Real world weights

[cateye5312]

Ok, so now Yamaha has made a video just like Cat did last year claiming that their sled holds less snow than Ski Doo or Polaris. I call BS on both videos. Someone suggested that maybe someone who didn't work for the big 4 ought to make a video. Well I just ordered an 1,100 lb digital scale off of ebay. Admittedly it's a cheapy but I bet it will last long enough to weigh a few sleds. Anyone want to get together, go for a ride and weigh some sleds?

I ride a 2014 800 Pro RMK LE ES that is or will be by the end of the weekend fully powdercoated, painted or wrapped. I'm looking for some other brands to weigh, as well as a non-painted, coated or wrapped Pro. I want to personally see what happens. I'll ride yours, you ride mine. That way we'll each be trying to load the other's sled up. Then we'll measure 'em and see what we get. I'm really interested to see what an unpainted Pro weighs compared to mine to see if all the coatings I put on did anything or just made it look pretty.

Any takers? I'm in Grand Junction so looking at riding Grand Mesa or Flattops.

Ought to be a fun experiment one way or the other - looking at Sunday March 30th.

 

[cboyle65]

Ryan Harris was there

Ryan Harris from Snowest Magazine was present for the experiment. He is not a Yamaha guy...

 

[SSWIM]

The lack of heat exchanger is what is eliminating much of the snow build up. Along with the powdercoating. My 14 Cat holds MUCH less snow than my 13 Pro. My 13 Pro has a wrap on it. Its NOT hype it is real. We have watched it close this winter and it is very obvious the lack of snow on the Cat versus the Pro. I don't know the weight difference, I don't carry a scale. I would imagine around 15 lbs or so anyway. Here is a photo. Not real good, but you can get the idea. This was after several hours of riding. The Pros had a bunch of snow built up.



Sam

 

[SSWIM]

On the offer, I will be out of the country then, sorry or I would. It really is amazing the difference.

Sam

 

[rmscustom]

You are brave. haha

It would be interesting to see a group of guys get together and do this with no brand or magazine affiliation and do this with the 3 and all get on here and say its legit.

 

[rmscustom]

The lack of heat exchanger is what is eliminating much of the snow build up. Along with the powdercoating. My 14 Cat holds MUCH less snow than my 13 Pro. My 13 Pro has a wrap on it. Its NOT hype it is real. We have watched it close this winter and it is very obvious the lack of snow on the Cat versus the Pro. I don't know the weight difference, I don't carry a scale. I would imagine around 15 lbs or so anyway. Here is a photo. Not real good, but you can get the idea. This was after several hours of riding. The Pros had a bunch of snow built up.
Sam

I don't think anybody that's reasonable and has rode with the different brands wouldn't agree that the cat holds less... Its the 80lbs difference in the Yami vid that is questionable.

 

[cateye5312]

I'm not saying the Cat and Yammy DON'T hold less snow - I think they do. I think both videos point out the need to pay attention to snow buildup and eliminate it every chance you get.

What I don't buy is the huge weight differences alleged in these videos and I am very willing to go spend a day weighing a bunch of sleds just to satisfy my curiosity. Unfortunately all I and all my buddies own are Polaris so until someone riding a different brand wants to join in I'm kinda stuck. As soon as I get my sled back together (powdercoating the rails this week because I can't ride this weekend) I am going to at least weigh the crap out of my sleds in a bunch of different situations.

I'm also very interested to weigh a couple older sleds that I still have to see if we've really advanced as far as everyone claims we have.

 

[cateye5312]

On the offer, I will be out of the country then, sorry or I would. It really is amazing the difference.

Sam

When you get in country let me know and we'll see if we can get together. I am very curious to see the results.

 

[Laundryboy]

I want to see a manufacturer sponsored video where they concluded their sled actually holds more snow. That I might be inclined to believe.

 

[Coldfinger]

I want to see the weights compared like this -

In the shop, ready to ride with spare belt and tool kit. All stock. No pipes, cans, etc.
Gas tank 99% dry and list the actual capacity as measured by the pump.
Oil tank on 2 cycles full but list the capacity.
Engine oil in 4 strokes and list the capacity.

Top of the line Mtn sled from each manufacturer and no electric start on 2 strokes because you don't need it. I believe the 4 strokes have it because rope only is not even an option. Same general track length, preferably 162/163 but if all that's avail is 153/154/155 that's ok too.

Next you can take them out and ride them and do a weight check 3 times during the day. List the 3 weights, as well as an average. Sleds topped off with fuel and note how much fuel each sled uses.

 

[cateye5312]

Figure out where we can get the sleds and we'll do it! I think the 3 times is important.

I also think that instead of all the sleds sitting around in the rain/sleet waiting to be weighed like in the Yammy video (note which sled they weighed first and which they weighed last - and the sleet/rain in the background while the Doo was being weighed) that the sleds ought to be ridden and then brought in to be weighed one at a time - no sitting around waiting for snow to fall off. How the heck did the Yammy with wider skis not have snow on it's skis when the other two were loaded up? And how the heck did the Yammy have NO snow in it's skid? I have painted rails on mine and I can guarantee you that that has very little effect on how much snow is inside the skid. I can understand additional snow on the running boards, top of the tunnel, and stuck to the tunnel but there is very little difference between brands as to what pieces and parts are inside a skid to keep snow in there. There may be slightly different angles, etc but they pretty much all have the same basic configuration as far as number of shocks, bracing, suspension brackets, etc.

 

[Drewd]

My 14 Pro 800 holds more snow than my 08 IQ RMK 700. Seems like all of those "lightening" holes allow more ice to take hold on the rails.

Sorry, can't weigh the difference between the two as my fish scale only reads up to 20 lbs.

 

[cateye5312]

My 14 Pro 800 holds more snow than my 08 IQ RMK 700. Seems like all of those "lightening" holes allow more ice to take hold on the rails.

Sorry, can't weigh the difference between the two as my fish scale only reads up to 20 lbs.

That's alright. It just so happens that I have an '08 IQ 700 rmk-and it will get compared.

 

[bholmlate]

The only way to disprove the results of the video is to go out the same day in the same area in the same conditions which is impossible to do. Snow is different in different areas and it also changes during the season as well. Everyone keeps saying they never have seen the build up of snow on their sled as seen in the video. That may be very true but maybe they have never ridden their sled in the type of snow that was present during filming of the video either. I know people don't believe in science anymore but one of the rules doing experiments is that to disproving any result, you must compare things under the same conditions or you don't prove anything. Not saying the marketing team doing the video wasn't biased towards Yamaha at all. I agree that process had flaws. That is the fun world of statistics. You can prove anything you want you just use the factors you want to use that will give you the result you want and disregard the ones that don't Very simple really

 

[rmscustom]

One would think no matter what the conditions if one brand roughly holds 1/3 the snow of another that should hold close no matter what the conditions...
For example if the OP goes out and the yamicat holds 30lbs and the Pro holds 40lbs I refuse to believe conditions exist that would allow the Pro to hold 124lbs and the yamicat to only hold 40ish.

 

[noob]

I don't think the results would matter to any of you. Cateye would post the results and someone would come on here claiming bs just like cateye did and want to do his own test and so on. Yammi is closing the gap on the weight issue and the sled holds a little less weight from snow then the sled you ride does. you guys have fun wasting your time on this.

 

[rmscustom]

I don't think the results would matter to any of you. Cateye would post the results and someone would come on here claiming bs just like cateye did and want to do his own test and so on. Yammi is closing the gap on the weight issue and the sled holds a little less weight from snow then the sled you ride does. you guys have fun wasting your time on this.

I would tend to believe 3 or 4 guys that own different brands with no affiliation to anything rather then some brand sponsored promo video but that's just me. I also don't need to be told everything is going to be ok either. Lol

Btw Snowmobile.com did a mountain shoot out and didn't find any difference between the 3 the day they tested... Wasn't ideal Yamacat conditions that day I guess. Lol

 

[cateye5312]

My sled will gather snow alright in the right conditions, no question there. But, every time I've been in a situation where my sled was gathering snow like crazy every machine around me was doing the same thing - except for Yammy because I never see them in the real world. See quite a few cats because the local snowmobile club is mostly cat guys with a couple of doo's and poo's thrown in. Still can't get a bite from anyone who owns a different brand to go weigh stuff though.

That video has flaws as does the Cat video from last year whether you care to admit it or not. They were slanted towards the sled they were intended to promote. Period. As well they should have been because they were paid for by the two companies that produced them. In the marketing world you don't pay for chit that is going to make you look bad.

And if you think Ryan Harris was completely unbiased in that video you are naïve. He was there being smoozed by Yamaha, what's he gonna do, offend his hosts?

Does the uncoated Polaris hold more snow than the coated Cat or Yamaha? Yes. How much more? To me that remains unproven. We have two videos produced by Cat and Yamaha that both bash Ski Doo and Polaris, both produced by the manufacturers. And why? Because the fat chicks are still trying to convince us they aren't fat.

Under most conditions they are. Once in awhile in the right conditions the Pro and Doo might only weigh slightly less, but never more.

 

[geo]

I don't want to know. I just don't lol.

 

[Insaneboltrounder/sjohns]

According to the doo guys that all are mad you cant get e start on the t-3 , 30lbs doesnt matter ....