Alpha Reviews!!!

[Chewy22]

After one season on the snow what are everyone’s thoughts?

I’m still on the fence, it’s a love/hate thing.

Most the time it’s full on love and I’m having a blast. Traction is awesome, super easy to ride and maneuver in the tight. Lays over nice and holds a nice sidehill. Nothing but positives on the motor. Shocks need work.

But there are times it gets to wild/unpredictable and can be to tippy. Not sold on steeper sidehills. Does great in deep fresh on the steep but i find myself holding back fearing the hidden hard spot. I tend to get in trouble when I’m not pushing it hard enough or if I’m pushing to hard - tough to find that happy medium. Can be super frustrating.

The traction is addicting though. Some of the things I pulled out of last year was nuts.

Absolutely no complaints on trail manners. find it interesting that was even a topic in the snowest mag reviews. There are so many other things they could have commented/complained about.

I’m giving serious thought changing out to a twin rail setup. I just don’t always get to ride in those super deep pow days and think maybe the twin is a better all around platform.

Just being honest - I could not imagine riding an Alpha with a turbo or super charger. Maybe if I was 20 again.

Would be great hearing from others. The good and the bad. Please no bashing just because you don’t agree with an opinion.

Looks like nice changes on the 2020 motor and cat got the colors right. But I do think it was a mistake going all in on Alphas. There should have been a twin rail option for the mountain segment. Just my opinion.

 

[summ8rmk]

I concur.

Crazy traction...... actually hard to get stuck.

Steep sidehills with firm snow suck, especially at slow speeds.

The front track shock has horrible valveing, i swapped the rear out with an '18 and it was a little better. Not sure how much of that valveing and how much is suspension geometry.

I would like one of each model.

Polaris

 

[ndfb35]

I had an awful year in regards to getting out an riding last year, and ended up with only 240ish mountain miles and with so few miles, I never really the reached the level of proficiency that I had one my previous sleds, 2013, and 2018. With the way things were going I felt like a newbie rider again, things that were easy on the 2018 had to be relearned on my Alpha. I decided to put a turbo on my sled this year, and that did not help with making the transition, relearning how to ride with a turbo is still a work in progress, and amplified how the Alpha needs to be rode or will it can give you issues.

I agree with the trail manners, I didn't have any issues at all with it on the trail or messing around with it on the flatlands of ND where I call home.

Having owned 2 Ctecs now, I do like the motor and didn't have any issues with either of them after 1200, combined stock and turbo miles. I have been able to ride the 2 850's and I like my clutched 800 better than both of them.
I don't think it feels underpowered at all compared to the others.

The track is awesome, and with the turbo, it really does some crazy things to dig itself out of holes. I didn't have any issues with torn or ripped lugs, or premature wear like some have had, and I didn't have any issue with hyfax wear from running the track too lose. I did run it on the tight side like others recommended and I think it alleviated the issues.

Regarding the handling, like many others have said, in the deep stuff the sled is awesome and preforms like a Rockstar, but on marginal snow conditions I had issues. With a learning how to ride a turbo and the way the skid is I was having issues holding a sidehill on marginal snow or getting the sled to what I could do on my 2018. I also had issues frequently with the sled kicking the skid out from under me when I was on a steep sidehill going up a hill or small cornice with a hard lip at the top. It wasn't an isolated issue for myself but happened frequently. As soon as the track caught on the lip I would proceed to get tossed and hope that the sled wasn't going to hit something... I really enjoyed the sled in the trees when the snow was deep and I didn't have any issues controlling the sled on edge once I found the sweet spot on the boards. As a bigger guy, I did have some issue with the sled overreacting when I would do a hop over and land too hard on the running boards, causing the sled to dive on the side I landed, but I was able to correct that with foot placement and how hard I allowed myself to land.

My overall impression is that the sled is a winner and I will continue to ride and learn to ride it properly as I get more miles with it. For the masses, I think the sled is exactly what it should be. It has a fun factor more so than Ski Doo and Polaris. I also think that some of the issues people are having and are having them wanting to go back to a twin rail are just from lack of experience and having to try something completely foreign to them, which will get better with time.

 

[Tahoepow]

I really was impressed with my Alpha 165". We had a super deep winter in Tahoe last year, so it was a perfect season to ride a new 3" 165 powder sled. What stands out to me the most was the low end power combined with the traction. A great combo for tree riding. Handling was spot on, but you had to on your game or the sled reacted before the rider did. After riding the other new sleds I'm still happy I went with the Arctic Cat.
I would not change the mono rail for anything. I believe the nimble feeling in deeper snow is huge part to the lightweight skid design with no snow build up. It would be fun to play with different skis and suspension set-ups, but in the end I can't really justify any big changes. Maybe clutching could be improved on. The Alpha ripped in just about every deep snow condition.
I'm frustrated with AC about the ECM tune BS. Letters from the company and complains from customers isn't what I want to be reading about. I never did get mine into a dealership for the new tune which I heard sucked. My idle floated up and down all winter but wasn't a big issue. Some guys might want a new sled to be perfect. me included. And when dealerships start playing around with the ECM it can cause huge output changes to the machine. Get it right before making guys drive hours away to get a fresh tune that may not be an improvement at all.

 

[1Mike900]

I wonder if more idler wheels down on the bottom in 3 plcs. between the front and rear wheels would help with track bend? Too bad it is a triangle as it would have to be bonded and riveted attachments or drill and weld a threaded tube thru. Mike

 

[kanedog]

Riding a stock 2019 3” 165” I experienced no real excitement when riding. After one ride, I sold the Alpha skid, track and drivers. It was on the brink of washing out on sidehills. I put in a twin rail coupled aftermarket skid, 154” 2.5” camo extreme sawtooth(best track in the world), eight tooth powder freak 2.86p drivers, 10” Tki wheels, 22/72 belt drive gears, P85 primary and a Paragon secondary. It’s scary how little resistance there is. Yea, I coulda went with a 165” 3” but I like to embarrass the 165’ers, big bores and turbos with a short track bone stock motor sled. Hahaha fackers. Zero engine mods. I had no success tuning the joke Team primary for what I need. Too many issues to overcome with it. Tolerances, weight design and they did something funky with belt length vs full shift out vs weak cover vs .060 cover bushing interference. I believe the team dumbasses use the cover bushing/bearing to prevent full shift out. There is just no way a competent clutch manufacturer would ever let this get passed quality control and/or engineering. Mind boggling. At full shift out, the sheaves are .060 apart and the crazy pressure on the cover pulls in on the towers and boom, that bitch can fly apart. No thanks. Even though I noticed the shortcomings before tuning, against my good judgement, I tested for three days anyway. That was three tuning days of my life I’ll never get back.
Anyhoo, I love, love, love working on this sled. It’s so nice, underhood spaciousness and simple.
Solid sled. Would buy again.

 

[gonehuntnpowder]

:face-icon-small-dis

As a stock 2019 3” 165” I experienced no real excitement when riding. After one ride, I sold the Alpha skid, track and drivers. It was on the brink of washing out on sidehills. I put in a twin rail aftermarket skid, P85 primary and a six roller secondary. I had zero success tuning the joke Team primary for what I need. Too many issues to overcome with it. Tolerances, weight design and they did something funky with belt length vs full shift out vs weak cover vs .060 cover bushing interference. I believe the team dumbasses use the cover bushing/bearing to prevent full shift out. At full shift out, the sheaves are .060 apart and the crazy pressure on the cover pulls in on the towers and boom, that bitch can fly apart. No thanks. Even though I noticed the shortcomings before tuning, against my good judgement, I tested for three days anyway. That was three tuning days of my life I’ll never get back.
Anyhoo, I love, love, love working on this sled. It’s so nice, underhood spaciousness and simple.
Would buy again.

So in comparison you like the twin rail Cat better? Been thinking a little about one of those.

 

[kanedog]

:face-icon-small-dis

So in comparison you like the twin rail Cat better? Been thinking a little about one of those.

Let me get some more rides on the twin rail before I comment. On the trail it was a 35% better ride. It was late spring and I was solo tuning so I didn’t get a ton of technical riding in.

 

[ltmfb]

Haha, I've got the 19 MC twin rail and I've been thinking about selling to get the alpha..

 

[summ8rmk]

I just want to put a twin rail skid inside my Alpha track....

Polaris

 

[SledderX]

Did anybody spent much time jumping and dropping the Alpha chassis last winter? I'm big time on the fence about going Alpha or picking up a leftover 19' twin rail. Loved my 18' mountain cat and am very skeptical on changing it up when I feel cat FINALLY nailed there mountain sled with the 2018 and 19's. Was very surprised to see Cat go with the mono rail on their entire line up for 2020.

 

[MKULTRA]

Did anybody spent much time jumping and dropping the Alpha chassis last winter? I'm big time on the fence about going Alpha or picking up a leftover 19' twin rail. Loved my 18' mountain cat and am very skeptical on changing it up when I feel cat FINALLY nailed there mountain sled with the 2018 and 19's. Was very surprised to see Cat go with the mono rail on their entire line up for 2020.

to me this a very bad move from AC and they will probable regrets this in a few years but time will tell. I hope for them i'm wrong

 

[john6719]

Did anybody spent much time jumping and dropping the Alpha chassis last winter? I'm big time on the fence about going Alpha or picking up a leftover 19' twin rail. Loved my 18' mountain cat and am very skeptical on changing it up when I feel cat FINALLY nailed there mountain sled with the 2018 and 19's. Was very surprised to see Cat go with the mono rail on their entire line up for 2020.

Did a fair amount of jumping last year due to terrible avy conditions nearly every time we went out. Sold my ‘19 and picking up my ‘20 hardcore any day now.

 

[kanedog]

to me this a very bad move from AC and they will probable regrets this in a few years but time will tell. I hope for them i'm wrong

It’s a good thing as you can sell the Alpha track and suspension. With the cash, you can buy your favorite aftermarket suspension and track. It might cost a grand but it’s better than the usual $5,000+ for suspension and track.

 

[MKULTRA]

i see, so it's like polaris stock a-arms that sells for 150$ a piece used and pays 3/4 or a much better aftermarket chromoly kit. :face-icon-small-ton

 

[sno*jet]

Let me get some more rides on the twin rail before I comment. On the trail it was a 35% better ride. It was late spring and I was solo tuning so I didn’t get a ton of technical riding in.

not much embarrassing those 3 inchers then?
LOL, interesting setup you run, would love to try it! I think bone stock alpha is better for deep pow tho.
I would like to trade my 3"PC for a 3.2 sawtooth if I could do it for under a couple hundy
edit, I just realized I probably can! anybody want a perfect 3" PC 162 for twin rail?

 

[CO 2.0]

Elevate kit on both my alpha and mountain cat were the best mods Ive done. Anything under 12" of pow Id take my twin rail any day of the week. In deep pow the alpha is a clear winner. Jumping was fine on the alpha, but still more predictable landings on the twin rail. I like both sleds. I wouldnt want two mono rail setups since they both do certain maneuvers better/worse than the other depending on what the snow conditions are like.

 

[kanedog]

not much embarrassing those 3 inchers then?
LOL, interesting setup you run, would love to try it! I think bone stock alpha is better for deep pow tho.
I would like to trade my 3"PC for a 3.2 sawtooth if I could do it for under a couple hundy
edit, I just realized I probably can! anybody want a perfect 3" PC 162 for twin rail?

You are totally correct! I haven’t even ran against anyone and I’m already talking smack! Anything to stir it up! Heehee

 

[rkm]

I put 3-400 miles on multiple Alphas last year. After that time, I decided for how I ride the twin rail was still better.
Bought a Hardcore late last season. Put a couple hundred miles on it in spring riding. Took my 600 Alpha out for a late spring ride and decided I had made a mistake.

The track is so much better its worth any shortcomings. I still think you can overcome the quirks that it does have with more time and aggressive riding.

 

[boondocker97]

Just being honest - I could not imagine riding an Alpha with a turbo or super charger. Maybe if I was 20 again.

I kind of thought this too until I rode one. Supercharged Alpha was way more controllable than I was expecting. Only tested in fresh snow though, no crusty stuff.