I was able to attend the Tomahawk RUSH demo ride on Thursday afternoon. I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived for the ride and saw the lot was lined with 800 Pro R's. I assumed they would all be 600's. We met with the factory reps and they spent a lot of time with us explaining the suspension and teaching us how to properly set it up. Each of us setup our sleds and headed out. I assumed it would be a short slow ride, however, they were well organized and took us on about a 45 mile ride. They stopped every few miles and worked with everyone in the group to make adjustments until everyone was satisfied.
I have to admit that I am a long time Polaris owner, however, after the first five miles I was impressed with the power and snap of the 800, but wasn't overly impressed with the ride. The Polaris rep asked many questions to understand what I liked and didn't, then suggested a few changes. Added 2 clicks on front ski shocks, lightened one click on front suspension shock, added one click on rear suspension shock and off we went. Absolutely different sled for the next two miles. At the next stop I added one more click on ski shocks and one click on rear shock and the sled was awesome... I am amazed the difference in handling achieved with one click of the shocks.
From that point forward we were hitting ditches, tight twisties, lakes, etc. and the sled performed great. I could not find a flat spot in the powerband on the 800. Power was instantaneous. From a normal seating position I could carve tight curves in the woods. Come up to a driveway and slide back 6 inches on the seat and you could stand the front end straight up and fly. I never managed to bottom it out (and trust me we hit some pretty big holes trying).
I'm still not sold on the overall curb appeal of the Pro R, but I am absolutely sold on the way it works. A big thank you to Polaris for letting us ride these sleds hard and allowing us to put on 45 miles. I think anyone that only takes a short test ride will never see the benefits of this platform.
The suggestions we had were to add knee pads, widen handlebars, reverse the clicker reservior on the front rear shock so the clicker is on top (difficult to reach, plus put on the angled knobs from last years dragons)and please add some storage somewhere.
Overall result, would I buy one? YES...
I have to admit that I am a long time Polaris owner, however, after the first five miles I was impressed with the power and snap of the 800, but wasn't overly impressed with the ride. The Polaris rep asked many questions to understand what I liked and didn't, then suggested a few changes. Added 2 clicks on front ski shocks, lightened one click on front suspension shock, added one click on rear suspension shock and off we went. Absolutely different sled for the next two miles. At the next stop I added one more click on ski shocks and one click on rear shock and the sled was awesome... I am amazed the difference in handling achieved with one click of the shocks.
From that point forward we were hitting ditches, tight twisties, lakes, etc. and the sled performed great. I could not find a flat spot in the powerband on the 800. Power was instantaneous. From a normal seating position I could carve tight curves in the woods. Come up to a driveway and slide back 6 inches on the seat and you could stand the front end straight up and fly. I never managed to bottom it out (and trust me we hit some pretty big holes trying).
I'm still not sold on the overall curb appeal of the Pro R, but I am absolutely sold on the way it works. A big thank you to Polaris for letting us ride these sleds hard and allowing us to put on 45 miles. I think anyone that only takes a short test ride will never see the benefits of this platform.
The suggestions we had were to add knee pads, widen handlebars, reverse the clicker reservior on the front rear shock so the clicker is on top (difficult to reach, plus put on the angled knobs from last years dragons)and please add some storage somewhere.
Overall result, would I buy one? YES...