Production Snowmobile Weights

Rider-forward positioning. Four-stroke power. Long-travel suspension. Those buzz-words represent former trends in snowmobile technology. No matter the design principle, you can’t walk across a dealer’s showfloor or take 10 strides into a snowmobile show without hearing about the latest craze. For 2009, “weight” is what has many snowmobilers talking.

Most sled manufacturers publish the weights of their machines in brochures or on the Internet, but each brand’s interpretation of “listed” weight might be different. To find out how much the machines weigh when they’re ready to hit the trail, we sifted through inventories of five Minnesota snowmobile dealerships in mid-November and put sleds on our set of Intercomp scales, the same high-tech weighing system used by NASCAR.

Country Cat in Sauk Centre provided Arctic Cats, Mies Outland in Watkins had Polarises waiting for us and St. Boni Motorsports in St. Bonifacius hooked us up with new Ski-Doos and a few Yamahas. Heinen’s in Osseo and Moon Motorsports in Monticello filled out the rest of the Yamaha roster.

It’s not fair to “penalize” a machine because it has a large fuel tank or “reward” one that has a small tank, so we asked that the machines be ready for the trail without gas. Unfortunately, that was out of our control because some of the sleds were set up and ready for delivery. In those cases, we filled the fuel tanks to the brim and recorded the Observed weight. We multiplied 6.133 (weight, in pounds, of one gallon of gasoline) by the manufacturers’ listed fuel capacity and subtracted that number from the recorded figure to get the Corrected weight. Injection oil levels varied slightly, but because capacities are small, their effect on overall weight is negligible and not a concern. Four strokes were wet with oil.

Machines listed here were dictated by the dealerships’ inventories in mid-November, 2008. This is not a model-to-model comparison. Instead, the story is intended to shed light on the actual, trail-ready weight of some 2009 model sleds (and to keep the manufacturers honest). As the figures prove, some are more honest than others, and Arctic Cat pled the Fifth. Machines were weighed as equipped from their respective factories.


YAMAHA

Weights reported in pounds

FX Nytro MTX

Observed: 583

Corrected: —

Listed: 553

Difference: 30

FX Nytro RTX

Observed: 592

Corrected: 547

Listed: 518

Difference: 29

Apex RTX

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Observed: 686

Corrected: 628

Listed: 568

Difference: 60

Phazer RTX

Observed: 515

Corrected: —

Listed: 489

Difference: 26

RS Venture GT

Observed: 683

Corrected: —

Listed: 652

Difference: 31

FX Nytro XTX

Observed: 565

Corrected: —

Listed: 542

Difference: 23

ARCTIC CAT

Weights reported in pounds

Z1 Turbo LXR

Observed: 647

Corrected: —

Listed: N/A

Difference: —

TZ1 LXR

Observed: 686

Corrected: —

Listed: N/A

Difference: —

Crossfire R 8 LE

Observed: 494

Corrected: —

Listed: N/A

Difference: —

Crossfire R 1000

Observed: 527

Corrected: —

Listed: N/A

Difference: —

F6 Sno Pro

Observed: 544

Corrected: —

Listed: N/A

Difference: —

M1000 Sno Pro 162

Observed: 514

Corrected: —

Listed: N/A

Difference: —

POLARIS

Weights reported in pounds

800 Dragon Switchback

Observed: 612

Corrected: 541

Listed: 536

Difference: 5

800 Dragon SP

Observed: 574

Corrected: 503

Listed: 476

Difference: 27

800 RMK Assault

Observed: 578

Corrected: 507

Listed: 487

Difference: 20

600 IQ Shift 136

Observed: 583

Corrected: 512

Listed: 495

Difference: 17

550 IQ Shift

Observed: 536

Corrected: 465

Listed: 470

Difference: -5

SKI-DOO

Weights reported in pounds

Summit Everest 800R 154

Observed: 531

Corrected: 466

Listed: 439

Difference: 27

GSX 1200 Limited

Observed: 531

Corrected: —

Listed: 539

Difference: -8

MX Z TNT 500SS

Observed: 421

Corrected: —

Listed: 399

Difference: 22

MX Z 800R Adrenaline

Observed: 447

Corrected: —

Listed: 435

Difference: 12

MX Z 600 H.O. E-TEC 50th

Observed: 464

Corrected: —

Listed: N/A

Difference: —

ODDBALL STUFF

Weights reported in pounds

  • 2009 Arctic Cat Prowler H 1 XTX w/winch: 1,281
  • 2002 Eagle River World Champion Trophy: 37
  • 16-gallon keg Formula XPS semi-synthetic oil: 128
  • 2008 Kawasaki KX450F: 234
  • Can-Am Spyder: 772

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