chickenman
Active VIP Member
They are significantly different, i thought the same until i really look into them, the outer appearance seems that way but they are not. Even though they use the same tunnel, front and rear suspension. The BULK HEAD is the big difference, it mounts the front and rear suspension in relation to the engine a lot different.
The engine sits farther back, so less weight is carried by the front and more is carried by the rear. They also had to redesign the fuel tank to accommodate the new lay out, this in turn moved more of the fuel weight over the chassis.
These changes are drastic by making the sled carry its own weight, with less ski spindle weight the rider input is dramatically improved.
Going back to the Nytro day's, that was the #1 issue why the Nytro felt so heavy. Too much spindle weight and not enough weight spread over the chassis.
A lot of Nytro riders figured this out by installing foreward mounted A-arms, this made a huge difference in weight vs rider input. The same principle apply's here with the new SW.
IMO the engineering aspect of this machine is amazing, there is almost no difference in weight between a Nytro, Viper and Sidewinder. Yet the Sidewinder feel's from what i'm hearing 100lbs lighter to ride. Simply, its all about geometry and awesome engineering.
Im seeing the differences in bulkhead and minor body changes, but the prices that the cary over '15s are going for is crazy. add the 2016 front end / an MCX kit and stretch to 174 and you still will have almost 4-5G still in your pocket if you do it right. both sleds would be great, but its things a guy thinks about when we talk about putting out 20+G