First ride of '08/'09!

Not strictly vintage but I took my '94 Ski-Doo Grand Touring for its inaugural run tonight. We had a good 14" of powder over the weekend and then a deep freeze so I was hoping it would have packed down some.
Some is the operative word, its still way too fluffy to ride for real but somebody else had been down the trail before me so I gave it a shot.

The Grand Touring really soaks up the bumps in a way I'm not used to at all. Stuff that was a real kidney pounding on the TX-L or Tigre (and absolutely brutal on the Olympique) is just bumpy on this, theres miles of suspension. Its also got tons of power. I've never had it over half throttle, don't know what I'd need that for.

At one point I hit a water hole which hadn't frozen solid (of course the GT weighs a million pounds) under the snow and thought I'd had it, I gave it some throttle and we made it through. I'd gone slower into the hole than I'd have normally because of a tree leaning across it. We had an ice storm a week ago and many trees are down or leaning badly.

Finally I had to turn back because the GT is too tall to get under a big tree down across the trail. I'd been under that same tree several times last year with the Tigre, TX-L and Olympique. I know theres a path around it but I couldn't see it in the dark. The reverse gear on the GT was super handy, I'm not sure I could have handled humping that sled around...

On the way back I carried some more speed into the water hole and had less of an issue, I probably should have given more throttle when I hit the water though.

No real issues to report, this is the first time I've gotten the sled all the way warm. The temp gauge got to just above level, theres no numbers but it was maybe 3/4 of the way through its swing. I'm not sure if thats normal or not. At some point soon I'll drain and replace the coolant...

-Curt

Uh oh - New sled

Heres one for the uh oh file. Picked up my newest sled yesterday, a '94 (could be a '95 I forget) Ski Doo Grand Touring SE 670. We've had a good 14" of snow so I took it for a spin tonight.


First impression is that its a MONSTER. I brought it home on the trailer because I couldn't imagine hauling it back out of the pickup. It DOMINATES my trailer. I'm reasonably sure even with my extensions (assuming I make a second one) that I can't carry this sled and the Tigre at the same time.
Its got electric start which is VITAL its dammed near impossible to start without it, it'll rip your arm clean off, but you wanna hear about power? This is a fasssst sled even if it does weigh a million pounds. I only had it up to about 40mph because with the way the snow is still coming down I couldn't see anything but this is easily an 85mph sled, maybe 100 but as I say its heavy...

Features: Electric start, reverse, 2up seating, liquid cooled 670cc which supposedly puts out around 100hp, heated grips with thumb warmer, kiddie bars with heated grips. ~8 gallon gas tank.

Downside: Its huge...

So you don't think I've completely gone to the dark side I did have the Tigre out and buzzing around the yard yesterday. Much more fun to throw that around our little back yard than the GT. If I'd had more mix gas I'd have run it some today. We're going to Maine on Thursday, will probably take the Tigre with us.

Gets me excited

Took the dog out around 10pm last night, it had been sleeting and we had maybe 1/4" on the ground. Buster (my dog) has never seen snow before (he's from Arkansas), he thought it was great, licked it off the pavement.

Anyway today I found a cool clip on Youtube:


Makes me want a beater sled. Somehow I always get caught up in making my sleds "just a little nicer" until I don't really want to beat on them anymore...

Tigre runs!

Again proving that putting sleds away correctly is a good idea I fired up the Tigre today. It took maybe 10 pulls and then a little rough running before it settled down and ran nice. I took it for a spin around the yard and put it back. I'm well pleased with it. Need to get a chance to haul the TX-L over to Randy's. I should check when he's open next week...

Randy still doesn't have my Grand Touring ready but he checks with me everytime I'm in. I think next time I should bring some money for a deposit, that should get him moving. Turns out its a '95, manufactured in '94 which is the year I graduated high school. It'll be interesting having a sled so new.

It was in the 20s all day today, spitting snow too. It won't be long.

Going to the dark side

The awesome thing about last winter was the boatload of snow. The sucky thing about last winter was that I didn't get to ride very much because of nearly constant breakdowns.
Thats pretty much been my pattern. The last time we had huge snow was '01-'02 and it was all I could do to keep my '70 Ski-Doo running reasonably well. Even then I had issues with headlights and such.
I guess all portents say this year is supposed to be big snow and deep freeze so I've decided its time to get a newer sled. I hit Randy's on Saturday and told him I want to sell off a couple vintage riders and get something newer, he showed me a Ski-Doo 670 Gran Touring (think thats what it is anyway), mid '90s sled. IFS, heated grips, port for a helmet warmer, reverse, electric start, blah blah blah. It wouldn't start when I was there but it hasn't been run much and the battery died. It was a bugger to pull over so a good battery is critical. Randy's gonna put a new battery in and I'll go back this week and check it out. The price is right so I'll probably grab it. It needs a couple idler wheels but I can surely handle that.
In exchange I'll be selling at least one sled, probably the TX-L since its my most valuable machine. It needs new crank seals so I told Randy to come get it and put them in. I haven't decided yet if the Tigre will go also but it probably will. I'll wait for the snow to come since that one isn't as overtly valuable...
Staying with us will be the '70 Ski-Doo and the '71 Arctic Cat Panther rotary. I've never gotten to really ride the wankle panther so it'll be high on the project list. Thats the other part of this is to reduce the number of projects to a more manageable number. with only 3 sleds I've reduced my potential projects by one... I hope anyway.

-Curt

*Sigh*

Customer appreciation day at Randy's today. The pig roast was very tasty and as usual came off without a hitch. I spent a lot of time eyeing the Yamaha 2up that hauled the TX-L out of the woods last winter...
Old Joe has a lot of time on his hands, he hasn't had much work since Randy isn't very busy. I think I'm going to haul the TX-L over there and have him put in a seal kit. Look over the inside of the motor while he's there, fix any little fiddly bits. Get it running perfect and then sell it off...

Yeah sell it off, I know. The thing is last year when I was trying to sell the Centurion I had lots of offers to buy the TX-L, its the most valuable sled I've ever owned, apparently way more popular than the Centurion, I can see why of course.

Although smart money would keep it and the Tigre, they're my newest most reliable sleds, get rid of everything else.

I dunno, I should have Joe go through those two, maybe they'll be super reliable and maybe I should just sell off the others and maybe there'll be so much snow that work gets closed.......

-Curt

The dog days of summer

Its the dog days, the days are starting to get shorter but the worst of the heat is here. I'm starting to think real hard about hauling the TX-L over to Randy's, this is his least busy time of the season. The motorcyclers are mostly worked out, the dirtbikers will ride less because its too hot and nobody is thinking about snowmobiles yet but me. I'm going to have the motor on the TX-L resealed, maybe new rings and piston if he thinks its worth it but compression is still up around 120#, I don't think there are a huge number of hours on that engine. I resolve that this season I'm going to get the speedo to work and figure out the tach and the lights. I'll also pull the seat and restaple it and probably replace the board.
I'm also thinking tomorrow I may start the Tigre, I put a good dose of fuel stabilizer in it when I shut it down last spring but I'm thinking a little fresh seafoam and let it run long enough to warm up good and dry out the condensation. Its been very wet here lately...
Youtube has TONS of vintage snowmobile videos although it makes me laugh when I see "vintage snowmobile footage, 1998"...

-Curt