To the Sled guys

As much as I hate the onset of cold weather when the first snow flakes fall it gets my blood pumping. Its time to smell 2 stroke and freeze your butt off all the while accelerating at warp speeds. That's right, Snowmobile season. I have a soft spot for the old sleds(maybe it's because they are cheap!!) haha.

The steering insert piece broke on my 79 Kawasaki so it has sat for 2 full winters and almost 4 years since it has had a good old ride. When I first bought it at age 16 I didn't know a thing about how a 2 stroke worked. Had experience on a 77 Elan 250 and a 79 Scorpion Whip 440. The Elan died in a fire and the Scorpion was a buddies so I picked up my own.

It turned out to be a nightmare but forced me to learn all systems and how and why they work. So 16 year old me through a partial over haul and boom I had one of the most reliable sleds I have ever known.

The tank pick up back then was just a hose stuffed onto a barb with a section of aluminum line in the end to hold it at the bottom of the tank. Those are notorious for falling off. I re installed that with a long set of pliers and a zip tie(we will see how long it lasts). This was after I drained the tank of all the old fuel. I install fuel shutoffs on every sled I work on so that you can let the engine run the carbs dry at the end of the season so it was stored with the carbs dry.

I filled it up with fresh pre mix and pulled the plugs out to prime the carbs with fuel by pulling it over 10 times or so. Reinstalled the plugs and pulled it over. The first pull with the choke on revealed no signs of life whatsoever. I gave the old girl another tug and it cracked right off and right up to the idle I set it at all those years ago.

Needless to say I was ecstatic last night watching that beat up old sled run outside of the garage. It was like seeing an old friend come back to life again. In my 10 year ownership I have racked up over 2000 ride miles on mostly on public roads when there was actually enough snow to ride in central Indiana.


So who else here gets their blood pumping to the smell of two stroke and the sight of a funny looking track in the snow???

Where do you ride? What do you ride? Bring on the white stuff.

Well, down here in FL there isn't much snow as you can imagine but I do have a penchant for the sweet smell of pre-mix. BRAAAAAAAP!!!!!!

Bret, bad ass. I have ridden my fair share of dirt bikes and quads but we lost our big riding area back home so I never perused them any further. Although I do prefer a rowdy 2 stroke rig to a 4 stroke any day. 2 strokes are like turbo cars.

Paul, that thing looks wicked. I would love to pick up something newer some day for the capabilities but we will see what happens. I just wish I didn't have to travel to get good rides in.

The new sleds do everything better but what is cool about the old sleds is they are still like rockets if you can get the tiny little lugs on the track to hook up haha. Friend of mine had a quick Phazer that was all original with low miles. He weighed about 90lbs or so more than I did. If we swapped sleds I could get the Phazer to hook up but the extra weight on my Kawasaki and it was bye bye time for the Phazer haha.

This is outside of our local watering hole. This is a quiet day. Usually many more toys and people.

my two stroke sled   1975 Merc Trail Twister 440
    
and also have owned...

73 Skidoo 400F/A   79 Kawasaki Intruder 340L/C and 94 Arctic Cat 580EXT

74Wind wrote: We get a major 2+ inch blizzard here every few years....

I know. They close your airport if you get as little as 1/2".

Good looking sleds Steve!!

Tull, nice rig there and that watering hole looks like the perfect place to take a break during a long ride!

Hollywood, I feel like you are pretty into old box. But seriously if you ever find something that old (preferably kawi) I will go through the motor and carb for you if it needs it. I love sled motors.

Harddock, The trail twisters were freaking awesome. Then they turned into motorcycles ;).

My cousin just picked up complete 80 John Deere Trail Fire.

HW, few buddies of mine and I are planning to pay Harlan a visit up in IL this winter to do some riding and he has an extra sled. I will see if he wants to offer it up to you haha.

posted this pic before...... just because snow is on the ground and we have the sleds out doesn't mean "water sports" have to come to an end.



this was on my "pogo stick" 600 Yami... circa 94.

..
this was my old

You are sending some seriously mixed signals.

So that's 2 guys, 1 sled? I'm riding in back!

Steve; 'a few years ago'........lol

HW & Zack....many of us are 'reading between the lines' and wondering what the heck is goin' on.


Seeing the sleds and snow and sunny winter days makes me miss the 1 or 2 days of our looong Cleveland winters...




john

I got a chance to run mine this week with that front that blew through!!

Vancouver last April. It was my first time to ride. It was a blast!!

By March??? With 1,yes Zach one ride under the belt before I had to put it away,it would not bother me one bit to skip snow this year if we can get the show on the road earlier next spring.

I don't think I made 6 yet on my boat...

In the Winter, snowmobiling is the only thing that matters. In the Summer, all I do is think about Winter. If I could have only one toy, the boat would be gone.....seriously. My whole family rides,my BIL lives right across the street...his whole family rides. Haven't been able to rack up the miles like I used to but when there's snow the kids and I will ride every night locally and the whole family will go on weekends. I can ride right out of my backyard.


Taken in the Lake Parlin Area of Maine



The "Scoot" neighborhood winter transportation



BIL's driveway on a typical winter Sunday. Looks like there is two or three sleds missing from that pic



"Somewhere" near the Forks, Maine



Kids....can't teach em anything. If you're out of the dust, you're off the trail lol



Club Trail near Caratunk, Maine. That day was the best riding I've seen in years. Look at that trail. Holiday weekend, not a sole around.



last March on a Spring ride on trails around my town with the wife and daughter

BRING IT !!

Mike