Well, I managed to throw a few miles on the Switchback this weekend. Friday night I went out to a friends house to do some riding. Temps were in the teens and there was about 4" of powdery snow on the ground. He has a couple hay fields that he said we could play in. Plus his son races a KX60 in the summer so he has a couple practice jumps built for him to play on. Sled was set-up precisely the way it came from the dealer. I didn't mess with anything. Pulling the sled over, she roared to life and it was nice to just let her run & warm up on its own. Didn't have to baby-sit it like I had to with my XC. But it is still cold blooded at first, it took a bit to warm it up. Might have something to do with the break-in gas, I don't know… It's amazing how the first ride of the year always makes you think you've got an incredibly strong ride no matter what you're riding, but I was truly impressed with the power of the 600HO. Throttle response was incredible, backshifting with the Team was sick! And she pulled hard with that 144" track. Hitting a few of the small jumps proved to be a hell of a lot of fun. A couple times I winced on the landing expecting it to almost hurt but there was no need. The front end of this sled is awesome, it soaked up everything I could throw at it. Like RD said, the chaincase in the footwell was completely a non-issue. I really thought I'd have a hard time getting used to it but it just didn't bother me at all. Yeah, you notice it for a bit, but you just don't even think about it after a while. The brakes - I can't say enough about the brakes. This is the first Polaris sled I've ever owned that I didn't absolutely HATE the brakes. They're very effective and there is absolutely NO whiny chaincase noise when applying the brakes. FINALLY they got it right... for me anyway. One thing I do not like so far was that I noticed a considerable amount of ski lift in the corners, and I mean almost bad. I'm sure I had too much ski pressure because it was sort of a bear to tun in the corners once in a while. One thing that is for sure, with the adjustable steering, the sled acts MUCH different between positions 1 & 7. The sled transfers weight very well though, no question about that. I think I'm going to have a hard time getting this sled dialed in just right. I'm trying to remember how to make adjustments a non-coupled skid!
Yesterday I went to a different friends house & played in his hayfields. These fields allowed more room and had some nice rolling hills in them that allowed for some real fun airtime. By the time I got to the other end of the hay field the speedo was reading 95 mph & was still climbing hard. However, right now mine's only running on one lung. Mag side won't run and I think there may be a piece of dirt or something stuck in the carb somewhere. I ran some isopropyl through it so I don't believe it's ice. It's spewing fuel through the pipe like crazy & is wet fouling that plug like a mother. Tried a different plug with the same results, it's definitely in the carb somewhere. Maybe a bad needle/seat? Stuck choke plunger sounds more convincing but who knows? I will find out what the culprit is today & be sure to give you all an update. I've decided to let my dealer deal with it, afterall, it IS warranty. If anyone has any questions about it I'll do my best to answer them. So far, other than my minor carb problem I am very pleased with the new ride.