Thinking it might be time to wrap the ‘Snake Eyes’ saga. I jumped in my tin-boat after our regular Sunday rainstorm to bail it out . Third scoop of the bucket and a young water snake slithered out from under the fuel tank platform aggressively swimming directly at my writing hand, had to use a paddle to evict her… perhaps she was delivering a message .
And so it was, the SX Viper became a highly refined variation of the SXr. The new engine proved to be extremely efficient and bullet proof. I’m not so sure the FAI (ram-air) feature was near the benefit we had hoped, although Saito still swears it makes a difference of three to four horsepower at top speed. I remember how much attention was spent on the air management and layout, one example of the level of detail that goes into a Yamaha can be seen in this sound hologram analysis: 0MC0717.
The engine was sneaky fast, not as hard hitting as the big twin 800’s but far smoother and more linear in it’s delivery. Although the horsepower numbers didn’t peak that high on the dyno, the torque was very ‘usable’ and ‘tractable’, it ‘got ‘er done.’ More importanly (at least to Yamaha), very few ever ended up on the wrong end of the tow rope and we also set the bar for low fuel and oil consumption. I found this report on the competition which I wrote after ridng all thenew stuff at the Snowshoot in Yellowstone, I think it was: Snow Shoot 02
The Viper’s marketing had to be tweaked somewhat due to all the changes in the original plan. Several ‘creative briefs’ occurred. I found this marketing strategy document from the ad agency working on the Viper account. It is based on their market understanding after meeting and discussing with our people. Note the names have been changed to protect the innocent :2002SXViperBlueStrategy . I can’t duck the bullet when it comes to marketing hype, I also found this letter I wrote, which was part of a direct mail campaign to Canadian owners of SXr’s and SRX following the release of the new Viper. Hey I only had to swallow hard once! Snake Bit
The first season we had a lot of feedback regarding the ride comfort of the SX Viper. Most were pointed at the shocks and skid frame set-up while some questioned the seat firmness. This eventually led to some countermeasure specs and I remember taking off for a few days with my riding partner Mike Collins andSteve Brand from TekRiderto do some real world testing and evaluations. Steve volunteered to do the trucking and we headed north after picking up the Supertrax Viper press sled which Mark and Kent had been struggling to dial in. I still remember the Supertrax article recommending everyone remove all pre-load from all four shocks as the ‘hot set-up’ for trail riding, it was that sled I wanted to try. We also had a base line stocker and one with the latest countermeasure spec from factory. Steve wanted to have us test some of his latest TekVest products and he had acquired a set of the then ‘new’ Precision skis from Skidoo. Here’s my report from the archives. It dosen’t include the part where after breaking trail for many miles we all ran out of fuel. If it had not been for an abandoned Cat with a very tight engine and full tank of gas we’d of been in some serious doo-doo. Steve did the honors of sucking on the siphon hose and remarked how much better the premium fuel in the kitty tasted compared to the regular gype he had just sucked from Mikes sled to stay in the game. The way I saw it is; we made the Cat much lighter for the tow out, no worries, you are welcome…
Made me smile to review after this many years. I’ll let you read between the lines. After the report was written several of the items I referred to were addressed in different ways, including at least one lawsuit for Skidoo (we have been and still are, struggling to find a good ski / skag design that is not patent protected): reportSXV02
The second year Viper’s had most of the wrinkles removed with improved suspension settings. We also came up with a controversial shock update kit for owners who found their 02’s too stiff. The rear heat exchanger was also addressed (originally left off to save weight and cost based on testing that indicated we could live without one). And then there was the ViperScomplete with adjustable Ohlins front shocks and the Ripsaw track / deep keel ski cloned from the RX-1… what a difference, what a great sled! (not unlike the Exciter SX scenario), get it right and discontinue… d’oh!
So there you have it. What started out as a clean sheet of paper became a nicely evolved snowmobile based on many existing parts and refinements. It is my perception of this which led to my post entitled: ‘The Last 2-Smoke’ which talked about the SRX being the final new 2-stroke developed by Yamaha before going full-on 4-stroke. It’s debatable whether the Viper is truly the last 2-stroke that Yamaha developed, just depends how you look at it. Matter of fact I understand that the Bravo is getting a clutch update next year, maybe that should qualify
I hope you enjoyed this little series. If Saito comes up with any more details or images I’ll do an update down the road. Until then I must get back to finishing up my cottage and fending off snakes.
Before I jump into the next part of the Viper story, there are a couple of news bits I’d like to share with you. First our very own Randy Swenson has been recognized as mountain rider of the year for his performance in Thunderstruck 7, (link to see the new trailer for TS8), which also received the Oscar for extreme snowmobile film of the year. Congrats guys!
And for the go fast crew, it is official, Gilles Gagne and his G-Force / Lamtrac team have been officilally accepted by the Bonneville promoters and world sanctioning body, the FIM to challenge the world speed record with their blown Apex streamliner during speed week on the salt, September 20-26, Wendover Utah. He is silently hoping to break the motorcyle record of over 300 mph!
… The monoshock performance became the main focus for the ‘what’s next’ debate. Engineering finally concluded that the ill fated ‘boinger’ could not be massaged into an acceptable component leaving us with only one option, use the Pro-Action plus system. The domino’s started to fall in sequence. Without the long travel mono-shock the unequal length, rack-steer, front end plans died on the vine and next thing we knew our baby had morphed into an SXr chassis / suspension with a lightened up SRX motor. A long way from the original ‘all-new’ concept.
None of this helped to hit our weight targets which would have seen the Viper coming in significantly less than the SXr700 but how could it when it used the same chassis and suspension? The suspension eyeball was still aimed at a big bump / ditch banger target. The original testing criteria for the monoshock system was set to run a section of 3-3.5 foot bumps spaced at 20 to 40 inch intervals running a steady 35 to 45 mph…sitting down! The gentleman from sales who was adamant about this is no longer employed by Yamaha so I can say this… buddy you were outa your gourd!
I have learned when speaking with many sledders, the moguls they describe are often scaled similar to their manhood, where the three foot bumps they’ve been riding all day are really a foot and a half at best. Regardless, once a target has been established we don’t mess with it and when the monshock went away the ProAction really had its work cut out for it.
We had several years of tweaking the Pro Action system and as we all know, there is no magic setting to offer a plush ride and still resist serious hits. It was explained to me once that the first 8 inches of suspension stroke was fairly progressive but became linear towards the latter part of the travel then digressive as it fell through itself at the end. Think of it this way, riding through a series of 1-2 foot stutter bumps with the suspension stroking under ten inches, life is pretty good, staying flat and plush, that’s progressive. Now bomb down a smooth hill with a g-out at the base pushing the skid deep into the stroke and hit a small frozen pine cone, suddenly it bottoms hard and unexpectedly, loosening up your back fillings and sending that unmistakable tingle up your spine (that’s the digressive part.) ouch!
It was this severe bottoming that could break stuff and in the case of a bump sled, needed to be addressed.
Whenever the spring rate was stiff enough to limit the bottom out, ride comfort suffered. Engineering was reluctant to use multi-rate springs and position compensating valving and Kayaba had certain limitations to settings if there was a chance of bending the damper rods. In the end the short center shock received some very stiff compression damping and the stiffest spring we had. The ride wasn’t plush but it could take a pretty good hit. But, as fate would have it, someone made a change to the front shock spec after final testing / pre-production sign-off and before production. I have not been able to find out exactly who or why but the first production units started showing cracks in the hoods, which after investigation, was credited to over damped front shocks. Instead of the small bump energy being absorbed, the shock remained rigid and all the rattling went into the chassis. At the same time the stiff front end was being kicked up by the bumps which were now coming into the center shock farther back and effecting the coupling point making the already stiff rear end even less compliant…
In the next segment I’ll focus not so much on what we had intended to build but what we brought to market and how we positioned it. I spoke to Masa Saito (seen in this Alaskan fishing trip photo) earlier this week and he promised to dig up some development stuff when he is at factory later this month. I have some interesting documents from the research and marketing side to sprinkle in. cheers cr
Before I start this post I want to thank everyone for your comments on part one, your interest has motivated me to spend a bit more time on this and go into some additional detail, good way to wait for snow, if nothing else.
The time I spent on the mono shocked SXr really opened my eyes to where we were heading. I have to tell you a funny thing that happened to me with it:
I was attending the annual ‘Snow Shoot’ where all the OE ’s get together with the vertical media to demo ride and hob-knob with all the latest offerings. We were in St. Donat Quebec that year and I had brought my machine, keeping it carefully hidden away from the cameras and inquisitive journalists. One afternoon I snuck away from my duties and headed up the trail into the park(Mt Tremblant) to get some saddle time on the mono-shock. I decided to turnaround at a remote watering hole that was advertising poutine and Labatt 50 (and no I didn’t). I sat down at a table where I could keep and eye on my sled while I warmed up.
As I was waiting for my bill a large group of Americans were walking out (yes you do have an accent ) and one of them spotted the blue sled off to the side. Next thing I knew, two guys were snappng pictures, one of them laying down with his head in the skid frame. By the time I got outside the hood was open and a group of guys were huddled around. I pulled on my lid as I approached, key in hand. ‘Hey is this your sled?’
… In my best French I responded that I did not understand English, dropped the shroud, pulled the string and took off back to the hotel… I spent the next two weeks searching the web (Totallyamahaand HCS) to see if the photos got posted or linked, luckily, they did not. I most certainly did not want to have to explain how the proto suspension got leaked on my watch…
Prior to St. Donat, I found myself on a jet heading up to Alaska for the OMC joint test in Paxson, where we would evaluate the sled after it’s several weeks of testing and calibration. I was totally prepared to whine about how stiff and heavy the sled felt (assumed) based on my experience with the SXr. I was shocked when I discovered the prototype was a marshmallow. What felt like transfer initially, turned out to be sag and when hitting the bumps it demonstrated bottoming and pitching which I concluded- again based on my SXr mono experience- must have been because I was letting up on the gas trying to time the hits. I remember taking the next run holding the throttle open, standing up and expecting it to eat the abuse. Second bump in and my feet were three feet in the air as I looked down at the headlight. I was flapping like a flag on the end of the handle bars. Luckily I didn’t break anything and returned the sled to Rick (the suspension guy) with out saying a word. I needed to candidly speak to our testing manager Jim Kedinger (whom I always trusted for his honesty and respected his candor), was it me or the OMC? … it flat out sucked!
What followed was not pretty. During the wrap up meeting we were shown the engineering targets for weight, handling , comfort, acceleration, top speed etc., mapped against our evaluations sheets. We had not achieved any of them and when drilling down, clearly we were heading in the wrong direction with only top speed being close to acceptable.
It is always difficult to walk into a situation where a group of people have been working hard on something for months and your position is to confirm what they likely already know, but are hoping is not as bad or apparent to a fresh set of eyes. Jimmy and I put a pretty good dent in the beer cooler that night. Turns out they had tried multiple calibration settings to get OMC in the ball park but nothing seemed to work to get transfer with any kind of acceptable suspension function. Consequently we couldn’t dial in the ride / handling and acceleration was suffering making the new engine appear less powerful than the SX700. There was a lot of frustration and for the second time only in my career, we were faced with postponing the impending release of a new mainstream model.
YMC was most upset with the first failure and the questions soon followed. The suspension calibration tech (an American) returned to Minnesota and quit his job, not sure if it was because of a woman or the mono-shock results, but he was gone like yesterday. We needed some damage control applied to the product plan.
I learned with the Vmax500, which had been postponed from 93 to 94, that the cancellation of new models for the upcoming season opens the door for some ‘bolt-on’ upgrades and maintenance to the existing line. The Exciter SX was a good example, if only we could have built that in 88 and not waited three years. This is something our competitors excel at but I find the Japanese don’t quite get it. The North American builders can slap on some shocks, skis and a handle bar riser during their lunch break and end up spin-marketing the best new machine since the second coming of you know who…
I found this worksheet in my files that was used to spit-ball some thoughts for the continuous SXr models going into 2001 and salvage of the OMC. OMC Worksheet. In the end we grabbed the headlight and a grease zerk then did our best… here is the basic material we used for the 2001 dealer presentations01 SMB.
We were locked down in the boardroom for a couple of days last week with our friends Todd, Wade, Andrew and Eric from YMUS . Our objective was to establish a ‘one voice’ snowmobile strategy with Canada and USA working closer than we ever have before. As the old saying goes when the going gets tough… the tough gets going. So pull up a stump and I’ll give you some background.
I’ve known Todd for a long time now. He came on board back in the Coon Rapids era as a research and planning guy. His impact was quickly felt as the data he produced became a large part of the ‘product plan’ and international debates regarding our new model development. He was also the first fellow officially appointed to monitor the emerging new world of the Internet, watching for trends and information relative to the sno-mo biz. Now-a-days Todd finds himself sitting at the helm as we navigate through these difficult economic times. Gotta hunch those days in Minneapolis seem far away now…
Then their is Wade our (by my standards) relatively new marketing guru. Let me tell you beneath his mellow exterior facade lurks an animal who, once behind the bars of a Nytro, becomes unleashed, wreaking havoc upon the trail but I digress. Wade comes to us from a deep background in the magazine publishing business with many years invested in snowmobile. Judging from some of his sixty dollar words and quick rebuttals I would have to guess the man has himself quite an ‘edumaction’ as well.
I mentioned some ‘young guns’ in my last post, well Andrew qualifies as one of them in his position of product manager for the U-crew. Another young man with a lot on the ball. Brains, athleticism and passion for motor sports makes for a potent cocktail and ‘Drew has copious amounts of them all.
This was the first time for me to meet Eric but I doubt it will be the last. I never got a lot of his background but when the conversation turned to finding exotic motor parts he sparked to life. Something about his rare factory R7 Superbike and the Euro contacts he had made… Eric is in command of the US fleet of demo ride teams and trade show exhibits, a huge logistical challenge in itself.
We had an extensive agenda that focused largely on our 2011 models and all the preparation which goes into a new product line introduction.
Our friends at G-Force had a pleasant surprise recently. As some may know Gilles and his crew established the ISR world speed record for a snowmobile last fall with his Apex powered slip-streamer. He has been working with the officials at Bonneville to run his machine on the salt. As there is no classification for ‘tracked’ vehicles within the organization, Gilles ‘Bonny’ attempt was postponed for a couple of years to allow the technical and classification aspects to be addressed.
Well he had the call last week from the officials after receiving pictures of the sled and details of Gilles world record run in Val D’or, seems they have fast tracked the entry and welcomed Gilles to run this September. There are some concerns regarding the small wheels under the skis causing some unusual ruts in the salt that might affect other vehicles so Gilles may be asked to run at least one test session if required. Pressure is now on as the team thought they had 18 months to prepare, this is now changed to 6. I’ll keep you posted as the worlds fastest snowmobile gets ready to take on the salt…
Left Gilles, center Richard, right Bob
Gilles recently hooked up with another Yamaha world record holder, Bob ‘HONDO’ Davis. Bob achieved his record from Guinness for the ‘most miles in 60 days’ on board his Yamaha RS Venture. The cool thing is the Venture had well over 30,000km before setting out and is currently kissing 60,000km on the odometer, aside from oil changes and a valve adjustment the engine is completely original having never been apart. You can get caught up with all of Bobs adventures on Totallyamaha.
Here is a picture that features Bob and Gilles together with PASSIONYAMAHA’s Richard Hotte. Richard was instrumental in getting the ‘worlds fastest’ together the the ‘worlds most reliable’ for an official introduction and photo session.
Out west another fast guy left his mark on Revelstoke’s Boulder Mountain. Our own Randy Swenson took on all comers at the annual Big Iron Shoot-out and ended up ‘top dog’ in this colorful outlaw event. Turns out his propane powered and boosted Nytro spoiled the day for some fast-talkin, turbo-charged mustard-tubs… ata boy Randy!
In other racing news the factory racing snocross team is finishing up the season in strong fashion. I am looking forward to watching Iain hit the slopes at Horseshoe for the CSRA finals… heres the latest release. round-7-isoc
And overseas our old pal Yuji Nakazawa has locked down the Japan SX championship, heres a few pics from ‘Ace’ Oyama our newest member of the snowmobile development team, (pardon the ‘Jenglish but you’ll get the picture
Last week was one of those ‘pinch me I must be dreaming’ periods where I am reminded how cool it is to be working for Yamaha. I found myself at our testing facility in Wisconsin along with several guys from Yamaha USA, Victor from Russia and a few engineers from YMC. The agenda entailed some very focussed meetings and an opportunity to test ride some new project prototypes. Snow conditions were not that great around Minocqua so we travelled up to Hurley Wisconsin where the trails were in surprisingly good shape. We had some awesome riding conditions under sunny skies at 12F and even manged to run into some fresh grooming.You can see by the smiling faces on this rag-tag bunch of outlaws, at times life in the ‘office’ is pretty good!
Jeff Ryan an old pal of mine from BC, sent me the following story and I found the concept quite amazing. It’s about one of the best kept competition secrets in snowmobiling, the Alcan 200. Imagine if you will, taking a wide sweeping section of highway close to a hundred miles long, hitting it with a giant Zamboni, and running an out and back, no holds barred ice / road race rally for snowmobiles. Welcome to the Alcan.
Here’s what Jeff had to say:
"The race happens in a place that most people have never heard of, smack-dab in the middle of no where. The track is a twisty highway covered in a thick layer of ice, 86 miles one way with 2 fuel stop's, racer's leave 2 abreast and 15 second's apart. After the racer's arrive at the end of the first leg the ambulance and sweep truck's clear the track and then they race back to the start. There is some more info on the Alcan 200 website. This year was the 40th aniversary of the event.
In 2008, the Alcan 200 was won by an SRX700 Big Bore with an average speed of 117 mph. The all-time record average speed is held by the same machine at120.08 mph. To my knowledge this is the only snowmobile road race in North America. There is typically about 40 entries in this race of which only half will make it to the finish. The race is held in the Alaskan Panhandle and BC running into the Yukon and took place on Jan 17-18. This years winning rider is Travis Adam's from Whitehorse, Travis was the last Canadian to win the overall in 98, he has had 3 first place finishes in different classes since first running the Alcan.
Yamaha has long dominated this event, the average speed record is 121mph and is held by a mod SRX, (these thing's are legendary for their aerodynamic's and engine reliability.) The second fastest average speed came from a near stock SRX600, remember the 2 fuel stop's each way, these sled's are moving FAAAST... Most rider's dont need the fuel but they MUST stop, remove the cap and put the jerry can spout in the gas tank This year #2 and #3 were the Hill brother's from Alaska on a pair of RX1 turbo's.
Travis ran a 2008 Apex RTX, extensively modified specifically for this one single race. It is not a trail sled for the rest of the season and will sit til next January. The build is based on a McXpress 270hp turbo kit, due to lack of soft snow for lube and cooling a Nytro rad is installed on the back and a rail spray lube system is added. It's geared as high as possible and the sled will exceed 160mph on GPS, tracks will not last long at this speed so a little control is required. Travis held the machine at just under 140mph to minimize a possible disasterous track explosion. Travis told me that he has seen a pile of track debris on the hi-way and the trackless sled 1.5 miles up the road, no brakes and just idler's on glare ice makes for a long, scary glide
Travis had his sight's on not only the overall win but also the average speed record but unfortunately the second half of the race went through bad weather and 'white-out' condition's. Travis still took the overall but was unable to get the new average speed record, his average was 113mph. Get this, Travis started in 11th-- so on the 6th row--that's 90 second's back of row 1 and he was 1 minute ahead at the half way point (86 miles). Last year Travis lost when he ran out of fuel almost within sight of the finish line, he was leading by a long shot.Travis is funny, I dont know if you can say this but pre race jitter's get to him big-time, he get's diarea and vomiting prior to to any race he enter's... the whole family is involved in racing, have been for a long time. Interesting folks as they aren't in it for the glory, it's simply what they love to do.
Unfortunately there was a tragic death in this years race, a Yamaha loyal rider, running in the vintage class on board an SRV540 Jeff Peede, saddly, did not make it through to the end."
So there you have it... 120 mph AVERAGE over 200 miles, good thing there are no Caribou in the north! Congratulations Travis and Yukon Yamaha, job well done!! and a special thanks to Jeff for sending in the details.
On this rare occasion, I am going to disregard my own ‘terms of use’and shove my arm in the fire. There is an old saying ‘don’t shoot the messenger’, but just in case… it’s been a slice!
I had intended on posting a blog right on top of the new model launch yesterday but I had a couple of problems. The first is kind of lame, but true. I rode just over 840 km on the weekend to take part in the ALS / Ride for John (Snowtrax) and my old fingers (not to mention most of my upper body) was not responding well to neural input.
The second problem, is all the scathing comments I’ve been reading on Totallyamaha, some of which were directed at me personally. I realized the controversy regarding our 2010 line, (which I had anticipated and alluded to on this blog), was more intense than first thought. (Heck, some are even dis’ing Bunny!)
One reason I paused in reflection was SledFreaks challenge to me on TY… ‘Oh you will see my name on his blog… I can’t wait for him to try and defend this insult of a lineup.’
Now I really don’t think he meant the lineup is insulting, so much as what is missing from it is insulting. Most of the disappointment I felt from reading the forums is focused on the Apex and the expectations (and hype) for more power, performance, technology etc.
SF, In all honesty… I have no defense. It occurred to me, just like you, I am also disappointed (have been for a long time). You see, I am also a die-hard Apex rider and I also want a new sled. The only difference is, I learned some time ago, we would not be releasing it this year (not to say wewon’t eventually) and I guess I sort of got over it. Trust me when I tell you I did voice my sentiments internally, in spite of our efforts it was just not possible. But to quote an old ad: ‘we will serve no wine before its time…’ arguably it is time but I cannot share all the background concerning the rationale (some of our competitor’s also visit this blog regularly)
I take a lot of solace from knowledge gained from industry research and web metrics. I know for every one comment I receive online there are upwards to three hundred people who read, consider and draw their own varied conclusions. Many of these folks are not as ‘hard-core’ or extreme when it comes to their sleds. We have sold a good number of Vectors and the new model is really quite impressive and IMHO is now the best choice hands down, for the majority of trail riders. It’s unfortunate it has to live in the shadow of the four cylinder but I will save my Vector comments for another day. Same goes for the Air Nytro.
The other big topic question in several of the comments here and over on TY is to do with pricing and the Canadian v.s. USA imbalance. As I have said before, this is an area beyond my expertise.
I will say on the subject of economics, I am also very disappointed. I am disappointed that the greed of money lenders in the USA was permitted to go so far unchecked. I am disappointed that the ’system’ has failed so miserably and on such a huge scale as to cause a global financial melt-down. I really can’t fathom the depth of impact which this is having around the world, meanwhile we continue to invest in foreign policies (or policing) at what cost? I am disappointed that the Yen has remained so strong against our currency and disappointed with the cards my company has been dealt within this whole mess.
The net result should come as no great surprise. We have been faced with some significant challenges over the last few months and this is reflected in our price increase. I certainly understand the frustrations heard in many of your comments and ask the same from you regarding my inability to debate the subject.
I am however thankful of a few things. I am thankful that Canada has been spared much of the impact of this recession (so far). I am thankful that our engineers continue to deliversignificant improvements to our products, even when faced with severe cut-backs and losses in Japan. I am thankful that I still have a job, a sled and the health (still thinking of you Big John!) to enjoy it.
In closing, I am waiting with baited breath, to see what March will bring when our competitors announce their new models, pricing and programs. It is always difficult to be the first in… If you believe history repeats then you should believe that Yamaha will do whatever we must do to remain competitive.
Man, things sure heat up around here when it comes to new product launch time… I seem to have an abundance of unrelated topics to share and very little time to be creative. So- I figure I may as well ‘shotgun‘ today’s post and let you pick and choose the subjects that interest you:
Competition Stuff, X-Games report from the US boyz, you have likely heard but here is the official word.
Here are a couple of pics from under the hood of the worlds fastest snowmobile… I was thinking what a great ad it would make to get Hondo and his world record mileage sled togther with G-force and their world speed record sled. I see a simple caption, something to the effect of: What does the worlds fastest snowmobile have in common with the worlds most reliable snowmobile? Yamaha engines!
This supercharged G-Force Apex has a potential of over 500 hp, the view from the cockpit is somewhat intimidating. The large central tank contains ice water for engine cooling, the tank on the right side is water used specifically for the liquid-cooled, inter-cooler, then flows over the exhaust system, exiting via a water jacketed exhaust pipe (makes for a cool looking vapor cloud out the back). Some long travel MTB shocks up front for a comfy inch or two of suspension, The steering is achieved using cables like an old style F-I boat… The tank on the left running board hold the fuel (100% alcohol) and the one you can barely see up front holds the oil. They lost an engine to this at one point due to the extreme acceleration duration which forced the oil into the back of the tank causing the front mount oil pick-up to suck air… doh!
I have seen this fluid primary clutch before that Gilles is helping bring to the next level. There are pistons in each of the cylindrical chambers which are oil filled. Under centrifugal force the pistons force the oil into another chamber through tunable passageways causing the shieve to close. Note the schrader valve: the top of the main chamber uses air pressure to replace the primary spring to return the shieve, forcing the oil back into the the piston cylinders. It is infinitely adjustable by varying the amounts of air and oil. It also is not limited (durability) by RPM like a conventional clutch, which in our case, could negate the need for a reduction gear. They have developed a very cool feature with a hydraulic, remote control which allows the driver to hold the clutch shift on the line regardless of RPM, can you spell ‘holeshot’… boggles the mind!
I had mentioned that Gilles has developed a clutch spec for the Nytro which in his words is clutched ’similar to a 2-stroke’. Our OE clutch spec is intentional delivering a very hard hit for the purpose of bump timing and lofting the front end over obstacles . He has discovered- for the guys running around on the groomed trails- that lowering the shift RPM, keeping the engine in the fat part of the torque curve allows for superior trail manners with increased fuel economy. He has machined his own fly weights which shift out sooner than stock and keeps the engine working, they have re calibrated the secondary and applied a little magic, the end result has more than a few Quebec trail burners smiling.
When Gilles was explaining his tuning theory for the Nytro, I was reminded of the old ‘wind-shield wiper’ analogy. This is where the tach and speedo needles advance at the same rate, kinda like a couple of windshield wipers, as opposed to a narrow power band engine (2-stroke) that ideally should tach out to the optimum max RPM then drag the speedo needle up to speed. I wagged my index fingers to demonstrate and Gilles gave me a big grin…’nough said.
Looking to tame the beast, putting more power to the trail with no loss to top performance? Give Gagne Lessard a call, don’t be shy they have English speaking staff… what I’m hearing is all good! cheers cr
New Stuff
My friends over on Totallyamaha have probably seen the latest ‘teaser’ but in case you don’t know… Johnny is back (and thank the powers that be… so is Bunny). I would have posted this sooner but I just stumbled out from the mushroom patch
The embargo date for the 2010 sleds is Feb 10 at 12:00 noon EST. We will have all the specs up on our web-sites and after the dust settles, I’ll add my .25 to the controversy.Yes you read that correct. I anticipate that we will have controversy after reading all the conjecture on what we are about to unveil… I do hope the 300hp turbo Apex rumor won’t disappoint too many if it doesn’t happen… cheers cr
One of the most common product requests we have is, at first blush, a very simple one and one that I hear constantly from friends in the media as well as our dealers. When is Yamaha going to change the ski’s to something newer?
Good question. I will likely raise a couple of eyebrows for trying to address this but I think most of you will understand and appreciate that I am only offering another opinion to the ongoing conversation. Truth be known we have been working on a new ski, off and on for several years… still are. I won’t go into the details but one thing we face at every turn is patent frustrations. There are only so many things you can do to a ski (or carbide) and over the years most have been done and many patents filed. We are splitting hairs to find something that doesn’t come close to someones elses design. Funny thing however, I am not all that convinced we really need one!
Now I better explain that! From a marketing POV we absolutely need a new ski, simply because of all the negative comments I’ve heard and read both in print and on line. From a performance and handling POV, those who have experimented with some of the latest carbide runner designs will most likely concur with the following opinion:
It is not the ski so much as the carbide runner that needs to be addressed.
In fact, our current ski has changed significantly, since its first inception in 1999. It has seen numerous updates and versions. We still have part numbers for the shallow keel (Vmax style) deep keel (ViperS / early RX-1) mid keel (Apex / Vector) saddle type (original), saddle-less (current), wide (TF / VK) and mountain. Within each of those categories there have been tweaks to keel angles as well as axle mounting locations.
Interesting side bar: Jon has been experimenting with our wide ski on his XTX after trying one at a joint test. He pulled the boards off an 09 Venture TF along with a set of piggy back Floats and bolted it all up. Low and behold the steering effort was terrible, making harder to maneuver but the darting is improved. Turns out the sled he rode in the US had VK skis, not TF skis which appear identical, hmmm, upon closer inspection the mounting hole is not the same (ahead of the VK Pro) consequently the TF boards are pulled back towards the snow-flap effectively changing everything. The lesson in this should be applied to any aftermarket or OE ski-swap. Has the chosen ski been developed for and tested on the sled in question? Slap on a set of Pilots designed for a different chassis and weight bias and expectations are what?
Before proceeding, I must drop in a little caveat: ‘Darting’ is characteristic of snowmobiling. All snowmobiles will exhibit darting under certain conditions, it is the nature of the beast when there are manysled tracks in packed snow.
If you are looking to reduce (eliminate) darting, dial in the amount of ‘push’ or under-steer and or improve predictability, these can all be achieved to a large degree by simply changing the carbide runners. You really don’t need to change the ski to make some significant alterations to the ride character. I am not saying you won’t get similar results from a new set of skis (however there are many types and levels) but the runner, IMHO is at the crux of the matter.
There is an interesting ‘poll’ thread on-going over on TY discussing the virtues of two particular carbide designs. I was able to relate as I began my ski experiments a long time ago. I will only go as far back as the first RX-1 deep-keel where I discovered I was not man enough to hang onto the bars of the beast using the stock set-up. That first year I upgraded the sway-bar to a 13 mill with the new links, changed to the mid-keel ski ( a gift from a friend in testing) and hooked up the rear end with a pre-pro RipSaw track, much better, but still ‘darty’, next came thicker host bar, more aggressive carbides, more ski lift…
The following year I moved to the Simmons ski which was working pretty good until I got behind a bunch of REV tracks which btw, seemed strikingly similar to the Simmons… gave them away to Tom and moved back to a mid-keel and duallies… Things got a lot smoother but a small top speed loss and a few missing chips had me thinking. Along comes the Apex (same ski) and more new players in the dual carbide game, tried a couple more designs then stumbled upon a new single skag out of Quebec which came highly recommended from some respected dealer friends (Irwin’s and Markham Mower) The Cobra Head by Qulaipiece offered some quantifiable benefits with its integrated ‘corrector’ (which I first remember seeing in UHMW form coming out of Quebec when everyone had steel skis, to reduce darting fifteen years ago). I have been running these for a couple of seasons until now, which after reading about the Snowtrackers in Supertrax and researching them, I decided to give a set a try. I am going to save my evaluation for another day but I will say I am impressed and quite satisfied with the handling traits. I have not felt any sled track any straighter than what I have experienced so far with these on my Apex. I am using the semi-aggressive Snowtracker but I still need to try the aggressive model for comparison. (many thanks to my friend Richard (Coyote) for hooking me up.)
Another thing that strikes me, the original corrector, (the plastic shim that was affixed to the front of many ski’s to reduce darting), came out of Quebec and currently (IMHO) the best hi-tech single skag carbides all have built in ‘correctors’ and also come out of Quebec. I conclude that the Quebec trail system which is ranked as one of the best in the world, has led the charge of anti-darting accessories as a result of the smooth, fast and snowy conditions which are their norm.Maybe this is just a Canadian thing but I don’t think so, it is just more prevelant on fast, smooth trails.
Most of the trails I have ridden in the mid-west are so tight and bumpy it’s hard to realize the level of darting because there is so much other stuff going on. My point is, not everyone will experience the same level of ‘darting’ based on the local conditions and perhaps the runner will not be so important to the overall handling. That said however I still maintain that any of our performance snowmobiles can benefit from a high-tech runner to some degree and the vast majority of ownersdo not need to change out the ski to achieve great handling.
I think of carbides much as I do tires. Most OE tires on cars and trucks are cheap versions that eventually get replaced with superior rubber to yield improved traction and handling. Like carbides, stock tires are a wearable part that will do the job but when it comes time to replace, most performance minded drivers will select something more suited to their conditions and preference.
Whenever I am asked what one thing would I recommend to dial in a Yamaha trail sled, assuming a good PDI (including ski alignment, 0-toe and suspension set-up), I always say a new set of carbide runners. Bake the stockers and try something new. It’s not a one size fits all formula, you have to do a little research considering all the conditions under which you ride , overall sled set-up and riding style. I am convinced the right carbide will negate the need for a new ski and enhance your overall experience and satisfaction.
Well this week it’s time for me to come clean on some more SRX stuff. Lets start with the name. I was dead set against using SRX based on my experience with the infamous 1981 model debacle. For those who don’t know or may have heard the rumors. The 82 SRX production run (or Vmax as some would have it) was canceled in the name of damage control and to cannibalize the crankshafts for owners of the ill-fated 81’s. Reason being an unfortunate combination of clutch / crankcase assembly and carburetors doomed the TSS SRX to a life of broken crank-shafts. The name was dropped along with the engine and styling, to return as the first V-Max 540 in 1983.
I’m not particularly superstitious, but the thought of naming our new performance sled after the 81 cylinder grippin’ crank-eater seemed somewhat of a marketingFaux pas . But my thoughts didn’t matter because we could not seem to come up with a better name, plus the US guys seemed quite good with the SRX handle and so it was born. The irony in all of this came to light shortly after the first pre-pros hit the snow. Reports of a nasty vibration in the running boards trickled in, which spread quickly into the handle bars… uh-oh. -Long story short-… a welding booth was set up at the end of the crank assembly line and every new SRX crank was hand checked,trued if required and the end pin spot-welded before proceeding. As far as I know, this was the first (and only) time we had a production crank, welded at factory.
I had a good ‘I told you so…’ over some pints with Rit and Greg, but fortunately our crank woes of the 81 never manifested in the new SRX and the engine went on to prove itself quite bullet-proof.
Heres some random pics: From left,-the product development team from US, Europe and Canada, next- myself and Tim Nakano (Saito in the background), -the first prototype used for CG mock-up, and finaly-a 600 proto-engine in field testing:
I’ll put on my marketing hat for the next story. Spring 97, I was the ‘cover boy’ for all of the 98 SRX brochures. The shot was taken by none other than Dave Bush who is well known in the industry for his photography talents. I guarantee you have seen many of his shots in different power-sports magazines and brochures… but I digress.
And so it was, the SX Viper became a highly refined variation of the SXr. The new engine proved to be
extremely efficient and bullet proof. I’m not so sure the FAI (ram-air) feature was near the benefit we had hoped, although Saito still swears it makes a difference of three to four horsepower at top speed. I remember how much attention was spent on the air management and layout, one example of the level of detail that goes into a Yamaha can be seen in this sound hologram analysis: 0MC0717.
The engine was sneaky fast, not as hard hitting as the big twin 800’s but far smoother and more linear in it’s delivery. Although the horsepower numbers didn’t peak that high on the dyno, the torque was very ‘usable’ and ‘tractable’, it ‘got ‘er done.’ More importanly (at least to Yamaha), very few ever ended up on the wrong end of the tow rope and we also set the bar for low fuel and oil consumption. I found this report on the competition which I wrote after ridng all the new stuff at the Snowshoot in Yellowstone, I think it was: Snow Shoot 02
: 2002SXViperBlueStrategy . I can’t duck the bullet when it comes to marketing hype, I also found this letter I wrote, which was part of a direct mail campaign to Canadian owners of SXr’s and SRX following the release of the new Viper. Hey I only had to swallow hard once! Snake Bit
pe you enjoyed this little series. If Saito comes up with any more de
tails or images I’ll do an update down the road. Until then I must get back to finishing up my cottage and fending off snakes.
