I was thinking of getting a snowmobile...
 

so i was thinking of getting a snomobile and then I realized that there isn't enough snow yet here to really use one in the last few years...

so I went to my polaris dealer and he told me I should just put a windshield on my 700 sportsman quad and add some easy to screw in studs to the tires and some hand warmers and with that I'd probally have a much bigger season than the snomobiles - better traction on ice and just as much fun.

I scoffed at him - snomobiles go a lot faster - which is nice - but last few years here we havn't had shit for snow - so i think I might just bring my quad back there and have them add the windshield, handwarmers, studs on the tires and maybe a block heater too.... i wonder if they have some sort of leg warmer thing too? hummmm

sounds great. i've done both. both are shitloads of fun. studs on the quads in winter - never tried that though...

snowmobiles are maintenance whores..

use the quad... even if it is a polaris.


:Graucho

snowmobiles kick ass in deep snow. you can carve with them like you're snowboarding.

you can also basically convert your atv into a snowmobile.

Snowmobiles are fuckin pimp! :thumbsup
I say get one.

i used to snowmobile a LOT when I was 16-19 - like an idiot i sold that sled....duuuu - but there seemed to be a lot more snow then for some reason....it's why I'm hesitating on buying a couple of new sleds right now.

yeah the studs sounded real cool - just simple screws that you screw into the high rises on the tires with a cordless drill - they say they don't hurt the tires at all....easy to take out too.

might be a lot of fun going on the lake - i'd run circles around the snowmobles sliding around on the ice...hehehe also the gravel roads here are almost pure ice in the winter.......worth trying....

snowmobiles=decapitated head on fence wire

i saw that - fucking sucked. I'd rather buy a couple of sleds......one tournig and one racing.... but with the lack of any real amounts of snow here the last few years i duno if snowmobiles are even worth it.

don't know if you'd really need studs...

i plow with my quad.. with the stock tires.. and it's only a 500.
I only got stuck once ,, but i was fucking around in hugh snow piles..

umm - more like drowning.... as most of the trials I used to snowmobile on were on lake winnipeg....almost went though a couple of times myself - you pin the throddle and pray when that happens.


after a couple of weeks of -40C nothing's going though that ice though....it's safer than the roads...

esp the long tracks......almost impossible to get them stuck unless your'e an idiot.

but one needs SNOW...........

for my driveway no - but studs would be cool on ice........

i know you've got a ton of lakes in Manitoba

but here in Saskatchewan on the prairies it's all about the fences
:winkwink:

what about chains?
wouldn't they be just as effective with less tire damage?

there's a fishing comminity about a 100 miles north of here - on an island in the middle of lake winnipeg. (matheson island if you care to look at a map of manitoba)

anyway - they have a cable ferry that operates 9 months of the year and in thin ice they keep it moving breaking the ice on the 1/2 mile beteween the island and the mainland. about now as the lake starts to freeze over the islanders get impatient and they often drive on the ice instead of waiting for the ferry - now in jan this is fine cause the ice is 2 feet thick, but now it's 2 inched thick or less. they drive with their windows open cause they often fall though. every year 2-3 cars or trucks go through - and it's 90 feet of water. usually they survive cause they're used to it - but these crazy fuckers fish with snowmobiles and a sled on first ice and get this - they have a SPECIAL made sled that is hinged on both sides in the middle of the sled so that if the snowmobile goes though the ice the sled acts like a boat and holds the snowmobile up in the water and prevents it from sinknig to the bottom.

those people are fucking NUTS - but real friendly folk. i love them and used to have many life insurance and investment clients there. (no claims luckily)

no speed

here in the rockies it's all about deep snow :)

heh must be different situations..

speed isn't an issue here.. cause it's all mountain.. and limited trail.

not into speed anyway.

I ride so i can laugh at all the guys on raptors and other fast shit
getting stuck in the mud and flipping their shit. while i'm high and dry on my rubicon.. hehe.

if you ever have the time, rent optigrab by standard films.

the opening scene has Rippey back flipping a snowmobile off a small cliff and landing it clean.

probably my favorite snowboarding video. great opening scene.

i feel sorry for you - my back ached after riding a rubican, and my dad couldn't get up the next day. those are for cheap asses who don't want to pay for a tune up now and then and like to suffer.

i'll take my 2 polaris FULL SUSPENSION Sportsman quads any day - who gives a shit if I have a little more maintence. I'll pay for that EASILy with the $4000 EACH I saved buying it and I'll get regular tuneups on them. I go 15 miles per hour FASTER and I'm happier getting off them NOT HURTING.

got a link to it?

hang on... http://www.standardfilms.com/tb10.html

Find yourself a frozen lake, and get your self some go-carts. Talk about fun :)

fond memories

the rockies are the only thing i miss about alberta

a few things that instantly come to mind...hiking the trail at Johnston Canyon....white water rafting down the Maligne River...the smell of the water at the Cave & Basin...walking on the glacier at the Columbia Icefields and drinking in the bar at the Banff Springs Hotel (used to end up there after finishing my work in the town)

is the house you're building in Banff or in that development of houses up on the hill across from the main part of Canmore?

Don't feel sorry.

If you're hurting after riding, it generally means you either extremely out of shape, or don't know how to ride properly.

People tend to overplay the differences in suspension..
I've ridden both, difference is nil.

As for the cheap ass part.. well.. I haven't got the time or skill to be fucking around repairing my shit all the time.

Also, I bought mine a couple years back, when Rubicon was the top of the heap, there was nothing better at the time.

Also, I've never had ANYTHING need to be repaired.

Also, how did you manage to save $4000 each?
Did you buy used?
Cause the sticker price on a sportsman 700 is a hell of a lot more than I paid for my Rubicon.... and I don't have those pesky frequent repair bills to deal with.


:Graucho

ordered

they have an ice racing car track in gimli in jan and feb on the lake. loads of fun

cool - now I and everyone else here KNOWs for a fact that you don't know your ass from a hole in the ground....

How do you figure?

re-read your quote and if you don't get it then just say to yourself - I'm an idiot.


i know i know - idiots don't like to be told that they are idiots, but in this case, you are an idiot - so just accept the fact that you are an idiot and go on your merry way.

No need, you fit the general Polaris owner mold.

We got on of them that rides with us... ya know... when his quad isn't being fixed.


:Graucho

just accept that you're an idiot and walk away geacefully before I shred you - I'm being nice.

eat my ass, bitch.

:1orglaugh


Z

yuck - it's too boney from that honda

:1orglaugh

you pretty much need to buy a sled that is best for the conditions you'll be riding in.

If your definition of deep snow is 6 inches of new stuff on top of a 6 inches of wind packed crud then any 121" short track will be fine. Longer tracks will give you a smoother ride but carry weight penalties and turning radius issues.

If you define deep snow as stepping off the running board and sinking nut deep into the powder then and only then do you need a long track. Which run from 136" to 160" plus of track foot print on the snow.

And of course size is relative. It all depends on how the operator uses it.

;)

I agree with you....

Snowmobiles are cool...

Definitely get a snowmobile, they blow a way a quad in the winter. You could still use the quad if you had the snowmobile too.

I have two polaris 550's, they are about 3 years old. There hasnt been much snow here the last couple years either , but I get the feeling this year is going to be different ;)

Andy

Sleaze,

Where you live, you better get one of those big highway snowplows:Graucho :1orglaugh

looks like a lot of fun:D

yep, just rent one as needed.