Alpha first ride impressions

JMCX said:

I'm coming from six years of three different Polaris, a 2010 M8 before that. All 162's with what ever the deepest lug was available. My friend was there with his 18 Axys. He has a Ti can and mine is completely unmodified. I've been doing this mountain riding thing for about 25 years.

The Alpha climbs and sidehills unreal. The Axys is no slouch for side-hilling but switching back and forth the Alpha made it look like a 600 almost climbing wise. The Axys definitely felt more nimble with the weight difference of 30-40 lbs. The snow this day wasn't the kind that builds up in the suspension but the Axys was definitely collecting it on the tunnel and running boards where the Alpha wasn't.

I was expecting a 6500 rpm limit for the first bit but there was none of that and it pulled 8200 on all the climbs even though at the end of the day l had only accumulated 4.8 hrs run time. My understanding is that at 6 hrs the computer will release break in mode and power will bump.

I rolled the Alpha to get unstuck and after l had no brakes! The lever just pulled to the bar. After about 20 pumps l could see the bubbles rising in the reservoir and it returned to normal. I have never heard of a sled doing this. If l hadn't noticed l might have been in for a wild ride as this was at the top of a climb. I will fill the reservoir to the max and hopefully this never happens again.

The shovel Cat attached to the rear of the tunnel to slow us down couldn't take the strain and got bent backwards tearing the whole centre of it out. It's somewhat flexible now. I don't want to go completely flapless so will have to see what's out there.

At the end of the day, coming down the mountain, my temp light came on at 70°C or so (normal seems to be ~50). The snow was dwindling but there was probably an inch of loose on the hard stuff so l was surprised. The scratchers instantly took care of it but I'm wondering about spring riding. The Axys didn't heat up at all without scratchers.

I need to play with the shock pressures as the ride on the bumpy trail could be improved. The fronts came at 85, the rear 150 and the centre 50. Trail handling was no different than any 36" sled in my opinion.

I had a few stucks due to rider error and not knowing the balance of this thing but over all impressed so far. Looking forward to seeing how it stacks up against some 850's.

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JMCX said:

I'm coming from six years of three different Polaris, a 2010 M8 before that. All 162's with what ever the deepest lug was available. My friend was there with his 18 Axys. He has a Ti can and mine is completely unmodified. I've been doing this mountain riding thing for about 25 years.

The Alpha climbs and sidehills unreal. The Axys is no slouch for side-hilling but switching back and forth the Alpha made it look like a 600 almost climbing wise. The Axys definitely felt more nimble with the weight difference of 30-40 lbs. The snow this day wasn't the kind that builds up in the suspension but the Axys was definitely collecting it on the tunnel and running boards where the Alpha wasn't.

I was expecting a 6500 rpm limit for the first bit but there was none of that and it pulled 8200 on all the climbs even though at the end of the day l had only accumulated 4.8 hrs run time. My understanding is that at 6 hrs the computer will release break in mode and power will bump.

I rolled the Alpha to get unstuck and after l had no brakes! The lever just pulled to the bar. After about 20 pumps l could see the bubbles rising in the reservoir and it returned to normal. I have never heard of a sled doing this. If l hadn't noticed l might have been in for a wild ride as this was at the top of a climb. I will fill the reservoir to the max and hopefully this never happens again.

The shovel Cat attached to the rear of the tunnel to slow us down couldn't take the strain and got bent backwards tearing the whole centre of it out. It's somewhat flexible now. I don't want to go completely flapless so will have to see what's out there.

At the end of the day, coming down the mountain, my temp light came on at 70°C or so (normal seems to be ~50). The snow was dwindling but there was probably an inch of loose on the hard stuff so l was surprised. The scratchers instantly took care of it but I'm wondering about spring riding. The Axys didn't heat up at all without scratchers.

I need to play with the shock pressures as the ride on the bumpy trail could be improved. The fronts came at 85, the rear 150 and the centre 50. Trail handling was no different than any 36" sled in my opinion.

I had a few stucks due to rider error and not knowing the balance of this thing but over all impressed so far. Looking forward to seeing how it stacks up against some 850's.

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CRJPilot said:

Coming off an 18 MC 153, and 16M8 153SP prior to that.

Have 8hours and 105miles on the 2019 Alpha One 154.

Rode this weekend in the Horns on a variety of snow conditions ranging from bottomless powder, 10-12" powder on firm base, windblown, and even fresh snow with old tracks underneath. Riding partner had an 18 MC with same suspension set-up.

Im 175lbs w/o gear, I set-up the A1 the same as my 18MC:
Skiis 58psi
FT 48psi
RT 128psi
(60, 50, 130 in warm shop @1000ft)

On the trail, cant tell any difference whatsoever vs twin rail skid.

Off-trail is where the Alpha1 is a Gamechanger. Three most notable takeaways, manueverability, stabilty, and TRACTION!

Immediately there is noticeably less effort required to maneuver the A1. The learning curve was almost non-existent. It was very intuitive to ride. Had to be careful not to over ride it, but that took all of 30 seconds to get used to. You just look at where you want to go and lean, and it goes there with ease. Because of this reduction in effort, I think this skid will be good for riders of all abilities, less fatigue, and more confidence.

I rode some really steep sidehills on a variety of snow and never once had any washouts. It was exceptionally/surprisingly stable on hard crusty or old tracks. Almost felt like cheating!

Usually stability and maneuverability are mutually exclusive, the A1 is very manuevrable, but very predictable as well! Once you get going where you want, it is super stable as well.

Very rarely had to ride wrong foot forward, even initiating steep downhill 180° turns!

The A1 Powerclaw 3.0 3.5" track is an animal. The clutching, skid approach angle, and track just jump up on the snow.
The A1 pulled me back out of some steep n deep holes I dropped into, I could effortlessly turn it around a like paperclip turn, and would just shoot me back up from a deadstop! Silly! The A1 is very efficient, the ctec2 800, may not have the dyno numbers of the 840 and 850, but it is a very reliable, crisp feel, and combined with the roller clutch, Alpha skid, approach angle, and the Traction of this track, give this sled huge advantage!

I don't know if it had more to do with snow conditions, or if this sled is different, but on several occasions I was able to do an "Austin Powers" style 10pt turn around using reverse, surprisingly well, that almost never worked for me on other machines.

There are many other little nice improvements. The handlbar controls. I never once bumped the hand warmers to a different setting. I did bump the kill switch once, but I have also done that on the older controls with the switch guards as well.
The magnetic tether is very nice! The ECU reflash does give a much more responsive bottom-end crisp feel.

I did have my throttle cable come unhooked from the lever once. I suspect a little bit of break-in stretch and I will have to adjust the free-play.

Overall cat has hit a homerun with the A1, definitely a game changer in the mountain segment for sure. I am very pleased with it, lived up to all the hype, imo. Basically every review I've read about the A1 was confirmed . I would say the improvement between the 19 Alpha 1 and the 18 MC, was as much or more than the difference between the 18MC and my 16SP.
I would expect to see more color options for the A1 for 2020!

Gonna be tough for anyone to have a negative review of the Alpha 1 after actually riding one. It flat out rocks!
Alpha1 is here to stay. Durability of the track is unknown. So far it is claimed to be more durable, certainly looks like it is from the eye test! Time will tell!






Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

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sno*jet said:

hurt on Polaris and doo? but it makes less power at the crank and weighs more in the shop how could this be?

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