Yesterday me and member on another forum I have never met before met up and headed up to the Winona Forest. Its about 2 hours north of here and they have snow.
We parked at the town hall there and started riding. 10 miles into the trip I am in front and going down the side of a road and I hear an explosion. I thought "there goes the motor I just freaking put together!". Nope. Track exploded.
Next three pictures are where it happened
So, I decide to stay and Dan heads back to his truck/trailer. It was surprising to me how many cars just drove by. A few stopped though and that was very nice. Of course, snowmobilers stopped.
About 30-40 mins later dan showed up. With his driving I thought he would have been there in 5 mins ::) ;D
I was up there to ride and I always do my own work of course, but what are you going to do? I decided to pay someone else for once.
We looked up the nearest dealer as the infamous D&D. 45 mins away or so. The roads are snow/slush/ice covered. I keep telling Dan he is driving to fast and to slow down. Sure enough, the truck and trailer are sideways and we are out of control. I thought the trailer jacknifed far enough it was going to hit his SUV. It went back and forth a few times bad. He got lucky and got it under control :P.
We get to D&D and they tell me they don't have the time to put a track on my sled (and they closed at 2.. duh). So they give me the number to Barrows Performance 45 mins away. They said "Yes we will do it, a track is $600 + labor". I said forget it. DD then gave me the number for a place called highmarket sports in Constableville NY.
They told me he had a 121x15x1.25 Kimpex Shotgun for $330. That was a good deal. So we then trailered there.
The guy said pull it around back
They start tearing into it
track damage/sled damage from track
1 new 121x15x1.25 Kimpex Shotgun
2 new jackshaft bearings
1 pt chaincase oil
2 hours or so of labor
Tax
= $552.54
Highmarket Sports did the job and did it right. I was very fortunate to find a place that would not rip me off and would do good work. They even let us leave the SUV and Trailer in front of his store and take up alot of room so I could go test the sled. Dan was riding while it was getting worked on, he came back and we headed out of highmarket to explore.
Someone on an F7 and another rider behind him on a fusion whipped by us at may be 80 mph when we were taking them pictures. Thanks for that ::)
There are alot of windmills in an area up there. There had to be 200-300. Each one has to be 200 foot tall and each blade 100 feet long. They are much louder than I thought when standing by them. Sorta like a low flying quiet jet.
I have researched this place as being called the Maple Ridge Windfarm. Looks like if you have one on your property you get free electric and 3,000 per year. But I read on another site that people are getting nothing and its all going to NYC.. I don't know the truth.
Blades are 130 feet long and weigh 7,500 lbs
The towers are 260 feet tall
14 RPM (revolutions per minute)
I put on about 70 ish miles to test the ZRT out by highmarket. That track grips. It has pre molded stud holes but I am DONE with studs. Thats my 3rd track I had go to crap because of them. I like this track, I am reading and hearing that alot of people like it better than a ripsaw and its 6 lbs less rotating mass than the ripsaw.
We then get back to highmarket sports. Can't thank them enough. Everything was ok. I found a bolt and washer laying by my chaincase but coulldn't figure out what it went to. Probably from something I did when building it. We WILL be patronizing them in the future for SURE and I highly recommend you do the same.
Of course, I drank all my coffee and was thirsty. Took this picture as a joke to some of you on here
We then leave highmarket. The trails there were very bumpy in spots. Some spots were great, some spots just straight up sucked. so we wanted to hit the winona forest in the dark for smooth trails. I think they are so smooth there because there are no bars/restaurants/or gas. Its just riding on forest roads and a few trails thru the woods. Very cool if your just looking to cruise around with no purpose.
Of course its about 1 hr away and for some reason Dan is in an hurry. I mention so many times to slow down and he got mad a few times at me. So, someone else had to remind him
We get back to the Winona forest and everyone is gone. It looks like this
We headed out and it was snowing like a bastard. It was fun. Then the snow died down and we put on about 30 additional miles there on beautiful trails. 30 miles and we didn't see anyone till we loaded up.. then we seen 3 or so. I took the picture below and forgot to take a picture of where my ZRT took a bite out of Dan's ZR. 2 times we opened the trailer the sleds were touching, they bounced around inside the trailer and were rubbing
Track is looking good
All in all it was an exciting trip. Lots of fun. When the trip stops going as planned the adventure has began.
I did a map for north of syracuse to sorta show where we went.
Blue- Winona Forest
Green- D&D
Purple - Highmarket Sports
The ZRT is getting 12 mpg. Better fuel mileage than Dan's 600 twin and we were going 55 most of the time with a few bursts of more/less.
My heated shield isn't working as planned and my ski's are shooting snow thru a hole up into the air like a rooster tail for some reason, easy fixes.
Everything I did to this sled held up.. 100+ miles
Hope everyone enjoyed the ride report! It was nice meeting/riding with you Dan! Next time we are taking my truck/trailer