Todays weather

[bilbo]

I USED to love winter more than almost anything. Could hop on the sled at my house in the most populous County in maine and ride straight up to Canada without much fuss.

Now.. we don't get enough snow down here to make sled ownership a worthwhile deal unfortunately.. so I ended up selling all of mine off. Good riding these days requires a 2+ hour ride north.

That's true, snow reliability has gone down over the years I think. Winter without snow really sucks. Too cold to do most summer/fall activities and no snow for the winter ones. That said, there was always decent snow within a couple hours' drive I could ride when I lived up North. The sleds kept me busy and satisfied my reckless streak. That's kind of the reason I recently bought dirtbikes for my son and I. I was starting to get a little stir crazy, and didn't have enough internal combustion engines to maintain to keep me miserable enough. Riding the DRZ brings me right back to being 13 years old, just like the sleds did. Though I don't remember being sore for so long after riding when I was 13.

Trail closures and access are a thing too. Less and less places to ride anything. Down here everyone's all about SXSs and muddin' so most of the off road opportunities are geared toward that. It's kind of a shame because there are some beautiful woods/forest areas even here in South Florida.

 

[Blmpkn]

That's true, snow reliability has gone down over the years I think. Winter without snow really sucks. Too cold to do most summer/fall activities and no snow for the winter ones. That said, there was always decent snow within a couple hours' drive I could ride when I lived up North. The sleds kept me busy and satisfied my reckless streak. That's kind of the reason I recently bought dirtbikes for my son and I. I was starting to get a little stir crazy, and didn't have enough internal combustion engines to maintain to keep me miserable enough. Riding the DRZ brings me right back to being 13 years old, just like the sleds did. Though I don't remember being sore for so long after riding when I was 13.

Trail closures and access are a thing too. Less and less places to ride anything. Down here everyone's all about SXSs and muddin' so most of the off road opportunities are geared toward that. It's kind of a shame because there are some beautiful woods/forest areas even here in South Florida.

I really, really miss riding sleds. The smell, the speed, the relentless wail of a twin cyl 2 stroke.. especially when powervalves open up... it's heaven. They are THIRSTY though lol, especially in the deep.. which is where I'd be as long as it was an option lol. Winter without snow is very much CRAP though lol.. you hit the nail on the head.

Trail closures SUCK, bigtime. 95% of our atv trails are on private property, and we rely on the kindness of landowners to keep them open. Bro's in their 200hp turbo twice-by-sides on 35" tires making gigantic mud holes wherever they can and going way too fast down access routes and through neighborhoods really fck things up for us. Lots of time it's out of staters.. they have little to no skin in the game up here so they don't give AF. Lots of clubs try to "hide" their trails as best they can.. not putting signage at road crossings and stuff.. it definitely helps.

 

[RobbieD]

Riding the DRZ brings me right back to being 13 years old, just like the sleds did.

By chance, was your childhood sled named "Rosebud"?

 

[bilbo]

I really, really miss riding sleds. The smell, the speed, the relentless wail of a twin cyl 2 stroke.. especially when powervalves open up... it's heaven. They are THIRSTY though lol, especially in the deep.. which is where I'd be as long as it was an option lol. Winter without snow is very much CRAP though lol.. you hit the nail on the head.

Trail closures SUCK, bigtime. 95% of our atv trails are on private property, and we rely on the kindness of landowners to keep them open. Bro's in their 200hp turbo twice-by-sides on 35" tires making gigantic mud holes wherever they can and going way too fast down access routes and through neighborhoods really fck things up for us. Lots of time it's out of staters.. they have little to no skin in the game up here so they don't give AF. Lots of clubs try to "hide" their trails as best they can.. not putting signage at road crossings and stuff.. it definitely helps.

Yes! But a two-stroke triple.

All things considered snowmobiles are horribly inefficient and expensive to maintain, but oh what fun.

By chance, was your childhood sled named "Rosebud"?

Haha no actually I didn't have one. But friends and family did. I always wanted one but my Dad had/has an irrational hatred for them.

 

[Blmpkn]

Yes! But a two-stroke triple.

All things considered snowmobiles are horribly inefficient and expensive to maintain, but oh what fun.

I may be an outlier... but I enjoyed sledding for 2 decades and the only real mechanical annoyance I ever had was breaking a belt.. ONCE.. and I can't really count that since they're wear items anyways lol.

Always kept them in nice shape though... washed em at the end of the season, hit em with grease wherever there was a zerk, kept em covered and did our best to keep the rodents out of them.

I bet these brand new sleds with all of their four strokes and million sensors and electrical modules are a complete nightmare to keep up on

 

[Josh B]

I went up north in 76-77. Lived in Lead-Deadwood area and worked in the Homestake Gold Mine there. It was just about Thanksgiving and the weather was rather mild, even at 25 below it wasn't bad, the wind wasn;t bad, I walked to work about 530 am.I had gone up there with a couple of friends and their mom. Lead was a nice place to live, friendly people too. Had some time at Christmas and went up on the planes with the two brothers to see some of their family in McGlaughlin? on the Standing Rock? Reservation and it started snowing, the wind started blowing, and we were stuck there 6 weeks to the day. We could get around town, walking wasn't bad either, but dang it was cold, anywhere from 25 to 35 below at night. This was one of their colder winters.
Finally got back to Deadwood and job was gone, no chance of a respite, I got tired of being there and thumbed my way back to OK, in February. Got off a bus on the outskirts of Rapid City around 12 midnight and stuck out my thumb. In about an hour an 18 wheeler pulled over and we was trucking for 18 hours. Had a rough time in KC tho and Witchita KS but made it back alive.
I said I would never again complain about the Texas heat and have kept that promise to this day, even in the 115/118 temps of 2015 or whatever year that was, and I had only a fan

 

[Angry Possum]

It's terrible and I hate it.

No bugs on the other hand...

I do hope this year is quick&easy though.

The 4th of July will be here in a wink of an eye. Time is moving way too quickly.

 

[bilbo]

I may be an outlier... but I enjoyed sledding for 2 decades and the only real mechanical annoyance I ever had was breaking a belt.. ONCE.. and I can't really count that since they're wear items anyways lol.

Always kept them in nice shape though... washed em at the end of the season, hit em with grease wherever there was a zerk, kept em covered and did our best to keep the rodents out of them.

I bet these brand new sleds with all of their four strokes and million sensors and electrical modules are a complete nightmare to keep up on

Like most of my toys, my sleds were/are other peoples' cast off problem children so I probably did it to myself. I couldn't justify spending a lot on something I could only use for a few months. You're right about maintenance though, once I got things squared they weren't too bad to keep there, but way more messing around than any of my other toys I've had.

Still they were kind of fun to work on. Polaris didn't change much of anything for like 20 years so parts interchangeability was incredible. Engines, suspensions, controls, even body parts to an extent could be freely swapped from higher performance models.

I wouldn't want the new powertrain, but the chassis look like they would be great. All of my sleds have been the older sit-down style. The newer upright position looks a lot more natural, like a bike or ATV, and I would think would be more comfortable. I never rode one because I figured if I did I'd have to have one.

 

[Blmpkn]

The 4th of July will be here in a wink of an eye. Time is moving way too quickly.

No kidding.. can't believe how quickly this year went by! Quicker every year it seems like.

Like most of my toys, my sleds were/are other peoples' cast off problem children so I probably did it to myself. I couldn't justify spending a lot on something I could only use for a few months. You're right about maintenance though, once I got things squared they weren't too bad to keep there, but way more messing around than any of my other toys I've had.

Still they were kind of fun to work on. Polaris didn't change much of anything for like 20 years so parts interchangeability was incredible. Engines, suspensions, controls, even body parts to an extent could be freely swapped from higher performance models.

I wouldn't want the new powertrain, but the chassis look like they would be great. All of my sleds have been the older sit-down style. The newer upright position looks a lot more natural, like a bike or ATV, and I would think would be more comfortable. I never rode one because I figured if I did I'd have to have one.

I always liked Polaris for that reason.. pretty sure the wedge is my all time favorite "bodystyle". Classic.

 

[Blmpkn]

40-50 mph winds and a few inches of rain. Good day to play hooky from work and tinker on the ranger... so long as we don't lose power

Just happy that the temperature is what it is today.. 20 degrees cooler and we'd be getting 3 feet of snow.

 

[Roert42]

Flood watch here. Lots of rain. River is expected to just hit flood stage and start washing out the roads in town.

 

[pjtoledo]

38 with flurries due this afternoon. nothing on the ground but a few left over leaves.
was wet over the weekend, less than 1/2" of rain.

 

[racsan]

almost 60 and sunny on christmas day, going to rain later but right now it’s weirdly nice out, I could grill or mow if I felt the need. Am I still in ohio or somewhere in the south?

 

[pjtoledo]

Duluth Minnesota, western end of Lake Superior.
for perspective the canal is about 300 ft wide.
just west of there it's a blizzard.


EDIT: the gale winds have now subsided.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

The day after tomorrow... we should have 6-12" of snow. Our first real snow of the season.