2013 YamahaSnowmobilesContinue toImproveSee Page 6!

November 2012

Polaris IntroducesNew Scrambler

850 ATV

Nova Scotia NativeWins Prestigious

Cain’s QuestEvent

Arctic CatIntroduces NewTucker Hibbert Inspired Model

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Ski Doo BackWith Great Line

Up for 2013See Page 5

Polaris MakesIt Light in 2013See Page 4!

PAGE 2 SNOWMOBILE NEWS NOVEMBER 2012

Jean Guy Aucoin from Cheticamp, NovaScotia and his partner Steve Girard wonthe 2012 Cains Quest after 4 previous

tries. The team rode 2011 Ski DooFreeride 800 sleds complete with 2012motors. The race was 2730 Kms over 4days with layovers. This year the condi-tions were easier and got to 8 celsius plus.

“ We were the lead team and stayedahead and kept moving. It is 2 man timeand you stay together and finish together.The first year you go to Labrador it isoverwhelming,” said Jean Guy Aucoin.He had his first snowmobile at age 10, a1989 Citation 300 and since then hasowned 27 machines. Jean Guy Aucoin isa ship captain of a dive boat and works inthe far east 6 weeks in and 6 weeks off inthe oil fields on a service boat doingunderwater surveys.

“ I was racing sno cross and cross coun-try since 1986 and that is where I met mypartner, Steve Girard who has been a fac-tory racer in Quebec. When snocross gotreally high with the jumps we stuck tocross country.” smiled Aucoin.

The Canadian team won Cain's Questby 42 minutes even after a 45 minutepenalty near the end. This year they wonHCR Arctic Cats and some moneytotalling about $30,000. It does cost about$15 to 20,000 to do the race over the valueof your equipment according to Aucoin. “ We would like to go to the Alaska IronDog race and there is no Cains Quest thisyear. We want to go to Alaska this year ifwe get the sponsors.” said Aucoin.

Polaris has just reintroduced theScrambler name into their line up with the2013 Polaris Scrambler 850, a really funtrail performance machine. It was great to

see the much anticipated ATV come out ofthe crate and be put together at NorthCountry Cycle & Sports in Thunder Bay.The unit is shipped in a steel frame with aplastic cover over it. The steel frame iscollapsible and the unit is shrink wrappedat the factory. The dealer can recieve theunit well protected and Polaris can recyclethe steel frame. It was fun to see the 2013Polaris Scrambler 850 come out of theshrink wrap and get set up. “ We gothrough the entire machine by checking all

the fluid levels, the air pressures in thetires and everything is tight. We gothrough through the whole check list thatPolaris provides,”said Randy Neufeld,General Manager at North Country Cycle& Sports - Thunder Bay. “ You hook upthe battery, put some gas in and then runit.”

The Scrambler 850 is a trail performancemachine for the rider that may not need theutility aspects of an ATV that many cus-tomers use,say pull a moose out of thebush. It is built to mainly go out and enjoythe ride. The Scrambler has Fox clickeradjustable shocks and Polaris has done alot of work with the double A arm suspen-sion. It handles very well with the powersteering and is very easy to maneuver.“ It is probably the most fun ATV to ride. Igot a chance to ride one of the early mod-

els at the dealer meeting in Las Vegas on atest track. It is very nice sounding with atuned exhaust on it, which probably givessome more performance. For the first

round every dealer got 1 unit with morecoming in the spring time.”said RandyNeufeld.

www.slednews.com

Polaris Introduces New Scrambler 850 ATV

SNOWMOBILE NEWS NOVEMBER 2012 PAGE 3

BY SCOTT A. SUMNERNW Ontario Snowmobile News

Nova Scotia Native Wins Prestigious Cain’s Quest EventBY SCOTT A. SUMNERNW Ontario Snowmobile News

The big news this year at Polaris is thenew RMK Pro with new running boards,belt system and the carbon structure overthe motor. It is 417 pounds in a 600 or 800engine format and the lightest in the indus-try.

“ We came down from 431 pounds a yearago and continue to find ways to cutweight. It is carbon fiber and finding onepart to do 3 or 4 things,” said DanPeterson, Polaris Product Line SalesManager. “ The belt drive system alonesaved us about 7 pounds getting rid of the

big chain case and oil bath and oil. Thebelt drive system is pretty simple - asprocket on the top and one on the bottomwith a rubber belt with teeth on it. It issimilar to what a chain case would looklike but is only rubber on aluminum, notsteel on steel, so more efficient, lighter,quieter and with less maintenance. I thinkit will progress into other models.”

The Rush and Switchback were new lastyear and are a fantastic ride. “ We boughtthe Indy back, our old faithful and it is get-ting lots of buzz. The Indy was broughtback to give us a lower cost snowmobile.Technology is driving the cost up so muchand we wanted to have something for thecustomer who don’t need everything in asled, but still be full featured.” saidPeterson.

In the last 3 or 4 years the mountainsled segment has exploded according toPeterson. “ The RMK last year was thenumber one selling sled. People will travelto get to the snow because they like it somuch. It is fun and like an adventure.,”said Peterson. “ Polaris had a fantastic sea-son of sales last year even with low snow.We use racing for testing braking systems

different compound on tracks, spindlecases and camber angle. It has helped us toget lighter. If it works in snocross we put itin our production sleds. We are working on2014 and 2015 sled improvements rightnow.”

Polaris Makes It Light in 2013

PAGE 4 SNOWMOBILE NEWS NOVEMBER 2012

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For 2013 Ski Doo has introduced 2 newplatforms. The Rev XM platform for themountain rider and the REV XS platformfor the Renegade and trail rider. “ Welooked at the last platform and madechanges to take the next step forward.”said Steve Cowling, PR and MediaRelations Manager for Ski Doo snowmo-biles and is based in the Minneapolis area.

“ The T motion and a Flex Edge track areon the XM platform to make it easier forthe mountain rider to put the sled on edgeand hold it there which is a very importantmaneuver for the hills. You need to be ableto pivot and turn quickly in fresh snow.The REV XS is the trail version and wewere looking for better wind protectionand improving the shape of the hoodergonomically to get around on the sled. In2008 we brought out the REV XP, whichhas pretty much been the standard foreveryone. It is super light weight, veryrigid and handles just like it is on rails.”

The engine line up at Ski Doo is thesame as last year with their 600 and 800ETEC’s, two mainstays. The 1200 4 tec isonly available in the REV XR because ittakes a little bit bigger platform to housethe 4 stroke 3 cylinder. The 600 ETEC isthe largest selling engine on the NorthAmerican continent according to Cowling.It has great performance, power per cc,extremely good fuel economy, oil econo-my and is virtually bullet proof. The niceclean throttle response and economy iswhat really sells the people. The run quali-ty is so good they just want to be on thissled noted Cowling.

“ The lack of snow hurt us a little bit butoverall Ski Doo gained some market shareso overall it was a pretty good year. Wecontinue to see real good interest in themountain segment so it has become a bitof a focus. There is always snow some-where in North America, it just movesaround a bit. There will be snow and peo-ple will find it because snowmobiling is asport that is addictive and they will go,”smiled Steve Cowling. “ It is a combina-tion of the best part of motorcycling and ifyou ride in the mountains it is like beingon a watercraft combined with the motor-cycle. The dynamics of the sport is it really

keeps people attached because there isreally no other sport like it.”

In 2012 Tim Trembley wins the ISOCfor Ski Doo. They had wins in the Cain'sQuest and the Iron dog. It was a good year.“ The ISOC series is great with excellentTV coverage and they have done a goodjob at bringing it to the next level, “ saidCowling. “ I hope everyone gets out andenjoys the sport this year and we havegreat snow. If you don’t have snow don’tbe afraid to put your sled on a trailer andhave a good time.”

Ski Doo Back With Great Line Up for 2013

SNOWMOBILE NEWS NOVEMBER 2012 PAGE 5

BY SCOTT A. SUMNERNW Ontario Snowmobile News

“ We introduced the Tucker Hibbert sledwhich is loosely based off our Procross800 RR but Tucker added his own touchwith graphics, hand guards, a powder coat-ed skid frame and white skis so he made ithis own. He has a loyal following fan baseand we think it will be a really good hit. Itis the RR model with the Procross chassis.The sled will be at all dealers. We are run-ning a special promotion with Tucker togive a way serial number 002.” said KaleWainer, Media Relations specialist atArctic Cat.

“ The 50th Anniversary last summer wasamazing. We had a great turn out in Thief

River Falls and we were fortunate to haveall new models in the Pro Cross and ProClimb. It was an exciting year. We had theWildcat on the dirt side of it as well.This Pro cross chassis was based off ourrace sled and we put it towards our con-sumer sled,” said Wainer. “ Early ordersales have been good this year. What weare hoping for is snow. It is pretty simplesnow does sell snowmobiles. Last year itwas dismal snow here and overall prettypoor.”

“ One of the quickest growing marketsfor Arctic Cat is the crossover market withthe midwest guy going out west a hand fullof times each year so we have a modelcalled the High country with a deeperlugged track. The RR is a race replica 800and 1100 Turbo is for the ditch banging

guy with top of the line modelthe Fox Float EVOL X shocksthat allow more adjustability withcompression and rebound.” saidWainer. “ Usually our snowmo-bile production ends byThanksgiving and now we aregoing full bore.”

“ For 2013 Yamaha snowmobiles thebiggest thing is we added a 1 3/4 inchNytro XTX for the trail rider that likes togo off trail a little bit and you can add thatbit of capability. It is considered a roughtrail sled, made to go through the bumps,”said Eric Josephsen, Yamaha US snowmo-bile Division, Consumer Promotions,

Marketing Coordinator and Race Manager- wearing 3 hats. “ Our 2013 line up iswell developed. We have the Phazer line-

up, which is an 80HP machine and a funlittle little buggy. The Vector is a great trailsled and probably the most under ratedsled in the industry. We have EPS ( electricpower steering) on it with 123 HP so lotsof get up and go. The staple of our line upis the Apex with 160 HP 4 stroke and ithas EPS as well. The EPS has been verywell received especially with the highmileage guys that might crank out 200 to400 miles in a day. Your shoulder and backfeel great after riding all day with EPS.”

In 2013 Yamaha has dropped the Bravofrom their line up. “ The Bravo is a greatmachine but was two stroke and the emis-sions made it go away. Emissions are ahuge challenge and that is why Yamahadecides to go 4 stroke back in 2002 withthe RX1 and since 2006 exclusively 4stroke. Our strong point is Yamaha makesa well built sled with durability reliabilityand fit,” said Josephsen. “ Oil Change andgas is all you need. The 4 stroke is thewave of the future. The emissions willcontinue to get tighter and tighter and weare miles ahead in that area. Weight reduc-tion has happened with Yamaha usingmagnesium and the technology we have atYamaha with a huge engineering staff. Wetook a couple seasons off to prepare forracing. We don’t think snocross makessense for us but have had good success incross country and hill climb.”

2013 Yamaha Snowmobiles Continue to Improve

PAGE 6 SNOWMOBILE NEWS NOVEMBER 2012

Arctic Cat Introduces New Tucker Hibbert Inspired Model

BY SCOTT A. SUMNERNW Ontario Snowmobile News

BY SCOTT A. SUMNERNW Ontario Snowmobile News

“ We are moving in Wisconsin to a new17,000 square foot facility. It all started inmy garage when we came out with a bigbore kit for the Arctic Cat 700 engine. Iput it in my own personal sled and thenmy brother wanted it and before you knowit I had 50 motors in my garage. 6 monthslater I had 6 full time employees and wewere going crazy building parts and devel-oping new products.” smiled Erich Long,owner of Bikeman Performance.

Erich had worked previously for twocompanies in the sport, Marv JorgensonChopper City Sports and Steve Houle ofSpeedwirks. “ Staring at 18 years old Iworked on some pretty crazy equipment.Today we sell a lot of bolt on parts likelight weight mufflers, exhaust pipes,

clutch kits and cylinder heads. We do a lotof engine kits for Arctic Cat, Ski Doo andPolaris and now do 2 or 3 motors a day.

Usually they send us their cylinders or thewhole motor. We have a contract for thecompany Black Diamond which is making

50 limited edition mountain sleds. We areputting out custom 900 engines in theircustom built lightweight chassis.” saidLong.

Everything at Bikeman is made right inhouse in the USA. It is all laser cut parts,ceramic coated and their heads are C & Cmachined. The company does retail salesand have a couple thousand dealers andsome distributors. An example of aBikeman product is for the 800 Arctic Catengine. “ Some people want a light loudersound and other stainless steel with Kevlarthat is 10 pounds lighter than stock andadds 2 to 3 HP but is quiet as well. Themanufacturer make good mufflers butnoise and emission standards makes it hardfor them to meet the standards.We can dothis as an aftermarket company.” saidLong.

SNOWMOBILE NEWS NOVEMBER 2012 PAGE 7

BY SCOTT A. SUMNERNW Ontario Snowmobile News

Make Your Snowmobile Perform Better With Optionsfrom Bikeman Performance

Tom Wang is the Trail Administrator forthe Thief River Falls Snowmobile Club.

“ We have 40 members now which is pret-ty good for our 8500 population. We

groom about 80 miles of trail mostlyaround highway roads in ditches and arefunded by the DNR from licenses feeswhich are $45 for 3 years. The club owns1 groomer and gets $325 per month. Ourgroomer is a 2000 Tucker which for us isadequate. There are trails coming from 5different directions. The Arctic Cat plant isa big draw and we usually have good snowand groom from mid December untilMarch 31 when it ends in Minnesota. Twoyears ago we had 90 inches of snow.”

You can get a tour of Arctic Cat everyweek day at 1pm. The Black Cat Spots Barstarted by Joey Hallstrom is a great placeto visit as well with many Arctic Cat itemson display. The Arctic Cat plant tour is oneof the top ten tours in US and Polaris iscloseby as well. You can contact the ThiefRiver Visitors and Convention Bureau formore information.

Thief River Falls Snowmobile ClubBY SCOTT A. SUMNERNW Ontario Snowmobile News

PAGE 8 SNOWMOBILE NEWS NOVEMBER 2012

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