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
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
