Got some miles on my 850 this weekend. My previous sled was a piped 2017 800. So far I’m pretty happy, but not really wowed. I’m currently at 75 miles/5.4 hours. We rode at 10,000ft or so and pulled 8100-8200 rpm with 66s in.
Some thoughts-
1. First thing I noticed is the hand warmers get hot at idle. Sounds dumb, but thats one of my favorite things about this sled so far.
2. They run super rich for the first few hours.
3. As others have said it does not have the bottom end like the Doo does. I would say it feel alot like the 800 until pretty close to WFO. We did not have an 800 with us, and haven’t ridden one since last year, so it’s hard to really know how different it feels.
4. The react front end seems to work well. The sled lays over super easy. I did bend an a arm on a fairly minor rock hit, so they must still be weak.
5. The stock shocks are bad. I would spend money here before anything else. I had Carls valving on my 2017 and it was the best money I’ve ever spent on a sled. Night and day better. I am not affiliated with them in anyway.
6. The pidd comes preloaded with trail maps.
Overall a good sled so far, hopefully it continues to get better with some more miles.
Good news, it got better.
Got another 3 days on my 850 this week. Currently sitting at 160 miles/12 hours. This sled rips. Period. Seems weird but I feel like it really woke up at 7.5 hours, not 2 or 10. Been pulling 8200 at 9500-10500’ with 66 grams.
We had a 2016 Axys 800 with and did some switching back and fourth. The 850 feels lighter and easier to lay over as well as stronger all the way through. Less shake in the 850 handlebars for sure, just feels more refined.
We drag raced up a couple small to medium sized hills in 15-18” fresh on top of a nice base. The 800 is a 163” 2.6, my 850 is a 155” 2.6, both stock. We went a couple times and the 850 pulled 6 or so sled lengths on the 800.
I tightened all 4 shocks up after my first ride and they feel *better* ... still not great by any means. At 165lbs or so I’m pretty surprised at how much I’m stiil bottoming out with how tight things are.
Bent another aarm, upper this time. Not even sure when it happened if thats any indication of how weak they are. Have a bent running board as well... they could use a little beefing up, I bent 2 on my last Axys. High clearance boards on the cheap I guess.
On the last day of riding my sled died and wouldn’t start with out throttle and wouldnt idle. Throttle cable was too tight, luckily I got it figured out right away and had no more issues.
So far I’m really loving this sled... it’s pretty wild for a stocker. Cant wait for the next rip.
