December snow here in CO started out pretty slow the first 2 weeks, and I only got a short solo rode ride in. There was little snow on the ground, and the snow that was there was plaqued with a very crusty ice layer on top in most riding areas.
Finally the forecast changed and the snow started coming, and more or less it hasnt stopped snowing in the past 2 weeks.
Ive got about 4 or so riding days in on my T-3 since I last posted and I am falling in love with this sled.
Before I get to the riding, I will say I put a 2" riser on, so 3" lower than stock, and I love it. Im 6ft tall and personally feel the stock riser is to tall and puts the bars to close to your chest in technical riding situations.
This made the sled loads more comfortable for me to ride and handle.
Now to the riding...
I got out on a 3 day trip with some friends who had Summit 154's and a polaris pro. We ran into some great snow conditions.
On the last day of the trip we had deeeeep snow!
In my experience riding with the 154's 2.5" track summits. The deeper the snow gets the more advantage the T-3 has, which makes sense. We still ran into early season conditions as we were bouncing off quite a few stumps/rocks, so we really didnt get a good chance to compare sleds side by side in the climbs. But I will say I am very happy with this sled.
I did run into an issue where the throttle cable tightened up and the throttle override system kicked in, to where the sled would start and idle fine, but give it gas and it does nothing... Loosened the throttle cable up a bit and all was fine, I later tightened it up again some in the garage to make sure I was getting the throttle to open up 100%, however still made sure there was a bit of play in the throttle cable.
A few things I noticed bout the xm. Compared to my M8, foot position plays a huge role in sidehilling, or more specifically I need to get alot further forward on the XM. In a steep sidehill if my foot is not as far forward as it can be, I will not be able to exit out the sidehill and turn back down the hill. Other than that, I find the sled to handle incredibly easy in all conditions and at the end of the day I am worn out much less than my previous sleds.
No complaints about the engine other than it starts easier when its cold in the morning than when it is warmed up during the day?
Stock clutching is good. I am going to hold off on a clutch kit at this point, mostly cause I dont want to spend 450$ on clutching at the moment. I have a trip planned in march and one of the guys I ride with (yamahaboy701) has a Roosterbuilt clutch kit on his 154 summit. I want to take the time and compare his clutching to my stock clutching in all conditions. I rode with him on this past trip and got to ride his sled on the trail for a bit. For that short period nothing jumped out to me making we me want to spend the $ on a kit yet. I do realize that on the trail vs off trail is very different however.
At the end of the last day I finally got outta break in mode and noticed no difference in performance with the sled.
I also should mention in the deep snow I rode in, that I experienced not even a hiccup of the engine, so no powder bog what so ever. Whether than has anything to do with the SLP can or the exhaust deflector shield I put on, I dont know. But the sled ran top notch all day in the powder.
Couldnt be happier with the sled, hoping to get out a few times this weekend and go tear up some of the great snow we currently have.
