the sled reg hit me by surprise since i havent registered one in about 4yrs it total BS there is no need for it 2 be this high they are trying to make it not affordable for the average Joe they will loose sooner or later because people will not register anymore and just ride the fine will be cheaper

 

Support the clubs or play golf:thumbsup:

 

I have no problem joining a club, in fact, years ago when I rode a lot, I joined the local club and the pittsburg club. But it is the registration fees that gets to me. I have 2 older sleds for the kids to ride but they are 400cc, so legally I need to register them, even though the operators are young.
Couple more years and they will be antique sleds, and I think my dirtbike is already considered antique.


Tim

 

I am sure everyone has already registered, but WTF is with the fee increase. It went up 33%. So...$25 to join a club, and $64 for each sled, $55 for my atv, and $46 for the trail bike.

So $217 just to ride the sleds, maybe 3 months.

At least the atv I can ride year round, and don't require a club membership to register.

Rant over.

Tim

suck it up, if you can afford sleds you can afford a registration! Remember it goes to grooming and maintaining trails. no one ever said it was a cheap hobby!

 

Grooming?? Haha don't we need snow for that? Can we apply for a refund at the end of the year if the season sucked! :grinning:

Tim

 

Don't even go there. We've talked/argued this out already this year. What does it cost to ski at Waterville Valley or Canon etc for a day. We hoped to get the $'s last year but it didn't happen. As it is, most clubs are short on grooming funds as well as short on summer funds for bridges etc. It actually needs to be more but....so lets cut it short for if the rivercat hears us talking watch out! Just my 2 cents as active club member

 

I am sure everyone has already registered, but WTF is with the fee increase. It went up 33%. So...$25 to join a club, and $64 for each sled, $55 for my atv, and $46 for the trail bike.

So $217 just to ride the sleds, maybe 3 months.

At least the atv I can ride year round, and don't require a club membership to register.

Rant over.

Tim

i was surprised with this also. for the extra money maybe we could get a state map with intersection numbers on it.

 

http://www.nhsa.com/pdfs/2010 Trail Map.pdf

i was surprised with this also. for the extra money maybe we could get a state map with intersection numbers on it.

If the link doesn't work go the www.nhsa.com scroll down to the very bottom of the home page and your map is right there. It is free too.

 

FWIW - Snowmobiling in NH is self funded with almost 100% free labor. Our registration fees come back to us in summer projects, groomer purchases, fuel/grooming hours. Its called dedicated funds.

 

I find the whole increase a complete handjob.............JMO

Dieter

 

You have to be kidding me. The cost of a regiatration has not gone up for 4 years and you guys are complaining. Suck it up and deal with it. If you can afford the sleds and the $3 a gallon for fuel then you can certainly afford the reg fee. If you do not like the price you could always go bowling.

 

I think you are missing my point. The snowmobile season is short, I can register my atv for less money, ride it year round, and not be REQUIRED to join a club. I can ride regardless of weather. The snowmobile is 100% weather dependent. Last year there was virtually no grooming in my area. The cost to register is more, you have to join a club, and really at best you have a 12 week riding season.

I think if they want to attract more people to the sport they need to make it more enticing to get involved in. Most people would balk at buying a machine, trailer, gear etc, for a short season, add in all the extra fees plus travel time.

Tim

 

Call me crazy but I still consider it one heck of a bargain. Then again I drive 1062 miles with a 4 place trailer to ride 1 week out of the year....

Where do you think the money comes from to keep the trails flat? Have you ever read how much reg money goes back in grants to the local clubs? How do you think $3 gallon fuel is paid for in the groomers? etc..

Its a bargain compared to other access fees & hobbies.

If the registartion fee of a sled breaks you, you probably should consider selling the sled & buy a toboggan>>?

my 2 cents...

 

Before anyone starts complaining about registration fees and club fees get involved with your club and see what it takes to keep the trails open, maintained, signed and groomed. Until then you have really no basis to complain.

Edit...Forgot to mention the work and need for funds doesn't stop after the season is over. Literally a club has activity year round. Summers and fall are spent on projects like reroutes, trail improvements, culverts, fixing washouts, bridge repair, groomer and drag maintenance off season and other projects.

 

I agree!

 

I am ok with it as well... We don't have the luxury of large amounts of recurring income like ski resorts have it's a once a season shot. Lots of thought went into it, trying to balance cost vs number of people who wouldn't register due to the higher fees. Then there is the fact that the majority of the money goes right back to the trails. These groomers cost hundreds of thousands of dollars each. There there is simple fuel, at Snhss we run 3 medium/large groomers for 4-8 hours a day 6 days a week snow permitting. That is a lot of diesel fuel....

So personally I am happy to pay it for the hours of enjoyment it gives me, and as someone who counts on the money for our clubs trail projects.

Now how the monies are distributed and what projects get approved and which do not... That's something I'd be happy to gripe about......

 

I am ok with it as well... We don't have the luxury of large amounts of recurring income like ski resorts have it's a once a season shot. Lots of thought went into it, trying to balance cost vs number of people who wouldn't register due to the higher fees. Then there is the fact that the majority of the money goes right back to the trails. These groomers cost hundreds of thousands of dollars each. There there is simple fuel, at Snhss we run 3 medium/large groomers for 4-8 hours a day 6 days a week snow permitting. That is a lot of diesel fuel....

So personally I am happy to pay it for the hours of enjoyment it gives me, and as someone who counts on the money for our clubs trail projects.

Now how the monies are distributed and what projects get approved and which do not... That's something I'd be happy to gripe about......

There has to be a balance in how cheap you can keep things. I used to work for an engineering firm that did a lot of civil engineering. We had a contract with the town i was living in and the selectmen in the town would use this as their re-election platform: "we have kept our water and sewer taxes the lowest in the area, so you should re-elect us". Long story short, they continued to get re-elected and never slowly raised taxes to keep up with maintenance. So instead of performing maintanance projects, they get a year where they have massive water breaks, cracked and leaking sewer lines and they pay for it out of their ass. Resolution, the taxes get double the next year and then doubled again the year after that. I have no problem with reasonable increases.

As for the quote higlighted above, i agree with you completely, but its called GOVERNMENT, everyone puts money in and no one knows where the hell exactly it goes but as long as we can still ride every season thats all I care about.

 

EVERYTIME I hit a store with a donation bucket I throw my change in it, Every time I ride I smile you can't put a price on that..... Think how lucky you are to even be able to ride a sled never mind the crybaby bullshit :thumbsup:

 

I love these increase threads it brings the cheap fucks to the surface! The ones who wouldn't pick a twig of the trail!

 

And I am sure you love to take the annual trip to your town hall to pay your motor vehicle registration fees. It isn't always about being cheap.

Tim

 

That response was hardcore.

I haven't registered yet, didn't know if I was going to ride this year or not. The fees don't bother me, I'll pay to play. I'm not going to sweat the things I can't change.

 

I consider it the best deal in snowmobiling. I bet most guys spend over $200 in gas for a weekend trip sledding. Where would be be without trails to ride on?

 

Does anyone here b!tching about the cost in NH, ride in VT?
Early Bird TMA (before 12/15), lowest price I have found is: $106/sled (non-resident). On top of that, you have to be registered somewhere (any state). If you don't get the early bird, its I think $30 more/sled! That's a minimum of $130/sled to ride VT.
In NH its $20-$30 one time club membership then, $84 for each sled. That is still way less than VT!
Do the math on the total cost, on top of what you spend for your weekends of riding and, unless you're like the few on here that only ride once or twice a season, it really isn't much!
And BTW- it was NHSA and the clubs that pushed for the extra $20 reg. because the it goes back to the clubs!

 

i realize that VT seems SO expensive to many people...but I look at as if i am going to have not only the money to buy my nice things (motorcycle, sled, car, etc) i need to also have the $ to pay for the upkeep and the right, to get to drive them where i need/want to...that requires paying a fee to use said roads or trails...i do NOT have a God given right to just ride any of them, just anywhere i want! In VT, we have a private entity (VAST) who solicits landowners for permission to ride their land and go places never would have had chance to go. They also divy up the TMA cost to clubs to help reimburse volunteers to groom, brush and repair trails. they offer nice (accurate) maps, and the only other things that they require out of you is that #1 you pay a registration in SOME state, showing that you care enough to ask for the privaledge to ride somewhere else (remember, VT does not REQUIRE that you reg HERE), and #2
that you insure your sled so that if you cause damage or someone damages you, there is recourse. why do people spend thousands of dollars on sleds and not want to insure??? A pair of buddys recently headed north to sledding in VT, had an accident, rolled truck, rolled trailer, demolished trailer, 1 sled cosmetic, other then got hit by a passing truck and demolished..not only could driver of that rig sued him but what would he have had to replace his beloved sled, without insurance?

I can't believe people complain about this shit. The damn trail passes are the cheapest thing in the entire hobby!

FWIW - I'd pay $200 a year for some good maps and intersection numbers on the trails!

with the upcoming NH/VT reciprocal weekend, and with time off to go, i want to ride..and was amazed at how hard i had to look to get a map for where main trails are, and be a little disappointed that smaller trails not on the map like VT's are...guess state funded programs are still not as capable as privately run entities...not bashing, just trying to point out. I agree with you!

Grass sux. I took your super advise and started racing on asphault 4 years ago. You happy.

Dieter

we miss you at our ice track in VT Dieter...good luck with your asphalt!

 

I am not going to argue the fact that the new registration fees are needed. That is a no brainer. The State Government thought very carefully about raising fees and listened to a pannel of snowmobilers before making the decision to raise them.

Here are some facts for those out there who feel they were ripped off. The last time reg. fees were raised were almost 10 years ago. Your registration fees go to purchasing grooming equipment, bridge materials, diesel fuel, gravel, crushed stone, and everything else needed to keep trails in good shape.

Tucker Sno-Cat- Current price: $170,000.00 Ten years ago: $105,000.00
Mogul Master 8X16 drag: Current price: $15,000.00 10 years ago: $6,000.00
Gallon of Diesel: Current price: $3.33 for off road Ten years ago: $1.09
pressue treated lumber- current price: double to triple of what they were 10 years ago.
Steel for bridges- Current price: triple of what steel was 10 years ago
Gravel/road materials- Current price: double price per ton, Trucking: triple the charge per load


Got a problem with price increases? We have a much bigger problem. Our income has not been raised to the amounts needed to cover expenses. Hence, why the economy is in the toilet and the middle class is being exterminated. Please put your anger and discontent in a place where things can change for all of us. Our state and federal governements. Most of us are volunteers and do our best to work with what we have. Snowmobiling is very expensive but I am addicted like crack so I will pay for my fix.

 

Got a problem with price increases? We have a much bigger problem. Our income has not been raised to the amounts needed to cover expenses. Hence, why the economy is in the toilet and the middle class is being exterminated. Please put your anger and discontent in a place where things can change for all of us. Our state and federal governements. Most of us are volunteers and do our best to work with what we have. Snowmobiling is very expensive but I am addicted like crack so I will pay for my fix.

Yup!

 

I am sure everyone has already registered, but WTF is with the fee increase. It went up 33%. So...$25 to join a club, and $64 for each sled, $55 for my atv, and $46 for the trail bike.

So $217 just to ride the sleds, maybe 3 months.

At least the atv I can ride year round, and don't require a club membership to register.

Rant over.

Tim

Easy fix, buy a big piece of property and ride on that,
The $84.00 fee is for the PRiVILEGE of riding on the States, and many other peoples property, plain and simple. IMHO

 

Stop bitching and complaining.

The increase is less than the cost of:

Your daily lodging bill.
Your lunch bill.
Your alcohol bill.
Your dinner bill
Your fuel bill.
Your sled accessories bill

The point is, that everyone doesn't give a second thought to pay for anything in the above. But thinks they deserve to complain when the fee's go up agianst something that directly affect's you. (The trails).

If you don't like the increase. Omit drinking for one weekend or pack a bag lunch and you can pay for the fee.


And if you still don't like it. Go reg in Vermont for $180 per sled...plus insurance. Chances are you will not have a problem with the increase.

 

Well, if we wanted 0$ registrations, we'd have to buy our own personal land to build our own personal trails.

That should make things cheaper.

Bet an average person would run out of money after just a few acres. That would be fun to ride on ! :rofl:

=================================

I get a kick out of the people bitchin about their 'favorite sport' having such a short season.

Why did you pick the 'sport' then ?

Most of the people in my area have 'summer homes.' Funny thing is, summer is only two months. All that money spent for a home, boat and/or PWC's, etc,etc. And many think we are crazy enjoying winter sports because it is too short. What ?

We have two months of summer. Maybe 3 months of winter.

That's the facts. Face it.

 

You could always rent a sled for a day if you think registration is too high. That would be a good deal for you.

Steve

 

For the person who listed the price of other things you forgot the people who smoke butts and will pay 5-8 dollars for a pack and smoke multiple packs a day. How many people who ride and complain about the reg fees smoke butts?

Anyway I would have no problem paying $150 if I could ride in Maine also. This registration in both states is more of a pain than the cost itself.

I thought the point of the reg cost compare to other activities was a great one. If you want something that is cheap do something other than snowmobile. Even skiing is less expensive than snowmobiling because of the cost of the sled.

The unfortunate thing about having fun is that fun cost money in most cases.

 

i would pay the registration fee no matter what it was. I paid more then $20,000.00 for my sleds, trailer, gear, magazines, videos, camera, Startron, tune ups, spark plugs, shovel, maps, etc...... Prisoner of Winter!

 

I like that the prisoner of winter.

 

Maybe the outrage over the increase in registrations is misguided. See I have a problem with it to but I direct that squarely at the state. I understand the clubs have a monumental task of keeping equipment running, trails cleared, bridges built, negotiate constantly with land owners to keep trails open and APOLOGIZE for the nim wits that can't stay on the trail or ride in a responsible manner. I know some of the guys post on here are heavily involved with clubs and work tirelessly to keep the sport alive. I cannot personally thank you guys enough for all that you do. I have no problems at all directly supporting the clubs financially and volunteer as time allows. Yes the costs of everything has gone up, fuel prices are probably the biggest killer, everyone wants the trails nicely groomed and that does come with a hefty price tag. Let's not forget the groomer operators that don't get any kind of compensation for spending how many hours trying to keep the trails up. Kudos guys for a bang up job considering what money you got to work with. :thumbsup:

Now all that said, I have a huge problem with the state's take on registrations where they do little to nothing in return for the funds they take in especially considering how much of the trail system is on private land. All the burden is put on the clubs. Plus they screw the dealers that choose to be licensed agents to do registrations, it's not like the majority any of that money they get is used to help the clubs expand the trail systems, I mean beyond printing stickers what do they really do? Not like the F&G sees a whole lot either if any. Boat registrations are the same thing.

In the end, snowmobiling is going the direction of many other recreational activities, it's turning into a rich mans sport. It's becoming to much of a financial burden on the average Joe to buy a sled, register it, gas it up, and use it. Unless you've got the money to throw at it, the costs are becoming prohibitively expensive and what folks tend to notice more than anything is the cost per machine per use, or at least I do. While I still think it's a better deal than skiing, there is also an awful lot of money tied up in gear too which is also getting to be very very very expensive. Even for the most frugal of people it's pretty tough not to have a least a few grand tied up in a decent machine and associated gear. Anything that can be done to keep the sport as economical as possible is beneficial to everyone, if the bottom line keeps increasing to the point where the price point is to high and riders loose interest that does not do the sport any favors and eventually leads to more increases as the number of registrations decreases.

Finally I'd like to take a little exception to those that say well if you can afford to buy a machine don't complain about the registrations. Well I operate on a very strict budget and yes I have a few toys that I enjoy using and don't mind paying a reasonable fee to DIRECTLY support whatever infrastructure is required to keep the sport alive. However as stated there is a price point where the amount of money tied up in machines, trailer, insurance and registration along with operating costs exceeds the amount of enjoyment I'd get out of going.