looking for the voices of experience on Sidewinders

[Finesy]

Hang around long enough to see Trump find a way to screw up the Sidewinder

 

[XP123]

Hang around long enough to see Trump find a way to screw up the Sidewinder

He will make the Sidewinder "GREAT AGAIN"

 

[Crossfire12]

NYTRO! Rebuild front end three times ,bushings etc, can't keep planted, loose control after wheelie, and race team refused to race them, and you can't even compare them to the SIDEWINDER, great motor period.

 

[Finesy]

He will make the Sidewinder "GREAT AGAIN"

Not if Uncle Sam has no Canadian steel and aluminum to build Sidewinders!

 

[XP123]

Not if Uncle Sam has no Canadian steel and aluminum to build Sidewinders!

I hope he rethinks that soon.

 

[Motorhead]

He will make the Sidewinder "GREAT AGAIN"

Now that is funny!!

 

[cannondale27]

Guys I know Nytros had issues as did Phazers and every other Yamaha but those guys have had 9 years to make them work for them. Thats tough to compare to when you only have two and there is still plenty of issues both old and new. Save the bashing for other makes. Nytro is a collector sled now. Different strokes for different folks. My comparison of narrow sleds and transfer is the only reason other than complexity of Turbo and the cheap build quality mostly of fastners Cat uses with the weird sizes and Torx that I can think of to not want a Winder. Viper you can add lack of top end speed and a crappy tune.

 

[ROCKERDAN]

Nytros had that "REV" seating position, where feet were back with knees on panels..quite odd feeling but back then was normal as rev was popular.

I think the G4 and POO have the most open seating/leg room these days.....Winder is way better then nytro for ergos obviously.

 

[poor farmer/logger]

The nytro fits most of my riding style very well. It does alright on the trails as well. Are there better handling sleds yes I'm sure there is. That's not the point of this thread though, just trying to wade through the facts and get more educated on what's what with the new ones as I have limited opportunities to ride one. I'm definitely going to give the xtx a try before i switch brands and talk with the other local dealer who I've known for a few years as well. He's still a pretty new dealer though and didn't do a whole bunch with the nytro.

From the reading I've done it does sound like the ltx may not be what I'm looking for in a crossover sled but I appreciate the comments. Still helps clear things up.

One thing I've been pondering is how the fuel range is riding off trail. With my nytro on the stock tank I sit around 90 miles riding off trail. That's absolutely nothing left for reserve though. On trail I'm at about 100 miles with 3-4 litres left over yet. I'm set up so I can carry a extra 30 lts with me so that helps alot for off trail remote bush road ridding. Usually the one extra 10 lt jerry can is enough to get me through.

I've seen conflicting fuel capacity too, 33 and 38 litres or something like that. 38 I'd be happy with, 33 is less then ideal though. For off trial riding I need a range of 130-150 miles. That will cover the bigger trip that I might go on. somewhere around 130-150 miles of riding through the middle of absolutely no where with no fuel any where in between. All bush trails with limited snowmobile traffic most of the way. Would be nice if I could do it with only one extra jerry can.

 

[YamBam]

Oxygen must be thin living on a different planet.

 

[XP123]

Guys I know Nytros had issues as did Phazers and every other Yamaha but those guys have had 9 years to make them work for them. Thats tough to compare to when you only have two and there is still plenty of issues both old and new. Save the bashing for other makes. Nytro is a collector sled now. Different strokes for different folks. My comparison of narrow sleds and transfer is the only reason other than complexity of Turbo and the cheap build quality mostly of fastners Cat uses with the weird sizes and Torx that I can think of to not want a Winder. Viper you can add lack of top end speed and a crappy tune.

You are right about the Nytro being a collectors sled. Mine collected dust sitting in the garage for about 5 years. That being said I think the Nytro had it's place and you either loved it or hated it. It truly was a different type of sled and it will always have a place in Yamahas history.

 

[74Nitro]

Alright everyone I've come to that point in every snowmobilers life where they're ready for a change. I've been riding my 09 Nytro XTX now for 6 winters. It's treated me well and is still a good reliable sled. I'm just ready for something else now. I ride 70 percent off trail and 30 percent on trail. Mix of open fields and tighter ungroomed bush trails. Sometimes 2-3 feet of powder other times whooped out rough trails.

Test drove my first Sidewinder today. Only one dealer had left close to what I was looking for was a 17 BTX SE. Nice looking sled but I was a little let down when I got on it. I was really expecting more. First things I noticed were my knees kept hitting the dash panels. Once I got out into the open field and started moving around on some of the drifts I kept feeling like I was going to fall off the back of the seat. Seems like it drops off once you move back past a certain point. Biggest disappointment was the lack of being able to lift the front end like I can on my nytro. Going through some smaller hills where I actually fist drove the nytro and fell in love I didn't get the same feeling. The front end wasn't as easy to lift up coming over the hills.

Basically my questions are is the XTX better suited to what I'll be doing and is it possible to make the front end come up as easy as my Nytro XTX does. Can you shift the weight transfer on these sleds like the nytro?

Those are my first questions that came to mind anyways. As I think about it more I'm sure I'll come up with some more. Any and all advice is appreciated.

I came off an 08 Nytro that I had rode for 9 years, along with the MPI 170hp supercharger. I was reluctant like you also. I bought an 18 Winder XTX 141 with the uncoupled skid. Took a while to get used to, but I can say with certainty that this sled is a bit better in every way. I put more agressive carbides on, downloaded a 260hp tune along with dalton weights.
I have 1300 miles on it now, and I actually laugh inside my helmet when I power by all my friends riding 800's or 850's, with ease. So much fun. The sled won't lift the skis really high, but it does always lift them whenever you squeeze it. If you buy the coupled skid, simply remove the rear blocks if you want lift.
I agree that there could be more kneee room, but the seat height and firmness is perfect.

 

[Pstn head]

The nytro fits most of my riding style very well. It does alright on the trails as well. Are there better handling sleds yes I'm sure there is. That's not the point of this thread though, just trying to wade through the facts and get more educated on what's what with the new ones as I have limited opportunities to ride one. I'm definitely going to give the xtx a try before i switch brands and talk with the other local dealer who I've known for a few years as well. He's still a pretty new dealer though and didn't do a whole bunch with the nytro.

From the reading I've done it does sound like the ltx may not be what I'm looking for in a crossover sled but I appreciate the comments. Still helps clear things up.

One thing I've been pondering is how the fuel range is riding off trail. With my nytro on the stock tank I sit around 90 miles riding off trail. That's absolutely nothing left for reserve though. On trail I'm at about 100 miles with 3-4 litres left over yet. I'm set up so I can carry a extra 30 lts with me so that helps alot for off trail remote bush road ridding. Usually the one extra 10 lt jerry can is enough to get me through.

I've seen conflicting fuel capacity too, 33 and 38 litres or something like that. 38 I'd be happy with, 33 is less then ideal though. For off trial riding I need a range of 130-150 miles. That will cover the bigger trip that I might go on. somewhere around 130-150 miles of riding through the middle of absolutely no where with no fuel any where in between. All bush trails with limited snowmobile traffic most of the way. Would be nice if I could do it with only one extra jerry can.

The tank will hold 40 Ltrs (not sure in gallons) i have put in 38ltrs a few times (by pumping out the tank and filling with fresh) not trail riding, trail riding I've put 36 Ltrs, again sorry not sure gallons... But I believe around 10 gallons.
From my calculations, in my case and riding style the sleds will achieve 220km BONE DRY which is 136miles.

 

[poor farmer/logger]

The tank will hold 40 Ltrs (not sure in gallons) i have put in 38ltrs a few times (by pumping out the tank and filling with fresh) not trail riding, trail riding I've put 36 Ltrs, again sorry not sure gallons... But I believe around 10 gallons.
From my calculations, in my case and riding style the sleds will achieve 220km BONE DRY which is 136miles.

Thanks I'm ok with liters. That sounds good, with a extra 10 l jerry can on the back I should be good for our bigger trips. That was always one thing I didn't like about the nytro. Had to watch your fuel carefully or buy a trail tank. This year I soldved the problem by building some rear side racks for it and now I'm good for about 190 miles between gas stops if I take all 3 jugs with and still have a very small bit left for reserve.

 

[poor farmer/logger]

I came off an 08 Nytro that I had rode for 9 years, along with the MPI 170hp supercharger. I was reluctant like you also. I bought an 18 Winder XTX 141 with the uncoupled skid. Took a while to get used to, but I can say with certainty that this sled is a bit better in every way. I put more agressive carbides on, downloaded a 260hp tune along with dalton weights.
I have 1300 miles on it now, and I actually laugh inside my helmet when I power by all my friends riding 800's or 850's, with ease. So much fun. The sled won't lift the skis really high, but it does always lift them whenever you squeeze it. If you buy the coupled skid, simply remove the rear blocks if you want lift.
I agree that there could be more kneee room, but the seat height and firmness is perfect.

Thanks for the reply. I'm curious to sit on a XTX and see how the seat feels in comparison. The extra cushion of the btx would be nice at times but I wish they'd got back just a bit further with the rise in the foam. Maybe even a wee bit further to the front too.