Snowmobile Tech

Bumblebee

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I don't own one but keep up on them and where they are going with tech.

Suzuki, Yamaha and Kawasaki all make engines for snowmobiles, they have been delving quite a bit into supercharging and turbocharging their snowmobile engines,

I figure it is only a matter of time until Suzuki and Yamaha join Kawasaki in the boosted bike market again.

If we recall the '80s, the Japanese companies all had a turbo bike, only the Kawasaki was decent, the other three were based on crappy, underpowered, outdated engines. (Honda CX, Suzuki GS, Yamaha XS).

There will always be an N/A bike in the fore-front though as they superbike and GP bikes are alive and well being N/A.

RedBull

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Thought Suzuki has not made
a snowmobile engine in years

and or jet skies .


And why they were behind
in the blower world .

Bumblebee

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Thought Suzuki hasent made a snowmobile engine in years and or jet skies. And why they were behind in the blower world.
I stand corrected, the Arctic Cat I saw had a Suzuki engine, the sled was in such good condition, I thought it was newer than it is. Suzuki stopped producing engines for them in around 2016 or so.

Bumblebee

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Old thread but I started it so..........

A few of my neighbors have sleds....some of them have a few of them...

One guy in particular has a lot (I mean a lot) of money tied up in his sleds and he is ready to bite someone if we don't get enough snow to ride them.....

Another neighbor has 6 sleds (2 adult and 4 kid sleds) and his kids are driving him nuts asking when they will have enough snow to ride them...

CBXRider

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Just a few miles away. Snowed at the
69DA7EFC-8055-4AD9-B060-DB83BDE3FA0A.jpeg
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house the other day but it melted away overnight.

RedBull

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GIXERHP

ok, ok...just a wee bit Irish...
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Thought Suzuki hasent made a snowmobile engine in years and or jet skies. And why they were behind in the blower world.
Suzuki has made several Snow machine engines, never a complete sled though,

JeffSyh

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Old thread but I started it so..........

A few of my neighbors have sleds....some of them have a few of them...

One guy in particular has a lot (I mean a lot) of money tied up in his sleds and he is ready to bite someone if we don't get enough snow to ride them.....

Another neighbor has 6 sleds (2 adult and 4 kid sleds) and his kids are driving him nuts asking when they will have enough snow to ride them...
Sledding is by far the most fun you can do with your pants on or off! Only if you have access to the mountains though.... I have actually never done anything more fun ever and nothing compared to it. But you have to lots of money and I'm little distance away from the mountains. If I lived in Alberta or B.C I'd ditch sportbike and dedicate all my cash to sledding.

RedBull

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Bumblebee

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The guys who own snowmobiles around here are pretty depressed....it is cold as heck out but we have very little snow....

Some of these guys have a lot of money tied up in their sport and can't use them....that's the biggest reason I got rid of my sleds a few years ago...that and most of the trails had more cops on them than the hiways did...I guess cops like riding around their snowmobiles more than their patrol cars.

sixpack577

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The guys who own snowmobiles around here are pretty depressed....it is cold as heck out but we have very little snow....

Some of these guys have a lot of money tied up in their sport and can't use them....that's the biggest reason I got rid of my sleds a few years ago...that and most of the trails had more cops on them than the hiways did...I guess cops like riding around their snowmobiles more than their patrol cars.
What?
What are cops enforcing on snowmobile trails?

sixpack577

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Speed, stickers, DUI, all the same thing they enforce on the roads.....

Many sleds are really quick yet most of the trails are 50kms/hr or less...

....and anything you do on a sled affects your driver license...
Wow
I knew sledding was big up there, but I had no idea there was that kind of enforcement.
So the trails are just like the roads; but I *assume* you can still ride however you want on private property?
They don't have that much over reach do they?

Bumblebee

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Wow
I knew sledding was big up there, but I had no idea there was that kind of enforcement.
So the trails are just like the roads; but I *assume* you can still ride however you want on private property?
They don't have that much over reach do they?
If you are on your own private property you are GTG.

Even the street racing law goes on the trails...if you get caught going 40kms/hr over the limit, you get your sled impounded, your license suspended for 21 days and then off to court where the real nastiness begins.

sixpack577

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On top of it all, you have to pay trail fees and display the tag, have insurance and a license....

Owning a snowmobile for a sometimes 3 month season is an expensive venture...one I'm glad to be out of.
Yeah, I bet.
Can you buy seasonal insurance, or do you have to pay for an entire year?
Some states here will let you have seasonal motorcycle insurance(usually a 6 month policy instead of a year), not where I live, but I ride all year anyway.

Bumblebee

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Yeah, I bet.
Can you buy seasonal insurance, or do you have to pay for an entire year?
Some states here will let you have seasonal motorcycle insurance(usually a 6 month policy instead of a year), not where I live, but I ride all year anyway.
No seasonal insurance on anything....

The good thing is snowmobile insurance is pretty reasonable as the insurance companies know they aren't used very long.
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