Alpha 1 ride review

idacatman2 · Mar 4, 2018

Prairie Dog said:
How much different was it from your own sled?? And from the 18 Mountain Cat??

It was a lot different from my sled, noticeably easier to initiate a carve and to hold a line on a sidehill, from the 18’ it was easier as well, you could let out of the gas and pick your line and it would pop back up on top of the snow very very nice in on off on throttle popping through the trees

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kidwoo · Mar 4, 2018

Was this a demo through a shop?

idacatman2 · Mar 4, 2018

kidwoo said:
Was this a demo through a shop?

No, fortunately I have a buddy that works at the western research facility for Arctic Cat and he took a group of us riding yesterday.

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d1100t · Mar 4, 2018

Demos

idacatman2 said:
No, fortunately I have a buddy that works at the western research facility for Arctic Cat and he took a group of us riding yesterday.

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I hope your buddy takes more people on rides and more ride reviews get posted.

Cat should've had a few sleds built and did a demo ride tour.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts here!

Bacon · Mar 4, 2018

Is this ride before you buy thing a deal breaker for you guys? Really? This seems to be a new thing the last couple years with people whining about having to ride before they buy. I have never rode a sled before buying. Most of the time the factory setup sucks anyway and doesn't show how the sled can shine when properly setup. It's basically the same machine as last year with a new rear suspension.

fudge313 · Mar 4, 2018

Bacon said:
Is this ride before you buy thing a deal breaker for you guys? Really? This seems to be a new thing the last couple years with people whining about having to ride before they buy. I have never rode a sled before buying. Most of the time the factory setup sucks anyway and doesn't show how the sled can shine when properly setup. It's basically the same machine as last year with a new rear suspension.

Same thing here.. Two last cats, no test drive.. New sled is not ready for me when it comes out of factory. Allways have to do some modification so it good for me.. Not a big deal..

turboless terry · Mar 4, 2018

When you ride a t motion sled and riding wrong foot forward they will try to turn into a tree when going by Soft spots or tree wells. A lot of the time I ride it more straddled up unless it is really steep. Once in a while it will catch you off guard and hard to get your weight back. This is why they need locked out. On a steep sidehill they want to keep sidehilling when trying to push them down to avoid a tree. I seen videos of people pulling them over on concrete and there is no effort. Like 5 times easier than a doo on concrete. Just curious if you seen any of this on the alpha when riding wrong foot forward? Are you more committed to riding straddled up?

NWaxys · Mar 4, 2018

Questions

Will it out climb the 18 mountain cat? Also did you get it in lower non powdery snow on its side? Curious about it on cruddy snow and washing out, also the maneuvers we do on reg sleds as far as hop overs etc are they still capable of doing on this machine?

Is it a better sled than the mountain cat 2018?

idacatman2 · Mar 4, 2018

turboless terry said:
When you ride a t motion sled and riding wrong foot forward they will try to turn into a tree when going by Soft spots or tree wells. A lot of the time I ride it more straddled up unless it is really steep. Once in a while it will catch you off guard and hard to get your weight back. This is why they need locked out. On a steep sidehill they want to keep sidehilling when trying to push them down to avoid a tree. I seen videos of people pulling them over on concrete and there is no effort. Like 5 times easier than a doo on concrete. Just curious if you seen any of this on the alpha when riding wrong foot forward? Are you more committed to riding straddled up?

I don’t know whether to be sorry or not that we didn’t ride in low snow, I can say that when sidehilling if you wanted to go down a bit on your line you could let off the throttle and dip it below and then effortlessly cut back Into the hill and maintain the line.

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idacatman2 · Mar 4, 2018

NWaxys said:
Will it out climb the 18 mountain cat? Also did you get it in lower non powdery snow on its side? Curious about it on cruddy snow and washing out, also the maneuvers we do on reg sleds as far as hop overs etc are they still capable of doing on this machine?

Is it a better sled than the mountain cat 2018?

In a straight up climb the alpha would pull the 18’ by 20’ or so with the same rider on both sleds. Maneuvers were easier on the alpha you didn’t have to commit as hard or put in as much effort. I would rather ride the alpha than the 18 we had in every situation we encountered.

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kidwoo · Mar 4, 2018

Bacon said:
Is this ride before you buy thing a deal breaker for you guys? Really? This seems to be a new thing the last couple years with people whining about having to ride before they buy. I have never rode a sled before buying. Most of the time the factory setup sucks anyway and doesn't show how the sled can shine when properly setup. It's basically the same machine as last year with a new rear suspension.

With something this different, honestly yes.

Sled are more expensive now (this one especially).

The last two years cat has done demos and this sled is even more of a unique new thing than those.

So yeah.....pretty much want to ride one before I would buy it.

john6719 · Mar 4, 2018

kidwoo said:
With something this different, honestly yes.

Sled are more expensive now (this one especially).

The last two years cat has done demos and this sled is even more of a unique new thing than those.

So yeah.....pretty much want to ride one before I would buy it.

I was pleasantly surprised at the price I was quoted. Don't get me wrong, I wish I could buy one for about $5K less, but I also understand that's not practical for what I expect out of my sled...I didn't look it up to get the exact price of my '16, but from I remember this sled is less than 3% annual price increase over my '16. I'd expect 1-2% annual increase with no major feature changes. Considering the number of changes between a '16 LTD and the '19 Alpha, I'd say that's a pretty reasonable price change. I don't like spending $13k+ buying a sled that's worth less than $6k 3 years later, but I think sled prices have increased at a realatively reasonable rate. At least compared to the industry I work in every day...

I do hope to find one out West this week though. I am on the "want to demo" side of this argument... glad to read reviews, but if I had my way I'd have a 154 and 165 out so I could see which length I want. I'm a 153" guy, but maybe the handling of this sled will make me want a 165". Who knows without demoing.

knifedge · Mar 4, 2018

I may just upgrade my 16ltd

--alpha 1 skid
--17 chaincase
--tki belt drive
-18 hood

All that is about $6k though...but my sled might only sell for $7-8k
Maybe sell old plastic, track , and skid for $1500 or so....

turboless terry · Mar 4, 2018

Have to die with it. Your sled will be worth the exact same after you sink all that money in it. Better off to buy an alpha.

Idcatman3 · Mar 4, 2018

knifedge said:
I may just upgrade my 16ltd

--alpha 1 skid
--17 chaincase
--tki belt drive
-18 hood

All that is about $6k though...but my sled might only sell for $7-8k
Maybe sell old plastic, track , and skid for $1500 or so....

You'd also need to either modify your track (if the skid would even fit inside a 162), or get the new track and drivers. I'd imagine eventually Iceage might make a shorter beam for other track lengths.

89sandman · Mar 5, 2018

turboless terry said:
Have to die with it. Your sled will be worth the exact same after you sink all that money in it. Better off to buy an alpha.

I agree 100%, you'd lose less buying the new sled than modding your old. Back in the day you had to mod your sled to make it worth riding but those days are gone. The stuff you can buy now and ride stock right out of the box is insanely good.

Dam Dave · Mar 5, 2018

knifedge said:
I may just upgrade my 16ltd

--alpha 1 skid
--17 chaincase
--tki belt drive
-18 hood

All that is about $6k though...but my sled might only sell for $7-8k
Maybe sell old plastic, track , and skid for $1500 or so....

Need 3400 Alpha kit, track shaft, drivers, track, skid

nothing inside the tunnel is the same as yours

RACINSTATION · Mar 5, 2018

I think the upgrade kit will be a viable option for a lot of 2018 and older owners. Pre-mountain cat you will need to do the drop and roll. You will need to keep your shocks, but most guys can sell the drivers, track, and suspension assembly for around $1800-2000. In the end you would be looking at $1400-2000 for the upgrade. When you consider the track will be about $1300 that is not a bad deal. If you could trade your 18 for $2500-3500 difference.....well that is the way to go.

snowdog484 · Mar 5, 2018

You might as well pass on the '19 and go with a '20. Going to want that 850ish engine to keep up with everyone else! :face-icon-small-dis

Sometimes, I just feel if you want it, just get it. This holding out for next year cause they may have this or that is bunk. Resale always sucks in this sport

Nextime · Mar 5, 2018

Will the Alpha skid kit come with shocks? Thanks

Alpha 1 ride review

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