yamaha we need better skis

[SLEDSTART]

Snowdog, I couldn't agree more.

Yeah it is cold...

 

[Alatalo]

The fact that I wish Yamaha would do more for their customers does not mean I don't think they make the best sled. It simply means they could do more. It is annoying that you cannot criticize them here without people getting all bent out of shape about it.

This is a great site and should be a place where we can openly discuss what is good and what could stand to be improved in the future. I have no problem with people disagreeing with me, but I have no respect for blind brand loyalty.

I agree 100%.

On the ski subject, I test ride a lot of different snowmobiles every winter. Most of them in the same conditions where I normally use my own sled (ungroomed, rough trails with quite soft surfaces). Based on this experience I would say that most of the OEM skis are not performing very well in these conditions, but - and this is a big BUT - I would also say that the Yamaha ski clearly stands out as the worst one. The steering response and the pure steering grip is clearly not as good as the competitors OEM skis and they are not even close to any of the aftermarket options.

Again, I am not very concerned about myself. In order to make my sled perform the way I want, I have got no problem with using aftermarket parts. However, this is not the case with every snowmobiler. Some people are not prepared to invest more money (or time) in their already expensive rough trail sled - just to make it perform like the rough trail sled it is supposed to be.

And which way do you think the snowmobile journalists test the sleds...? Possibly with the OEM skis...? Most of the snowmobile magazines over here are constantly bashing the Yamaha trail sleds because of their poor steering compared to the competition. And fact is - sad or not - a lot of snowmobilers choose their next sled based on feedback from snowmobile magazines.

 

[watersuper]

We could still be using steel skis with plastic skins. lol! Wasn't that long ago we were.