buhbye Textron...

1 hour ago, Crnr2Crnr said:

i totally get it on a pig heavy 4S, a utility or grand touring sled... but on a lightweight, LIGHT WEIGHT 2S trail weapon?

What is more important to you, what the spec sheet says or how the sled actually feels. The EPS sled will feel significantly lighter.

Like I said I think you'd feel different if you tried it. IF you ride aggressively you would benefit. I don't care who you are you can't be as precise as you can when you're hanging off the side of machine and putting 50# through the handlebars. You just don't realize it and looking at spec sheets. The race sleds will have it sooner or later.

I’d think cc guys would really benefit from eps.

They’d be faster.

Weight is minimal.

I’d think it would be similar to atv unit.

We run 2-3 hrs at a shot aggressively!!!

Cant wait to try one!!

4 hours ago, Cat45 said:

I don't see the e x t being considered a trail weapon. I think it's customer base is the 60 plus guy riding 150 miles per day on groomed trails, and is either too lazy or lacks the knowledge to properly adjust shocks if there was too many settings. I bet most would still leave them on setting 2 and never touched them again. Jimwit is the customer that I see buying one of these.

valid points...

2 hours ago, Not greg b said:

Atac is shit that no one has bought. It needs to go away. The other 2 have active systems now. Shitty, mediocre, and more shitty setting with crappy hand controls makes it so great.

Tom and Jimwit have them, that's two completely different riders if there ever was.

2 hours ago, racinfarmer said:

It is nice to see the ra-tards are full throttle on ACTR and other groups.

haven't even looked since the first morning of the announcement, probably won't bother looking either.

2 hours ago, mnstang said:

What is more important to you, what the spec sheet says or how the sled actually feels. The EPS sled will feel significantly lighter.

Like I said I think you'd feel different if you tried it. IF you ride aggressively you would benefit. I don't care who you are you can't be as precise as you can when you're hanging off the side of machine and putting 50# through the handlebars. You just don't realize it and looking at spec sheets. The race sleds will have it sooner or later.

will it? have you ridden one? I haven't and am doubtful I will anytime soon. I also look at it as something expensive to eventually fail. will be interesting to see if they put it on the RXC or SX sleds. I can see on the lake races with comp bars where it might be an advantage for rider fatigue and the dreaded 'arm pump'. as of today... it's not something on my want list, same as electric start.

2 hours ago, X2700 said:

I’d think cc guys would really benefit from eps.

They’d be faster.

Weight is minimal.

I’d think it would be similar to atv unit.

We run 2-3 hrs at a shot aggressively!!!

Cant wait to try one!!

look forward to hearing the feedback... and have they officially announced what models it will be on?

I've been busy and getting a lot of crap done outside this weekend before the rain comes... again.

btw... it's kinda nice having a new Cat thread

glad this all happened

2 hours ago, Not greg b said:

Atac is shit that no one has bought. It needs to go away. The other 2 have active systems now. Shitty, mediocre, and more shitty setting with crappy hand controls makes it so great.

It actually sells pretty well from what I saw.
The '26 wil finally have a decent mid shock, but the average atac rider is going to get confused by there being 2 shocks to adjust in the rear

5 hours ago, Crnr2Crnr said:

SNOW TRACKERS!!!

and the added weight of the EPS is.... ?

EPS/E-Start/Fancy Gauge... added price, added weight... and on a light 2S I don't see the necessity.

in other news... this didn't age well

EPS is lighter than E-start, but my bet is that it's only going to be available on Estart sleds as I don't see there being enough juice to run it without a battery on board

2 minutes ago, krom said:

EPS is lighter than E-start, but my bet is that it's only going to be available on Estart sleds as I don't see there being enough juice to run it without a battery on board

funny, as the Catalyst was supposed to be all about 'light weight' and here we're talking about are slapping like what... 50lbs of E/S and P/S on the sleds? not to mention just a year or so ago everyone was stoked about the progressive steering... even though it really wasn't anything 'new'. as I stated previously, I can see where it would probably be good to have, but not on any sled I'd likely be interested in.

are they putting P/S on the Mountain or Off-Trail sleds, as idk tbh?

RACK STEERING SYSTEM

Arctic Cat designed and launched a rack steering system years ago on their ZR snocross sleds and have incorporated a version of it on the ZR and RIOT.  The rack steering provides the same great attributes of Electronic Power Steering without the added weight – Light and precise steering with flat cornering greets you on every trail while bump steer and tiresome feedback through the handlebars are eliminated on every ride. It’s important to note, the rack steering effort allows you to run my favorite, more aggressive, dual off-set 4 bolt runners up front without the penalty of heavy-steering. The rack steering also provides a tighter ski turning radius which is noticeable in tight corners. 

ArcticInsider

FIRST RIDE ON 2024 ARCTIC CAT CATALYST MODELS - ArcticIns...

If you pay attention to the ArcticInsider social pages, then many of you know I recently had the opportunity to give the new 2024 pre-production CATALYST models a shakedown in Thief River at a spec...

so again, I'm struggling to understand the need for P/S on light 2S sleds here fellas?

1 minute ago, Crnr2Crnr said:

RACK STEERING SYSTEM

Arctic Cat designed and launched a rack steering system years ago on their ZR snocross sleds and have incorporated a version of it on the ZR and RIOT.  The rack steering provides the same great attributes of Electronic Power Steering without the added weight – Light and precise steering with flat cornering greets you on every trail while bump steer and tiresome feedback through the handlebars are eliminated on every ride. It’s important to note, the rack steering effort allows you to run my favorite, more aggressive, dual off-set 4 bolt runners up front without the penalty of heavy-steering. The rack steering also provides a tighter ski turning radius which is noticeable in tight corners. 

ArcticInsider

FIRST RIDE ON 2024 ARCTIC CAT CATALYST MODELS - ArcticIns...

If you pay attention to the ArcticInsider social pages, then many of you know I recently had the opportunity to give the new 2024 pre-production CATALYST models a shakedown in Thief River at a spec...

so again, I'm struggling to understand the need for P/S on light 2S sleds here fellas?

I really think it's just for the trail cruisers not the performance minded riders. Most riders can't tell the difference in performance from a full tank of gas to a 1/2 tank, and that's probably pretty close to the weight difference. I can see it being good for an xc race to fight fatigue, and as a steering dampener. The atvs I've ridden that had it worked great, no more bars getting ripped out of your hands. I'd think it'll help with darting on a sled too

27 minutes ago, Cat45 said:

I really think it's just for the trail cruisers not the performance minded riders. Most riders can't tell the difference in performance from a full tank of gas to a 1/2 tank, and that's probably pretty close to the weight difference. I can see it being good for an xc race to fight fatigue, and as a steering dampener. The atvs I've ridden that had it worked great, no more bars getting ripped out of your hands. I'd think it'll help with darting on a sled too

right, cept if your sled is darting... there's a remedy for that

47 minutes ago, Crnr2Crnr said:

funny, as the Catalyst was supposed to be all about 'light weight' and here we're talking about are slapping like what... 50lbs of E/S and P/S on the sleds? not to mention just a year or so ago everyone was stoked about the progressive steering... even though it really wasn't anything 'new'. as I stated previously, I can see where it would probably be good to have, but not on any sled I'd likely be interested in.

are they putting P/S on the Mountain or Off-Trail sleds, as idk tbh?

Got it, you'd rather ride the spec sheet.

6 minutes ago, Crnr2Crnr said:

right, cept if your sled is darting... there's a remedy for that

Most of us know that, but the average rider probably doesn't have a clue. My uncle has been riding since the 60s, puts big miles on most years and refuses to adjust anything on a sled because the engineers know what they're doing.....there's thousands of riders like him out there. Another riding buddy rode his assault for 2 yrs with blown shocks because "fuck it it still rides just fine" and I don't need good suspension to boondock🤦

one thing I'm interested to know... will all those patents gathering cobwebs finally make it to production in some form? the skid is the one thing the Lester's ding Cat for every year in comparisons but I seldom hear the Cat faithful complain about it. any thoughts @krom ?

2 minutes ago, Cat45 said:

Most of us know that, but the average rider probably doesn't have a clue. My uncle has been riding since the 60s, puts big miles on most years and refuses to adjust anything on a sled because the engineers know what they're doing.....there's thousands of riders like him out there. Another riding buddy rode his assault for 2 yrs with blown shocks because "fuck it it still rides just fine" and I don't need good suspension to boondock🤦

yes, the industry catering to the lowest common denominator and people with enough money to afford themselves the latest sled while knowing little to nothing about it. dunno about you but a lot of the tech on some of these sleds definitely make me think I wouldn't want to own them out of warranty when the gizmos, gadgets and such fail... which they will, at a price. same shit in automotive and probably your refrigerator.

8 minutes ago, mnstang said:

Got it, you'd rather ride the spec sheet.

remember when you and Ramstad said Cat didn't need a new chassis?

Edited April 27, 20251 yr by Crnr2Crnr

Older guy from my area bought a Thunderwinder strictly for the power steering, but I'm guessing he'd rather have a 2 smoker.He has a shoulder that he's had surgery on but gets sore riding and power steering fixed that for him. How many others like him are out there

2 minutes ago, Sled_Hed said:

Older guy from my area bought a Thunderwinder strictly for the power steering, but I'm guessing he'd rather have a 2 smoker.He has a shoulder that he's had surgery on but gets sore riding and power steering fixed that for him. How many others like him are out there

on a sled with that much weight on top the skis... it makes perfect sense to add even more.

Unless your a pussy who wears xtra small in mens size coats like @mnstang , no one needs EPS on a 2-stroke sled. They already make a sled for guys like this, it’s called the B-last.

Please just stick with a 600 instead of chasing the odd-ball engine size.

34 minutes ago, racinfarmer said:

Please just stick with a 600 instead of chasing the odd-ball engine size.

They will probably put 600 cylinders on the 858 lower end so it will be common. Vs having 2 mounting configurations and 2 different lower ends in the catalyst. It comes out to some odd ball cc if I remember right

5 minutes ago, Not greg b said:

They will probably put 600 cylinders on the 858 lower end so it will be common. Vs having 2 mounting configurations and 2 different lower ends in the catalyst. It comes out to some odd ball cc if I remember right

Interesting.

Maybe they'll finance it for people with shitty credit.

I'd like to see AC come up with something unique for engine size. Be original. Build one that splits the difference between the 600 and 858 that the other OEMs don't produce.

Maybe a 727?

Would fill the hole in the 135-140hp range once Yamaha stops building the 1049 4-stroke for them.

will we see the 400 single slug in a Catalyst chassis?

will we see a 4S from ??? in a Catalyst wide body chassis?

will we see a Turbo 2S?

21 hours ago, Not greg b said:

Atac is shit that no one has bought. It needs to go away. The other 2 have active systems now. Shitty, mediocre, and more shitty setting with crappy hand controls makes it so great.

I like the simple ATAC system and use it all the time