A quick hello and goodbye. I will be leaving on Monday for Iwata JP and a couple of weeks of meetings. The past days have been spent in preparation and my mind has not been on blogging and Sled Talk. I find it difficult when I am really focused on planning, to come up with creative topics that can be shared here. There is so much I would like to address but no way I can think of that would not jeopardize our future and my current position, (I like my job). It’s much like watching an iceberg, you get to see a chunk floating along and are left to wonder whats lurking beneath the surface, waiting for the balance to shift before it becomes exposed.
This past winter season has left dealer inventory higher than we would like, and from what I have seen in the figures, we are not alone. Overall though things are not so bad. The western region has had record snowfall and the east had a good finish as well. There will no doubt, be some aggressive sales programs going into the fall on non-current and production will likely be adjusted by all 4 OE’s in consideration of same. But snowfall and mother nature has always dealt the trump cards in this game and we always seem to persevere.
The economy has had it’s impact on us as well. One positive thing that has come out is in regards to our parts pricing in Canada. The traditional model was to take our FOB cost from the factory and add margins to average costs, dealer net and retail, based on the Canadian dollar / yen exchange. Most of this was done when the Cdn / US dollar had a significant spread, and was fairly accurate. That has all changed now with a par dollar and as a result we have taken on a pricing alignment project to balance our pricing with that of the US. Contrary to what many of you believe, some of our parts were actually cheaper in Canada but many of the higher ticket items were significantly more expensive. The adjustments have seen some prices go up, especially on parts under 10 bucks but many of them have come down (a lot). The formulas to make this work are quite complicated and effects thousands and thousands of lines. There is still a split between the two countries largely based on the economies of scale, but we are now much more closely aligned with Yamaha USA.
I’ll try to give you an update on our progress in Japan or at least a hint or two of what we had for dinner cheers cr
It just struck me I have not posted anything for a couple of weeks. Things have become crazy busy since the 2013 model launch. I find myself now in preparation for a trip to Japan, where Pete and I will be hunkered down in planning meetings for the better part of two weeks. Some of it will be regarding ATV’s but we will finish up with our ideas for the next snowmobile mid-term plan which sets our path to 2016. We will host a meeting here early next week to line up our ducks and start assembling much of the required supporting data. If anyone knows what mother nature has in store for winter over the next few years, it would sure be nice if you would share
I have been quite remiss in reporting on the cross country and hill-climb racing this winter. At the grass roots level, Yamaha has had some really solid results with privateer teams on board our Nytros, several of which have been proving the merit of the modified front end clip. The latest press release shows an FX Nytro going over the top of the mountain at Jackson Hole under the capable hands of Cody Malmborg. Evidently this is the first time a 4-stroke has ever gone over the top, he ended up 8th after the dust settled. I’ve post a few pics which have come over my desk along with the press releases. 120326 Malmborg pilots FX Nytro over the top at Jackson
Back in the office today after spending last week at our US based R&D facility but before I get into that, I just wanted to say thanks to all of you who posted comments on our 2013 model introduction. As this weeks post title suggests, much of what was written came to me as ‘tough love’. A few commented that the feedback was pretty harsh but I don’t see it that way. At least not when I know the author is sincere in their wishes for new and improved products from a brand they appreciate.
I went as far as copying the comments into a document for distribution to our development team and took a few minutes to read a couple of my favorites during our meetings last week. I can honestly say there is no one on our team who doesn’t ‘get it’. We know what we need to do and we are focusing hard on our future.
Back to our meetings, we had a couple of back to back 15 hour days with lots of riding to break things up. The snow in northern Wisconsin was quite soft and melting on day one but it was the remains of a recent storm and quite plentiful. That night the temps plummeted and we were treated to totally different conditions on day two. The cool part of back to back sessions on test vehicles in changing conditions is seeing how the ride character adapts. How the traction affected different tracks, skis and suspension combinations. How something that was abstract and unclear one day can be so noticeable and clear to all the next. I tell you anyone who tells me they have the perfect set-up on their sled is full of it as I don’t think there will ever be such a thing. There is always compromise with so many variable conditions.
That said I am thinking my Apex set-up this year is perfect. lol. Now what were we riding you ask. Well we had a lot of sleds to compare, some fairly basic, production units with different settings and bolt-on parts and some other project more radical, still production based but heavily modified to demonstrate different things re: lighter weight, more horsepower, different footprints, can’t go into detail but there was lots to talk about. And now don’t be jumping to conclusions as not all of what we rode is intended for production. We use the knowledge to help prioritize our direction. We also ride our competitors machines and keep production units in the mix for baselines. Was I smiling at the end of the day? Heck yes, if for nothing else, it was a blast to rip around on so many unique snowmobiles, somedays I hate my job, just not last week.
Well it’s about flipping time old man winter hit us hard. First day of March and many of us are digging out – what a bitter sweet ending to one weird sled season in the mid-west and east. Well tomorrow is the big day, the 2013 model year launch. I have hinted over the last couple of posts and I’ll come right out and say it today. This is not a big new product year for Yamaha or any of the other OE’s. Guys, it is safe to say the industry as a whole is still in some degree of recovery from three years of tough business and this seasons poor snowfall in most regions isn’t going to help. The mountain market and cross-over trend is continuing strong but the trail / rough trail and touring is still very soft. Think about this when you look a the different offerings from each OE. BNG – BNP – maintenance, that’s it in a nut shell from all four companies.
Moving on, I had three guys come up from Yamaha US last week and they brought along a Nytro XTX with the front-end race kit installed. Customs held up the sled on us but we finally got on the snow north of Toronto around 5-o’clock last Wednesday and ran a tank-full through our machines before retiring to my cabin to solve all the worlds problems. The temps were mild but the trails we rode (at the pace we were running) gave me a good opportunity to evaluate the XTX and I have to say I was pretty impressed. My comfort level went up significantly coming off a stock Nytro and seat of the pants, I would say my average speed went up at least 10mph through some significant G-outs and stutter chop.
The one thing that I found most amusing (aside from one of the guys’s duck-call ring tone) was their helmet / goggle set-up. I noticed he had a MX style lid with about half a pound of duct tape securing his goggles permanently in place, hmmm, kind of defeats the purpose I thought. Then there was Bob, he also donned an MX style helmet but when he pulled out his goggles I had to laugh. He had taped a thick layer of tin-foil extending the edge of the goggles circumference by about 8 inches. After fiddling with the foil for a minute he carefully pulled on the 509′s and started pressing the foil into the helmet to create a seal. ‘What the hec is that?’- I asked to which he replied- ‘I love this set-up it works great! It’s quieter and warmer than a mask and duct tape.’ I’m biting my tongue thinking ya sure and you look like a tub of lasagna with two eye-balls peering out of it. I quickly pulled on my full-face sno-mo helmet, flipped down my visor and we were off…. I still don’t get it. lol
Speaking of duct-tape and frost bite. I thought some of you might enjoy this clip of Rick Mercer ( a Canadian comedian from the east coast) participating in the Numb Bum 24 hour enduro in northern Alberta. He has great taste in winter fashion and may offer some light-hearted relief to cool your jets before I get bombed with comments regarding the 2013 line-up
Thursday morning and already looking forward to the upcoming long weekend, my Apex awaits and snow is falling. I will get home next Monday night only to turn around Tuesday, load up the truck with three more sleds and three guys from YMUS heading back north for some testing and discussions. I will finally get a chance to try a Nytro with the front end kit which is currently being raced quite successfully in various cross countries in the US. I’m hoping the timing and conditions allow us to be on snow dawn to dusk next Wednesday racking up some big numbers on the sleds. I know the guys who are joining me are seasoned riders and barring any ‘incidents’, it should be a good day.
I want to thank those of you who responded to my last post, or more likely responded to the release of the Nytro XTX back-country. Good or bad, I appreciate anyone who takes the time to give me constructive feedback. I can’t say I was surprised at some of the more critical reactions. I did have to bite my tongue on a few points which I thought were a bit unfair but I am not here to defend anything today. I know the expectation for some new, ground-breaking iron from Yamaha is high right now (actually it always is). The Nytro especially is overdue for a massage (me too! come to think of it). Having internet ‘count down tickers’ to March 2, video teasers, viral hints and hype only fuel the desire. Frankly speaking it is unlikely that MY 2013 will go down as one of the land-mark new product launches like I described a couple of posts back when I visited some of my favorite meeting memories. I am surprised that no one put two and two together regarding the type of dealer meetings which were held around each of those prior releases and what is planned for the upcoming one – boys and girls it was a good hint! ;-)
All that said, there is a lot of stuff happening behind the scenes. And as Hal pointed out in the comments, 2013 is just a blip on the radar when it comes to what we have done, what we are capable of doing and what is to come in the future…
BTW I really appreciated the positive comments defending the Apex. I know I am not alone when I hear someone bashing an Apex because it is too ‘this’ or not enough ‘that’, (right Sean? ) I wish I had a better parallel than motorcycles to illustrate what I believe needs to happen in the snowmobile industry but let me try. I haven’t quite put my finger on it but if you were to take the current Apex, put it in its element- being the fast, flowing trails most of us dream about – and run it against anything in the current crop of sleds; you’d be extremely hard-pressed to find fault. The new Apex along with its sibling Vector, are IMO near perfect trail sleds and the harder and longer you push them the better they work. For those who are still stuck on the weight / handling, and the older issues like grip warmers, bearings and stuff, sorry to say its time to get over it, trade up or move on. Problem is, as I see it, we haven’t (yet) created the kind of positioning opportunities in snowmobile like we have with bikes. Motorcycle riders don’t compare an R1 to a YZ or Raider or Tenere. They are all purpose built to deliver a specific ride character in certain conditions and are all respected for different reasons. I have never heard someone on an adventure bike crap all over a sport bike because it is heavy by their class definition or a cruiser rider lament that the chassis doesn’t take the bumps like an enduro. See where I’m going?
So why do we compare sleds like they are all designed to do the same thing, the same way at the same level for everyone. It seems to me that the snowmobile trails (or lack of) offer a more vast range of conditions and terrain than motorcycles. The Apex is not a snow cross sled or a boon docker but dang-it, they’re awfully hard to beat on a decent trail which is exactly what we intended it to be… sorry, not trying to open a debate, it was simply my turn to rant
Had an interesting week. We (our accessories development team and snowmobile service managers) have been locked down at Kellermans resort in Muskoka. Twelve of us hit the trails Tuesday to test out some new riding gear. The conditions were less than ideal but all-in-all things worked out really good. Wednesday and Thursday were all day meetings. And here I sit last man out getting caught up on the email and reading the aftermath of yesterdays XTX announcement. I am finding it kind of sad to see the disappointment written in comments here and on the forums but I can’t say I was surprised.
The MY13 Nytro XTX we launched yesterday was a last minute addition to the line up, which YMC finally conceded to build once they recognized the efforts (and cost) going towards accessorizing the sleds to get a decent back-country track and improved deep snow performance. As many have pointed out, guys have been doing this since we first released the Nytro. The only reason we announced it yesterday was based on a strong request from the sales guys who wanted to add the unit to the Power Tour demo rides which are happening now. Had we waited until March 2nd the chances of deep snow to play in would be that much less. Having said that, this years snowfall and warm temps have pretty well negated the whole plan anyway. I have mixed feelings about hyping up our new product launches, thinking they should be more steered by the actual impact the product will have more-so than the basic desire to excite the market. That said, it is our job to advertise and promote regardless of the cards we are dealt be it a completely new model line or BNG. No excuses here, just offering a little background on why we had a preemptive announcement.
Back to the riding… I am also aware of some frustration regarding the availability of our new Dupont hy-fax. As I mentioned in an earlier post I was impressed by the testing results but was not going to fully endorse without running a set. Well I have close to a thousand km on mine now and my last few rides have been on glare ice. The trails are rock hard here and the lakes are skating rinks. My hy-fax still looks like new, have not smelled plastic once, have been running the lakes at speed (I am also using and Ice-Ripper track) and right now I am thinking this is the real deal. I don’t care what brand of sled you ride, without some good scratcher’s you wouldn’t be going far or fast here right now without destroying the runners. I’m a believer! The issue now is overheating engines, everyone I have talked to is seeing temp lights and searching for the illusive snowbanks on the sides of the trail, damn we need snow!!
What a great weekend. My daughter finally had the chance to break-in her new (restored) Bravo and I had a blast watching her. I seldom got to relax for more than a couple of hours without a ‘can we go for a ride to the marina?’… Truth be known, she wasn’t the only one burning gas in the little 250, I was reliving the good old days in style – forgot how cool it is to lean out and have the sled heel over like a well trained retriever – on a one lung’er cookie sheet. I found it somewhat ironic when Rob from J&B Cycle up in Timmins called me this morning wanting nothing more than to lament the demise of the Bravo and tell me about a kind of wake they are planning as their dealership has sold literally hundreds of the BR’s over the years. I wish I could tell you we were going to pull the sheets off a cheap little replacement this spring but it ain’t gonna happen.
There has been a lot of speculation on what the industry is going to announce for new product in the next few weeks. I can’t confirm or deny any of the rumors (well I could but I’d upset far too many people who take these things quite seriously). I remember some of our best new product releases over the years, the Vmax 4 was a major Hollywood production, the Pro-action chassis featuring the 700 triple was a splendid event, held in the Laurentians where we took over the ski hill at Chateaux Chantecler running the units up the hill under a sky filled with fireworks, then there was the RX-1 -, one of my all-time favorite launches – by the time we were done with the theatrics we had at least one of our dealers in tears, (seriously!).
For the MY 2013 product, we are planning to announce one new variant model to our dealers next week and pull the trigger on the complete line-up in early March (2nd) with a web launch at which time we will hit the road for a series of dealer meetings across the country. I will have some comments at that time to throw out here and as always, it will be interesting to hear your thoughts and talk to our dealers. I wonder if this seasons snow conditions are not going to cause some manufacturers to take a second look at current inventory levels and re-consider their MY13 plans. There is no arguing the fact that La Nina, solar flares, bovine flatulence and over 50 years of industrial consumption may be reeking havoc on our winters but then I look at the Ukraine setting record low temps along with crazy high snowfall levels and wonder if it is all just a nasty fluke. I prefer to choose the latter. Right now I just want it to get cold outside and maybe, just maybe drop a little lube for our big ride next week… cheers cr
Just got the email from ‘Red’ regarding the Alcan 200 point to point race up in the panhandle. Once again the boys from Yukon Yamaha won with their turbo Apex maintaining an average speed of 119mph in near white-out conditions (yikes!). This marks the fourth year in a row that this race has been won by an Apex but the all time speed record average (121mph) set by an SRX still stands. I would think some blue skies and a bit of packed snow will see a bigger number from the mighty 4′s if ever mother natures lets them run full out. Congrats to the Whitehorse crew, awesome job!
While on the racing topic. Its no big secret that Yamaha USA is supporting some FX Nytro’s to compete in the USCC cross country circuit. Pine Lake saw some good results for Yamaha (and of course some protests from the other manufacturers). It is my understanding that the original rules allowed for certain ‘kit’ parts to be installed to production sleds in order to be competitive and durable under the rigors of full out racing. Kits had to have a minimum build of 50 and be commercially available. Well the boys in our advanced engineering group in the USA had a little time on their hands and developed some slick mods for the FX chassis a couple of years ago which have evolved into a cross country race ’kit’. Contrary to some opinion the kits are not identical to the original skunk works design but for all intent and purpose they perform the same function. As with anything this limited, there have been a few bugs but they are being ironed out one at a time.
The basics of the kit is comprised of essentially a complete front clip (A-arms, spindles, sway bars the whole enchilada). You also get a 128 inch track which requires relocation of the rear skid and a large capacity fuel tank. The end result yields a chassis with improved high speed ‘manners’, read into that what you will. Now I anticipate a few questions arising from this post so let me jump ahead a bit. No it is not going to be a production model in 2013. Is it planned to be a production model ever? … certainly not in its present form. Can I purchase one? Sure, the part number is SMA-XCRAC-KT-OO and the retail price is (you might want to sit down for a minute) US$ 8,284.00.
Needless to say as soon as the sled showed some potential, red flags went up in a couple of the other camps and as of yesterday the ruling committee was hearing from the stakeholders on whether we will be allowed to continue to run our heavy four-strokes against the lightweights 2-smokes with our suspension kits installed. It seems one manufacturer in particular is quite worried about Yamaha getting in the game but they seem to have a bug up their butt about a lot of things in the industry these days. The rules evidently have been modified recently and it was just confirmed to me that Yamaha is being tossed from the production classes. It’s interesting to note that one of our competitors sells a race specific chassis for the production class and the owner has to come up with their own engine, that’s okay. The other guys are running limited build, dedicated race machines in the stock classes, no problems there. Yamaha was bolting a front end onto a full production sled (a heavy 4-stroke at that) and gets tossed, go figure. Rules are rules, spirit and intent aside, the decision didn’t go our way. Too bad because win loose or draw I think having all four manufacturers in the game would put on a better show for the fans. Guess I’ll have to root for team green as the underdog now
Finally I have the privilege of hosting an ‘on-snow’ meeting for our snowmobile service and accessory development team. The guys will be flying up from the US on the 6th and I have blocked rooms at a top secret location just south of Parry Sound for a good ride and some meetings. I rode some of the local area trails around there last weekend and things were surprisingly good. Speaking of that, I was on board my new ride. I had to decide between two good ones this year, the 128 SE or the XTX. I chose the SE, added an Ice Attack, some Trackers and HID’s so far so good, no regrets leaving the XTX to another man but I know I’ll miss her somewhere down the trail especially if things get really rough or steep and deep. Soft side up.
Well here I sit in the Quebec City airport. It is a raging blizzard outside and my flight has been delayed another 3 hours… but if it means more snow, I won’t complain! We had an excellent ride yesterday, departing at the foot of Mont St Anne, parelleling the north shore of the St Lawrence all the way to Pointe Au Pic on trans Quebec 3. The trails could not have been any better, groomed pool table smooth with a good base and minus 6 with six Apex’s and a Vector hauling the mail. The ride itself was focused on a special guest. Knobby Shirashi, the general manager of our RV division and commander in chief of all things snowmobile at Yamaha. He was in town to say goodbye after over 40 years with the company. What more could we do in his honor than go for a good pull on some of the worlds finest trails (besides it was his request).
Knobby was involved very early on with snowmobile, as a young engineer he worked for six years with the sno pro team in the 70′s. We had a good laugh when he told us the story of the race rig breaking down on the prairies. Appears they had the trailer hooked onto a tow truck, Bob Work was in the cab with Roy Wall and the driver, Knobby was forced to ride it out in the trailer. They stopped at one point at the side of the road to take care of a little business. Then the rig drove off accidentally leaving one young engineer zipping up in a light windbreaker at minus 30, in a cloud of snow dust. Some time later, resemebling an icicle, he was picked up by the RCMP who rescued him and set out in pursuit of the race team but they would not let him ride in the trailer anymore as it is illegal, but I digress.
As much as Knobby has supported our snowmobile since the launch of the RX-1, his work on ATV goes right back to the beginning with the Tri-Moto, he had influence on all the Bears and was lead on the Raptor development. I should say that Knobby is passing the torch and I am looking forward to meeting his replacement. I hope to see him out on our trails yet this winter.
Our trip started off with an evening at the ice hotel. I have heard of this place for years but never had the chance to visit, if you are ever in the hood, its worth a stop but be sure to wear your sled gear… brrrr. The ride was uneventlful except for one minor mishap which shall remain my secret as I like my job and tend to avoid bad career moves whenever possible . I would like to make a shout out to Steeve and Francois our Quebec contingent for putting together all the logistics and our dealers Collette Sport and SM Sport for supplying the machines, they were very well set-up and ran perfect in fact my Apex had over 10000km and felt better than out of the box new. If you are ever in need of a rental sled in La Belle Province I would recommend either of these dealers. We were also treated to some excellent service by Andre who shadowed us in his posh rig making sure we had transportation options at all times. As you may have guessed, I was rather spoiled over the last couple of days but then again its not every day that a piece of our history as big as Knobby retires. Thank you Knobby-san for everything you have given to snowmobile, you have been a very good leader.
I will refresh this post with some pictures and links if I ever get home… cheers cr
Happy New Year to you. I hope you have snow falling close to home and wish you cold weather until spring
Back in the office three days and already the holiday season seems like ions ago. Everything in the snowmobile side is ramping up towards our 2013 model year launch on March 2nd. I am fortunate enough to have been invited to attend a ride on the 17th in Quebec. The general manager in charge of the complete RV group at factory has announced his retirement and while he is here on his final tour of duty, we are going to put together a good ride out of Quebec City. I’ll be sure to take some pics to post here and give you a little back ground on him some of which goes back to the early 70′s and the factory Sno-Pro race team.
There is another item, tentatively on my agenda, which I am looking forward to. I have tried to put this ride together for several years now but have been most unsuccessful in making it happen. As it sits today, the core snowmobile development team for North America will get together north of Toronto to ride, compare notes and ride some more. The concept of getting our brain trust together to actually ride like most of you would on a good weekend, never seems to materialize. When we do get together the agendas are formal and tight. The riding component often takes place on closed course ‘testing’ areas and joint tests are often held in the late spring on crappy snow conditions. This time I want to get the team together in peak riding season and saddlebag a couple of 500 km days then compare notes. This should be another good story for the blog come February.
On another note, a friend of mine just introduced me to Geocaching, which I am starting to get into. I found myself out in a local forest earlier this week with a flashlight and a GPS crawling around in the bush like a dumb-a$$ kid… way fun! I can see downloading some co ordinates into the GPS before setting out on the trail to add another element to a snowmobile adventure. I was really surprised by how many caches are out there to find.
Don’t know about you but I am dying to get on the sled. I took a quick pull on my daughters Bravo which was a restoration project for dad over the holidays and I couldn’t stop grinning for an hour. I figure the Apex will have a slightly more dramatic effect on me Think snow!! cheers cr
The economy has had it’s impact on us as well. One positive thing that has come out is in regards to our parts pricing in Canada. The traditional model was to take our FOB cost from the factory and add margins to average costs, dealer net and retail, based on the Canadian dollar / yen exchange. Most of this was done when the Cdn / US dollar had a significant spread, and was fairly accurate. That has all changed now with a par dollar and as a result we have taken on a pricing alignment project to balance our pricing with that of the US. Contrary to what many of you believe, some of our parts were actually cheaper in Canada but many of the higher ticket items were significantly more expensive. The adjustments have seen some prices go up, especially on parts under 10 bucks but many of them have come down (a lot). The formulas to make this work are quite complicated and effects thousands and thousands of lines. There is still a split between the two countries largely based on the economies of scale, but we are now much more closely aligned with Yamaha USA.
cheers cr
