Well said...
The handling of the 2016s are very improved with the new front end. The reason up here you haven't seen 2016 9000s is because the economy isn't allowing people to upgrade. For what you save on a '14 you can make it as good or better than a '16. What we have seen is dozens of the new front end getting done to the '12-'15 from customers keeping their sleds. Most have a track upgrade done previously, but they are adding other parts like an Evo brv kit, ditching their piggyback box for a real mountain specific Evo reflash, skis, shocks, lighting, or a stereo to keep their interest in their sled going.
From a dealer standpoint it is extremely hard to take used non current 1100s on trade because of rebates on new non currents. Also the general perception that all 1100s are crap makes resale almost impossible from a private level, let alone a dealer level that has to include the possibility of sitting on stock for a year. No one waves the 1100 flag stronger than us but it's almost impossible to fight public perception, and we've been doing that for years.
^^^^ this. As my employment is in the oil and gas industry, this year has made it not feasible to buy a new sled. The M1100T / M9000 has gotten a very poor reception due to the 2012's not quite being ready, and cat being slow to come to the plate with fixes for motor alignment on some of the sleds that had issues (usually once power was added) The heavy feeling can be tuned out of them for the most part with suspension tweaks, I've spent a bit of time dialing in the 1100T with different spring rates and a few different ski combinations to find my "happy place". I will add that MOST have very little ride time on one that was set up properly, and tried miserably to ride it like a 2S - you NEED to plan ahead when riding the turbo 4S, as they react a lot differently. Had I rode a stock one before I snowchecked I likely wouldn't have bought one as it took some time to adjust, not to mention Cat has a tendency to use the same suspension springs and clutching from the 2S across the board, whether it's a 600 or a turboed 1100 4 stroke, so changes were needed to extract the full potential of the machine. So would I buy another? You bet your a$$ I will, as I haven't found a machine yet that puts a smile on my face like the 1100T has, and I've ridden (and owned) a lot of sleds, most of them modded. My wife, who's primary ride is a Pro RMK with a Carl's big bore and Kmod suspension, has ridden the 4 stroke and commented that although it is heavier, she'd have no issues riding it as her primary sled in the mountains, so if a 5'2" seasoned female can handle it, there's no reason that any man in good physical condition couldn't, either. There are a few holdovers in the crate still that will be around in spring due to the low snow conditions and current economy, I plan to build another EVO powered cat in the near future, and keep "Oprah" as a backup sled...
Don't get me wrong, this sled wasn't designed to play in the trees all day as the weight will play on you after a while, but it is capable of doing so - just might take a bit more effort on the rider's part.
