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Article: Snowmobiling faces uncertain future in area

9K views 75 replies 24 participants last post by  cash68 
#1 ·
#7 ·
We have a similar issue here, we get snow but rideable snow starts later and goes away earlier.. Wheeled vehicles in this area, Sawyer County, far out sell and out-rent Sleds the last several years..

"Global Warming"? what happened to that last Ice age again?? Climate has been changing since the beginning of time, they find lost cities under water from Centuries ago, how'd that happen, Model T's perhaps..:snack:
 
#8 ·
To be honest, I'm basically amazed that the trail system even exists. IDK how much money the state collects every year to maintain it, and divvy it up to clubs to maintain it, but WI has over 25,000 miles of trails. I would say the majority of them have not been used at all in the past 3 years due to mild winters.

Even when you go up north where 'everyone goes', its' really not THAT many people. Then you have trails down in central/southern WI, they clear them every year, fix things every year, and put up signs every year, but they never get used anymore. It's kind of insane. I feel like $30 is such a small price for a trail pass ocnsidering how much effort it all requires.
 
#19 ·
To be honest, I'm basically amazed that the trail system even exists. IDK how much money the state collects every year to maintain it, and divvy it up to clubs to maintain it, but WI has over 25,000 miles of trails. I would say the majority of them have not been used at all in the past 3 years due to mild winters.

Even when you go up north where 'everyone goes', its' really not THAT many people. Then you have trails down in central/southern WI, they clear them every year, fix things every year, and put up signs every year, but they never get used anymore. It's kind of insane. I feel like $30 is such a small price for a trail pass ocnsidering how much effort it all requires.
There's more ways to donate more to the clubs if you would like too.
 
#10 ·
Morse Powersports' biggest issue is not lack of snow or even dwindling interest in local club membership - it's Cat's declining sales numbers over the past decade exacerbated by the fact that they are a single brand dealership.

These types of dealers will all but disappear over the next few years. Dealerships have been consolidating for some time now. Unfortunately the small guys just cannot compete.
 
#12 ·
I would also like to know how that works as well. The last new Cat I bought was in 2011. It was a brand new in the crate 2007. The dealer had 5 of this same model stacked up out back along with quite a few others.

This was a small Cat only dealership. They went out of business 2 years ago.
 
#13 · (Edited)
I drove 5 hours to get my new Rush LE and they had three 2015 leftover cats sitting there. I jokingly said to the guy they must be getting real cheap by now and he said well we don't sell Cats anymore. When we added them to our lineup the regional sales guy we dealt with used us as a dumping ground for the less then popular models. We didnt know any better so we took a bunch of them and here we are 3 years later and there they sit. lol. I started to feel bad for the guy but quickly realized he was making it up on the deal I was there to sign.....
 
#29 · (Edited)
I drove 5 hours to get my new Rush LE and they had three 2015 leftover cats sitting there. I jokingly said to the guy they must be getting real cheap by now and he said well we don't sell Cats anymore.
Our local Parkway Polaris (near Ogdensburg, NY, now Parkway Ford) stopped selling Polaris entirely, too many recalls and issues year after year.
Roberts in Malone (Ski-Doo/Can Am dealer) is still going strong, as is D&D in Boonville (Arctic Cat dealer).


Cat's have a bad reputation.
Says who?
I ride all over Update NY and I never hear anything about Cat's having a bad reputation.
Arctic Cat is 2nd in sales this year, so someone like them.

-
 
#17 · (Edited)
I think the price of sleds have had more ill effect. They are pricing themselves out of the market.

Granted you can get 550 fan cooled for decent price, and it is better than 10 years ago, people aren't looking at them.

Interesting comment. Probably true.

“Snowmobiles have gotten much more reliable,” Wittenberger said. “The cost of snowmobiling might be more expensive to get initially started, but if you cost it out over the life of the equipment, it might not be any different than 20 years ago.”
 
#18 ·
I agree with all said above. I am the youngest in our snowmobile club (35) and the next youngest in late 40's. This would be the 4th bad winter in a row. In the last 4 years combined sauk county trails have been open maybe 2 weeks. With all these low snow years people are getting out of the sport. Its sad to say but i can see most of the upper midwest closing there trails forever except for northern wi, northern mn, and the u.p. by then more people will be getting out of the sport and the manufacturers will be minimizing the sled production line. Theres just no money there. Dont know how many 2016 leftovers i have seen at various dealers. My last point, its hard to get the younger generation to help with trail preparation. If we dont open trails on good snow years due to lack of trail preparation, maybe that would open some eyes to help out more.
 
#24 · (Edited)
Same situation here. My wife and I are youngest in our town club.
At county level, we normally are. The other younger ones we see are '15 Miss Snowflake(21) and her brother (16)-youth rep. Their dad is County Rep. The youth rep just had to quit due to no time. Lot of high school sports taking up time. I think the kids sports is crazy amount of dedication & time. Another hurdle to get more youth involved.
That is one family that has lot of passion for sport.
There is about 7-8 people that put mostly all work into our town club trails as well. That is 70 miles to maintain. As long as you have a couple of truly dedicated people, the trails will survive. But that is a fine line with members getting older.



To be honest, I'm basically amazed that the trail system even exists. IDK how much money the state collects every year to maintain it, and divvy it up to clubs to maintain it, but WI has over 25,000 miles of trails. I would say the majority of them have not been used at all in the past 3 years due to mild winters.

Even when you go up north where 'everyone goes', its' really not THAT many people. Then you have trails down in central/southern WI, they clear them every year, fix things every year, and put up signs every year, but they never get used anymore. It's kind of insane. I feel like $30 is such a small price for a trail pass ocnsidering how much effort it all requires.
I'm amazed at it as well. So many hurdles to make it work together!
$30 is steal. I think that can easily be more.
A lot of time, for little paybacks at time. I take 3 days vacation to mark & brush. I try to stay positive and look at it as day out of office!
 
#22 ·
It really is an expensive sport to participate in. I have a 99 ZR700 that I LOVE!! I have replaced everything on it and it SHOULD be reliable, but I am scared as shit to take it up to the UP and take it on a 300 mile weekend trip. I cant count on it to be as reliable as my 17 Thundercat. And if I was getting into the sport, to buy a new one and TRY it out....pretty damn expensive to try. And people say to rent a sled.... last time I looked in northern WI it would have been $1000 to rent for the weekend. It was only an $8000 sled. DAMN . Cheaper than buying new, but still. ouch. I can see it as a barrier to new people getting into the sport.

That said, Thursday I will be driving 5 hours up to Tomahawk WI to ride for the weekend because I love the sport. I love the people I meet out on the trail and in the bars. I love the snow and the trees. I love the sound of WOT. I love the speed. I love nailing that corner like a boss. I love being exhausted at the end of the day because I made that rough trail my bitch. So many of my friends would love to go but they dont put it as a high priority vs other things in their life. They have not experienced it like I have tho so I get it. It really is an exclusive club to be in and even if the snow is only in the UP, I will drive my 8 hours to ride it til I die.
 
#25 ·
I talked to 3 guys from Nebraska in Hurley last trip. 2 of them were renting sleds for $300 a day. They come every other year. Other year they go west. Have a blast, and figure cheaper to rent for them. That's only once a year though and they're 9 hrs away!

That's very well said! Hit all of them!
 
#28 ·
I know as a 41 year old and father of three daughters involved in multiple sports and activites, it is difficult to be active in the club i belong to. Unfortunately, i only make half of the meetings, sell my raffle tickets, sometimes attend the club dinner, and try to attend the club ride. I rarely have time to really become too involved as my schedule doesn't make me very reliable. It will be another 10 years before my schedule allows, and i think this is the same issue many other clubs are having.....

I remember when i was a kid, we didn't have sports 6 days a week, and if i did have something that coincided with something my dad had going on, he generally still did his thing and would miss some events. That's not he case anymore. As parents we feel obligated to attend every event for every child we can, and if we don't there is guilt associated with missing something.
 
#30 ·
Like I said brands can get saddled with a legacy. Growing up cat was known as being performance oriented with bad reliability.

Probably not that way anymore. But rebuilding mine, again, and again, I don't think about them. Granted not even same company any morw. Though 10 years ago was hearing same thin about their 4 wheelers


Arctic Cat has a legacy.
 
#32 ·
@Berserker
I think cat's legacy with performance was mostly due to post tinkering. If you took care of the machines and left them stock, they lasted thousands of miles. Thing is Arctic Cat made very fast sleds year after year and people squeezed all the life from those Suzuki's in a few years. Arctic Cat does just kind of 'design and go' before much testing, but Yamaha has helped them with quality as of late.
@LIMESQUEEZE
Apologies for my reaction I just hate brand bias. They all make a good sled and this topic is bigger then one brand, for sure. Sledding has always been reliant on other factors but overall, yes, this generation of pussified kids stuck on their tablets, VR and Xbox's has not been good for outdoor activities. As stated in another thread on here about this topic, my generation from 20 years ago rides more then the last two generations combined...and were all in our 30's-40's with kids and deer heads in our garage.
 
#34 ·
@Berserker

I think cat's legacy with performance was mostly due to post tinkering.
I don't think so.


LIMESQUEEZE[/B]
Apologies for my reaction I just hate brand bias. .
I am not brand loyal. Its just back in the day, cats had problems. Granted that was a long time ago, and maybe better.

But when your sled repeatedly blows up, you get soured. Also like I said, probably not even the same company any more.
 
#33 ·
I will agree that most manufacturers have their issues, but AC has a bad rep within the dealer world for pushing too much product on them...even when things are slow. Its happened several times but the worst was about 4-5 years ago when they almost double every dealers expectations and forced almost double the inventory on them. When many of the dealers said to keep them, we'll just shut the doors, they backed off.

I can tell you 10 good things and 10 bad things about each manufacturer but its all in the eyes of the buyer.
 
#36 ·
One thing that bothers me about this story, is the same old line that new sleds cost $15000.00. I just purchased a like new 16 Enduro with 700 miles on it for $9000.00. Craig's List is full of very nice sleds in the 4-6K range. Unfortunately it has become an expensive sport. Nice to see the Manf. are introducing some entry level sleds. I do think the Polaris Evo not having a windshield is a huge mistake. Not many want to ride in the cold with no wind protection.
 
#47 ·
Good read

Wish I had the money for one of the newer rider-forward style sleds but honestly i'd never use it enough to justify it. So many late 90's early 2000 sleds on craigslist that you can get a good one for $1,500 or less and take care of it, rinse and repeat.

Those new ones seem pretty fancy, the engines packed so tight in there you can't even work on it.
 
#48 ·
Nothing really new here, this is either a luxury or mechanically inclined hobby.

It's easier to sit in a tree stand or ice shanty with the heat on and consider hunting or fishing a "sport" when you'll actually learn and develop more advanced survival skills playing the right competitive multiplayer video game.

Either crowd is usually obese and can't turn a wrench to save their life, but that's a thread in itself.
 
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