opinions on the CAT CROSSTREK

[Tracker]

who owned one and has some seat time. was wondering how they do off trail. cannot decide on an XF 800 HIGH COUNTRY or a ZR 800 SNO PRO LIMITED or a CROSSTREK 800. I kinda know the other 2 but not the crosstrek and was wanting some feed back. I love to blast a lake WOT and GOAT PATHS all in a day. thanx

 

[Tracker]

ok no help with that one...what aboot this. I going with CROSSTREK, now cannot decide new 600 low oil user or 800 Suzuki beast oil user. I am coming off a 157HP modified EFI...cant decide if a 600 will be enough UMPF after riding my giant killer. cat guys what say you?

 

[Hoosier]

ok no help with that one...what aboot this. I going with CROSSTREK, now cannot decide new 600 low oil user or 800 Suzuki beast oil user. I am coming off a 157HP modified EFI...cant decide if a 600 will be enough UMPF after riding my giant killer. cat guys what say you?

I like that sled but haven't ridden one. Like that it comes with a 1.6 Cobra. Those saddlebags are cool too and they leave the tunnel open for more storage. I think this sled or the 2017 Switchbacks would be great for splitting on and off trail. I'd like to hear more opinions on the Cat 600. Seems like you can't find people who have had issues with them but I don't know many are out there yet or how many people have piled on the miles with them yet. Guy in our group has a 14 ZR8000. It's not terrible on gas and oil but it uses both...

 

[Tracker]

I like that sled but haven't ridden one. Like that it comes with a 1.6 Cobra. Those saddlebags are cool too and they leave the tunnel open for more storage. I think this sled or the 2017 Switchbacks would be great for splitting on and off trail. I'd like to hear more opinions on the Cat 600. Seems like you can't find people who have had issues with them but I don't know many are out there yet or how many people have piled on the miles with them yet. Guy in our group has a 14 ZR8000. It's not terrible on gas and oil but it uses both...

I know not much out there but I do know the 600 goes like 1200 miles on one bag of oil

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what city you hail from down that a way there HOOSIER. we were just riding in rolling prairie not long ago. did you get snow?

 

[Hoosier]

I know not much out there but I do know the 600 goes like 1200 miles on one bag of oil

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what city you hail from down that a way there HOOSIER. we were just riding in rolling prairie not long ago. did you get snow?

I live in Fishers just NE of Indy. I grew up in Highland, up in the NW corner of Indiana. My sled lives up there so I don't do any riding down here. It's been a long time since I've ridden anywhere in Indiana. With my kids starting to get a bit older, I hope to find some spots to take them a bit closer to home.

We went on a couple saddlebag trips on Ontario this year, and I'd sure like to get away from carrying a lot of oil or having to search for it. That is a big reason that Cat 600 appeals to me. The new Poo's and Doo's are oil sippers also but I question the long term reliability of either, although I've heard the new Poo 600 with the electronic oil pump uses a bit more. Just my opinion of course.

I keep thinking about that Doo 900 too. I spend enough time getting stuck that I'm not interested in the bigger 4 strokes. And I'll admit I have a hang-up on Doo's. The yellow cheerleaders are just so over the top...kind of stupid reason not to buy something I know.

 

[Tracker]

I live in Fishers just NE of Indy. I grew up in Highland, up in the NW corner of Indiana. My sled lives up there so I don't do any riding down here. It's been a long time since I've ridden anywhere in Indiana. With my kids starting to get a bit older, I hope to find some spots to take them a bit closer to home.

We went on a couple saddlebag trips on Ontario this year, and I'd sure like to get away from carrying a lot of oil or having to search for it. That is a big reason that Cat 600 appeals to me. The new Poo's and Doo's are oil sippers also but I question the long term reliability of either, although I've heard the new Poo 600 with the electronic oil pump uses a bit more. Just my opinion of course.

I keep thinking about that Doo 900 too. I spend enough time getting stuck that I'm not interested in the bigger 4 strokes. And I'll admit I have a hang-up on Doo's. The yellow cheerleaders are just so over the top...kind of stupid reason not to buy something I know.

I have an OIL CADDY under the hood, you got one? plus you can get 2 fill ups off one tank oil and still be good to go, you just gotta fill it up on the 3rd fill up. some caddies hold 2 quarts or a gallon even. plus I have stored several 5 gallon cans of gas at a location in the woods for later retrieval out at the half way spot. no will ever find it believe me. I have left 20 sleds in the woods overnite cause we couldn't ride all the way into town. no one even knew they were there

 

[garyl62]

Tracker,

I had both an f8 and a Crossfire 800 that I sold at the start of this season. I can’t say I ran them real hard, or by any means did a lot of boondocking with them to judge the power of the motor in deep side hilling powder, but I worked them enough to think I could judge the power that motor has. This season I rented from Chad at M&M and rode a Viper and an XF6000. He kept telling me the 600 motor was everything I needed but my ego kept telling me I needed the 800. Well after this season I realized he was right. I think one of his rentals has hit 10k miles, and others are well into the 9’s. To my knowledge they haven’t done any motor work. I felt like this sled pulled just as well as my 800, still had something left if I was going 80 and punched it, and while I know the clutching is different now, even that was very smooth.<o></o>
<o> </o>
Bottom line, he had one with a lot fewer miles than some of the others and his price was right so I decided to pick it up this spring and it still has one year of warranty left. Back to your original question, after riding a rental one this season, I ended up moving down to the 600 and think I would have made the same decision even if I was looking at a brand new one. I stay mostly on the trail and it just seemed to fit my style of riding just fine.<o></o>

 

[Hoosier]

Tracker,

I had both an f8 and a Crossfire 800 that I sold at the start of this season. I can’t say I ran them real hard, or by any means did a lot of boondocking with them to judge the power of the motor in deep side hilling powder, but I worked them enough to think I could judge the power that motor has. This season I rented from Chad at M&M and rode a Viper and an XF6000. He kept telling me the 600 motor was everything I needed but my ego kept telling me I needed the 800. Well after this season I realized he was right. I think one of his rentals has hit 10k miles, and others are well into the 9’s. To my knowledge they haven’t done any motor work. I felt like this sled pulled just as well as my 800, still had something left if I was going 80 and punched it, and while I know the clutching is different now, even that was very smooth.<o></o>
<o> </o>
Bottom line, he had one with a lot fewer miles than some of the others and his price was right so I decided to pick it up this spring and it still has one year of warranty left. Back to your original question, after riding a rental one this season, I ended up moving down to the 600 and think I would have made the same decision even if I was looking at a brand new one. I stay mostly on the trail and it just seemed to fit my style of riding just fine.<o></o>

That's good to hear about some of the 600's getting some higher mileage on them without any issues. Overall how do you like the new sled compared to the two you got rid of? I remember you had that F8 set up real nice.

 

[garyl62]

I had no intention of buying another sled this soon. I was thinking about a crosstrek but had a ZR in the back of my mind too so I figured I'd wait a year or two and see what came up. I knew I wanted the 137 track and since they added that to the ZR lineup and since I'm a trail guy, I figured it was worth considering.

After I rode the XF this season I really liked it, and compared to the 4 stroke viper, I realized although I thought the 4 stroke would be a better trail sled option, I realized I liked the way the 6000 felt better. I didn't ride either of them overly hard, I guess when you're only on them for a couple days at a time I don't have the confidence railing through the corners and knowing what to expect. That said, I think with a little time invested into a set-up, maybe some new carbides, and some more seat time I think I will like this as well or better than the f8. The crossfire was good for the little off trail I did, but as you would expect the f8 was better for the trail.

 

[Hoosier]

I had no intention of buying another sled this soon. I was thinking about a crosstrek but had a ZR in the back of my mind too so I figured I'd wait a year or two and see what came up. I knew I wanted the 137 track and since they added that to the ZR lineup and since I'm a trail guy, I figured it was worth considering.

After I rode the XF this season I really liked it, and compared to the 4 stroke viper, I realized although I thought the 4 stroke would be a better trail sled option, I realized I liked the way the 6000 felt better. I didn't ride either of them overly hard, I guess when you're only on them for a couple days at a time I don't have the confidence railing through the corners and knowing what to expect. That said, I think with a little time invested into a set-up, maybe some new carbides, and some more seat time I think I will like this as well or better than the f8. The crossfire was good for the little off trail I did, but as you would expect the f8 was better for the trail.

Thanks for update. I rode my bud's ZR8000 quite a bit this year - really liked it other than the front end was twitchy, but he still had stock carbides. Plus my sled has heavy steering so it might just be the comparison. I'd like to ride the 600 and 700 to see how they are in comparison. I like the 800 but don't need the power and would like to go further on a tank of gas and oil. Last few trips have been to Ontario and the extra range would be nice. I kind of had my mind set on an Indy because of the price point but others in one of the groups I ride with have had a lot of problems with the newer Poo 600's so I'm a little scared of those. None have turned their oil pumps up so it might just be that.

 

[sweeperguy]

Thanks for update. I rode my bud's ZR8000 quite a bit this year - really liked it other than the front end was twitchy, but he still had stock carbides. Plus my sled has heavy steering so it might just be the comparison. I'd like to ride the 600 and 700 to see how they are in comparison. I like the 800 but don't need the power and would like to go further on a tank of gas and oil. Last few trips have been to Ontario and the extra range would be nice. I kind of had my mind set on an Indy because of the price point but others in one of the groups I ride with have had a lot of problems with the newer Poo 600's so I'm a little scared of those. None have turned their oil pumps up so it might just be that.

Our group has 12 13 and 14 poo 600's no problems. As long as not the new electronic oil pump. It only took 5 minutes to turn up my oil pump. Only had to take hood off. No other parts had to come off to get to the adjustment screw. Only one other guy turned up his oil 2 guys left theirs stock, no problems 1 is over 3k and other is 2200. I'm at about 1300.

 

[Tracker]

thanx GARYl62 for that honest opinion. I pulled the trigger on a 2106 XF 8000 CROSSTREK ES about 20 minutes before I saw your answer. one thing I had to decide though was years ago when oil was 30 or 25 a gallon I bought out 2 dealerships of all the oil the had. 50:1 and APV oil. I still have 3 cases of 50:1 and 1 case APV so did not want added cost of buying new CTECH oil as well. thinking that I will upgrade from this one soon and then make the switch back down to 600's. plus my current CAT has 20,000ish miles on it with no motor rebuild ever and its larger than 600 so I know personally their motors are literally bullet proof. plus my sled hit 112/115ish so I wanted to be able to gear this one up to do that or more with the 1.6 lugs. we will see how that goes because first I gotta break it in and see what RPM's are at WOT. it appears from a dyno sheet that it needs to run at 8050 and I think factory is set a 8250 or higher a tad. I am looking into it further. any of you guys find a dyno sheet on this motor post it up here or PM it to me please Now all I gotta do is name her. all my previous sleds have had a name and a nascar like motif and wrap. thanx guys