update down the road. Until then I must get back to finishing up my cottage and fending off snakes.

cheers  cr

And for the go fast crew, it is official, Gilles Gagne and his G-Force / Lamtrac team have been officilally accepted by the Bonneville promoters and world sanctioning body, the  FIM to challenge the world speed record with their blown Apex streamliner during speed week  on the salt, September 20-26, Wendover Utah. He is silently hoping to break the motorcyle record of over 300 mph!

… The monoshock performance became the main focus for the ‘what’s next’ debate. Engineering finally concluded that the ill fated ‘boinger’ could not be massaged into an acceptable component leaving us with only one option, use the Pro-Action plus system. The domino’s started to fall in sequence. Without the long travel mono-shock the unequal length, rack-steer, front end plans died on the vine and next thing we knew our baby had morphed into an SXr chassis / suspension with a lightened up SRX motor. A long way from the original ‘all-new’ concept.

None of this helped to hit our weight targets which would have seen the Viper coming in significantly less than the SXr700 but how could it when it used the same chassis and suspension? The suspension eyeball was still aimed at a big bump / ditch banger target. The original testing criteria for the monoshock system was set to run a section of 3-3.5 foot bumps spaced at 20 to 40 inch intervals running a steady 35 to 45 mph…sitting down! The gentleman from sales who was adamant about this is no longer employed by Yamaha so I can say this… buddy you were outa your gourd!

I have learned when speaking with many sledders, the moguls they describe are often scaled similar to their manhood, where the three foot bumps they’ve been riding all day are really a foot and a half at best. Regardless, once a target has been established we don’t mess with it and when the monshock went away the ProAction really had its work cut out for it.

We had several years of tweaking the Pro Action system and as we all know, there is no magic setting to offer a plush ride and still resist serious hits. It was explained to me once that the first 8 inches of suspension stroke was fairly progressive but became linear towards the latter part of the travel then digressive as it fell through itself at the end. Think of it this way, riding through a series of 1-2 foot stutter bumps with the suspension stroking under ten inches, life is pretty good, staying flat and plush, that’s progressive. Now bomb down a smooth hill with a g-out at the base pushing the skid deep into the stroke and hit a small frozen pine cone, suddenly it bottoms hard and unexpectedly, loosening up your back fillings and sending that unmistakable tingle up your spine (that’s the digressive part.) ouch!

It was this severe bottoming that could break stuff and in the case of a bump sled, needed to be addressed.
Whenever the spring rate was stiff enough to limit the bottom out, ride comfort suffered. Engineering was reluctant to use multi-rate springs and position compensating valving and Kayaba had certain limitations to settings if there was a chance of bending the damper rods. In the end the short center shock received some very stiff compression damping and the stiffest spring we had. The ride wasn’t plush but it could take a pretty good hit. But, as fate would have it, someone made a change to the front shock spec after final testing / pre-production sign-off and before production.  I have not been able to find out exactly who or why but the first production units started showing cracks in the hoods, which after investigation, was credited to over damped front shocks. Instead of the small bump energy being absorbed, the shock remained rigid and all the rattling went into the chassis. At the same time the stiff front end was being kicked up by the bumps which were now coming into the center shock farther back and effecting the coupling point making the already stiff rear end even less compliant…

In the next segment I’ll focus not so much on what we had intended to build but what we brought to market and how we positioned it. I spoke to Masa Saito (seen in this Alaskan fishing trip photo) earlier this week and he promised to dig up some development stuff when he is at factory later this month. I have some interesting documents from the research and marketing side to sprinkle in. cheers cr