Biggest year in modern snowmobiling
- Thread starter tomx
- Start date
jakester23
Member
!977 Gordon Rudolph helped polaris build the Midnight Blue Express. IFS was born.
Go Fast or Go Home
Active member
I echo pclark.
Don~
Don~
snobuilder
Well-known member
Oil injection, high performance 4stroke engines, power steering and in another realm,....push button reverse.
2024 Cat alyst....
2024 Cat alyst....
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I'd have to go with REV, Rider Forward, that was a game changer. Honorable Mention to Circa 1970 with 100 different brands and really the beginning of snowmobiling by the masses. Everybody was DOOing It!
(SnoGoer)
Are you wondering which snowmobile manufacturers were the most well known in the ‘70s? Without claiming completeness some of these brands were as follows:
(SnoGoer)
Are you wondering which snowmobile manufacturers were the most well known in the ‘70s? Without claiming completeness some of these brands were as follows:
heckler56
Active member
You forgot Homelite. Well, maybe not popular and only made a couple years, basically a rebadged Polaris.
wiharley02
Member
"Modern" means way different things to the folks on this board, we have a wide range of ages represented! For my age and what I grew up riding, I'll echo some of the above, the release of the Gen 1 REV chassis was the biggest game changer I've seen in my time. Ski Doo pretty much hit it out of the park with that release (except for the beavertail snow flap and the "precision" skis)!
I recall looking at the first Rev in the showroom..... First off, there's no hood. How do you get to the engine, side panels? And the Beaver Tail thingy, what's going on with that? And as a whole, ergonomics were different when we sat on it.
Very different and I believe it was the biggest one-year change in snowmobiling history.
Very different and I believe it was the biggest one-year change in snowmobiling history.
I will join the majority and say 2003 Skidoo. Saw the rider forward as a game and comfort changer and I went out and bought 2 MXZ's. A 600 for my wife with the optional 2 up seat for the kids and an 800 for myself. We still have both of them and use as reserve and guest sleds. 20 year old sleds that both have about 4000 miles on them.
mezz
Well-known member
There have been soo many BIG years in modern snowmobiling, however the term "modern" is to be interpreted. One could look at the advancements in suspensions both front & rear including the slide rail. Plastic skis, the introduction of the smart shocks in 2000 (which were an expensive pita). IFS to AWS & long travel rear suspensions. EFI, push button reverse, diamond drive vs chain case. 4 stroke engines, high output twin two strokes, turbos. I would have to agree with the rider forward design as a huge improvement as well, but, all of the advancements made in sleds over the years, it is diffiicult for me to say which was the "biggest" because all of them are huge changes & sleds wouldn't be what they are today without any of them, including a trail system.
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