Ziemann

I have to say that I am missing being in the groomer as much as I am riding right now!

Congrats! Nothing better than that new Tucker smell! :-)

Dunno- I've gotta believe that the Textron marketing team is pulling their hair out every time Jim posts.

Ahhh yes- I saw his GREAT advice on Arctic Chat. Then, like here, he said it was just an opinion.

I still maintain that Jim is a double agent for Poo or Doo, and intentionally does stupid shit to irreparably harm the Arctic Cat brand.....

jESUS tAP dANCING cHRIST, jIM. OK, I'll bite. No one is going to buy in to your story. Belts wear on a Cat just like any other sled. And there's a ton of us here with Cat experience ranging from racing to casual trail riding that know better. Either you never ride, or you lie alot. Jesus, I had to change the belt on my wife's sled today. Apparently, she's more of a rider than you are.

Jim- 11 months ago when that thing raced, there was no such thing as stock for that sled. Everything on that sled was prototype/ one off kinda stuff......

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I agree 100%. There reaches a point where you have to make a decision: Keep buying the same damn thing for a much higher price? Or Move on. I chose to move on. The Catalyst is a good start, but will it really make much difference in marketshare? I think more than anything, it will stop the bleeding for Cat...... I will 100% re-evaluate and look at the Catalyst after the bugs get worked out. I'll likely wait to see if the 858 is a success or a failure. But I have to say that it is going to be tough to pull me back as a customer. My VR-1 has been a great sled.

In 2012 it was dreadful. In 2013 til ???? it was decent sled but over time became more and more irrelevant in the sled market. My 2017 Roger Skime was an amazing sled. But I bought several Procross sleds over the years, and it no longer made sense to keep buying the same damn sled for significantly more money. It was relevant for a while, and then completely eclipsed by the other manufacturers. The Axys alone was a huge leapfrog over the Procross.....

It is an interesting mix of offenders. Last winter, we had people blasting through a Non-motorized area (Bird Sanctuary), and it turned out they were locals that absolutely knew better. Some folks assumed that it was tourists that were unfamiliar with the area, but it was locals- no excuse.... As far as Wakefield- it is generally tourists that I see tearing shit up. Old US 2 isn't ideal, but it beats the alternative.

Agreed 100%. As a sport, we've done a poor job of policing ourselves. Instead of controlling our own destiny, our destiny is being dictated to us. In a club officer role, you cannot believe how often we get reports of riders doing whatever the hell they want with no regard for laws/rules/land owners etc..... Sometimes it is the tourists that are the offenders, and other times it is locals..... Obviously, the largest numbers of complaints are related to noise complaints, and off trail riding.....

At least up until the last couple of years, Ericco was a sponsor of Herfindahl. But I don't have a clue if Textron still does business there locally with Ericco. I took a look at Ericco's Faceplant Page, and they haven't posted any Cat content since 2021.

You're not wrong about that. Again, Textron knows what is at stake here, and I would suspect that this release will be better than what we ran in to with the '12's. There will be lots of things posted online tho, and it will provide folks with things to watch for. At the same time, this should be fun to watch because there will be some ridiculous issues that will pop up out of the blue as these sleds hit the snow.

I don't think that's possible. It took a while, but I eventually got my '12 to ride/handle well and be pretty reliable. I never did get my belt blowing issues straightened out. In all honesty, I suspect that they know what's at stake, and will do a better job than they did for the '12's.

I'm sure it will be alright..... :-P

I've seen a few reports now of M 600 Alpha's with some minor quality issues. For those taking delivery, it would be a good idea to go through your sled thoroughly before taking it out (which you should be doing anyway!). This is pretty minor, but obviously should have been caught at the factory and by a dealer on PDI.....

Did I see that the Michigan trail passes were pink this year?

There is good news indeed. I was already making alternate plans for some of my saddlebag trips that I had planned. I will be riding through there several times this winter. Even though Old US-2 is not ideal, it beats the hell out of the alternative. Old US 2 still needs to ultimately be replaced with a better route, but it is a short segment, and works just fine. Now, if people can behave maybe this will get done sooner than later.