Yikes. Sorry to hear that and glad you’re both OK. Hope it all works out.
I of course am biased, to a degree. I haven’t spent a great deal of time riding the “rider forward” position but I did rent a Ski Doo for a day up in Tug Hill some years ago when my Polaris dropped a cylinder. My buddy has an IQ chassis Polaris and I’ve taken a little ride or two on it. I personally just am not a fan of the rider forward seating position as I like to move around and lean into the turns. I have an 04 Firecat and I don’t plan on changing to anything else anytime soon. I run around 280 lbs. and set my main spring to medium, and I can’t recall ever bottoming out. Even my buddy and his brother (who has a Ski Doo Rev) agree it handles and rides really well. I have held it wide open in fields with some pretty rough and unpredictable terrain and am really impressed how it absorbs the impacts and maintains control. If you have the opportunity to try both rides, it would be in your best interest.
As far as purchasing used, try to make sure you can have it inspected by someone who knows what to look for. Some people can be fantastic about maintaining sleds and others will try to pawn off a really hammered ride which will only end up costing you money, sometimes huge money. As far as your budget is concerned, you may be in the right range for a F5 or F6, depending on miles, seller motivation, time of year, etc. I look more at the condition and maintenance more than miles when I look at a used sled.
No GPS log to show (forgot to start tracking when we left) but had a great ride on Friday night. Started in Alden and headed down to Colden Lakes, from there continued to Sprague Brook where trails were just perfect. From there shot down to Chaffee Flats and then over to Holland Speedway and back toward home. Only a few moguls sections here and there but still great ride and put another ~115 miles on.
Just over 1200 miles for the year, compared to the lack luster seasons of the past. Crazy when I got by with 1 gallon of oil each of the past two seasons, just ran to Ken’s the other day to buy my 5th gallon of the season.
Rode Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was a big fail. Rode 60 miles from Clarence Hollow to Attica and had lunch at the Attica Hotel. Headed South to Bliss and about a mile out of town I punch it and my sled goes BRAAAAAAAP about 10 times louder than normal. Pop the side panel and I can see half my manifold gasket just hanging there. Nurse it back to the Attica Hotel and opened a tab while I wait for John to ride back to Clarence and bring the trailer.
Called Don George and they don’t have the gasket. Sharing my story with another snowmobiler and he says to try Wyoming County Harley since they’re a Skidoo dealer and just 7 miles up the road. They have the gaskets but close at 3 and there’s no way John will be back by then. Tell my new buddy the news and he says, "I’ve bought 3 sleds from that dealer, call him back and tell him Dennis______ said it was ok pay over the phone and just tape the parts to the door. Dealer agrees and when we swing by after 4 there are my new gaskets in a bag taped to the door. On disassembly later I see 2 bolts backed out and that’s what caused it. Found exact matches at Lowes and had her all back together by 8pm.
Rode Sunday from Clarence out through Alabama Swamps. Trails weren’t perfect like Saturday but still lots of good riding.
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Skidoo invented the ride forward design back in 03 with the first Rev chassis. Other manufacturers spent the next 5-7 years catching up to design their own versions of rider forward. Who’s got the best riding sled today? Who knows but every one is a rider forward design unless you’re buying a utility sled. In the price range you’re looking though you’re just not going to beat a Rev chassis Skidoo because by the time you get into true rider forward designs from other manufacturers they’re going to be way out of your price range because they’re too new.
I had a 2000 Zr600 Arctic Cat and after one ride on a Rev I put it up for sale and bought a Rev. Being able to effortlessly transition from sitting to standing on our often whooped trails is the difference between riding 100 miles and feeling great or riding 100 miles and being useless for 2 days.
Went out for a ride but came to find out trails are pretty much whooped from Alden to Bryncliff. Loads of ice and constant moguls 85% of the time along with some okay open fields. Turned around at The Lodge and straight home…think that might be it for the season with the warm up/rain on Wednesday.
Made a 100 mile loop yesterday those trails up to byrcliff where hammered. Very glad I’m rocking x shocks on the xp. Rode from my house to my saloon, then headed to hidden Valley. They where closed, went to byrncliff, closed. Went to Bennington lanes, closed. What the hell. Wandered our way back home. I did however almost take out a few trees when I missed a corner. No picks didn’t help. Seeing the cluster is in kilometers I don’t really know how fast I was going. 120-130 Km/h
Looked like a million people missed it. I pitched it trying to make the turn. Was going a little fast but there was no signs of a turn, narrowing trail or anything.
Yea I don’t know what was up…was at Byrncliff by ~930 closed, Hidden Valley Lodge closed, back to Kodiak Jacks by 10:00 closed…finally made a final attempt at Whistle Stop and closed. Shitty trails and every place closed.
Can’t complain though, the season had to end eventually and with 1300 miles for the year…had an awesome time. Beyond gas, oil and one busted belt my Rev ran flawless again.
Someone posted on Marilla’s page with more details about the 2 sled accident, as we suspected the guy who did nothing wrong was the one who got the worst of it.
Cresting blind hills is the thing that scares me most out riding. I’m always way over to the right, sometimes even outside the stakes because you never know when some rockstar wannbe is going to come blasting over a hill.
Agree, almost got blasted last night. Was riding far right as I could get out near Byrncliff over a hill and just as cresting some idiot comes flying over inches from me. The hill had to be 20 ft at the top, more than enough room to share. Was half tempted to turn around and yank him off his sled.
Need to start parking some giant plow blades just over every hill taking up the half of the hill you shouldn’t be on. Call them idiot traps and just move them around to different hills on the system throughout the year.
9:30ish, between Kodiak Jacks (Two rod junction) and Byrncliff. I didn’t catch what he was riding, he was in too much of a rush trying to find the checkered flag.
Little meme I threw together this morning after listening to facebook friends and co-workers bitching about the cold.
If you follow many of the snowmobile club sites on FB you’ve probably already seen it because it’s getting shared all over the place.
We’re heading out Saturday morning. Leaving from Chestnut Ridge unless something farther north opens up. Going to ride down through Boston/Springville and into Snow Bounders territory. If anyone wants to meet up PM me.
Shockwave and I dropped in Sodus this morning. We headed east through Folsom up to Grist Mill in Parish for lunch. After lunch we rode up to the park in Pulaski then home through Mexico. 195 miles.
104 & Folsom were very nice on the way out. Square Valley trails were wooped by noon. Mexico & Pulaksi were great. 104 & Folsom were pretty rough by the time we came back.
On our way back through Folsom we had to stop because some landowner had plowed snow across the trail! He was all worked up about how sleds were messing up the road/driveway. He only had 3 visible teeth and appeared drunk. There were about 15 riders backed up there and a few of us went and calmed him down and made peace.
We ended up starting at Spraugebrook Park because the trailer parking area at Chestnut Ridge was gated off. Trails down the through Boston and East Otto were really thin, probably shouldn’t have been open. Got much better in Little Valley and cutting though Rock City and McCarty state forest. Waved to some people getting off the Tannenbaum chair at Holiday Valley when we took a season road that brought us to the top of HV. Good trails over to Franklinville and Machias then looped back to Ashford. Trails were really bad in the fields. No way Boston should have been open by late afternoon. 136 miles total.
Burnsmoney and I sucked up the loss of an hour and drove to Fulton. Did the Pulaski loop then back through Mexico. 165 miles only stopping for fuel.
Fulton rail bed was thin but smooth. C5 north through Square Valley was pretty thin and whooped north of Grist Mill by 10am. That trail must get a ton of traffic. Mexico was great. Pulaski was thin & muddy around 81 but AMAZING east of 81. Ripped back and forth on the reservoir a bit. Looked like there was a lot of traffic over by Redfield so we headed back through Pulaski up to Winona. Then down back through Mexico. S56 from New Haven to Fulton has a lot of snow and was in great shape!
I hit 1500 miles for the season today! I wasn’t sure how good the riding would be but it turned out much better than expected. Here’s hoping for some heavy snow this week. If not I think we’ll be back up north next weekend.
