Officially a Ski-Doo rider now..

christopher · Oct 31, 2016

Drewd said:
I commend you for taking out never ever's on your sleds.

I wish more people were as inclusive and welcoming of newbies as it is the only way I think this activity can survive the onslaught of incremental environmentalism.

Good luck on your remaining purchases!

Here's the deal.
This began when my son was attending BYU in Rexburg.
He would always ask me if he could bring along a buddy from school.
I would say sure, and we would end up with 1-2 "Never-Evers".
Thing is, its a HELL OF A LOT OF FUN to introduce a young 20 something to sledding and see that PERMAGRIN on their face at the end of the first day's riding. I admit it, its a heck of a lot of fun to share something I am really passionate about with others that have NEVER had the opportunity.

While I live about an hour away from Island Park, it just amazes me how many people in my own community have NEVER gone sledding. So we try hard to take out newbies on a regular basis, not every ride of course, but frequently.

christopher · Oct 31, 2016

geo said:
"So long as I have to write out a check for my sleds and all the goodies I bolt onto them, you can rest assured that what I have to say about the brands is honest and NOT bought and paid for..." Oh really??
So now you claim to be a God from Mars with no bias to the brand you sit on each ride, caress when out of sight of the wife and took 10's of thousands out of the bank to purchase?
Please Christopher, we are not all teenagers here.

OH HELL NO!
There is a difference between being BIASED, PREJUDICED and being HONEST.

I evaluated ALL of the sleds on the market.
And I am in a position to pick and chose from every single offering out there. Having done my homework, I made the conscious decision to move From Yamaha over to Ski-Doo.

I HONESTLY had NO PREJUDICE for any of the 3 2-stroke manufacturers.
I think we can demonstrate that by my years and years of riding Yamahas and having never owned a 2 stroke in my life! I can HONESTLY say that I think the new 850 will "Factually" be the best performing mountain sled "THIS" season. Next year will have new surprises for everyone.

So having made a logical choice to purchase 3 new sleds doesn't not in any way infer BIAS in my decision making process. Thats just not that facts of how it went down.

As for my reviews.
Each item I have purchased and written about over the last 8 years has been done with my own money, NOT with company funds from SnoWest!

I research it.
I shop it.
I buy it
I install it
I ride it
I LIVE WITH IT FOR YEARS afterward.

Absolutely NO ONE writes as in depth thorough reviews of products and their real world installations as I do. NO ONE!

I have been brutally honest in those reviews.
Please, feel free to let me know which one of these is the best example of my BIAS?

http://www.snowest.com/forum/showthread.php?t=271114

http://www.snowest.com/forum/showthread.php?t=219242

http://www.snowest.com/forum/showthread.php?t=200373

http://www.snowest.com/forum/showthread.php?t=366674

http://www.snowest.com/forum/showthread.php?t=284250

http://www.snowest.com/forum/showthread.php?t=366609

http://www.snowest.com/forum/showthread.php?t=219235

http://www.snowest.com/forum/showthread.php?t=288840

http://www.snowest.com/forum/showthread.php?t=272168

http://www.snowest.com/forum/showthread.php?t=278791

http://www.snowest.com/forum/showthread.php?t=282996

http://www.snowest.com/forum/showthread.php?t=203491

PaulAnd · Oct 31, 2016

Wow Geo...
Was that an @$$Hat rant?
Or a fun loving ribbing?
I couldnt tell?!?

christopher · Oct 31, 2016

PaulAnd said:
Wow Geo...
Was that an @$$Hat rant?
Or a fun loving ribbing?
I couldnt tell?!?

Probably a little bit of both to be perfectly honest.:face-icon-small-hap

marvelous · Nov 1, 2016

I'm sorry!

LoneViper · Nov 1, 2016

So Christopher, here's what I think. Ride the 3 Skidoos and keep the Phazers for the " Newbees" the riders will have fun and the four stroke market will still be covered. Not a 100% sell out if you will.

geo · Nov 1, 2016

Bias - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bias
"Bias is an inclination or outlook to present or hold a partial perspective, often accompanied by a refusal to consider the possible merits of alternative points of view, especially when related to new snowmobile intros or purchases and enhanced by colors selected by marketing experts."

This,,, and isn't it true of all sledder's and the result of their research before the purchase of passion,,, and leading to endless threads of comparisons of apples and oranges,,, and usually ending with a call out or three between peeps on other sides of the great divide or insults about your grandmother.

No rant Christopher, just fun and a bit of shock about your quick departure as the last Yamaha factory connection. You've been a trooper all these years but the grass will be greener.

If I was a young buck in need of a true mountain sled as you were, my research would have led me in the same direction.
Thing is, as you get "more mature" and your wisdom has been enhanced with decades of Snowest research, you come to realize,,, and I will use what IMO is the quote of the year,,, "All sleds matter".

christopher · Nov 1, 2016

geo said:
Bias - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bias
"Bias is an inclination or outlook to present or hold a partial perspective, often accompanied by a refusal to consider the possible merits of alternative points of view, especially when related to new snowmobile intros or purchases and enhanced by colors selected by marketing experts."

This,,, and isn't it true of all sledder's and the result of their research before the purchase of passion,,, and leading to endless threads of comparisons of apples and oranges,,, and usually ending with a call out or three between peeps on other sides of the great divide or insults about your grandmother.

No rant Christopher, just fun and a bit of shock about your quick departure as the last Yamaha factory connection. You've been a trooper all these years but the grass will be greener.

If I was a young buck in need of a true mountain sled as you were, my research would have led me in the same direction.

Thing is, as you get "more mature" and your wisdom has been enhanced with decades of Snowest research, you come to realize,,, and I will use what IMO is the quote of the year,,, "All sleds matter".

YOUNG BUCK EH?
Dude, I am 53 years old!!

As to the quick departure, allow me to tell you WHY..

My 24yr old son has Spinal Kyphosis, in common parlance this is what causes "Hunchback". He has a 60 degree curvature in his upper spine that allows him to bend forward and place his hands FLAT on the floor.
At the end of a day of riding his Turbo Nytro he is in truly EXCRUCIATING pain, so much so he was ready to hang up riding this year and walk away from it for the rest of his life.

So, "Dad" decided that he didn't want to lose his favorite riding partner and started looking into what we could do to mitigate his untimely departure from our favorite sport. The first and most obvious thing was to reduce the total load on his body from sledding. That means we needed a LIGHT sled, no matter how much we LOVED the raw power of the boosted Nytro/Viper, getting rid of 200+ pounds MIGHT buy him another season or two of riding before he is eventually compelled to hang up the sport as the condition continues to deteriorate.

So this presented me with an opportunity to try something entirely new myself as well. Last season I made the decission to walk away from my beloved Yamahas and move over to Ski-Doo after taking a looooong hard look at all the sleds on the market and having some heart to heart conversations with the guys in the magazine. In the end everyone felt this new 850 was really going to be an amazingly big hit with the market. So we took the plunge and dove in.

By tongiht I should have all 3 of my new 850s.
1 "X" model and 2 "SP"s.

And for me the adventure will start all over again!
And that is something that most sledders don't ever get to experience.

As I suspect riding a s stroke will be WILDLY different that all the years I have under my belt of riding boosted 4 strokes.

RevXRider · Nov 1, 2016

That's awesome bud and I bet your boy appreciates it! Enjoy how many years you have left riding together!

Summit74 · Nov 1, 2016

christopher said:
YOUNG BUCK EH?
Dude, I am 53 years old!!

As to the quick departure, allow me to tell you WHY..

My 24yr old son has Spinal Kyphosis, in common parlance this is what causes "Hunchback". He has a 60 degree curvature in his upper spine that allows him to bend forward and place his hands FLAT on the floor.
At the end of a day of riding his Turbo Nytro he is in truly EXCRUCIATING pain, so much so he was ready to hang up riding this year and walk away from it for the rest of his life.

So, "Dad" decided that he didn't want to lose his favorite riding partner and started looking into what we could do to mitigate his untimely departure from our favorite sport. The first and most obvious thing was to reduce the total load on his body from sledding. That means we needed a LIGHT sled, no matter how much we LOVED the raw power of the boosted Nytro/Viper, getting rid of 200+ pounds MIGHT buy him another season or two of riding before he is eventually compelled to hang up the sport as the condition continues to deteriorate.

So this presented me with an opportunity to try something entirely new myself as well. Last season I made the decission to walk away from my beloved Yamahas and move over to Ski-Doo after taking a looooong hard look at all the sleds on the market and having some heart to heart conversations with the guys in the magazine. In the end everyone felt this new 850 was really going to be an amazingly big hit with the market. So we took the plunge and dove in.

By tongiht I should have all 3 of my new 850s.
1 "X" model and 2 "SP"s.

And for me the adventure will start all over again!
And that is something that most sledders don't ever get to experience.

As I suspect riding a s stroke will be WILDLY different that all the years I have under my belt of riding boosted 4 strokes.

Wow! That's awesome! That's what this sport is all about! Experiencing the backcountry with your best friends and family!

PS. First day on this new G4 you will probably tip it over on the trail, they are that easy to ride! Haha

Ace Freely · Nov 1, 2016

Kuddos to you for keeping your riding buddy...

...end of the day, we are ALL riders...let's use the energy we put out bikering line school girls over what sled is best, and use it to keep our riding areas open!

Ace

PaulAnd · Nov 1, 2016

Rotax_Kid · Nov 1, 2016

christopher said:
YOUNG BUCK EH?
Dude, I am 53 years old!!

As to the quick departure, allow me to tell you WHY..

My 24yr old son has Spinal Kyphosis, in common parlance this is what causes "Hunchback". He has a 60 degree curvature in his upper spine that allows him to bend forward and place his hands FLAT on the floor.
At the end of a day of riding his Turbo Nytro he is in truly EXCRUCIATING pain, so much so he was ready to hang up riding this year and walk away from it for the rest of his life.

So, "Dad" decided that he didn't want to lose his favorite riding partner and started looking into what we could do to mitigate his untimely departure from our favorite sport. The first and most obvious thing was to reduce the total load on his body from sledding. That means we needed a LIGHT sled, no matter how much we LOVED the raw power of the boosted Nytro/Viper, getting rid of 200+ pounds MIGHT buy him another season or two of riding before he is eventually compelled to hang up the sport as the condition continues to deteriorate.

So this presented me with an opportunity to try something entirely new myself as well. Last season I made the decission to walk away from my beloved Yamahas and move over to Ski-Doo after taking a looooong hard look at all the sleds on the market and having some heart to heart conversations with the guys in the magazine. In the end everyone felt this new 850 was really going to be an amazingly big hit with the market. So we took the plunge and dove in.

By tongiht I should have all 3 of my new 850s.
1 "X" model and 2 "SP"s.

And for me the adventure will start all over again!
And that is something that most sledders don't ever get to experience.

As I suspect riding a s stroke will be WILDLY different that all the years I have under my belt of riding boosted 4 strokes.

That's a great story Christopher. At the end of the day, does it really matter what any of us ride? If we are that hung up on the paint and name on the side of the machine, we shouldn't be in the sport as we're in it for the wrong reasons. Have fun and enjoy as what you've described it really what it is all about.

christopher · Nov 1, 2016

RevXRider said:
That's awesome bud and I bet your boy appreciates it! Enjoy how many years you have left riding together!

God Willing, this will buy him another couple years in the mountains with me.

goridedoo · Nov 1, 2016

christopher said:
God Willing, this will buy him another couple years in the mountains with me.

I bet you he will feel night and day better after a day of riding, should be a great year for the both of you, and hopefully many more to come!

christopher · Nov 1, 2016

goridedoo said:
I bet you he will feel night and day better after a day of riding, should be a great year for the both of you, and hopefully many more to come!

I can honestly say that BOTH of us are VERY EAGER to see just how these new 850's compare to our boosted Yamahas.

Hopefully the beginning of a NEW LOVE AFFAIR!

capulin overdrive · Nov 1, 2016

christopher said:
God Willing, this will buy him another couple years in the mountains with me.

Snowbike might be the bees knees for him? 200lbs lighter, and not as much rip your arms off with the throttle.

NorthMNSledder · Nov 1, 2016

christopher said:
God Willing, this will buy him another couple years in the mountains with me.

As someone who has been dealing with this for 20 years. I have no doubt that you guys will be able to find a combination of gear and sleds that work for him and keeps him on the snow. I know for me it used to be very hard on the back after a decent day of riding. Now with lighter sleds and lighter gear I plan week long trips were we ride every day with no worries about my back (the rest of me gets tired first! LOL).

rocks rev · Nov 1, 2016

It's hard to beat riding with family, my boy is 7 1/2 and I can't wait till he can ride like I do.
P.S. you haven't made it to "Ski-Doo Rider" status yet, just owner. :becky:

RevXRider · Nov 2, 2016

christopher said:
God Willing, this will buy him another couple years in the mountains with me.

Money well spent! the smile on both your faces when you rock these new summits will be priceless!!!!!!!

Now somebody in the real world post up a review on how these bad boys go!

Officially a Ski-Doo rider now..

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