Its why I enjoy riding after dark the best especially those tight twisty trails. Seeing headlight makes a huge difference.I almost had a situation like this a couple weeks ago. The corner was very small, almost to the point I wondered how a groomer even made it through. Traffic this year has been unusually high, which is great for businesses and that fact that people are getting out to enjoy the sport. I tend to avoid the busy areas of the U.P. for this reason. I personally love the central U.P. or east of Bruce Crossing through Gwinn and down into Florence and Forest counties. Trails are usually good depending on the snow conditions but mostly like them due to lower traffic. This year however was a huge increase in traffic. My son tends to like to lead now and I'm constantly telling him to enter every corner as if you will meet someone in it, but it's almost impossible to avoid this type of encounter with someone completely on your side. We could debate this all day long, but the fact is the Cat rider was doing what he was supposed to and the Doo guy was not. Not sure how to avoid it short of everyone doing the right thing and we can't even keep people on the trail let alone being on the right side of the trail.
I found myself liking trails that were a little more open this year where trees have been thinned out so you could see upcoming corners and potential riders coming the other way. More open sweepers are my favorite for this very reason. I can't stand tight twisties because of lack of visibility ...and my arms get a little more tired the older I get without the EPS.
stay on your side of the trail
- Thread starter saber1
- Start date
dfattack
Well-known member
Completely agree! Forgot to mention that. Good point!
goofy600
Well-known member
Biggest thing I hate about night riding is all the aftermarket extra lights that are all over sleds now (mostly doo’s) and no one will dim them when passing other sleds, very hard to see for oncoming drivers.
I agree, I'm not sure what make of sleds they were or if it as a add-on you can get for any sled now but ran across a few that were coming at me at night that I thought were four wheelers at first as they had LED light pods mounted to the outer edge of windshields, with todays lighting I personally don't see the need for it, just like the prople on the road with these LED light bars mounted on the bomper between head lights and the 2 or 3 foot LED light bar also mounted on the roof as well and all of them on, IMO...if you need that much light...you got issues.
goofy600
Well-known member
I would say they are mostly Doo, there factory light is ok at best so all the gota have people put all the extra lights on they can and Doo offers the led that mounts under factory light and also the 2 lights on side of windshield. I’ve seen this a lot this year, even in middle of the day they are bright and no one ever dims them. Heck a few sleds have more lights than our one groomer we have
dfattack
Well-known member
While I agree with you on most things this one I don't.
Up until 2023 Doo has had crappy headlights. We added the side mount high beams on my son's 2021 Renegade and I added them to my Mach and Grand Touring. I did not add the LED strip under the headlights as this didn't get too many positive reviews. I wanted to try without and sure enough we don't need it. I also replaced my stock headlight bulbs with Beamtechs. Huge difference overall but the huge benefit is you can ride at higher speeds on grade trails at night since you can see further down the trail. This brings deer into view sooner avoiding a potential collision...basically much safer for higher speed night rides. In my travels I always end up coming down the grade (trail 2) in order to get home after a days ride. At this point we are focused on getting home and not so much enjoying the views. Where I am all the trails are generally low traffic and don't pass too many people, but when we do I shut off the brights every time. The super high traffic this year has caused me to do this A LOT. The added safety far outway the inconvenience of shutting off the brights and yes I'm sure some don't and they are probably the same people not staying on the trail or riding on the wrong side. Anyway that's my opinion.
ICT Sledder
Active member
The masses riding down the middle of the trail on the typically wide UP trails is the biggest WTF to me. I'm not talking about what is seen first hand, just the wear pattern of the trails.
You have a trail that has more than enough width for two lanes, yet the vast majority go right down the middle, and so the trail groom lasts half as long. So if you're playing good guy as much as you can it means pounding the hell out of your inside ski, while the outside ski is relatively smooth. Like a carnival ride for miles upon miles. The worst effect is in the corners where there is legitimately just one middle line through the turn with a four foot berm. Either you take your chances in the turn by creeping through the bermed single lane, or you hold hard to your side at 5 or 10 MPH due to the ridiculous off camber nature caused by the one lane and a berm nonsense. No good choice.
Am I'm with some of the others - on tighter trails when you can't see through the corners I'll just straight up pull over way to the side and stop when I come upon a group riding hard. If the first nincompoop blows the corner, the next four or six or eight damn sure will as well.
You have a trail that has more than enough width for two lanes, yet the vast majority go right down the middle, and so the trail groom lasts half as long. So if you're playing good guy as much as you can it means pounding the hell out of your inside ski, while the outside ski is relatively smooth. Like a carnival ride for miles upon miles. The worst effect is in the corners where there is legitimately just one middle line through the turn with a four foot berm. Either you take your chances in the turn by creeping through the bermed single lane, or you hold hard to your side at 5 or 10 MPH due to the ridiculous off camber nature caused by the one lane and a berm nonsense. No good choice.
Am I'm with some of the others - on tighter trails when you can't see through the corners I'll just straight up pull over way to the side and stop when I come upon a group riding hard. If the first nincompoop blows the corner, the next four or six or eight damn sure will as well.
Spot on you are, totally agree! Everyone wants better lighting on the sleds, eh! However, most riders with the bright LED lights are too Stupid to Dim them for on coming traffic! Figures, eh!
heckler56
Active member
If I may offer a counter argument, I am in the back of my group and the snow dust is crazy. Generally I hold back far enough it has settled down. What I have heard from others is these led’s pierce the dust so they know there is another sled after hitting my group in front. At night they are turned off unless my group is soo far in front. Bambi can come out from anywhere.
ICT Sledder
Active member
If there is one advantage the old Yammi/Cat platform has over the rest, it is the LED headlight on the higher spec models. When adjusted correctly (read: not usually from the factory), it is pretty damn solid. Looks a bit bad arse as well, but I might be biased.