Considering the fact that ten years ago there were absolutely no 4-stroke snowmobiles on the trails, the flood of them currently in use is pretty impressive.
It’s almost impossible to go on a ride in any state or province without meeting at least a few 4-strokes on any given day.
Surprisingly, many riders still view 4-strokes as a novelty, despite the numbers of them out there and, if you’ve ever ridden one for a day, it’s amazing how many riders are curious about your impressions of whether they are as fast or as great handling as a 2-stroke is.
Due to this winter’s universally excellent snow cover, virtually every new sled has been sold out of dealerships across the continent. Any districts that have not sold out are having their inventories pirated by other dealers in high-snow regions looking for more supply to sell.
This welcome phenomenon actually makes it very difficult to gauge whether 4-strokes are gaining in popularity. Frankly, buyers this year are happy just to get their hands on any new sled and in many cases, are anteing up big bucks for 4-strokes because they can’t get anything else.
Normally, 2-strokes are still the hottest sleds moving out of showrooms and are gone first. We suspect this year’s non-availablity sales situation will put almost every 4-stroke on the snow and we won’t be surprised if those buyers fall in love with the unexpected quietness, smoothness and durability of those engines – actually happy they didn’t “settle” for their first choice – a 2-stroke!
