2018 SkiDoo Summit X "SNOWCHECKED" (Octane Blue & Manta Green) !

[christopher]

Be Still My Beating Heart.
This sled is drop dead Gorgeous!

No hand wringing on this one for me at all.

I have ABSOLUTELY LOVED my 3 2017 Summits and had a total blast riding them this season. But I have come up against a need for a 4th sled over and over and over again.

Transitioning from 5 Yamahas to 3 Ski-Doos made for one HELL of a season of new learning. I damn near had to learn how to ride all over again. Everything was SO different on the SkiDoos compared to my Yamahas. I find myself constantly trying to UNlearn many of the odd habbits that worked to make the Yamahas perform, that are just NOT NEEDED when riding these Doos...

But more than anything else, I FELT the loss of the extra sleds. Gotta have that spare sled as a backup or for friends/guests. So all this year I have been patiently waiting right along with everyone else to see what SkiDoo would release for 2018. Well, BLUE just happens to be my favorite color, and I can see all kinds of MOD possibilities with this sled. Hopefully the Sled Gods will smile on us with a fairly EARLY DELIVERY so there will be plenty of time to work on customization of this bad boy over the Fall before the first snowflake hits the ground!

2017 has been great, and there is still another good 2 months of riding left to enjoy if the weather cooperates! Heck, maybe 3 months if I get LUCKY!!


So.
WHO ELSE will be taking the plunge and SNOWCHECKING one of these bad boys??

 

[i'llDooit]

Black 165x 3in with shot for me.

 

[christopher]

Oh, and just for kicks and giggles.
I don't think we know "ALL" the details on this new sled just quite yet....

There just might be a few more little pleasant surprises yet to be revealed.

 

[i'llDooit]

Oh, and just for kicks and giggles.
I don't think we know "ALL" the details on this new sled just quite yet....

There just might be a few more little pleasant surprises yet to be revealed.

Like,,, the new clutching calibration?

 

[christopher]

Black 165x 3in with shot for me.

That new SHOT system is going to be a HUGE HIT with everyone!

<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0re-NccX4f0" allowfullscreen="" width="853" height="480" frameborder="0"></iframe>

Here are a few key notes to know about SHOT:

1. Adds just 2 lbs.
2. You have to start the engine once with the rope, then the rest of the day the Shot kicks in.
3. You get just one shot per charge.
4. Static charge in the ultra capacitors lasts about 20-25 minutes. (It worked for up to an hour in our experience)
5. BRP engineered this. 100 percent BRP invention.
6. OEM option on Freeride and Summit. This is mountain-specific. This feature adds $600 to price of vehicle.
7. Shot is a restart system. Don’t confuse this with an electric start. It will require pull rope starts at times.
8. SHOT activation is one rotation of the crankshaft. E-Tec starts on a short degree of rotation.
9. It doesn't crank and try to start like a car or an electric start dirt bike. It just starts.

Shot starts your sled by storing electricity in an “ultra-capacitor” that weighs a mere 2 lbs. That’s a 22 lb savings over traditional electric start systems. But don’t call this an electric start, because it’s not.
We like to call this invention “Auto-Restart.” This is because Shot requires an initial start by pull rope. After your sled runs for 2 minutes, enough energy will be stored to re-start your sled by pure electricity. This works for almost 30 minutes after the sled has shut down. We think Ski-Doo was conservative on the 30 minutes, we had it working for up to an hour after the sled had been shut off. Impressive.

Why this over electric start? Simple. Give up 22 lbs to pull your rope once all day. We think that’s a pretty fair trade.

In the enduro world, most riders won't even consider a bike without electric start, even the easy to start 2-strokes. Why is this? Being able to tap a button to get your bike (or sled) fired up in a sticky situation, will save frustration and copious ammounts of energy. Once riders get a feel for the advantage of SHOT system we beleive every mountain rider will be wanting one.

Here's a real world review of the SHOT system.
"On our intro ride in Sicamous, we stopped and started our sleds over 45 times in one day. Most of these were right after we either got stuck from doing something stupid, or helped pull another sled out that did something stupid. The difference of not having to climb on the sled and pull a rope (multiplied by 40 times) made a huge difference in energy over the day. If you want to argue that electric start is the same or better, save it. We're not interested in anything that adds 20 pounds to a mountain sled. But the SHOT adds just 2 pounds, which is still 2 pounds in the wrong direction, but its benefits far outweigh the weight––literally." - Ryan Harris, SnoWest Test Rider

Weighing in at a mere 2 pounds, this capacator is what stores the energy used by SHOT to start your engine. ​

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[jake21s]

did we squeeze a few more HP's out of the 2018's?

 

[christopher]

did we squeeze a few more HP's out of the 2018's?

NOT that has been publicly announced as yet.
We will just have to sit back and wait to see what comes in the technical specs release. I am still hopeful for a few more ponies..

 

[rulonjj]

I'm snowchecking a 154x2.5 850 in the blue. I agree with you Christopher. It is a beautiful sled.

 

[Rotax_Kid]

Depending on what is acknowledged for chassis updates, I may trade my 17 in and go a year newer

 

[mountainhorse]

Yep.... I think you guys are going to be pretty happy with the refinements in 2018

NOT that has been publicly announced as yet.
We will just have to sit back and wait to see what comes in the technical specs release. I am still hopeful for a few more ponies..

.

 

[madmax]

175x3, shot and MPI turbo. Already salivating!!

 

[christopher]

175x3, shot and MPI turbo. Already salivating!!

Going for the 175 are ya?

 

[christopher]

I'm snowchecking a 154x2.5 850 in the blue. I agree with you Christopher. It is a beautiful sled.

Yup
I totally DIG THE BLUE.
Just think how sweet that would look with a matching BLUE SKID on it!!

 

[sledhead_24_7]

I'm ordered a blue 175 w/ shot this morning at 8

 

[paulharris]

what about the bulkhead christopher????? is it going to be beefed up???

 

[fc8464]

I would be all over snowchecking one of these if I could find some one to buy my Viper.

 

[christopher]

what about the bulkhead christopher????? is it going to be beefed up???

Trying to be careful in what I say here.
SkiDoo corporate is really the ONLY entity that actually KNOWS if this is a real issue or not.

Here on SnoWest and on the other forums we hear from a rather small group of VERY vocal members. if the bulkhead is really an issue, an actual structural design flaw, then I suspect BRP will make some very quiet behind the scenes changes that will not draw any fanfare. But that is just my speculation.

What we don't know, not honestly, is what the total failure rate is for the entire fleet of 2017 sleds. All we can do is SPECULATE, but only they have the actual hard numbers to make the determination of whether or not this is a real issue relative to the total number of sleds manufactured/sold on the market.

Now.
Speaking as a guy who BROKE THREE brand new sleds, one of which have BOTH the E-Mod and the S-Mod broken...

My own gutt suspicion is that this IS in fact a Tempest in a Teapot.
I strongly suspect my failure was the result of a reasonably perfect initial Rock hit, followed by MANY MANY smaller repetitive hits and a LOOOOOOOON bumpy trail ride coming off of Mt. Jefferson that torqued and torqued and torqued the frame to the point of final failure.

My personal plan IS TO add the after-market Bulkhead reinforcement kits to all of my sleds.
And I will probably change out the A-Arms to a "Sacrificial" style so that the energy from an impact has a better place to go, rather than trying to be absorbed by the bulkhead.

All that said, I am really not all that worried about this being some great big issue that would stop me from ordering another one of these great sleds. I honestly think that if I had been just a LITTLE BIT MORE CAREFUL in my early season riding where there was NO BASE at all, and I KNEW there were rocks everywhere and could FEEL THEM hitting my skis, I probably wouldn't have done any significant damage to my sleds at all.

I know that is NOT the case for everyone, but in my particular situation I really honestly think it was pretty much entirely MY OWN FAULT. I knew better, I shouldn't have been riding yet, but it was a super special once in a lifetime occasion and we just threw caution to the wind and broke all three sleds on the same day in the same place.

 

[christopher]

I would be all over snowchecking one of these if I could find some one to buy my Viper.

I will be putting up my 270hp 2015 Turbo Viper for sale myself here in the next week as well.

 

[mountainhorse]

My indications are how well do they survive in the "fleet" business's.... those are the ones I'll be polling this summer... valid or tempest... hmmm... we'll see.

It's unfortunate what happened to all of your sleds Christopher...but it may be all your own fault as you've said... or it could be an area of design that needs to be improved upon.

End of the season numbers will tell us more...

Most people I know with the 850's are pretty happy with them.... the issues they have been having are what has shown up as concern here.... Clutching needs to be much
more consistent from the BRP factory and durability, in reasonable day-to-day "bumps and bruises".... areas that need improvement..

We'll see what actually appears as customer delivered production units in the fall...So far the prototypes for 2018 that were just released look promising.



!


.

 

[christopher]

Most people I know with the 850's are pretty happy with them.... the issues they have been having are what has shown up as concern here.... Clutching needs to be much
more consistent from the BRP factory.

Kinda looks like they might have already addressed that just from the addition of the little checkbox for SEA LEVEL or MOUNTAIN setting when you Snow-Check the sled.???