Snowmobiles

[gprsh924]

What do I need to know? We are looking at picking up a couple for the lakehouse so we can get more use out of it in the winter. My dad is leaning towards getting 2 person sleds so that more people can go at once. They will mostly be used for cruising around the lake, with some occasional trail riding.

Is there anything in particular to watch out for? We will probably be looking at older machines, trying to spend between $2500-$4000 all said and done.

As an alternative, what about an ATV? Pros are year round usage and the fact that I have been riding them for 10 years (I have virtually zero time on snowmobiles, but tons on jetskis). Cons are that we probably wouldn't be able to take the ATV on the trails near the house because we would likely mess up the snow.

Thanks
Garrett

[A930Rocket]

No good advice, but I suppose you could ride an ATV year round, while a snowmobile is going no where in the summer.

We used 750 trail models in WY/MT several years ago. They were a lot of fun for high speed stuff, hill climbs, trails, etc. No reverse that I recall. The cruisers had reverse, seat backs and families/old people riding them.

If you riden dirt bikes, jet skies, atv's, etc. you'll adapt to snowmobiles quickly.

That's all I got.

[porsche4life]

ATV works in the snow.... kind of.... When we get deep snow the atv sinks and bottoms out.... Then its just no damned good....

[vash]

i rented a snowmobile a few holidays ago in denver. what a blast. i was either idling the thing or at full throttle. i had to go back for more fuel.

i had a snot icicle about 3" long! it was a very good time. expensive, but fun.

[Tim Hancock]

For an occasional use sled, try to find barely used sleds from the early-mid 90's...... Somewhat reliable/comfortable to ride, but old enough to be cheap. In my neck of the woods where we rarely get decent heavy snowfall anymore, many folks buy snowmobiles to ride 1-2 times per year up in Michigan but rarely get them out at home. Many of these sleds are like new compared to sleds purchased in areas with long hard snowy winters.

[LakeCleElum]

ATV: Where my cabin is; roads are snowed in during the winter and it's snowmobile or ATV. ATV's get around just fine if AWD. They are not legal on groomed trails in our state, consider that.

If the trails get high usage, they get bumpy and the newer sled has much better suspension.........For your useage and price range, you can't go wrong with any Artic Cat, Polaris or Yamaha in the years of about 1999-2003. A 700 would be a good size if hauling 2up.

Snowmobiles pic's from 3 days last winter near my house:

Picasa Web Albums - robert.seelye - Galagher-Blew...

[pete3799]

Originally Posted by Tim Hancock

For an occasional use sled, try to find barely used sleds from the early-mid 90's...... Somewhat reliable/comfortable to ride, but old enough to be cheap. In my neck of the woods where we rarely get decent heavy snowfall anymore, many folks buy snowmobiles to ride 1-2 times per year up in Michigan but rarely get them out at home. Many of these sleds are like new compared to sleds purchased in areas with long hard snowy winters.

What Tim said.
If your only talking a couple of inches of snow an atv will work.
Anything more than that get a sled.

[pavulon]

It will be more than you want to spend but a 4WD ATV w/ tracks on each corner would be a pretty slick set-up. It is a bit of a compromise in outright performance from a snowmachine but you can run it year around and get some utility as well.

[Dana Norris]

Come on Sid, it doesn`t snow that much in OK. Get ATVs they are good in 20 inches of snow
I know I have ridden them in that much snow in Colorado, lots of fun.

[Tim Hancock]

I have a 4 x 4 ATV and it is fun to play around with in 6" of snow in the yard, but it will not work out well if riding in areas with drifting or deep heavy snow.

New sleds are awesome, but sleds from the 90's and even some from the late 80's are still "fun" to trail ride with. (Especially if you are not presently a hard core snowmobile owner) I have owned old snowmobiles since the late 70's because I could never justify buying new just to ride a few hours each year when we got decent snow.

That said... a friend owned a Polaris dealership in northern Michigan until a few years ago and when we visited him up there, we would always use his new sleds. As we both had ridden together all our lives and had raced MX together for many years, we rode like complete idiots and would always smoke anyone who dared to attempt to hang with us even though we were often on smaller displacement sleds he used for rentals. For trail riding, a big heavy 800cc machine that can do well over 100 mph in a straight line will not have any advantage over a smaller, lighter and easier to toss around sled.

If money is no issue, by all means buy the latest/greatest they are awesome, but I guarantee you would still have plenty of fun on 500cc machines from the 1990's for a grand or two each.

[911Rob]

I've got a couple sleds, mostly mountain trail riding though. I have Artic Cat M8's with extra long tracks. I'd recommend buying as new as you can afford and watch the weight! You'll love it, have some fun!

[widgeon13]

997cc, 4 cylinder, faster than a scalded cat. Yamaha RX1

[Gretch]

Rev chassis, or nothing. 2005 or better. Once you ride one, everything else is junk.

[Gretch]

[pavulon]

I realize this is a bit unrealistic for the OP right now...but in a couple years, I hope to buy one of these for half of new price.

[911Rob]

Nice ride ^^^^^

[911Rob]

I live in a very small town of only 16,000 people, where the best sled guys sell Artic Cats, no Polaris dealer here; otherwise....? But I'm happy wit me sleds; tons of fun!

[dlockhart]

[john70t]

In the youth, once did a 360 on a sheet ice road covered by snow on a snowmobile. They are only good for heavy snow though.
Kept flipping over ATVs. Those are dangerous things.
Quads are safer and do all the above.