FIRST RIDE THOUGHTS

Good to hear, I may take the plunge and buy one next year....

Yea the XM' are sweet sleds. My opinion last spring XM vs. PRO , XM at least twice as easy on hard concrete snow over my PRO from last year. Some don't believe till they ride them side by side. Plus the skidoo have more power out of the gate.

My impression was a refined, more ergonomic XP. The skis are a HUGE improvement and the spindle/ski geometry works much better, less erratic feedback through the bars.
Power was OK for first ride....gained 100+ rpm first ride.
Clutching...zippy but no hard pull is my impression.
T motion rides awesome in the bumps as does the front. A little easier to initiate pull over than the XP but not by much.....but definatly easier to hold a sidehill and less tendency to wash out and want to go uphill when sidehiling than XP.
Should be a great sled!
Definatly overall, less effort to ride than the XP but more effort than the Pros I have ridden....which is good IMO, but only because I could never get comfortable on the Pro.

only got to put on 30 miles on the new XM. I love it!!! I was worried that it wouldn't meet the expectations I set for it and so far its great. It felt so easy to control and manipulate. I was on a lake with about a foot of fresh and I could lean slightly and put her right on her side. It felt like I could write my name in cursive doing doughnuts if I really tried. The power was on point especially for being new and still in break in mode (it was also -20 degrees so I'm sure the cold air helped a bit). First impression.... all smiles.

winter brew said:

My impression was a refined, more ergonomic XP. The skis are a HUGE improvement and the spindle/ski geometry works much better, less erratic feedback through the bars.
Power was OK for first ride....gained 100+ rpm first ride.
Clutching...zippy but no hard pull is my impression.
T motion rides awesome in the bumps as does the front. A little easier to initiate pull over than the XP but not by much.....but definatly easier to hold a sidehill and less tendency to wash out and want to go uphill when sidehiling than XP.
Should be a great sled!
Definatly overall, less effort to ride than the XP but more effort than the Pros I have ridden....which is good IMO, but only because I could never get comfortable on the Pro.

Click to expand...

Good post , The feedback you refer to in my opinion is due to the spindle ski bolt position located too far bar. When stretched out a tad the habits are far better and less erratic especially on one ski WOT on a climb.And your comments on the Poo are accurate as well.

Originally Posted by winter brew View Post My impression was a refined, more ergonom

Did you change any clutching,what do you recommend for the xms? do tou change the gearing also? im intertested in your clutch kits

My sled came with the front shock preload set at the 3. That is too little preload for a guy my size, all suited up I have to be 260-265(I am a wispy 230 in my shorts). Just by increasing the preload to 4 it settled the twitchiness down a lot. Guys might want to try adding some preload if the sled is reacting quicker than they want. What a great problem to have. My son who is 200lbs all geared up loved it at 3. I rode with my normal group yesterday in bottomless snow and the guys were saying "those clinics you go to have really helped your riding" and "that 163" track sure floats a lot better than my 154" and finally "the XM is a cheater sled".

Finally got to take mine out for its first ride today. Put 105 kms on it and I love everything about it. The power is smooth and strong and the sled does everything that I want it to. By the end of the day and getting used to it, I was doing things I couldn't or wasn't comfortable with on my old M8.

I spent half the day with the sway bar in and front shocks at 2 and felt it was similar to my M8 to initiate and control a carve. Then I disconnected the sway bar and left the shocks on 2 and loved it even more. The smallest input did something, which I like. The sled was more controllable for me and I loved the looseness that it felt like. I am 220 lbs without gear and am going to try setting 3 on the front shocks but I honestly loved it at 2 and had no problems on the trail. The only other suspension setting I'm going to play with next ride is the center shock preload. I have 1.5" of threads showing right now and going to try 1" of preload.

Xm

This is the nicest sled I have ever rode,Shocks set on 2 up front clickers on three on primary.Weight transfer is good,turns are predictable,It looks cool and I like the track.Im looking forward to a great season.

Don't tell no one.

Ok so hard core cat guy and welll ummm.....................
I stuck my *** on a 2013 and conversion could be acceptable.From what I heard should be doing videos.The ski lift got me out of some jumps that otherwise would of bricked.The their so tippy is so laughable.Only time it wanted to tip was hauling a%^ down a bumpy grooomed trail cornering but what sled wouldn't.Side hilling would be rider error but for the most part only lost my line a few times..
The thing flat rips right out of the box.All this being said while it is getting broken in.After getting off it didn't want to go back to old heavy 08 cat.Didn't make you tired and effortlessly went through the trees.Got on it's side if you needed it.. I'm impressed with it and yah it felt better than the number one mountain sled.They done good this yr. My hats off to you Doo guys.Don't chat all day long on this site and just enjoying being out riding.The other brand they are talking lots about this and that while they are waiting for their sled to get out of the shop.O'yah that's right they put a fuji crank in it and now it's reliable.Fuji drive shaft coming next yr.

Yes it can pull the ski's easily but I like that.Flipping rocket with the hard track on a groomed trail.Easily maneuvered in the trees.Track did good in some what powder.Granted I just jumped on this thing so with some rider time on it this sled is amazing.

Gotta luv the wide running boards jumping from side to side and then having no snow piled on them.

great 1st ride 3 ft of powder here in western wash. kinda hard to compair it to anything else, i never went and got out by back up sled 04 rev 159 track set up perfect for me and a great sled, then the group i was with a girl who rides good but a new sled to her this season couldn't turn her sled so i fought with it and let her ride mine back (short day bummer) and only 36 miles on it.
2nd day riding what more powder, great problem. but group i was with this day we were back in the boonies and friends son broke a throttle cable so myself and great rider towed broken sled out, friend got to ride the xm out, only a 17 mile day (another bummer)
3rd day of riding whoo lots more powder 10 hrs riding (well about 2 hrs getting unstuck in all) deep powder and handles so good even comming back and soaking up all the whoops did so many turns in the deep stuff just floats whenever i want it to in all the deep stuff saw and helped lots of stuck people this day but was finally a little wore out at end of the day and we are already planning on a ride the 26th catch this ya about 20 more in of powder is suppose to fall where ya here in western washington wow did i ever buy this sled just in the right time. and lovin it.