[TalonFiero]

I'm bored and itching for snow, trying to kill boredom so I'll blab about sleds I have ridden.

I ride my brothers F7 quite a bit I don't like it as much in the corners on the trails compared to an polaris IQ front end or skidoo rev. Rev and rev xp sleds handle real well, yammi's are probably my least favorite to ride aggressively other than straight line (lake racing).

My brother's f7 is a sno pro so maybe handling isn't it's forte, what it does real well is jump drifts and ditch bang like no other. He does have the narrower track that came on them for a few years so he sometimes buries himself in the deep stuff easily, but he always has me around to pull him out so I'm the sucker. ;-) The other thing worth mentioning is he has put that sled through hell, even banged it up once real good when he found a hidden treasure/cable box once yet his sled is still going strong. Its held together real nice for him. Biggest single improvement on his F7 was ditching the dual carbides and going with single 8" bars. His sled has a pipe, intake, offset timing key and upgraded driven clutch (bitch to get the belt on now!) and clutching.

I am pretty fortunate I get to try out and spend the day riding many different sleds. Wife has a rich uncle and my brother's father-in-law was part of the Polaris Racing team.

Sleds I have logged decent amount of miles on:

Polaris:
Just about any wedge indy based sled - 500, 600 twin and triple,650 rxl, 680 ultra,700 twin, 750 storm (Mike Neal's old sled!)
2001 800xcsp
2002 800xcsp
2003 700 pro-x
2004 800 switchback
2007 700 IQ

All the edges are easy to maintain and have good power, great trail sleds with pretty decent handling suspension. Durable sleds and real cheap to buy secondhand right now. I'd like to say I can ditch bang with the xc based edges but truthfully they are better suited to lakes and trails. Ditch banging is best on the pro-x/x2 based edges. Sleds are older so they are not rider forward and have lower wide seats, not a great sled to ride in a standing position for very long.

Switchback was a nice longer track based edge sled, more comfortable for those 300mile day runs. Longer track with 1.75" paddle was nice riding up in the UP.

Arctic Cat:
2006 F7 SnowPro - Loves ditch banging, rider position feels way up in the air compared to Revs and IQ based sleds, sled feels narrow and tippy in corners when riding aggresively, 700 is snappy and pulls hard. Fast on hard pack and across lake, fluffy stuff it tends to trench easier with the narrowier track. Sled loves to fly and seems real durable.

SkiDoo:
2006 Rev 600ho - Nice and light and handles awesome, good throttle response/snappy, little slower after 60mph compared to 700/800 sleds
2007 Rev Blizzard 800 - Carbed monster, handles awesome, nice power but not as powerful as 800RR, just a great sled to ride
2008 800RR Renegade RevXP - Sweet sweet power, handles great, longer track soaks up the bumps, real rider forward practically standing while riding nice, very little wind protection wear extra gear on long trips. Hasn;t been real reliable, 3 recalls and a blown up clutch in first 1000 miles.

Yamaha:
2006 Rage - real torquey off the line, hard engagement/terrible stock clutching, annoying exhaust note, handles pretty average, nothing to like other than 4 stroke dependability
2006 Apex - FAST, feels like a heavy car, feel real low and heavy and would not want to ditch bang, a lot of fun on lakes and rivers went well over 110mph once


Lastly, not a review but I really want to ride a Rush 600 and eventually the Rush 800.