We can’t help but think the decade from 2000 to 2010 brought about the greatest changes in the snowmobile industry and was the most revolutionary time span in snowmobiling’s history. This series explores some of the most revolutionary advancements this sport has ever seen…

HIGH PERFORMANCE 4-STROKES

Although 4-strokes sleds had begun to change market perceptions at the beginning of the decade, no one was taking them seriously until the manufacturers offered exactly what snowmobilers wanted. Simply, it was all about power!

The Yamaha RX-1 was introduced to the marketplace in MY2003 and its straight-line performance was extremely impressive. Right away, the sled could out-accelerate the formidable SRX 700.

Although its handling and ride were suspect, the sled was fast and soon gained an impressive reputation as a performance sled. Soon to follow was a non-turbocharged 4-stroke triple making about 125-hp for the Vector.

Not to be outdone in the 4-stroke market it had birthed, 2004 saw Arctic Cat debut a turbocharged version of its Yellowstone Special, the T-660, gave it some attractive paint and graphics and put it into the 110-hp range.

The sled had a lot of turbo lag but was an absolute blast to ride and soon became very popular. Conversions of buyers from 2-stroke to 4-stroke were becoming more common.

By 2005, Polaris had revealed a truly fast turbocharged twin, put it into its latest IQ chassis and had a sled that could eat a lot of 800 2-strokes for lunch.

By the end of the decade, 4-strokes were regarded as a truly viable alternative to 2-strokes and many strong performing 4-strokes, either naturally aspirated or turbocharged, were offered.

Although always heavier, they overcame that slur and grew a solid following as ride and handling improved.

We can’t help but think the decade from 2000 to 2010 brought about the greatest changes in the snowmobile industry and was the most revolutionary time span in snowmobiling’s history. This series explores some of the most revolutionary advancements this sport has ever seen…

THE MOVE FROM BIG-INCH 2-STROKE TRIPLES TO TWINS

In the late 1990s the industry, Polaris in particular, had begun to notice the torque benefits of using big-inch twins instead of the rampant use of big-inch triples in their highest performing sleds.

Some of it was due to the popularity of snocross racing and the focus on weight reduction for production sleds – a demand driven by Ski-Doo.

Out there on the snow it was becoming a growing trend that many trail-riders were viewing themselves as snocross-like-racers and wanted their sled to perform and ride that way – and more so, they wanted to look that way, too!

Still, in 2000 many OEMs were still offering 2-stroke triples as their premium performance snowmobiles. These 3-cylinder lake racers were extremely fast and focused on blistering, rpm-induced acceleration and top speed.

Looking back, it’s easy to observe their image was at cross-purposes to where the industry was going with the snocross persona. A change was on its way.

In 2003, Yamaha dumped its popular 3-hole SRX in favor of a commitment to 4-stroke triples, Ski-Doo introduced the 2-stroke twin powered 800 REV and Cat had already brought out the rocket-fast 700 twin FireCat.

It was a slow transition away from the triples but by the end of the decade there were no big-inch 3-cylinder 2-strokes to be found.

We can’t help but think the decade from 2000 to 2010 brought about the greatest changes in the snowmobile industry and was the most revolutionary time span in snowmobiling’s history. This series explores some of the most revolutionary advancements this sport has ever seen…

WEIGHT REDUCTION

The trend toward weight reduction had begun to a limited degree in the late 1990s and throughout the ’00s the OEMs were talking a good weight game but it was going slowly as far as big, bold leaps toward significant weight reduction were concerned.

One day in late 2008 a heavy package from Ski-Doo arrived by courier at Supertrax World Headquarters. Inside were barbell weights totalling 50-lbs. What the…?

A note was attached announcing that this was a demonstration of how much weight Ski-Doo had taken out of its newest snowmobile, the MX-Z XP.

When we finally got to touch an XP – and ride it – we were pretty amazed at how effective its boasted weight reduction was at improving the overall demeanor of the sled.

Ski-Doo had employed every weight reduction method imaginable in every aspect of the sled – drive system, suspension, bulkhead design – using lightweight materials, combining functions of components and eliminating overuse of fasteners and unnecessarily complex parts and pieces.

Ski-Doo shouted from the rooftops it was by far the lightest snowmobile ever and it worked immediately. Suddenly buyers of all brands were comparing their potential purchase to a Ski-Doo XP.

The bar was set and there was no returning. Going forward, every OEM was forced into dreaming new ways to make their products lighter. Naturally, when things are lighter, power-to-weight ratios get better and the fastest-sled wars heat up. The whole XP deal started a new way of thinking in the snowmobile industry!

Surprise! The new Venom is pretty much a carbon copy of Arctic Cat’s BLAST introduced earlier this season!

Although that revelation won’t go down in snowmobile history as one of the most momentous new-model announcements ever, it is an important step for Yamaha.

Why? Because the Venom is a 2-stroke! This means there are several 2-stroke sleds on Yamaha’s 2021 model menu in more than one category.

Yamaha’s new Mountain Max sports a 794cc Semi-Direct Injected twin and the Transporter Utility sled also gets this engine replacing last year’s 600 Transporter (not available in 2021). Yamaha also added a Transporter Lite featuring this same 65 horse 2-stroke and a Venom Mountain as well.

This is big stuff from the company that pledged 18 years ago to go all 4-stroke. Yamaha stuck to its word for a long time but now has succumbed to the pressure from its own super-loyal customers to include some 2-strokes in its brochure. Good on them for responding, too!

This is good because it gives us media types something to talk about and inevitably compare to the competition.

The intro of more Yamaha branded, 2-stroke sleds built in Thief River Falls, Minnesota has deep and far-reaching implications. From our vantage point, we think all those options are good!

Less than five years ago the thought of Yamaha allowing its world-renowned brand to be attached to anything with a 2-stroke engine would have been, well, unbelievable.

Yet, here we are staring at two more 2-strokes festooned with bright and bold Yamaha insignias everywhere! This, my sno-mo-friends, is bonafide news!

THE IMPLICATIONS

My focus here isn’t so much on the two capable 800 SDI powered single-slide-rail suspended Mountain Max rides but more on what this means for Yamaha, its dealers and customers.

It’s no secret the deep-snow, vertical sled market is the hottest place to do biz right now. Once considered only a sales volume sliver with a weird bent, the mountain specific marketplace represents at least 25-percent of the total snowmobile industry and arguably as much as 30 percent for some OEMs.

Yamaha’s entry into this market with two exceptionally capable 154 and 165 inch variants means Yamaha dealers no longer have to show the door to so many potential customers.