What Sled was the Biggest Gamechanger in History?

[Pedaling pete]

Friend of mine had the fast blade. Not forward riding at all.

 

[MK4TDI]

Yamaha has had direct injected 2S outboards for over 15 years...

The current Yamaha system is still the snowmobile industry leader in power and performance (and I’m not even a Yamaha guy)

If HPDI system was that great one would have thought they would have kept using it. Or team yamacat would be using it in their 800's ?

Except on the outboards they were never really a hit, and lots of maintenance, filters, pumps, wiring, extremely picky with fuel, lots of denied warranty claims because of fuel too.... yamaha threw the towel in on 2 stroke outboards and invested in 4 strokes, and I would say that has worked very very well for them.

 

[Lund]

As a side note, stolen is a strong word and i don't think BRP stole the concept from the Blade. I think it was more of an inspiration, they took an idea, worked with it and the Rev came from it.
I'm sure there were legalities and copy rights that had to be worked out before the release in 03. JMO

 

[Pedaling pete]

What did they borrow from blade? The rev is nothing like the blade.. not the frame not nothing... not even close to the same sled...

 

[Lund]

It was the box style framing concept. BRP called it Pyramid design, Arctic Cat called their's Twin spar, Yamaha called theirs Boxed.
It was the first in the industry from the traditional bulkhead belly pan engine forward design. The engine could be mounted more into the center mass of the chassis.
The picture is a Blade chassis, non conventional for its time and inspired the Rev. design.

 

[Pedaling pete]

It was the box style framing concept. BRP called it Pyramid design, Arctic Cat called their's Twin spar, Yamaha called theirs Boxed.
It was the first in the industry from the traditional bulkhead belly pan engine forward design. The engine could be mounted more into the center mass of the chassis.
The picture is a Blade chassis, non conventional for its time and inspired the Rev. design.
http://www.dootalk.com/forums/uploads/monthly_11_2015/post-10303-0-09422500-1447217521.jpg

That's not a pyramid. That's a box frame like a motorcycle

 

[Pedaling pete]

Do you see the similarities? I dont

 

[MK4TDI]

View attachment 233013

Do you see the similarities? I dont

I doo, they took a concept and improved it, and made it cost effective to manufacture

 

[Pedaling pete]

I doo, they took a concept and improved it, and made it cost effective to manufacture

Fair enough. I think if they wanted a motorcycle frame would have been just as cheap to do it that way.


It was a cool sled forsure. Buddy paid 26000$ back when a new mountain sled was 10 000

 

[MK4TDI]

Fair enough. I think if they wanted a motorcycle frame would have been just as cheap to do it that way.


It was a cool sled forsure. Buddy paid 26000$ back when a new mountain sled was 10 000

Pretty wild what you can buy for 26k nowadays for a toboggan.

 

[Joholio]

In my opinion, the Boivin Snowhawk is/will be the biggest game changer in snowmobile history. Its really the only real game changer, as snowmobiles are basically the same idea as when they were introduced. The snowbike world is a growing sport, with unmatched handling ease, however the lack of warranty on a 25k unit is a major turnoff for many, including myself. The narrower 34” stance on the 22 Doo and Cat Alpha are examples of where the sleds are headed. My $0.02, Holio

 

[Lund]

That's not a pyramid. That's a box frame like a motorcycle

Ok i will try to explain the concept here of what is being attempted and that has nothing to do with what it looks like as you exclaim.

Pre Rev time, before 2003;
Snowmobiles were built in the same basic fashion, a tunnel riveted to a bulkhead. A front suspension attached to the bulkhead and a rear suspension attached to the tunnel.
The problem with this design is the weight needed to be supported by the suspension's, thus engine weight needed to be supported by the front suspension while rider weight by the rear suspension. So the engine needed to be mounted far forward or it would over stress the chassis. The other problem was chassis "flex", because of such a differential between the front and rear there was significant amount of flex in chassis of the day effecting on how a snowmobile actually handled.

The OVERSTRUCTURE design;
So when you look at a Rev such as the picture you posted there is an over structure, BRP calls it Pyramid design, other manufactures have their name for it.
It is not what it looks like but what it does is the key.
The over structure ties the front suspension to the rear suspension and this allows the weight like the engine to be carried more centralized. The weight is now shared between the front and rear suspensions and the chassis, bulkhead and tunnel becomes a lot more rigid.
Now if you look at the Blade picture i put up you will see the same concept being applied in the design, the over structure ties the front and rear together, except it was in 1998 before the Rev.
I hope that help's

BTW, the "RIDER FORWARD" idea is a play on words, smart marketing by BRP and it worked.

 

[Pedaling pete]

I don't know about "game changing" to me that falls in the same category as those that use "flickable", they are both nonsense and laughable.
Over the
As much as many give credit to BRP introducing the first rider forward with the 2003 Rev. the pyramid concept was taken from Fast Industries from the Blade model.
It was never a BRP innovation.
.

Kinda changing the story as you go along...lol

 

[Pedaling pete]

Looks of the design matter.

That is why arctic cat got sued for patent infringement

 

[Pedaling pete]

I can see the similarities with this and the rev chassis...

 

[longtrack 156]

View attachment 233025

I can see the similarities with this and the rev chassis...

Does this mean I can no longer use my square??

 

[Pedaling pete]

View attachment 233033

Does this mean I can no longer use my square??

Youd have to ask brp's lawyers I guess.

But it's not a snowmobile chassis so I think ur good..

 

[longtrack 156]

1969 Ski Doo Nordic, started the trail sled movement, by the end of the 70's they were all trail sleds. It wasn't until the 90's where some attention was paid to going in the snow.

 

[TROLLCAT]

1969 Ski Doo Nordic, started the trail sled movement, by the end of the 70's they were all trail sleds. It wasn't until the 90's where some attention was paid to going in the snow.
View attachment 233050View attachment 233051

that could be me daddy's sled remember riding on it many moons ago

 

[Modman]

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