October 23, 2007
It’s Snowing
…But I’m Not Going.
In the comments on my post Yamaha Prototypes in Show I mentioned we had an old sled in need of a good home. Well Dave T stepped up from the Antique and Classic
Snowmobile Club with a posting to the membership at large. I was quite pleased to hand over the old girl to Rick I. He has approximately 40 old sleds in various states of repair (apparently with room for one more). He felt our old SL would be a perfect candidate for restoration. We were both surprised when she fired up on the second pull especially considering it hasn’t run for at least two years. Heres a pic of Rick just prior to loading it into the back of his truck (under its own steam).
The sled was originally owned by Ian Mead and spent its whole life on Crane Lake near Parry Sound ON. It served Ian well as he passed it down to his daughters to use before giving it back to Yamaha after over 30 years of service, thanks Ian what a great ending for your trusty old sled!
I received an email this morning from one of my old pals at YMUS. Tom Moats has been with Yamaha forever and is one of the nicest fellows you’ll ever meet. He works side by side with YMC engineering field staff, co ordinating much of our testing duties with the rest of the team from the MTC.
Tom’s one of those guys who is a great story teller but he seldom complains or ventures a serious opinion unless otherwise prodded. And when he does say something it pays to listen as he understands snowmobiles better than most.
Lucky guy used to spend half his winter in Paxson and Grand Lake Alaska then as things cooled off you could find him in Thompson Manitoba, or Cooke City MT or, if he was really lucky… Minocqua Wisconsin, better known to Tom as home. Heck I hooked up with him once in early July to test snowmobiles in New Zealand of all places. Like myself, Tom doesn’t travel as much as he used to and with the recent arrival of his third grand child, that’s not a bad thing. At any rate the reason I got excited was Tom’s email indicated that this years testing is about to start in Alaska with reports of six inches of snow at zero degrees F.
I also promised an update on Jimmy Blaze (who will be attending the two Canadian WPSA snowcross events slated for Sarnia and Valcourt) . We are playing email tag, but I’ll try and ‘git ‘er done’ this week–which reminds me– On the bad news side of things. It appears this season will not see another Johnny Skeptical video from Yamaha. I guess the skeptics for the most part, have become aware. Pity, though… I’m really going to miss Bunny. Anybody else? Cheers cr
Enjoy your newsletter-If I may, please don’t pull a BRP-and restrict US/Canada shopping. Not that I do much, but I respect your decisions and hope you don’t follow. Just my opinion!
Thanks Al, I think our job (Yamaha) as a global company is to listen to and respond to the market with win-win ideas and solutions. I’m not big on censorship or Big-Brother edicts to complex problems. But then again I am not the Prime Minister or President (of anything…)
. As long as we live next the USA there will be trade going both ways, this is simply a hiccup that will sort itself out. cheers
October 23rd, 2007 at 6:34 pmNo bunny this year,thats cold.By the way, when will we see some of the prototype sleds you talk about that yamaha created in the past but never made it to production?
oh yeah, I did say, that didn’t I… I’ll see what I can dig up over the next couple of weeks. cheers
October 23rd, 2007 at 6:34 pmOh no! No bunny this year! Tell me it´s not true! There will be lots of disappointed guys over TY forums for sure.
Ike
In our quest for a replacement we’re considering Jimmy Blaze in a pink ‘tutu’. Might redefine the ‘back-flip’…
October 24th, 2007 at 4:23 amThats too bad about the Johnny Skeptical, they were actually quite funny, even my 2 stroker friends enjoyed them.
Oh, and we are hovering around 2 FEET of snow outside of Cookie City, MT. Soon, very soon.
October 24th, 2007 at 9:56 amBlaze in pink tutu… Great. I just can see that sight “burn” in the longterm memory of my brain. Ouch!!
Ike
October 24th, 2007 at 11:21 amNo Bunny?! Say it ain’t so! My friends and I dig the Johnny Skeptical videos. I always thought they were well done and funny.
Prototype pics would be very cool. I’d be interested in learning about the developement of the FX Nytro and some older sleds like the SX 700, the Vmax 540 and the SR5.
October 24th, 2007 at 12:07 pmWe can hardly keep up with all the good information you supply. Alaska – surveying…ahhh it’s a dry cold. Other than your nostrils locking up and yours eyes freezing, it’s not that bad.
Nice the SL got a good home. Funny about vintage stuff – I can remember seeing a GPX several years ago sitting by a garage. My buddy and I thought – take it to the dump – who would want it!!!
Couple of weeks ago the Lee brothers from Innisfil invited me to check out their collection of vintage Yamaha’s. I was blown away – they looked better than new with custom hoods and the 40th anniversary paint scheme.
In addition – they built a replica of the 76 race sled that looked outstanding. It’s based on a SRX 440 chassis (which the race sled was) and other than the 75 factory flat head engine and about 300 extra pounds it looked absolutely stunning. Well – the gas tank and adjustable skid – but still – I had visions of it racing at the Ontario vintage races.
Too bad more people could not see them – like at trade or dealer shows – just to add interest.
Probably 90% of active sled folks ain’t never seen the old iron in good shape.
I watched the old black SRX do over 100 mph on ice radar runs back in its day. The best the Lee’s have obtained is 80 mph – I told them they had a some work to do.
October 26th, 2007 at 10:17 amJohnny Skeptical convinced ME to buy an RX1 LOL!
darn tootin! cr
November 23rd, 2007 at 11:30 pm