By Luke Lester, Host of SnowTrax
Polaris RUSH
What an excellent ride! Its amazingly snappy 600 mill feels surpirsingly stronger than it should. Ergos are excellent, however I found that snow tends to accumulate on the back of my legs and blow up my back, which is likely due to the lack of rear tunnel area. Exceptionally flat handling. Very good wind protection with the accessory mid height windshield.
Dragon 800 Switchback
This is one STOUT motor! It pulls like a tractor and hooks up like one too. Typically excellent IQ chassis, ergos and handling. 4 injector 800 motor has a strange hesitation at lower mid throttle when the 2nd set of injectors kicks in, but overall the sled rides very smoothly. This one will be on my list of faves at the end of the season I’m sure.
Ski-Doo Backcountry X
This sled really surprised me. I had expected it to be tippy because its narrower than a standard XP, but it wasn’t. It handled flat, just like its wider counterparts and the ride was very good. It wasn’t perfect, but its not yet adjusted to my specs so I know we can get it just right.
Ergos are all XP goodness and that seat is great. Its so soft and tall. My only gripe is the windshield and handguard combo sucks and is super cold. Pony up for a bigger windshield right away. The motor is excellent, but I felt the throttle pull was maybe a bit lighter than last season’s 800.
Yamaha Nytro
This one was bare bones with no bells and whistles. Right up front I like how it fits me. Heck, I’ve always liked how Nytros fit and feel to sit on and ride. The engine is as good as I remember. It sounds amazing, pulls super hard and is ultra snappy. Handling was relatively flat and stable and much better than I expected.
I was surpirsed by how warm I was with that mid height windshield and hand guards. The only thing I wasn’t overly happy with was the ride, which I found a bit stiff. This could easily be remedies by softening up the shocks and springs.
That’s it for now, but there’s more to follow…
