That snowmobile thread

Your zr580 was a mid 90's machine. The suspension on 97 venture on par with zero chassis. The sleds from the early to mid 2000s were a lot better suspension wise than that. Then the rider forward sleds came out starting with the skidoo rev chassis. Now they are most all rider forward. With the advent of rider forward sleds, then suspension tech could go, and went even crazier.

When rider forward chassis sleds first hit the market, those that were used to the sit back style thought they wouldn't like it. Then they rode them. It's night and day, and not like a cruiser bike, you are in more of an attack mode, that doesn't necessarily mean they are uncomfortable. You are simply more able to react to the terrain, and influence the sled and how it handles by being centrally located on the sled. I think cruiser bike riders likened the rider forward sleds to sport bikes, and assumed that the rider forward sleds were uncomfortable.

 

I should have mentioned that mine is the ZR580 EXT, which is something of a one model year anomaly with the long travel rear suspension. At the time it was unique and sat up up a lot higher than the normal ZR580. The tunnel on the 97 ext is even cut and bent upward, and it has the later models ubiquitous tunnel side pads. I need to dig up a photo of it.

 

I also have a 1972 cheetah 440....But it's in need of some tlc. Been sitting in the barn for a while. I think that the carb is in need of a total rebuild and I have my doubts about the track. Gone sadly is 71 EXT 440 dual carb free air with expansion chambers. It was like kitty Kat with a V8....But get more than six inches of snow and it got stuck like mom's station wagon on summer tires.

 

I'll have to dig up some pictures of my old sleds, live in the past!

 

Yeah, I'm aware of those. They made them a number of years. It was a 580 EXT. It has the same ETT tunnel/ suspension that the zr's had. A friend had one of those. That ETT was really a gimmick since Arctic cat measured the suspension travel in an arc, not straight line as all motorsports typically measure suspension travel.

 

What did you expect from Arctic Cat? To play fair or be honest? Bah! They were the Nascar of Snowmobile companies. Even had the lurid paint jobs!

It looked cool anyway. On the later generation of ZR the ETT was the standard suspension. On the first generation ZR it was one model one year, iirc. All previous years rode low in the back.

 

I love seeing the old sleds. Especially the 'lost' years of the early 80s...we did not get any snow around here... Was a rough time to be a winter sports guy.

 

I am really enjoying this thread. My snowmobile experience is close to 40 years ago. Don't really have enough snow to make use of one here locally, and don't have the time to buy one and travel north to ride.
Thanks for letting me live vicariously through your adventures.

 

I'm waiting for someone to say that they have one of the single ski machines from the early 2010's. Always wanted to try one.

 

The early 80's were rough on all of snowmobiling. By 1980, all of the remaining sled companies were whittled down to a handful. Then Arctic cat went out of business and ceased production until 1984, John Deere stopped making sleds, as well as scorpion, moto-ski and Kawasaki.

Now, with Yamaha and cat sorta combining, we're really down to 3 manufacturers. Who knows if Yamaha will again make their unique own chassis in the future? I hope so. Who knows if there will be any new manufacturers? A few have tried, redline, ad boivin, FAST, maybe others,? But those all didn't pan out, even FAST and ad boivin, which were staples of snowmobiling for decades before attempting their own snowmobile.

 

We had a 69 Olympic like this.

 

Nothing real old from me. My first sled was 97 Ski Doo Formula 3 600. Then after that I had a 2000 Arctic Cat ZRT 600, the next year I bought my roommates 2000 ZRT 800, and then 2 years later a ZR 800.

We got into asphalt racing the summer of 2000, and the 600 was just not as much fun, hence why I bought the 800. I did have race the 600 at the grass drags that year, won in spectacular fashion standing it almost on the bumper when I launched.

 

The Alpine the dual track single ski, used one on ski mtn but never owned one. One I drove had an option that 2 throttles one for each of rear tracks. It's purpose was to move snow making equipment, Slow, boring to ride could go anywhere!

 

Was that the sled hawk?

 

Up in Gorham NH. I believe these were for sale.

 

I'm a FAST fan!
Their suspensions worked. The steep approach angle at the front of the skid was a little steep and did use a little more power but the ride was awesome if you were willing to set it up right...(some were intimidated by it and just claimed the ride was not good)

 

Steep, as in high? My ZR 800 Cross Country had the adjustable front shock on the skid. It really made a difference if you wound it all the way up on a really rough trail. Especially if you ride at ludicrous speed like we would.