I'm wrestling with a dilemma.....I want a sidekick on my axys something bad. And I'm not sure asking in the turbo section of snowest is gonna help my bank account much.
I purchased a new 2016 axys 163 snowcheck last year and I love the thing. IMO it's about the most fun you can have with your pants on...but I've never owned a turbo sled and I can only imagine how much fun 200 hp in this chassis could be. Here are my thoughts:
Pros of the sidekick:
1) Power, as much fun as this sled is stock I can't imagine what it will be at 200 hp
2) The sidekick is supposedly a pull and go kit requiring only pump gas. Huge Plus
3) Much cheaper than turbos have been in the past
Cons:
1) Warranty. Say goodbye to that 4 year warranty that I used as an excuse to snowcheck last spring. I've thought about leaving it stock another year or even two, and letting polaris put a new motor in it (I like the fun flipper and am assuming it'll need one in the future) under warranty, then throwing boost at it.
2) I am likely to have somewhere between 1000 and 1200 miles by the end of the season, would I need to freshen the top end? Possibly a durability kit from bikeman?
3) Cost. I just spent 13 grand on a sled, i'm getting married in september, and I don't have 4 grand that I can just drop on a turbo ATM.
4) Incurred future cost. This is really a big one. Top ends aren't too bad to replace and I do my own wrenching. Putting a top end in a two stroke isn't too bad to do. I'm assuming with the axys you wouldn't even have to pull the motor out of the chassis. But how often are you expected to freshen the top end with a turbo? What about the crank? How do these things take the boost? How about belts? Am I going to need a new belt every 200 miles? At $200 a piece from polaris that really gets spendy. What about the rest of the sled? What am I looking at for maintenance costs? Replace weight bushings in the clutch every 500 miles is pretty cheap insurance, what else?
Getting this much invested in a sled, I plan to keep it around for a long while. I'm willing to do the maintenance to keep it up but I would expect it to repay me with several thousand miles before I finally get rid of it. Is this reasonable with the right maintenance? What's the life expectancy of the bottom end?
Thanks for any and all productive input.
I purchased a new 2016 axys 163 snowcheck last year and I love the thing. IMO it's about the most fun you can have with your pants on...but I've never owned a turbo sled and I can only imagine how much fun 200 hp in this chassis could be. Here are my thoughts:
Pros of the sidekick:
1) Power, as much fun as this sled is stock I can't imagine what it will be at 200 hp
2) The sidekick is supposedly a pull and go kit requiring only pump gas. Huge Plus
3) Much cheaper than turbos have been in the past
Cons:
1) Warranty. Say goodbye to that 4 year warranty that I used as an excuse to snowcheck last spring. I've thought about leaving it stock another year or even two, and letting polaris put a new motor in it (I like the fun flipper and am assuming it'll need one in the future) under warranty, then throwing boost at it.
2) I am likely to have somewhere between 1000 and 1200 miles by the end of the season, would I need to freshen the top end? Possibly a durability kit from bikeman?
3) Cost. I just spent 13 grand on a sled, i'm getting married in september, and I don't have 4 grand that I can just drop on a turbo ATM.
4) Incurred future cost. This is really a big one. Top ends aren't too bad to replace and I do my own wrenching. Putting a top end in a two stroke isn't too bad to do. I'm assuming with the axys you wouldn't even have to pull the motor out of the chassis. But how often are you expected to freshen the top end with a turbo? What about the crank? How do these things take the boost? How about belts? Am I going to need a new belt every 200 miles? At $200 a piece from polaris that really gets spendy. What about the rest of the sled? What am I looking at for maintenance costs? Replace weight bushings in the clutch every 500 miles is pretty cheap insurance, what else?
Getting this much invested in a sled, I plan to keep it around for a long while. I'm willing to do the maintenance to keep it up but I would expect it to repay me with several thousand miles before I finally get rid of it. Is this reasonable with the right maintenance? What's the life expectancy of the bottom end?
Thanks for any and all productive input.