I'm coming from six years of three different Polaris, a 2010 M8 before that. All 162's with what ever the deepest lug was available. My friend was there with his 18 Axys. He has a Ti can and mine is completely unmodified. I've been doing this mountain riding thing for about 25 years.
The Alpha climbs and sidehills unreal. The Axys is no slouch for side-hilling but switching back and forth the Alpha made it look like a 600 almost climbing wise. The Axys definitely felt more nimble with the weight difference of 30-40 lbs. The snow this day wasn't the kind that builds up in the suspension but the Axys was definitely collecting it on the tunnel and running boards where the Alpha wasn't.
I was expecting a 6500 rpm limit for the first bit but there was none of that and it pulled 8200 on all the climbs even though at the end of the day l had only accumulated 4.8 hrs run time. My understanding is that at 6 hrs the computer will release break in mode and power will bump.
I rolled the Alpha to get unstuck and after l had no brakes! The lever just pulled to the bar. After about 20 pumps l could see the bubbles rising in the reservoir and it returned to normal. I have never heard of a sled doing this. If l hadn't noticed l might have been in for a wild ride as this was at the top of a climb. I will fill the reservoir to the max and hopefully this never happens again.
The shovel Cat attached to the rear of the tunnel to slow us down couldn't take the strain and got bent backwards tearing the whole centre of it out. It's somewhat flexible now. I don't want to go completely flapless so will have to see what's out there.
At the end of the day, coming down the mountain, my temp light came on at 70°C or so (normal seems to be ~50). The snow was dwindling but there was probably an inch of loose on the hard stuff so l was surprised. The scratchers instantly took care of it but I'm wondering about spring riding. The Axys didn't heat up at all without scratchers.
I need to play with the shock pressures as the ride on the bumpy trail could be improved. The fronts came at 85, the rear 150 and the centre 50. Trail handling was no different than any 36" sled in my opinion.
I had a few stucks due to rider error and not knowing the balance of this thing but over all impressed so far. Looking forward to seeing how it stacks up against some 850's.
The Alpha climbs and sidehills unreal. The Axys is no slouch for side-hilling but switching back and forth the Alpha made it look like a 600 almost climbing wise. The Axys definitely felt more nimble with the weight difference of 30-40 lbs. The snow this day wasn't the kind that builds up in the suspension but the Axys was definitely collecting it on the tunnel and running boards where the Alpha wasn't.
I was expecting a 6500 rpm limit for the first bit but there was none of that and it pulled 8200 on all the climbs even though at the end of the day l had only accumulated 4.8 hrs run time. My understanding is that at 6 hrs the computer will release break in mode and power will bump.
I rolled the Alpha to get unstuck and after l had no brakes! The lever just pulled to the bar. After about 20 pumps l could see the bubbles rising in the reservoir and it returned to normal. I have never heard of a sled doing this. If l hadn't noticed l might have been in for a wild ride as this was at the top of a climb. I will fill the reservoir to the max and hopefully this never happens again.
The shovel Cat attached to the rear of the tunnel to slow us down couldn't take the strain and got bent backwards tearing the whole centre of it out. It's somewhat flexible now. I don't want to go completely flapless so will have to see what's out there.
At the end of the day, coming down the mountain, my temp light came on at 70°C or so (normal seems to be ~50). The snow was dwindling but there was probably an inch of loose on the hard stuff so l was surprised. The scratchers instantly took care of it but I'm wondering about spring riding. The Axys didn't heat up at all without scratchers.
I need to play with the shock pressures as the ride on the bumpy trail could be improved. The fronts came at 85, the rear 150 and the centre 50. Trail handling was no different than any 36" sled in my opinion.
I had a few stucks due to rider error and not knowing the balance of this thing but over all impressed so far. Looking forward to seeing how it stacks up against some 850's.