For as long as we can remember “fun” when it comes to snowmobiling always refers to mega engine performance: Bigger displacement, bigger horsepower, the turbocharging of already blistering fast engines, life-altering top-end speeds and blinding acceleration.
Yes, you’re right, we’ve pushed this imagery for years and have been dead-guilty of poo-pooing snowmobiles that have less than the maximum amount of power under their hoods. The fact is, we’ve been driven by your demands as much as by ours.
Snowmobilers love power and it’s one of the reasons sales are so strong amongst sleds that meet that somewhat narrow, power-hungry criteria. Power is something every snowmobiler craves and it’s the reason why you see grandmothers ordering brand new turbocharged touring sleds.
Okay, no guilt trip here. We love power, you love power – even grandma tourers love power. So, what’s wrong with that? Nuttin’, is what!
Just to blow-out your perspective though, have you tried out any of the new generation of lesser engine performance sleds out there? I’m talking sleds like the EVO, BLAST, MX-Z NEO and Yamaha’s SXVenom. Wait! Keep reading! We have a point here.
Yes, all of these sleds max out at about 65-horsepower, even less – and that isn’t enough power to cause concussive cranial acceleration or induce nosebleeds. No claim has ever been made that this is the intention of these models; rather their whole reason to exist is about “fun”.
No, we’re not talking about the kind of fun you have hitting triple digits out on a lake or blasting past your buddy’s kitted turbo SRX. As a matter of fact, the aforementioned sleds absolutely will not deliver the same level of fun when ridden with big-inchers and hypersleds.
We’re talking about a different type of fun that includes riders of all different ages and varying experience levels on power matched equipment experiencing snowmobiling together. We’re talking about fun that includes challenging your skills to ride in deep snow without climbing a near vertical precipice, to outhandle your buddies on a local snowmobile trail at legal speeds and to do all this while sipping tiny amounts of fuel.
The fact is, when you’re on the trails, riding any of these snowmobiles is every bit as much fun as riding a hyper-powered sled on the same terrain. Any trail speed you give up – and, surprisingly, it isn’t really that much on tight trails – is gained back in the gobbed-smacked realization you’re actually going a lot faster than you expected.
Each of these sleds is offered with excellent chassis engineering, decent suspension tech and enough comfort features to make a long day’s ride achievable. The very fact an experienced rider can toss any one of them around with abandon, makes them even more appealing.
They’re light and nimble, with agile handling that just dares you to have maximum fun. A seasoned rider can ride with a less experienced spouse or one of the kids and have an incredibly enjoyable day of giggles, whether riding on-trail or off.
Yes, back at work on Monday your macho image around the water cooler might take a hit, but you can find comfort in the fact you have experienced all that snowmobiling has to offer – and what you experienced was unembarrassed, unbridled, no-excuses “fun”!
