Snowmobilelopnik

"Takuro Spirit" (takurospirit) 02/11/2014 at 16:51 • Filed to: snowmobilelopnik

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I had a few, in my youth. No, this is not me, but it is a red 1978-ish Yamaha SS440, which was my first sled, handed down to me by my step-dad:

It was a hunk of shit that barely did 50MPH (indicated) and I got rear-ended by my cousin and after that the seat "trunk" were held together by duct tape, but it was MINE. Many trips across the lake to the bar we made.

After many shitty winters of it being shitty, I bought a Yamaha Ovation from a guy in town. Yes, it had purple on it. But it was the 90's, so it was cool, yo. Rad.

Didn't ride it much or long, because once I was 18 and could drive myself places, I didn't hand out with the parents much anymore, and stopped going up north. I let them have it.

I did have the pleasure of borrowing a sled from our neighbor once, and raced him across the lake on it. Me on his sled, him in his truck. When we got to the bar I asked how fast we were going, because the vibration of the choppy ice made it hard to see.

"I slowed down at 90. You kept going. That sled'll do a buck twenty."

Whoops.

I miss those days.

SkarTisu > Takuro Spirit 02/11/2014 at 17:09

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The pic of the SS440 brought a flood of memories back. My late uncle had one of the limited edition SR-Vs from that year

At 9 years old, he let me ride it one day on the lake where he had a cabin. I nearly sunk it in an ice fishing hole that had turned to slush all around it in the middle of the lake. I had to abandon the sled and walk back to shore. My Dad had a severe scare when he saw the sled sunk into the slush, idling, with me nowhere in sight. Luckily, the sled didn't go all the way through the ice and I was fine. The TSS front end on that sled felt magical compared to the Enticer 300 I was riding at the time!

Takuro Spirit > SkarTisu 02/11/2014 at 17:16

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EXCITER! That's the other sled we had. Couldn't think of the name. That thing was an even gloriouser pile of shit.

SkarTisu > Takuro Spirit 02/11/2014 at 17:27

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My uncle had a 440 version of one of those too, along with several SRXs. He was big on Yamaha.

Rock Bottom > Takuro Spirit 02/11/2014 at 18:07

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Thanks for dredging-up all our old snowmobile memories! I grew up with (and later inherited) an orange 1981 Ski Doo Blizzard like the one in the pic. The original owner had gone and put pipes and high compression pistons in it and it was a real bear to pull-start! All that compression made it sound sweet, though! Got lots of looks and thumbs-up in Northern Michigan. Kinda reminded me of cruising through town in a loud early Mustang! Dad had newer sleds that always started easy and handled/stopped way better, but I still loved the brutal feel of this old warhorse. You had to work so hard to run with the newer sleds on the trails! I learned how to really throw my weight around on this machine and now I just feel spoiled when I ride a newer one. Of course, as I get older I really appreciate things like fuel injection and good brakes...

Zoom > Takuro Spirit 02/11/2014 at 18:14

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My family's first sled. In '79. They were state of the art trail sleds of the day. Yamaha finally spread the skis and made them handle.

'79 Enticer 340.

I rode that sled until finally two years ago I found a good deal on this.....

Bought it two years ago from a divorcee with 1700 miles on it. 136 studs, paddle track. Big switch from a 55 mph sled to a 110 mph sled that HOOKS hard.

Incidentally, I bought it in November, and in West Michigan that winter we got 4" total snowfall. Last year, about a foot. So I just put the first 250 miles on it in the last month, torched a weak belt and blew the clutch up last weekend. I am not nice to drivelines when I want speed.

But she was flying. 40-100 mph in a matter of seconds. What a fuckin RUSH.

Zoom > Rock Bottom 02/11/2014 at 18:23

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A good friend of mine had a '78 5500 Blizzard.

Port work. 44 mod mikunis. That sled would fly.

Takuro Spirit > Rock Bottom 02/11/2014 at 20:03

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Haha, yeah, neither of our 440's had much in the way of brakes. You kind of had to plan out where you were going to stop and hit the kill switch.

I remember when I got the Ovation how HAPPY I was because it had electric start. I didn't use it much though, for some reason I preferred the old pull start.

Takuro Spirit > Zoom 02/11/2014 at 20:05

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Snow has SUCKED up here for snowmobiling, and ice racing for the past few years. Either too much, or not enough. I wish I had the time and place to go up there again... maybe when the kids are older.