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9R VS Boost

BeartoothBaron

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650 would be a great sled if they weren’t almost the same price as an 850.
I doubt there's much cost difference between the two, so it's not surprising. Actually, given the overhead and inventory costs of the different top end, the 650 may effectively cost more! No real weight difference, only minor difference in rotating mass; unlike the old small block 600 vs. big block 800, there's really nothing to make the 650 interesting. Don't get me wrong, I still like smaller motors, but you lose pretty much any size and weight advantage if you're just shrinking an existing engine to make one.

My thought is, why not do something like Doo did with their 600 EFI, only bigger? No VES makes it cheaper and lighter with less to go wrong. I suppose you'd have to debore it to avoid confusion with the 850 (750 seems like a good number), but not necessarily. Ideally, keep the lighter crank, operating RPM would drop 1000 RPM or so - that means less gyroscopic forces. I'd guess you'd see around the same HP as the 650, but better torque. Maybe it'd burn more gas then the 650, not sure, but I can't see any other downsides. Probably Polaris thought of it, maybe they decided against it for a good reason, or maybe they just thought people buying a 650 would be scared away if the displacement was too high...

I guess this thread is off-track (I didn't start it). I'd take a 9R over a boost; if I had deep pockets, I'd have one of each. I'm more interested in light and responsive than deep powder performance and climbing, but I can see what people are saying about the really deep days, especially at high elevation. Being a guy who's big into engines, I wouldn't buy a boost until I tried a Doo turbo. From my limited time riding Doos, I'd bet I'd be split, wanting that engine in this chassis, but that's a future me problem... And then there's the Catalyst.
 
C
Dec 14, 2020
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I doubt there's much cost difference between the two, so it's not surprising. Actually, given the overhead and inventory costs of the different top end, the 650 may effectively cost more! No real weight difference, only minor difference in rotating mass; unlike the old small block 600 vs. big block 800, there's really nothing to make the 650 interesting. Don't get me wrong, I still like smaller motors, but you lose pretty much any size and weight advantage if you're just shrinking an existing engine to make one.

My thought is, why not do something like Doo did with their 600 EFI, only bigger? No VES makes it cheaper and lighter with less to go wrong. I suppose you'd have to debore it to avoid confusion with the 850 (750 seems like a good number), but not necessarily. Ideally, keep the lighter crank, operating RPM would drop 1000 RPM or so - that means less gyroscopic forces. I'd guess you'd see around the same HP as the 650, but better torque. Maybe it'd burn more gas then the 650, not sure, but I can't see any other downsides. Probably Polaris thought of it, maybe they decided against it for a good reason, or maybe they just thought people buying a 650 would be scared away if the displacement was too high...

I guess this thread is off-track (I didn't start it). I'd take a 9R over a boost; if I had deep pockets, I'd have one of each. I'm more interested in light and responsive than deep powder performance and climbing, but I can see what people are saying about the really deep days, especially at high elevation. Being a guy who's big into engines, I wouldn't buy a boost until I tried a Doo turbo. From my limited time riding Doos, I'd bet I'd be split, wanting that engine in this chassis, but that's a future me problem... And then there's the Catalyst.


They need a small motor for class racing and trail sleds.

I see 850 Indy's for sale all over the Midwest. I think the 650 guys are the ones that buy every 5-10 years, as the only ones I see for sale are older trail sleds with 10-20k miles on them. These are the guys that care that they use 1 gallon less fuel every day of riding them.


I agree they could just delete the 650 from the mountain chassis option list and nobody would notice.


The trail riders that are a majority of their sales would have a fit.
 

Teth-Air

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They need a small motor for class racing and trail sleds.

I see 850 Indy's for sale all over the Midwest. I think the 650 guys are the ones that buy every 5-10 years, as the only ones I see for sale are older trail sleds with 10-20k miles on them. These are the guys that care that they use 1 gallon less fuel every day of riding them.


I agree they could just delete the 650 from the mountain chassis option list and nobody would notice.


The trail riders that are a majority of their sales would have a fit.
Polaris makes a 650? 😁
 

JH@CM

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I agree they could just delete the 650 from the mountain chassis option list and nobody would notice.
Don't underestimate the value of 650 mountain sleds for younger people and smaller adults... plus they cost less.
 
F
Dec 30, 2019
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Don't underestimate the value of 650 mountain sleds for younger people and smaller adults... plus they cost less.
Last year in Valemount we ran into a 280lb guy on a 600 Pro RMK 155. With some decent skill, that guy was going everywhere everyone else was on the mountain. The day before he said he had been in Renshaw in handlebar deep lol.
 
C
Dec 14, 2020
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Don't underestimate the value of 650 mountain sleds for younger people and smaller adults... plus they cost less.

Last I checked it was less than I spend on fuel for a weekend in price difference....

Maybe it's an east vs west thing. The 850s only make as much power up here as a 650 does at sea level. So if you're in lower elevations it's not a big deal. Take a 650 to 10000 ft and you're down 30-40% on power.
 

goforbroke

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I had 600's for years and would gladly ride one again. Look at the new catalyst, everyone is really happy with them. I like my boost and I don't seem myself going away from it. I bought an 850 as a back up/family sled and rode it for a few days getting it dialed in, I had a ball. If I had found a good deal on 650 I would go that way no problems.
 

BeartoothBaron

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I love my old EDGE 600 VES, but partly because it's lighter and better to ride in some situations than the old 800 VES (not to mention they tend to be a lot more trouble-free). I can only see the 650 being better to ride in the mountains for a relatively new rider who's still working on throttle control or is still apprehensive. For trail riding, you really only need an 850 for bragging rights or if you have a death wish - my old 600 was able to tag 80 MPH on the GPS, which is plenty fast. I guess I agree with the guys saying the 650 doesn't need to exist for the mountains, but by the same token, I could have about as much fun on a 650 on the snow I typically see.

It is $900 cheaper in MSRP; not sure how that plays out in the real world, but no way is their cost on the 850 $900 more. I definitely see in resale where 600s tend to be the same or sometimes more than then equivalent 800; not sure if it's people seeing the bigger motor as less reliable, or just so much fewer 600s. I guess I still like my idea of a bigger, but less complicated and lower-revving engine - could be cheaper, lighter, and more responsive - but it'd have to be a strong seller to justify the R&D and manufacturing costs.
 
C
Dec 14, 2020
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I love my old EDGE 600 VES, but partly because it's lighter and better to ride in some situations than the old 800 VES (not to mention they tend to be a lot more trouble-free). I can only see the 650 being better to ride in the mountains for a relatively new rider who's still working on throttle control or is still apprehensive. For trail riding, you really only need an 850 for bragging rights or if you have a death wish - my old 600 was able to tag 80 MPH on the GPS, which is plenty fast. I guess I agree with the guys saying the 650 doesn't need to exist for the mountains, but by the same token, I could have about as much fun on a 650 on the snow I typically see.

It is $900 cheaper in MSRP; not sure how that plays out in the real world, but no way is their cost on the 850 $900 more. I definitely see in resale where 600s tend to be the same or sometimes more than then equivalent 800; not sure if it's people seeing the bigger motor as less reliable, or just so much fewer 600s. I guess I still like my idea of a bigger, but less complicated and lower-revving engine - could be cheaper, lighter, and more responsive - but it'd have to be a strong seller to justify the R&D and manufacturing costs.


Little motors have higher resale because "my wife or kids can't possibly handle an 850", yet they sell way less of them at least in the mountain segment.

Looking at rmk's, I have seen 3 600's in the last few years while seeing hundreds of 850s for sale.
 
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