I had the opportunity last year to attend Yamafest for the first time after being invited by my dealer. I had a GREAT time with a great bunch of guys and got to try out some of the new Yamaha models. I have been planning to attend this event again this year ever since coming down the hill, and am hoping to invite my brother and some of his friends , many of which are Yamaha trail riders from Montreal , to attend and try out some deep snow riding as well as check out all of the turbos. Problem is, this all requires advance planning and preparation including flights, accomodations and sled rentals. Being one of Yamaha’s few opportunities to get people trying out the new models or to try and convert other brand owners over, you would think this event would be well publicized. Unfortunately, depsite ongoing probes with my dealer, this does not appear to be the case. The dates for Yamafest every year appear to be a better kept secret than your new “mystery sled”. Why is that? Although I was priviledged enough to be invited to the banquet last year, that’s not why I want to attend. Hell, open it up to all Yamaha owners in a community hall somewhere and I will gladly buy tickets for all of my guests attending. It is an opportunity for me to get off of the trails, ride with other Yamaha enthousiasts (for a change) and try out some of the new models. Is anybody listening Yamaha??? What a wasted opportunity! Could somebody please, PLEASE tell me what the dates for this event will be?

Dates should be posted today, sorry for the delay cheers cr

My wife and I had an absolute blast in Revy again this year. I stand by what I said last year, the Yamaha Canada Team knows customer relations inside and out. You guys put on an absolutely awsome event. Many companies could learn from your example.

We enjoyed meeting new and old friends alike up on the mountain. Herbie Burgers were the best yet!!!! The snow was fantastic and the weather was really pretty darn nice.

The new XTX is going to be a hit with many markets, and the new front end geometry is a big improvement over 2008. Nice Job!!! The Venture GT makes me want to get old, well not really, but it is a sweet ride for the touring segment. And the RTX SE……… JUST COOL!!!!!

We just got back today (Wednesday) and I am still excited about the trip, telling everyone I see how awsome the snow was, how great the Yamaha people are, and how I can’t wait to get back up there!!!!!!

Chris, wondering is there is a chance of getting the little video you guys played at the beginning of the slide show stuff. The one with the vintage to new footage?

Thanks again Chris and the Yamaha Canada Team for one of the best long weekend adventures of 2008!!!!!

Thanks Steve, It was truly a pleasure to meet you both, glad you found the trip worth while and appreciate the positive feedback. I’ll ask about the vid clip, it was cobbed together for internal (private) use thus I might have to remove the audio tracks… cheers cr

On another note, I noticed a ‘track comments’ option on the email link. That should be an easy way to keep track of new reponses I think – thanks for that!!

Cheers,
YK

Its a busy time to be on the mountain… just found out my brother traveled up from the Okanagan to visit us on the hill and couldn’t get a parking spot to unload. He said many trucks were seen heading away from Boulder to ride elsewhere… word to the wise… get there early!

cheers cr

Over on TY there seem to be a bunch of issues with the 08′s – which are being modified with non-OEM workarounds, but I held off hoping MamaYama would deal with most of these teething issues in th 2009′s.

I will have to try to get to this event in Revelstoke next year. I was sledding in the Monashees near Edgewood over the Easter weekend, but had to make a business trip to Toronto last weekend.

Thanks for the blog it’s been interesting to follow and show’s Yamaha’s leadership and commitment to the sport.

Hey FJR, re: the Nytro MTX, it does not get the geometry change the same as the trail versions. By nature of its narrow ski-stance the changes really don’t apply the same. It does however get HPG gas shocks in the skid frame with the kicked up rail. As far as the issues on TY go, there is a lot of confusion on there as to what is really happening and often durability issues are being lumped in with geometry updates and tuning. All I can say is our service guys are investigating all the information coming through and the actual claim numbers are quite low, stay tuned we’ll need some more time to figure everything out. cheers cr

Thanks Rick and it was a pleasure to meet you… Funny thing about Jon you know, we work hard right into the weekend then give the guy a day off and whats he do? goes snowmobiling… gotta love it!! cheers (say ‘hey’to Terry and the Kelowna Yamaha crew for me) cr