Alpha Reviews!!!

[madmax]

Spent a lot of time swapping between my alpha and 18’ mtn cat twin rail (and 18’ axys 800). The twin just seems a little more controllable in super steep, technical tree riding. Seems like every once in a while the alpha would just take off in a direction I hadn’t intended on it going. I love both sleds. The alpha 3” track does seems to work better, so if I had to choose only one sled it would be a very hard choice. I’m hoping an elevate kit helps as much as everyone says on the alpha this year.

 

[dunatyk]

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.

I elevated my 18 MC late last season but don’t have hardly any time on it I have a 19 Aloha I will ride this season. I’m curious as to how big of a difference the elevate makes on the Alpha

 

[CO 2.0]

It made a bigger difference on the twin rail IMO. But it's still nice on the Alpha since it drags the front end and boards less in the snow. And for some reason it feels like it keeps the track from dipping less and making it more predictable on the mono rail

 

[10003514]

Highest fun factor of any sled. Insane traction from the Alpha track. I would still give the edge to Polaris in the steepest of terrain. The Alpha is horrible in setup/crusted snow (luckily I don’t ride that often in BC). Cat is the cheapest/poorest built of the big 3 brands. Overall really fun sled, sitting on the fence if I’d buy again lost my engine with under 1000km on the sled. 2020 engine upgrades look nice but not going to help the poor hood/intake design for water ingestion.

 

[MKULTRA]

it's crazy cat haven't done anything to that air intake, they have it like that for like 10 years now?

 

[jakey-boy]

In mid January I made the switch to an Alpha from my 18 mountain cat with a turbo. Honestly I cannot imagine going back now. Even with less power the Alpha is so fun in the deep. Yes on hard snow which is rare for me to even be riding they can be interesting but still manageable. Honestly if I wanted the most precise handling sled I would still be on an Axys but the fact of the matter is the Axys feels planted and boring to me and by comparison the twin rail cat feels planted and boring compared to the Alpha.

I see a lot of people in there commenting that they love the track but are not sold on the mono rail and I think they are disregarding how much of that tracks performance is tied to the monorail. The way it flexes and conforms is a huge part of why it gets such good traction and the fact that the skid is never packed with snow is a huge part of why it seems like the track can just float on top of the snow.

Just my 2 cents I love my Alpha. I cannot wait to get some real seat time on my 2020 with the Elevate kit and report back because I think that is going to be the absolute ticket.

 

[rulonjj]

Coming off a 2018 skidoo850, I can say that the alpha holds a sidehill better, even in setup snow. It’s got more fun factor, and can lean much further into a hill without washing out. Steering is a bit more work, but not bad.

I rode a 165 alpha with 25+ lbs taken off the front, and it was the funnest sled I’ve ever ridden. So easy to whip around and very easy to lay over without over riding it. That will be my go to sled this year.

 

[Cinno]

I thought I would bring this thread back to life as I put 6 hours on my 2020 Alpha Mountain Cat 165" M8000 last week. Half and Half on/off trails and 3 ft of heavy wet snow in the north wisconsin area. The sled was awesome, on the trails it was not tippy at all (riding sitting down) and no over heating with scratchers down. Off trail (standing up) it carved nicely, you can back off how much energy you use to maneuver as you tend to over drive it initially. Looking forward to that feature at 10K altitude out west coming up in January. The clutching with stock Boss primary and secondary was noticeable over my 2017 Polaris Axis. The tight drive belt gives you nice low speed torque drivability. Went thru quite a bit of oil in that first 20 minutes of break in but it settled down in the next 6 hours. Similar gas usage as my buddies Skidoo 850. Started with stock shock pressures 90, 35,140 with QS3(2). Lowered the ski psi to 70 and QS3(1)after a bit, was still acceptable on the trail, better off trail. Kinda took it easy on the big trail bumps until I get out west, don't want to break anything.

 

[ak]

I thought I would bring this thread back to life as I put 6 hours on my 2020 Alpha Mountain Cat 165" M8000 last week. Half and Half on/off trails and 3 ft of heavy wet snow in the north wisconsin area. The sled was awesome, on the trails it was not tippy at all (riding sitting down) and no over heating with scratchers down. Off trail (standing up) it carved nicely, you can back off how much energy you use to maneuver as you tend to over drive it initially. Looking forward to that feature at 10K altitude out west coming up in January. The clutching with stock Boss primary and secondary was noticeable over my 2017 Polaris Axis. The tight drive belt gives you nice low speed torque drivability. Went thru quite a bit of oil in that first 20 minutes of break in but it settled down in the next 6 hours. Similar gas usage as my buddies Skidoo 850. Started with stock shock pressures 90, 35,140 with QS3(2). Lowered the ski psi to 70 and QS3(1)after a bit, was still acceptable on the trail, better off trail. Kinda took it easy on the big trail bumps until I get out west, don't want to break anything.

Put some more air in that center shock before you have problems

 

[Cinno]

Put some more air in that center shock before you have problems

This has been discused in several other threads. Has anyone with a 2020 Alpha Mountain Cat had problems with beam cracking? Arctic cat says in there 2020 manual not to exceed 60 PSI in the center shock. This leads me to believe they have re-valved the 2020 FTS shock. Anyone know if that is true?

 

[ak]

This has been discused in several other threads. Has anyone with a 2020 Alpha Mountain Cat had problems with beam cracking? Arctic cat says in there 2020 manual not to exceed 60 PSI in the center shock. This leads me to believe they have re-valved the 2020 FTS shock. Anyone know if that is true?

I would run it at 60 that were I run mine there’s multiple post on fbook with broken rails because of this. Only time I would run it at 35 psi would be if I was in really deep snow.

 

[Old & slow]

Same part number as the 19 so most likely the same

 

[Matte Murder]

Love my Alpha. Only issues I’ve had are the sled wheelies out for me on steep climbs and the stock shocks are too soft and I don’t like the RTS lockout setting. I struggled with some climbs last season that my Doo 850 175 just did easy. I had Toms re-valve my shocks and Ive got one ride on them. Snow was REALLY wet and heavy and the shocks handled that slop way better. Tom stiffened the ski and rear track shock compression so that the old 1 setting is gone, 2 is like the old 3 and now 3 is stiffer still. He also added another 20% more rebound damping.I’m 275lbs ready to ride and the stock damping is too soft for me. I need a POW day to really evaluate the damping changes but if anything I might go stiffer. Pressures I ran were 70Lbs in the ski shocks, 65 in the FTS and 145 in the rear.
Man I love this track. Just works great everywhere. Those witch fingers molded into the paddles just bite hard in our heavy snow out here in WA but the track doesn’t trench badly either. I was getting unstuck on this ride and the track went 3’ to the dirt and I just stayed on it and it popped me right back on top. Track even dug into the dirt and rocks and just popped my heavy azz right out.
Build quality is a HUGE step up from my 2014 too.

 

[kanedog]

Love my Alpha. Only issues I’ve had are the sled wheelies out for me on steep climbs and the stock shocks are too soft and I don’t like the RTS lockout setting. I struggled with some climbs last season that my Doo 850 175 just did easy. I had Toms re-valve my shocks and Ive got one ride on them. Snow was REALLY wet and heavy and the shocks handled that slop way better. Tom stiffened the ski and rear track shock compression so that the old 1 setting is gone, 2 is like the old 3 and now 3 is stiffer still. He also added another 20% more rebound damping.I’m 275lbs ready to ride and the stock damping is too soft for me. I need a POW day to really evaluate the damping changes but if anything I might go stiffer. Pressures I ran were 70Lbs in the ski shocks, 65 in the FTS and 145 in the rear.
Man I love this track. Just works great everywhere. Those witch fingers molded into the paddles just bite hard in our heavy snow out here in WA but the track doesn’t trench badly either. I was getting unstuck on this ride and the track went 3’ to the dirt and I just stayed on it and it popped me right back on top. Track even dug into the dirt and rocks and just popped my heavy azz right out.
Build quality is a HUGE step up from my 2014 too.

Excellent explanation and review!

 

[slyrydr]

lots of valid comments on the alphas good/bad points....i had a 165 alpha last year with a little over 1k miles on it, traded for a 20 HC 165 this year, have a little over 200 miles on it (can, belt drive, clutching)....i do think a person needs to be careful in hard snow on steep side hills as the track can get away from you if it hits a hard spot, tendency to want to spit me off at a bad time...steep climbs on harder snow also takes concentration and not being too proud to back off and turn out because of the nose coming up too high....in soft snow the sled is clearly superior to anything else i've ridden, handling, traction, you name it....every sled has it's good and bad characteristics, as we know, and i haven't found the perfect one yet....but, the alpha is the closest so far...an example from yesterday....i was sitting at the bottom of one of our challenging climb hills with an 850 doo, a two year old summit both with 165 3" tracks and a two year old poo with 155 2.6 track (i think)...elevation was a little over 10k with 20" of new over about 4' of older snow....i wasn't riding with these guys, but i watched them make several tries at the hill...the hill kind of has two stages to it, with a short steep part, slight level off and the rest of it long and steep with cornices and windblown crust at the top....the poo tried several times to get over the first hill, but mostly failed, finally turning side hill to barely struggle over, getting a little speed back before making an unimpressive stab at the big part....both doos' made it over the first hill, both poaching tracks, as the poo did also, then making good runs at the steep hill before turning out about 2/3 the way up...i was riding by myself and usually don't do big hills when alone, but at least there was someone there if it got serious...anyway, i picked a spot where there were no tracks, with only a couple of small trees to turn around as opposed to just taking a straight shot up the hill, the alpha easily went up the first part of the hill in untracked snow, and then climbed in untracked snow to where the windblown snow just under the cornices made me uncomfortable in going further before turning out...got a big thumbs up when i got back down, nobody else even attempted my untracked line....that's what i like most about the alpha, the fun factor in deep snow, riding what i've got the rest of the time..

 

[summ8rmk]

Until yesterday, i was super impressed with the Alpha track.
Yesterday when i struggled on flat ground(165), i thought for sure my buddy(50lbs heavier) on a 14 pro 155 was screwed... sure he struggled more than i did but he still made it.
It was wet heavy snow. Half throttle or full throttle made very little difference.
I expected some ski lift with full throttle but it just dug down deeper. Literally 4ft trench on flat ground.
Maybe i needed to adjust skid pressure and or rider position?
I did use half throttle more than full throttle because it floated better that way.
Still love the sled, just surprised in the performance in yesterday's snow.

Sent it

 

[CO 2.0]

I was out with a stock 17 Axys w 2.6 last week. Who I usually ride with. That sled doesnt hold a candle to the alpha track/rail in early season deep/light no base CO pow. Snow conditions vary to what track works better and worse. At least here the Alpha track and traction is the best sled to date in deep pow. Before this I thought the MC with 3" PC was the best ever. My alpha elevate will crush my MC elevate in early season snow. Not until a good base is established do I ride my MC. What are your shock settings at?

 

[summ8rmk]

I just checked the shocks cause i knew something was off.
I wish i would have checked on the mountain.
Rear shock was at 110psi...
Not sure when, how or why?
I did lock the shock once yesterday,
In a little honey hole. The difference was huge, more than i had ever seen before. Usually, lock and #2 is not such a drastic change.
Now the question is, would 110psi cause the issue i seen yesterday? Virtually no ski lift on flat ground?
Last yr i was 125-145psi rear. Mostly 125 trying to get more ski lift(wheelies).
Elevate kit ur supposed to run ~10psi more. So, 130 is what i set it at when i installed kit or, so i thought.....



Sent it

 

[CO 2.0]

Im at 130 rear, 60 fts, and 65 in the skis, setting 2 on knob all around. But I do have all my shocks revalved. I still have to check them every 5 rides for pressure. I would think you would wheelie pretty good where you were. I know mine wheelies pretty good. If you lock out the rear shock the sled is only good for climbing. Sucks for everything else in tech terrain. Just plants the front end too much.

 

[summ8rmk]

Yeah, i only lock for difficult climbs and immediately unlock afterwards.
U can't sidehill worth a crap with it locked.
I literally could go as good or better with half throttle on flat ground. Any incline and full throttle was better but not huge difference.
On flat ground, track speed was 35mph full throttle.
Only time i cleared speedo off to see what was going on. Tach at 8k.

I never seen the track speed that low in a climb last yr. At 6,500ft.

This was 3+ft of wet heavy snow. Snow piling up above the windshield when going down hill.


Sent it

The front end would stay up on top...