With the underhood similarities between the Vector and the Venture so obvious it just makes sense Yamaha would add EPS to its premium touring model.

The exact same power steering unit, skis and upper delta box steering support are used and the change adds genuine sizzle to one of the industry’s best-equipped tourers.

We’ve sometimes complained the driving compartment is a bit cramped for taller riders on this sled and Yamaha has answered with a taller handlebar riser and moved its position ahead a few inches.

The difference is immediately noticeable and allows more seat room for the driver. With the driver’s position a bit more forward, it makes the windshield more effective, too.

These changes amount to a significant update for the Venture GT and will certainly increase the sizzle factor of an already-good 2-up snowmobile.

We’ve evaluated sleds from either end of the crossover market and think Polaris is moving in a wise direction with its crossover product line-up.

For the record, those ends are as follows: The longer tracked, trail oriented crossover used for running deep flatland snow and bridging moguls on trails, to the extreme freerider X-Over genre catering to deep snow boondocking and hillclimbing with the intention of using trails as a means to an off-trail day of riding.

Polaris offers the Assault 144 Switchback, a completely serious, no compromise freeriding weapon seriously at home off-trail and not so much at home on trail.

With the addition of the Switchback Pro Ride 136, Polaris now offers a sled hugely capable at bridging moguls but equally as athletic in deep snow and flatland boondocking.

This multi-character lineup from Polaris gives what only one other manufacturer has right now: Sleds at either extreme of the X-Over game.

There’s a side to the Switchback Pro-Ride we need to discuss here. It’s the new platform’s ability to hone trails.

We honestly felt the Pro-Ride 136 was a completely no-compromise X-Over when it comes to trails.

Moreover, we also felt it takes the external shock suspension to a new and as yet, unreached plateau of plushness and mogul absorption.

Simply put, the 136 Switchback Pro-Ride is the best riding sled in the Polaris fleet, hands down.

So profound is the transparency of Pro-Ride in the Switchback, in the twisties we could not tell when we were on a 136 or a 121.

Ski-Doo’s new r-Motion skidframe comes standard with in-tunnel preload adjustment and gloves-on compression adjustment of both in-tunnel shocks.

However, available optionally (Spring Break) are out-of-tunnel adjusters for both spring preload and rear arm shock compression damping.

The preload adjuster is ultra slick, employing a hydraulic pump mounted on the left rear running board connected to a small hydraulic cylinder cradling the torsion spring pig tails.

This is a must-have feature and makes preload adjustments easier than on any sled in history.

Also, the compression clicker moves out and onto the right running board connected to the rear shock remote reservoir by a braided steel hose.

For MY 2012 the r-Motion rear suspension is only available on the MX-Z X package and XRS models. You’ll have needed to Spring Break order one of these sleds to get a copy.

If you’re looking for an r-Motion model we can unequivocally state the remote tunnel mounted adjuster thingy is a mandatory option.

You’ll definitely wish you’d shelled out for this superb feature.

I’m really pumped that the new 2012 Sno Pro 600 race sled is built on the same ProCross platform that we regular riders will get.

After five years of racing a competition-specific machine that had little connection to most of its consumer sleds, Arctic Cat is returning to the “race-what-we-sell” program that defined the ZR and early-Firecat eras. I see this as huge step forward that has the potential to accelerate the continual improvements that inevitably happen to sleds during their lifespan.

Arctic Cat is at its best when the creativity and feedback produced by its race program directly influences all of its snowmobiles. The amazing ideas generated through race development are staggering, from entire chassis and suspension platforms to individual components.

Examples that come to mind: Torque Sensing Link, Extra Travel Tunnel, laydown engine architecture, Slide-Action suspension, and even the ProCross chassis (which was formulated based on what was learned from the 2008-11 race sled).

This past spring I witnessed handful of engineers and racers spending the day testing one of the early prototype Sno Pro 600 race sleds.

This day included Brian Dick, Arctic Cat engineer and racer; Russ Ebert, engineer and crew chief for the Factory Team Arctic program; Steve Houle, owner of Speedwerx and builder of the 600 mod race engines that powers Open class race sleds; Dave Otto, mechanic for the Factory crew; and Factory racers Dan Ebert and Kyle Pallin.

This particular race sled proto had already seen test time in both snocross and cross-country environments, but this was the first time that Ebert and Pallin rode this version.

While the new-for-2012 ProCross race sled added a new and exciting element to springtime testing, the scene that unfolded this day was a repeat of what happens every year at this time: take the best stock race sled from the current year (in this case, Dan Ebert’s stocker exactly as it came off the track at Lake Geneva two weekends prior), and use it as a baseline to compare, tweak and improve the next year’s sled.

Last year’s race sled was highly evolved and arguably the best stock machine in snocross and cross-country. The goal for the new machine is to be even better. On this day the focus was acceleration comparison testing up a groomed hill.

Ebert and Pallin took turns on each sled, lining up side-by-side and drag racing to the top of the hill, while the rest of the crew observed whatever differences existed between the two machines.

After 6-8 runs, the crew would head back to the Factory Team trailer, where a new clutch calibration, ignition map or suspension tweaks was given to the 2012 prototype. Then it was back to the freshly groomed hill where another 6-8 drags determined the efficacy of each change.

Notes were taken, racer feedback was solicited, discussions ensued and slowly but surely, a direction emerged in terms of calibration.

More test sessions followed, at this location and in the Rocky Mountains. Different Team Arctic racers were brought in to gather feedback and test calibration.

Because this year’s racer is all-new, the company wanted as much time as possible to test component selection and calibration, the production schedule is later than normal, with sleds being produced in early November.

I’m always a little tentative to make grandiose proclamations about new machines that haven’t yet faced the competition. If history is an example of what to expect, then there will be many things learned during the first several races, with the usual teething gremlins getting sorted out via steady, noticeable improvement. If the wins don’t come immediately, it won’t take too long.

I gladly welcome this learning curve element of the new race sled, because there’s a strong chance that what’s learned on the track will eventually improve what we ride on the trail.

To read more great Arctic Cat editorial by John Sandberg, visit www.ArcticInsider.com. Be sure to register so you can post in the forum!