Seeing Red

THE LYNX BOONDOCKER DS IS A SLEEPER OF A SLED. THE SUSPENSION GIVES IT A RIDE AND HANDLING FEEL UNLIKE ANYTHING ELSE ON THE MOUNTAIN, AND THE ADDITION OF THE 850 E-TEC TURBO R MAKE IT A TOP CONTENDER FOR 2023.

Snow Days

Deep snow, fun sleds and good friends—
what more could you ask for?

Polaris is billing the new 2023 RMK 9R as a “factory mod” sled. What does that mean? Well, it’s not just a marketing tag line.

9R Development

Jump back to 2018 when Polaris released the 2019 850 Patriot engine in the Axys chassis. That fall, Jack Struthers (of Carl’s Cycle Sales in Boise, Idaho) had his new 850 set up with a 900 big bore before the snow was flying. Struthers rode that sled as a 900 from the get go, and has been developing and refining ever since, creating one of the most popular Polaris performance setups in the West.

Struthers also has a long history of working very closely with the Polaris RMK development engineering team—dating back to the 90s. Struthers has been involved in one way or another on most every RMK mountain sled since. So it was a natural fit to lean on his proven engine work as the foundation for the 2023 9R.

Every snowmobiler, regardless of their discretionary income, is always looking for the best value for their dollar. Even those who want to have all the options, all the add-ons and all the bells and whistles, still want to think they got the best deal possible even though the final sale price on their snowmobile totaled up at 40 percent over suggested manufacturer retail.

But if you’re not necessarily into loading up on accessories and just want a sled that will get you from point A to point B with your riding buddies, there are a few features you’re willing to sacrifice that don’t adversely impact the performance of your snowmobile.

We decided to break down the Summit X, Summit Edge and Summit SP to find the noticeable differences in the trims. We left out the Summit Expert which offers three or four unique features, and the Freeride which delivers the high-end suspension package. We want to focus on the competitive price designs on the Summit line.

With the introduction of the Ski-Doo Neo models, the battle for the next generation of snowmobilers once again centers around brand loyalty and sticker price. We now enjoy the complete assortment of colors—green, red, yellow and blue—on snowmobiles designed to be easy to ride, affordable and equipped with enough technology to satisfy riders.

The days of riding “Mom’s old sled” are over. And younger riders no longer have to transition from a 120cc or 200cc sled that is much too small for them since their recent growth spurt to an old 700cc or 800cc that has seen much better days but can still fire a spark and carry you to the other side of the meadow before it quits.

Now we have the Arctic Cat Blast, Polaris Evo, Ski-Doo Neo and the Yamaha SXVenom. Each of the four models have both mountain and trail versions. Cat has extended the battleground to include five trims. Polaris and Ski-Doo offer performance-enhancing kits. (For the sake of comparisons, we will focus on the mountain versions of these four models.)

There are two types of extreme. The first is when you go beyond the norm while the second is when you go so far beyond that it literally changes the parameters of the norm. Thus, where the Lynx XTreme RE defines extreme mountain performance the XTreme Brutal takes deep-snow performance extreme to a whole new level.

The Xtreme models introduce Scandinavian-style hardcore snowmobiling to the North American market. These models deliver one of Europe’s best-selling performance terrain sleds specifically designed for big drops and aggressive terrain riding to a more refined market featuring more groomed trails. North American snowmobilers don’t need to contend as much with terrain riddled with downfall and rocks.

The RE is designed for the nastiest of trails for extreme performance deep powder riding in the crossover segment. It delivers the unconventional ride of Lynx with predictable and aggressive handling.

Turbo World

Are factory turbos going to reign in the mountains for the foreseeable future? Or will lighter naturally-aspirated mountain sleds take the cake? Either way, it’s a win.