SNOCRUISE "Snofleet" EVOLUTION"
 

• Have a look, our fleet of Saskatchewan based snowmobiles slowly evolved
  as the years went by.
• In the early years we had a small fleet of 10 year old Yamahas. .
• A short term lease of some Polaris Indy Lites soon put the benefits
  of Independent front suspension on the map for us.
• We purchased several Polaris Indy's that were 1 year old leaseback's out of
  Yellowstone National Park thru Recreation Supply Co in Saskatoon.
• Then I saw a a new 1995 Ski-Doo brochure that featured the new long travel Formula SL 500. This was a no-brainer in many respects because "more suspension" on an "entry level" snowmobile was unheard of. Those were interesting years where thru the last part of the 90's the manufactures "bean counters" disallowed then allowed multiple fasteners on the suspension mounting points! We bought new year after year in those days just to keep the warrantee up to speed on suspensions, their components (shocks, front arms, rear scissors, rails...you name it and it was replaced on some models over and over. It was clear the suspensions were getting put to the test!
• It was soon apparent that the next step was Liquid cooled models, yes it is true they were a bit heavier but when you considered the HP was double that of a comparable fan air cooled....we you know the story just by looking at our chart would you rather your "metal" piston engine run at 140 degrees or 450 degrees?
• The race was on to supply our rental customers with a snowmobile that was dependable and with enough power to keep up even with the big dogs if pressed.
  Kept in a high state of tune with good carbides, a 500cc liquid cooled snowmobile
  was cats ass where we come from.
• These snowmobiles mechanically were good, down the road preference
  started to go towards the machines that did not require any extensive maintenance.
  Snowmobiles that required a ski alignment or worse a frame pull, after every rental, were losing favor with us. And it wasn't just us. Inadvertently customers who had guests or friends on their rental and we are talking nice folks but folks that disregarded bumping into "stuff" that would constantly tweak the spindles and associated steering gear. That was the minor stuff, the worst was when trailing arms would get wiped out along with some other front suspension parts and to boot some models had the whole tunnel or chassis folded up or rolled up like the lid on a can of tuna. Not Good.
• ATTRITION...this is where the rubber meets the road, in a stock car race or some sort of a "24 Hour Lemans" endurance race, attrition is the equipment in motion that fails the test. The sleds that we kept long term, were kept for a reason. For instance in 100,000 Kms of usage, our PROACTION chassis's ski alignments... in over 20 years I used to be able to count them on one hand, used to be able to recite them exactly. 1 maybe 2 were my own solid hand/wrist jarring hits. "Frozen lump" and "tree stump" (97 and 99?). The one where the rental customer dude missed the barn door and hit the barn with the skis cranked! Probably 1 or so on aggressive cross country tours  Crossing  the  Ice blocks on the Saskatchewan River. After clipping the an ice block one machine dropped into an icy cavern, after extraction, we stopped and gave it a ski alignment on the trail. Some chassis designs required a ski alignment every other weekend. What is really bad is many machines manufactured in 2003 and up require complete front clip changes on just about every bump and hit....instead of a ski alignment...unbelievably they require the front frame section to be replaced so it continues to align up with the back track and suspension "tunnel mounting" section. You might poke around slowly with the kids and a sleigh in the front yard with a snowmobile that is "Zee"ed and dog tracking...but....LOL Hit a bump at speed with the boys on a curve and spring board yourself into the trees...LOL That is something to think about.
• More POWER reliability and consistency was some of the earliest considerations. Sure we could of seek out a 700 model that definitely has more power, BUT... but, is a big word. To put it in a nutshell we do not want a model with a limited lifetime. Where at xxx number of miles she is kaput, broken, wore out, "done like dinner", surely you would have to know where I am going here. Snowmobiles to some degree are largely disposable. For an example you do not buy a snowmobile and plan to put 100,000 miles or KM's on it, then hand it down to your neibour or son to roll the odometer over a second time. This is not going to happen, on the other extreme end of the scenario we could compare the snowmobile to a Baja cross country desert racer. A racer with "long travel" suspension that works unusually hard in a tough cross country environment and range of temperatures separating day from night. Where the driver pushes the machine harder than one would think is humanly possible. Where the rubber meets the road they require constant maintenance not only in between races but also during the race in between fuel stops. This reminds me exactly why I walked away from "snowmobiling" in the 70's. It was repair for 2 hours then ride for 1 hour! OMG, you know it is a certain breed of enthusiasts that have evolved and survived this sport! Even the most reliable snowmobiles require that look over and constant checking for signs that one component or another is wearing, prematurely, unevenly, defectively, environmentally, or the worst kind of problem...by your own hand  ( * ).  Small details that are engineered in that you simply are not aware of. You have to remember the snowmobile was from the beginning mostly derived in the agricultural industry from left over agricultural parts. Shape a sheet of metal or two, punch some holes in it from side to side, slide in some shafts to drive a track of sorts, mount an engine, thread and weld up some tubing for steering...kinda sounding like an early combine huh? You know what I mean! Then combine that (no pun intended!) with a ridged chassis that is strong doesn't shake apart or come unglued evertime you experience a hard hit in the back country.

 SOMETHING WE DIDN'T EXPECT,
 WHEN WE BOUGHT 600's & 700  Redhead Triples.

• Exceptional overall reliability was a given, if you follow the sport at all, even if the Yamaha simply was not your favorite ride, you would have to be an "ostrich" with your head in the sand, not to know that the Yamaha Triple is synonymous with reliability. The  Redhead Triple  is time proven, good on fuel, easy on the related components, a wonderfull sound to the ears, just a great design, and is designed to be "in it for the long run", a triple that has smaller more evenly spaced combustion pulsations, than a big twin when each cylinder fires. This results in less wear and tear in the engine, it's self, the clutch, and for that matter to some degree every component down the line until you get to the track! It would be pretty hard to say the track would last longer but you get the idea. While it is true you can break anything, old fuel that has "0" octane, fuel that is laden with green bacteria, plugged carburetors or out of balance neglected clutches can kill the engine. So how did it fail?"
• Economy  the fuel economy story...rarely is economy discussed, expect bragging rights at every fuel stop! Mind you the guy getting the best gas mileage and who is burning the most gas at every stop is likely having the most fun!! Rather than discuss fuel mileage, we more often discuss the mileage between stops at SNOCRUISE in the Saskatchewan prairies, because we ride such large variety of cross-country snow conditions. While on  TOUR we are more concerned with the relative location of Small towns with fuel service in our riding area. But under TRAIL RIDES ARCHIVES we tabulate fuel usage for fun at most stops. Look for an "F" added to our snowmobile "TRAIL RIDES" Archives.

   PROJECTS: EVERY SNOWMOBILE IS A   "PROJECT"  ? 

• Projects, did you hear me say that every snowmobile is to some degree is a project? brand new? or used? every snowmobile is a PROJECT of sorts. A Project to add accessories that will personalize your ride, or simply equip your sled for the type of riding that you do. You will see in our sleds detail under  "SNOCRUISE TOUR SLEDS"  that we equip our snowmobiles for the back country that we ride in. Some snowmobiles are Projects the day you bring it home, there have been cases where some manufactures have figured this out before the snowmobile made it to market and citing "Good Customer Service" shit canned the model before delivery. A good example of this is the 1982 Yamaha SRX 500 introduced to replace the "high maintenance" 1981 440 SRX. A few examples of the 500 SRX had been discovered abandoned somewhere in Alaska the final test....shit happens, it is learning from your mistakes, or the mistakes of others that you succeed. It seems not all manufactures use that philosophy. Here is a couple links to the SRX that was made but didn't "make it."  

• 1982 Yamaha SRX 500 | American Snowmobiler Magazine

• 1982 SRX 500 For Sale 1 of 14 in world - VintageVmax.com

• Snow Goer's 1982 Shoot-Out | SnowGoer

• Old Sled Zone: 1982 Yamaha SRX | SnoRiders

• Projects, back to Projects, incase you hadn't noticed snowmobiling "for me" it has been a mixed bag, first of utmost importance snowmobiling with reliable "breakdown free equipment", stock OEM configurations that are "tuned" for the environmental (geographical + atmospheric) conditions that exist in our riding area.
•  HERE WE ARE!!  The  hobby, and hands on approach that I have had all my life caught me buying basket cases and with some elbow grease and the right combination of salvage, resurrecting, and creating models that were never produced by the manufacture of my choice. Enjoy the links to my  PROJECTS  .                    

www.snocruise.com