Doug

Anybody not able to get their sleds ordered.  Seeing on other forums guys that were waiting and thought it was just a markets ploy now cannot get the sleds they wanted ordered and now are upset. 

20 minutes ago, Ziemann said:

@ckf Exactly 100%- early season snow is a huge insulator and slows the frost from penetrating the ground. A roller knocks the air out of the snow and compacts it allowing the frost to penetrate sooner. The added bonus is that it helps to get sled traffic on the full width of the trail sooner to help freeze things down. Otherwise, the damn sleds just run right down the center of the trail.

We love early season traffic on our trails. The more we get early, the quicker things are frozen down enough for us to get our groomers across the wet areas.

We are blessed with natural snow, and lake effect. Every day that we can't groom is lost revenue for the club.....

Our preference is have the sleds run in the trails first before we go out with the groomer.  Last year we didn't have enough snow to open the trails and the snow was so light we were just pulling the snow off when we tried to groom.  A roller would have worked nice but we didn't have one.

Here's ours when have the blade set to just enough to catch the top and roll the snow.

15 hours ago, Badger** said:

We have one Arrowhead drag and I can't think of the one we have for the John Deere Tractor we lease which no one used this year it takes a talent to drive the Tractor with tires not tracks this rig is a handful with the hills we have around hear. The Arrowhead is a very heavy drag if not careful this drag can pull right our Tucker off the side of a hill or suck you down a hillside. That's another thing they want is a new lighter drag we can't switch out the drag from Tractor to Tucker because they use a different type of hydraulic oil. Doug you guys have more than enough HP to run the big drags. Have you tried using a roller yet they seem to work well at the start of the season?    

With the Sno-Plane drags we can load them up with snow when we drop the blades to the point that the tractor will spin out.  We don't have a roller but as light as the snow was when the season started we talked about getting one which would have help get a base.

1 hour ago, Zambroski said:

Nice.  I know we are off your topic with the 1970's shit but....I saw the Sno-King race when I was a kid.  Went with my dad and drunken uncle.  Had the poster on my wall until my teen years.

 

Not necessarily off topic topic.  Little trivia here is the the first Sno-King was originally the Boss Cat 2.  The Boss Cat 2 has now been fully restored to original.  I sold the collector that has it and others some NOS parts for a 1990-1/2 RXL and was invited to see their collection.  Mouth dropping would be an understatement of the sleds there.  The one pic is my buddy inside of the Boss Cat 2 after getting instructions to start it.  Also in a pic is the Sno-King with 4 V-Max motors

4 minutes ago, Zambroski said:

Rupp Riders!!!!!!!  

Still have a 75 Rupp Nitro 440 FA

8 minutes ago, Zambroski said:

Who remembers?

 

http://www.bosscatlegacy.com/miscproto/hbuilt/sk3001.jpg

Mickey Rupp 

Here is some of the speed run sleds from the early 80's. The Budweiser sled actually showed up at one of our radar runs to make some test runs. At the time they were running in the mid 130's with the sled. It was powered by a Mariner V6. As of a couple years ago the sled was purchased by a collector and was going through a full restoration.

Here's the first groomer our club had.

Funny when you do a search who's online my original user name and my dup user name both say I'm online even through I'm ban on both users.

9 hours ago, Badger** said:

With four belts and I can't remember how many steel bars I think I counted 660 or more bolts and nuts just for one track now think of doing all four tracks on a Tucker. Its just not efficient and yes the old Tucker does a great job laying down a ribbon and the boys do an awesome job keeping up on maintenance but the object is to not burn people out. We owe nothing right now and we have money I think we can do better.   

Badger what kind of drag you goes use?  We have sno-plane and like the blades in them cause we can drop them to fill the drag up and move the snow to fill ditches and low snow areas.  We picked up and Arrow drag to use behind a wheeled tractor we want to try in some areas.

6 minutes ago, XCR1250 said:

Maybe a Summer wheeled vehicle ride?

CJ5 jeep work?

In our case where we're located we're not guaranteed to have enough snow to groom every year.  There's been some years where we have not groomed at all.  We have a couple of trusted farmers that rent them for light field work so there used basically year around.  It doesnt do equipment any good to sit and not be used for long periods of time especially years we didn't have enough snow to groom.

7 hours ago, Badger** said:

The guys want a 1999 Tucker with a steel tracks I keep telling them to get a rubber track groomer. Hears the deal I have to cosign for a loan and I just don't feel comfortable with them buying that old of a steel track groomer when we already have one. I would like to see them get into a four track Tractor or Tucker with rubber tracks. 

Steel cleats are not fun especially as they start to wear and get thin they then start to crack and break.  Brings back bad memories of our LMC.  

13 minutes ago, Ziemann said:

@Zambroski He probably needs permission to leave the nanny state and is unable to cross the bridge to God's Country.....

 

Parole restrictions?

11 minutes ago, Badger** said:

 

"Fixed" sorry on the phone working on getting a newer groomer for the club. Doug nothing as nice as yours. They are right Doo has the best ass end in the biz and Poo's front end is the best in the biz and Cat has nothing to brag about its just ok like a warm beer on a hot day. The fun factor still goes to Polaris. 

What you guys looking at for a groomer?

14 minutes ago, Badger** said:

I don't run any shit trails and they are right the R motion is the bump sucker in the biz.  

Thunder Badger......😬

So is there going to be a Freedom sledder ride this coming season?  As strange as last seasons weather was not sure where a good place to base one from.  I ride every weekend where ever there is snow.  Z is going to be building a new MADCATTER club house so not sure if other brands of sleds would be welcome.  Never been to the Plywood Castle so that's on the must stop list for me.

49 minutes ago, Crnr2Crnr said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shouldn't all the folks who supposedly loved the Baler which Poo finally killed be all over these sleds?  For years we heard how playful, bitchin and awesome they are.  Clearly the Lynx Rave isn't for Doo guys.

@fortune46x if you get one you'll have to renounce your mad catter membership and join the pussy posse.  

I personally haven't had a Baler since 2016.  Wife had one until 2 seasons ago.  Still one of the best riding sleds I will say. 

Nothing wrong with the Lynx either it's just not as trail friendly as other sleds from what I'm told by the guys that had it for 3 days.  If they rode more off trail and ditch pounding then they would consider buying a Lynx.  Out of the 5 guys that rode it 3 are buying new Doo's and the other 2 are keeping their current sled.  One friend that had a Cat turbo sold it and put money down on a Lynx but now he's not sure if he's going to take it.

1 hour ago, Zambroski said:

 

Still, the PC has been dominant and I’ll build one again and again.  Well, maybe just one more anyway.  That whe set up just works for me.  Tough as shit

Lol 

Z. The PC crash test dummy.  🤣

Just now, fortune46x said:

Very interesting , You need to step it up though Doug , I figured youd know the secret handshake for skidoo riders 

 

I'll pass on the Ski-Doo to Ski-Doo greeting.

5 minutes ago, fortune46x said:

The skid geometry is alot like the bailer only they stuck it inside the tunnel  - I always take into the account of what other people say and what they ride , but I am wondering if its because they didnt have time to really get a feel for it ? Its a pretty drastic change over the doo. 

 

When they went it was all seasoned Ski-Doo riders and I didn't have the secret Ski-Doo hand shake to go alone.  They actually asked but I was in Tennessee for work when they went.  

They put on over 300 miles are it and to your point they also said it was not user friendly to adjust on the trail.  They loaded it into trailer at night and made adjustments in the morning before they left or by tipping the sled on its side and knocking the snow out of the suspension.  We're all trail riders and the consensus was they're own sleds all new or year old Ski-Doo's had better trail manners.  The Lynx was fun on the straights pulling the skis up at will coming into the corners nice but got light on ski pressure coming out of the corners and pushed.  They tightened up the limit strap but it's a bungy cord like material and stretches.  They thought if they could have put a conventional strap on it it would helped in the corners but didn't know how that would effect the rest of the suspension.

2 minutes ago, fortune46x said:

On the bold - how simple could it have been for them to create something retro especially when they were doing another season of BNG and a clutch change.. They didnt just drop the ball they let it fall through the floor and go down 10 levels. Absolutely NOTHING to entice new potential buyers. 

I am in the market for a new sled, and the dealer that is in my neck of the woods has a 850 Lynx and I am finding it harder and harder to say no and this is after 15 years on AC...  Its sad really. 

Group of guys I ride with had a Lynx for 3 days and none of them are buying one.  They all said it's more of a 60-40 off trail sled. With suspension uncoupled and the front limiter strap more like a budgie cord you'd come into the corners nice but when your back on the throttle the skis are in the air.  Fun sled if you want to just hang the skies in the air.  I wasn't with them but by the last day they were all back on they're own sleds and the Lynx was in the trailer.  These are all Ski-Doo riders.

9 hours ago, jdsky said:

This was the second season with an Oxygen helmet.  Was time to retire the BV2S after 12 seasons of riding with it.  The thing always worked flawlessly but I just got tired of the mask and after trying on an Oxygen was ready to switch it out.  First season we did not have any really cold riding days, everything at or above zero.  This year we had the week of solid -20 and one day of -30 riding and it worked really well.  The only part that sucks about it was the flip down tinted lense.  It frosted up on subzero days.  

Yes, it's heated and yes it cost $600 which is fucking ridiculous but when I paid $350 for my BV2S all those years ago I thought the exact same thing and don't regret spending the cash.  The sport is crazy expensive but far cheaper than hookers and blow...

I don't like my helmet being tethered to the sled never have.  I know the Oxygen helmet has the magnetic tether on the back do you need the helmet tethered all the time even on warm days.  One of the guys I ride with said it would start fogging up even on warm days if you didn't tether it but he was the only one to say that.