I live in a northern BC town that's has 100% backcountry riding, we ride alot of wind blown sno in creeks and drainages, we for the most part were a cat, doo town, me personally, I left Yamaha in 1993 cause they sucked in the mts, I had many ,many new cats until 13 and I got tired of expensive repairs and driveline failures, but clutch failure were the biggest common denominator in all of them, but in 13, I had 2 of them, and whatever could break, did, they had more shop floor miles than trail miles, that also includes a dropped skirt in each one off them, requiring new engines, but on the other side of things, wen we needed to pound a creek to get into an area, it was ALWAYS the cats leading the way, the doos were always last, as they sucked in deeeep sno due to trenching real bad and uncontrollable with Thier skies in the air. In 14 I left cat for pol, cause I was tired of failures and spending money on them, the local dealers sucked but I also knew I was giving up HP to ride pol, but my cost of ownership went to 0 other than my own self inflicted issues, I now own a 16 axys with over 5000 km on it and I couldn't be happier, never blown a belt, iv had update my motor mounts, get my tps adjusted and currently getting the bushings inside the powervalve casing replaced. My son rid his 13cat in 16 , we had to give it away, but he's also approaching 5000km with 1 belt failure and motor mount upgrade.and we are so pleased with our axys experience, were buying 850s. All the guys in our town that were cat guys have eventually left cat, mostly due to durability issues not performance, though in 16 the axys was hands down the top performer in the 800 segment. I rode a 18 cat 2 days ago and I'm impressed with their progress, would I buy one, no, because I have no reason to leave pol, and my dealer is great. My sons brand new vanamberg bumper is picked from pulling 2 cats out this winter with drive line issues. I have over 40 yrs of riding experience, I don't drink the koolaid, I buy sleds that will get me home and not eat up my retirement fund.
When I had my 14 poo, yea it was in my mind that the engine would wear out early, but I had warranty, I didn't care, it was gradual wear, it wasn't gonna leave me stranded, pistons are cheap, waaaay cheaper than any clutch iv ever replaced on my cat or damage from an exploding clutch. If all I had to worry about was doing a top end every year, sign me up, it's spilled milk.
Imo, this new ctec motor is to late to hit the market, the bar now is 850 and Id imagine cats a few yrs from that. If the new pol 850 is as durable as the 800, theve got a winner. Interesting enough, some of the hard core doo guys in our town are fed up with the high cost of ownership of the g850s and watched the axys have very good overall sled durability that Thier going pol. 2 doos blew Thier motors along with countless belts.
Cat seam to be going in the right direction, but imo, has a little ways to go, loose some weight, get a belt drive, clean up the bars, nicer looking body work, introduce some carbon fiber, these are all the traits I love about my sled. Alpha 1,MMM not sure on that one, inavated , yes but will the track stand up to the job that the rails use to do??? I don't think so and 1 season will tell, it will be interesting how cat will handle track warranty claims.
For those thats never owned a belt drive, try one, I rode a stage 4 SLP axys all day on Monday that's chain drive, even with the extra power ,there was a big difference in throttle response vs my belt drive, my new 850 will also have the 2.6 belt drive, it's that good..
Ride what makes you happy, it's the experience at the end off the day that matters and with me, I'm moving forward with purchasing my 3ird pol since 14 and am excited for new experiences.
