Reminiscing of past sleds owned

[Lund]

I remember the day's owning a liquid cooled sled was the coolest thing, it attracted the crowd, if you had one it mean't you were the power king on snow even though 50-60hp is all it meant. Compared to most free air and fanners of 25-40hp that was a huge increase. My first liquid cooled was a Rupp Nytro, 500 liquid twin, 55-60hp.
The race to 100hp
I remember the day i swung my leg over my very first 100+hp sled. The 97 Yamaha Mountain Max 700 3 cylinder. Holy cow was that exciting for me a sled with over 100hp(112hp stock I believe) With some pipes and work that engine was able to make 130+hp.
The race to have a sled capable of breaking the 100 was the thing then, guys would modify with pipes and jetting and so on to get as close as possible. My previous 92 Yamaha Exciter 570 pumped around 80hp, I had pipes, reeds and head mods for a claimed extra 15hp but compared to the Max, it didn't compare, plus reliability went in the dumpster. So a sled capable of 130hp wow who needs that, way more then I will ever need, plus suspensions now were coming into the picture more with Cats A-arm system claiming better handling over everyone else trailing arm. So the focus was changing some.

Today the average rider is ripping around on 150-160+hp, no experienced needed. Back then the sound of 80-100hp alone scared potential new comers....hahaha, how times have changed and the sport.

 

[neilsleder]

I remember it would of been around 1996 when I had my mxz 470 with plastic paddles bolted to the track, was down on the lake in Chappel and som mountain max sleds came down. They had a lots of mods done to them one had a 142hp. It was air brushed on the hood. That was the closet sled I seen. Can remember thinking that 142 hp must be crazy to drive! Still to this day it’s the best sounding sled

 

[rightsideup]

first sled i had in the mountains was my indy 650 which was not clutched or jetted properly brought up my 87 indy trail sp and had more fun

 

[Caper11]

My first liquid cooled sled was a Indy 400. That sled left the family with 15000miles on it and the engine was never touched.
Upgraded to a 97 XCR 600 triple triple, that sled was very fast, this sled started me into drag racing and messing with clutching. Fastest sled I ever rode was a 98 ultra that was a full improved triple triple. That sled engauged at 6500rpm. With the trail cylinders on that sled it would do 100mph at half throttle and it would spin the track with the non studded 1” at that speed when you put it to the bar.

Got a 98 XCR 440 race sled, that was another crazy fast sled, a buddy bought that sled is still racing and beating the newer iron.

Had lots of fan cooled sleds, but I agree with lund, having a liquid cooled sled was the sled to have.

 

[brian h]

3rd sled i owned was a liquid cooled, 79 everest 444, one of the first in the group and after that alot went away from fan to liquid cooled. back in the day of ditch banging around sangudo. started riding mountains with a formula plus with bolt on paddles( no grooming) in valemount at the time and the times of re-jetting on the mountain

 

[1200]

I still have mod mm700 tunnel drop and roll bender pipes, ported ,head. Still beats most new sleds on the lake. Kids think it fun

 

[Clode]

My favorite old sled was my 98 600rmk. It had reeds, clutching, and Hot Seat twin pipes. That sled just plain worked. Went like crazy. I then had a 2002 MM700, reeds, Mountain Performance head (165psi comp) and bender triples. Had it dialed also, it eventually had a 162" under it. My friend just sold it and it's still going strong (never blew a belt 5500kms).

 

[Luke The Drifter]

1993 Mountain Cat 550EFI EXT. 136" track with worn out neon pink bolt on paddles and a solid 80hp. I beat the ever living snot out of that thing and it just kept going.

2002 ZR 440 Sno Pro. When it ran, it went like a bat outta hell. But most of the time it fell apart on me. I learned all about the inner workings of a sled at 14 years old and it made me appreciate a non finicky, "stock" sled that much more. I remember before highway 43 was completely twinned by Sangudo, just past the pembina river, going for top speed runs on that thing, like having a perfectly smooth drag strip lol. I was 16 and thought a career in freestyle would be the path I'd take (I worshipped slednecks and 2SCS). Gotta have a factory snocross sled for that obviously haha!

2006 M7 153, my first true mountain sled. I got to go ride some amazing zones around Valemount with that thing and looking back on it, realize how poorly setup a stock sled was back then. I ended up doing a timbersled intake, RKT head, and STM 11" secondary. It took me a lot of farting around getting the clutching dialed but when I finally did, it ran great. Sold it to a buddy of mine who ended up seizing it pulling his blown up Tnytro out of the hills.

 

[Panzerdog]

first new sled i had no looking back i got 5 now

 

[Lund]

I remember it would of been around 1996 when I had my mxz 470 with plastic paddles bolted to the track, was down on the lake in Chappel and som mountain max sleds came down. They had a lots of mods done to them one had a 142hp. It was air brushed on the hood. That was the closet sled I seen. Can remember thinking that 142 hp must be crazy to drive!

Still to this day it’s the best sounding sled​

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Those triple cylinders had a unique sound to them, you could not mistake them for sure.

 

[FernieHawk]

2000 Brand new RMK 700 136"...fastest sled I've owned. Sold it.

2001 Brand new RMK 700 144"...rod went threw the case. Sold for parts.

2008 Brand new M1000 153"...threw a rod threw the case and got a new motor on warranty...wore sled out and threw most of it away. Moved warranty engine to new sled

2009 Used M1000 162"...moved engine from old sled...wore this sled out and sold it for parts.

2010 Used M8 153"...rode for 1 1\2 years and sold for $500 less than purchase.

2009 Used MINT M1000 162"...rode for 1 1\2 years and is currently for sale.

2017 Used M8 LTD 153" 3"...spent $6,000 on purchase last September and $400 on parts this winter...still ripping it up...heading out tomorrow for possibly the last ride of the season...yeeeee.....haaaaawwwww.

Maybe dirt biking on Sunday.

 

[Lund]

View attachment 224964 first new sled i had no looking back i got 5 now

My wife had one of those in orange and as an 800 163. She rode it for a long time and loved it, I did too cause operating cost was very low, it just ran and ran. We sold it with nearly 10,000k on the dial.

 

[papajake]

i had a 95 xlt sks not your perfect mountain sled not much track and low power but had many years on that sled went to the mountains on a regular base never left me stranded got stuck a lot and having no reverse sucked infact no one in our group had reverse a lot younger back then could lift sled

 

[Lund]

In the mid to late 90's I started riding A/C's but still rode my MM700. Basically saw the advantage of the big twin in the mountains but not much was reliable yet plus I loved the A-arm setup over the common trailing arm used by Yamaha and Polaris. Back in early 90's Doo was making weird shet that didn't work for suspension's, wasn't till mid to late 90's they figured out the trailing arm stuff...kinda like today LOL.
So between my MM700 and my 97 Wildcat 700 twin that blew up countless times I ended up with another triple, 98 ThunderCat 1000 that seriously pushed my riding UP the F'n scale because of its size and power. That sled had to be rode or it killed you, it was the most powerful sled I had owned to date with a factory 170+hp I had changed out the reeds and pipes for another claimed gain of 15-20hp to push nearly 200hp. The Tcat was an absolute rush in the Icefields and chute pull's, but you knew it after a day riding it was not for a desk jockey.
After a couple seasons on the Tcat, year 2000 had some big changes for me.

 

[Too Many Toys]

Last time it ran was 4 yrs ago, as we winter in the USA. Had my wife’s sled out for a “quick” run on the lake a couple weeks ago. Man that thing is fast.

 

[06yamahaapex]

View attachment 224985 Last time it ran was 4 yrs ago
, as we winter in the USA. Had my wife’s sled out for a “quick” run on the lake a couple weeks ago. Man that thing is fast.

nice wedge! How many miles on it?

 

[snopro]

Probably one of my most favorite sleds was one I had when I was about 14. It was a 77'Moto Ski Nuvik 340. We had good snow locally back then and would spend hours on that with my buddies who between all of us probably had 6 or 7 of them. On the weekens we would go down to the race horse track snd oval race against each other for hours till we ran out of fuel. We would have heat races, semi finals and finals. I did well and ended up getting into it in the old NWSA oval and drag circuit that ran in Alberta. That little Nuvik cost me a lot of money later on in life lol.

 

[rebel]

My favorite was my jdx8 with a 440 out of a merc. Had lots of fun on it.
Second favorite was 79 blizzard 5500

 

[Got boost want snow]

Rode a 1975 Sno Jet 340 sst f/a was a very impressive and capable sled for its time. Next was a 1981 440 Kawasaki invader, we tapered the tunnels and rode the sh!t out of them, 1982 550 Kawasaki interceptor fast but really sucked in the mountains. Then came my 1992 Yamaha 750 vmax4 quad pipes reeds made about 175hp fun to ride but heavy. Stock yamaha RX1 over 10,000km when I sold it and about 95% mountain riding. 2006 boondocker apex turbo, boost it fuel system runs 14 psi, has over 10,000 km on it 100% mountain 2015 mpi viper turbo soon to become a boost it turbo. Still have a Snojet 340 thunder jet and a hand built Kawasaki 550 drag sled.

 

[Rotax_Kid]

When I was younger we had a variety of machines. I started on a Moto Ski Mirage II. Big change when we added a second carb!

Never thought much of it at the time, but next machine was a 75 R/V that we bombed around on. I still to this day, think it's the best looking machine Doo ever built. Get it on a groomed trail and there is possibly still little out there that handles like that machine did.

Found a project Elite a few months ago that I'm starting work on. It's a 444 L/C machine, but I'm unsure whether we'll keep the 444 or move to something else. Machine isi n rough shape and either way needs a good going through. I have access to a donor 600 ACE motor which I think could be a neat swap.