Yamaha Updates SR Viper Snowmobiles Before Production

If you went to the spring snowmobile shows and took a real close look at the all-new SR Viper snowmobiles from Yamaha, you may want to go take a second look at the upcoming fall snowmobile shows.

After an extended spring and early summer of testing across North America, Yamaha has updated several areas of its new flagship snowmobile line, according to Yamaha Snowmobile Marketing Manager Wade West. The changes ensure that every Yamaha meets the company’s high quality, durability and reliability standards and will be reflected on the Vipers that will be rolling down the assembly line at the Arctic Cat factory starting in a couple of weeks, West said.

For the uninitiated, the SR Viper line was announced last spring and will utilize the 1049cc Yamaha triple formerly found only in Yamaha FX Nytro snowmobiles, along with the Arctic Cat ProCross chassis (called the SRV chassis when in a Yamaha). The machines will be built at the Cat factory in Thief River Falls, Minnesota, and will be quite similar to Arctic Cat ZR 7000 models with the same engine and chassis combination. Differences do exist between the Viper models and the Arctic Cat ZR 7000 snowmobiles, however. The previously announced differences include the use of brand-specific clutching and gearing, plus differing tracks, shocks (in some cases) and body work/paint/graphics.

This is a story best told with visuals, so we’ll let the  photos and captions tell the story. Click on any photo for a more up-close look.