Wicked day on a Sidewinder!

Andrew.renegade1000

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I have to admit, I rode the sidewinder this weekend and it was a super cool sled. Power was addicting and the chassis rides very well in the snow. Niner, I believe that was yours that I was on? lol...dont know your forum name.

Props to yamaha, that chasis felt very comfortable, power for days and likes to wheely like a bad ass. Keeping the front end down and the track on top of the snow was challenge when the angles got steep, but I was very surprised and had a blast on it!

Thanks for the test run

How did you find it handles compared to your 850 curtis? Did it feel heavy? How about downhill turns or sidehiling ?


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climbmax

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I have to admit, I rode the sidewinder this weekend and it was a super cool sled. Power was addicting and the chassis rides very well in the snow. Niner, I believe that was yours that I was on? lol...dont know your forum name.

Props to yamaha, that chasis felt very comfortable, power for days and likes to wheely like a bad ass. Keeping the front end down and the track on top of the snow was challenge when the angles got steep, but I was very surprised and had a blast on it!

Thanks for the test run

Whoa....thanks for the unbiased, open and honest comments.
Safe sledding to everyone.
RS
 

skegpro

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Found it.

Crank it up.




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canuck5

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So are these THAT different from the viper? Ive heard you can pick up a viper for 7k brand new. Throw a real turbo and some other goodies and youre probably still going to be cheaper than the sidewinder.
Id say price wise you would be close cheaper if your pulling your own wrenches the difference in my mind is everything on SW is designed for boost the whole thing works together to make instant throttle response and the other big thing is pump gas up to 250+hp that is worth a lot for me. To go apples to apples id say you would have to throw low comp pistons in a viper along with a decent turbo mcxpress is $6700 for the 270 kit.
 

niner

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I have to admit, I rode the sidewinder this weekend and it was a super cool sled. Power was addicting and the chassis rides very well in the snow. Niner, I believe that was yours that I was on? lol...dont know your forum name.

Props to yamaha, that chasis felt very comfortable, power for days and likes to wheely like a bad ass. Keeping the front end down and the track on top of the snow was challenge when the angles got steep, but I was very surprised and had a blast on it!

Thanks for the test run
I was on the blue and white pro. The sidewinder is Paul's. He goes by Catman10 on here. Chrisco got a little video of your "test run". You were killing it on that sled. Wasn't sure if Paul was going to get it back. Looked like you had been riding that sled all season. And must apologize once again for my lack of judgement when you were at the top of the hill.
 

briguy99

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ridden doo all my life....work at a Polaris/Yamaha dealership.....they are ALL so amazing...but I got to say this for sure...if I purchase a new sled...it will be the Sidewinder....its just flat out amazing....power and feel......I feel Yamaha has set the bar pretty high on this first year model sled....some refinements needed...but not many :)
 

niner

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Niner, how did you like it in comparison to your Polaris?
Not so much as a head to head comparison because imo 4strokes and 2strokes are not really comparable as both offer unique feature only available to it self. But did you like it enough to say you would buy it over the Polaris?

I love riding both sleds. My Pro with a 174 is a deadly climber. I have it set up to climb anything. The sidewinder is crazy fast. I found that I needed to lay off the throttle and let the torque take over. This sled can be ridden at half throttle then squeeze it a little as you need it. I'm not ready to get rid of my pro, it's only my second year on it and it's been awesome, but Paul was ready to move on and try something new and I think he made a great choice.
 

Catman10

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I put 220 kms on my Sidewinder this weekend and cannot believe how much I loved it. I had my pro in the trailer which is the twin to Niners sled and had full intentions on taking it out for one day. After the first day I realized it wasn't going anywhere, should have left it at home ha ha. The Sidewinder without a doubt is going to win many people over, especially doo riders believe it or not. I let many people throw a leg over my sled and the doo guys really put on a show, especially Curtis from Varda and a young fellow named Tyler. Everyone liked the sled but did admit to feeling the extra weight which took a little more effort to do the same stuff as theirs obviously. I am not going to try to tell anyone that you can't feel it but this sled is VERY RIDEABLE. I am struggling a bit because it is very different than the polaris chassis and after 3 days on it I am getting much more comfortable. I will be doing a rear shock change immediately and a 174" track shortly after which will cure this machines problems. My buddies all were on Poo's with 174's and they could out climb me in the steep anywhere because the front end would not stay down but that was the only reason they beat this sled, there is no comparison in power even to the boosted 2 strokes and when this sled builds speed you better be ready for it cuz it hauls the mail. The downfalls to this sled are very few but 1 issue is the intake temps, it does get hot and you have to ride accordingly to let it cool after you go hard on the hill for awhile, Cr is already building a cold air intake and I have my eye on it. The Intercooler location immediately gets plugged with snow and it needs a water to air for sure but at the cost of added weight unfortunately so I have a few other ideas on that problem. Thats it for the bad, sled ran flawless burned hardly any fuel and sounds just awesome with a straight pipe which is about 16 pounds lighter I believe. Every where I went with the Yammie it drew attention, maybe because its been so long since 4 strokes have been on the hill but Yamaha is doing the right thing with their Conqueror tour and the more people have a chance to ride one the sooner you will see more on the hill cuz it is a game changer for them for sure. I hope this is informative for the interested people as I try to be as unbiased as possible, gonna be hard to wipe the grin off my face gotta say!!!!
 

Catman10

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Oh and I forgot to mention that Dragonweld28 put a video of my sled in the Yamaha section, I let him ride it quite a bit and he got his giggles for sure, this was his footage on my machine. I think I may need a sponsorship from Yamaha for all the demos I am giving ha ha, thanks Benny for the awesome video.
 

LBZ

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I put 220 kms on my Sidewinder this weekend and cannot believe how much I loved it. I had my pro in the trailer which is the twin to Niners sled and had full intentions on taking it out for one day. After the first day I realized it wasn't going anywhere, should have left it at home ha ha. The Sidewinder without a doubt is going to win many people over, especially doo riders believe it or not. I let many people throw a leg over my sled and the doo guys really put on a show, especially Curtis from Varda and a young fellow named Tyler. Everyone liked the sled but did admit to feeling the extra weight which took a little more effort to do the same stuff as theirs obviously. I am not going to try to tell anyone that you can't feel it but this sled is VERY RIDEABLE. I am struggling a bit because it is very different than the polaris chassis and after 3 days on it I am getting much more comfortable. I will be doing a rear shock change immediately and a 174" track shortly after which will cure this machines problems. My buddies all were on Poo's with 174's and they could out climb me in the steep anywhere because the front end would not stay down but that was the only reason they beat this sled, there is no comparison in power even to the boosted 2 strokes and when this sled builds speed you better be ready for it cuz it hauls the mail. The downfalls to this sled are very few but 1 issue is the intake temps, it does get hot and you have to ride accordingly to let it cool after you go hard on the hill for awhile, Cr is already building a cold air intake and I have my eye on it. The Intercooler location immediately gets plugged with snow and it needs a water to air for sure but at the cost of added weight unfortunately so I have a few other ideas on that problem. Thats it for the bad, sled ran flawless burned hardly any fuel and sounds just awesome with a straight pipe which is about 16 pounds lighter I believe. Every where I went with the Yammie it drew attention, maybe because its been so long since 4 strokes have been on the hill but Yamaha is doing the right thing with their Conqueror tour and the more people have a chance to ride one the sooner you will see more on the hill cuz it is a game changer for them for sure. I hope this is informative for the interested people as I try to be as unbiased as possible, gonna be hard to wipe the grin off my face gotta say!!!!
Which shock would you switch to? Do you think a KISS coupler would be an alternative to a shock swap?

Is there any sort of frog skin screen on the sled that might help keep the snow out of the IC?
 

Saskgrizz

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Trail riders in Quebec have been working on this, Thundercat front end has a better screen that sheds snow. It is a direct replacement for the screen on SW, has more of a V shape to it. Guys were talking about this on a Yamaha site Totally dedicated to the brand if you are interested.
 

Depsnolvr

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I have always been comfortable on the yamaha chassis, since the nytro. The viper wasnt for me, but I was very comfortable on the nytro and as well now on the sidewinder. Honestly, I can jump from my doo to this without any awkwardness and I cannot do this with a cat or poo due to steering geometry. Yes you certainly can feel the weight, but it maneuvers very well, sidehilling and dowhilling were super easy but I did get tired out quicker than on a lighter sled of course. This was also in good snow. Not sure how I could feel on some hard pack or marginal snow conditions.




How did you find it handles compared to your 850 curtis? Did it feel heavy? How about downhill turns or sidehiling ?


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Andrew.renegade1000

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I have always been comfortable on the yamaha chassis, since the nytro. The viper wasnt for me, but I was very comfortable on the nytro and as well now on the sidewinder. Honestly, I can jump from my doo to this without any awkwardness and I cannot do this with a cat or poo due to steering geometry. Yes you certainly can feel the weight, but it maneuvers very well, sidehilling and dowhilling were super easy but I did get tired out quicker than on a lighter sled of course. This was also in good snow. Not sure how I could feel on some hard pack or marginal snow conditions.

Awesome thanks for the information curtis we all appreciate it!


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