With great hesitation, and a lot of nerves after reading all the horror stories out here, I took my F7 up to Ironwood, MI this weekend. Took the sled off the trailer, and the first thing I noticed was that I definitely had to let it warm up before riding it anywhere ... there were a few bogs before it finally warmed up. After that, I can't even begin to list the problems ...
BECAUSE I HAD NONE!!! :lol:
I had burped the sled thanks to the great recommendations on HCS (thanks Rob!) and that was about it. We put on 120 miles Friday, and that was enough to get my first tank of pre-mix burned up and get the sled broken in. The next day we put on 180 miles, and it was a mix of excellent trails with some fairly poor trails.
I have NEVER been on a sled that sucks up the bumps as well as the Firecat. I used to think my old ZR was the "cat's meow", but it feels old compared to the F-chasis. There were several occasions where we stopped and the guys I was riding with would make the comments that they were getting sore. I just laughed at them and basically said "What bumps?". Well, after they rode my sled they were all complaining to me saying I was cheating because the Firecat was so amazing. One of my buddies was going to see if he could find a left-over F7 and see if he could get to OK from his wife to trade in his ZL B)
I never experienced the "push" that some of you guys have talked about. In fact, I have 8" woody's on my factory skis (no studs yet) and I turned inside of my buddies ZL which had new 6" carbides. Maybe I'm just a fat-ass and make the front end hook up more
I don't have enough time in the day to brag about the horsepower. For you guys (and gals) that are waiting to ride ... it's definitely worth the wait. Never, EVER, have I been on a sled that pulls as strong as the 700. I never really raced anyone up there, but my buddy's MachZ 800 had a hard time staying with me when I got on the throttle a little bit coming onto the lake in Wakefield. I never held it WOT, but I hit 95+ very quickly.
I just love this sled, and can only applaud Arctic Cat for giving us such an awesome ride this year! :wub:
And THANK YOU Rob for putting this site together for all of us F-Cat owners. All of you guys deserve a thank you for the input and suggestions on these sleds.
OH!! By the way ... if the gentleman from Silver City that showed me where my toolkit was is reading this. Thanks again! Yes, I'm a moron and didn't think we got a toolkit with our sleds :wacko:
Have a great ride guys!
Chris