Let's start with a list of things I felt should have been improved upon. 

-Heavy feel.  We all know the heavy feel of the old Apex started to wear us down with a big mileage day or especially tight twisty trails.  Problem solved.  It's called electric power steering (EPS).  The 2011 Apex feels 100 lbs lighter!  I know that is hard to comprehend, but it does.  No matter how fast or slow the sled is ridden it feels incredibly lighter.  We had the chance to ride many different trails and I am still amazed of how well it worked.  EPS is going the change the snowmobile industry, I think in the next few years the whole sled industry will have some form of EPS.

-Ski lift.  It isn't bad on the older Apex, but our competition (Especially Cat) is better.  The 2011 Apex front end handles as good as any sled on the market today.  Ski lift is greatly reduced and darting is much better.  What they have done with the front suspension is change the trail offset of the spindle.  Normally when this is done it creates alot of steering effort, but with EPS steering effort is gone and we can have a great handling sled.  

-More performance.  Since 2006 so many of us have been modifying our Apex's (clutch kits, air box mod, exhaust, gearing etc.), and we have been getting 8-10 hp, mostly trying to make them accelerate harder from corner to corner and faster in a drag race.  Yamaha has answered with about an 8 hp gain.  The performance of the 2011 feels very similar to a tricked out older Apex.  It accelerates much harder.  Don't worry power junkies, we are already figureing out how to make the 2011 faster.  I feel very confident that we can make the 2011 into 170 hp fairly easily.  

-Hand warmers.  YES they finally work!!!

-Taller seat and handle bars.  The 2011 seat is 2" taller and the bars are 2" taller.  It isn't as rider forward as the Nytro, but was a very noticeble difference from the older Apex.  Even the tall guys in the group commented on how comfortable it was.  

 -New skis.  The new skis worked very well and partnered with EPS make an awesome combination.  

 -Price.  I know the 2011 Apex has gone up quite a bit, all this awesome technology isn't cheap.  With the higher price, trade in prices and the values of older Apex's is rising.  Dad and I sat down and decided to make our trade in values quite a bit higher than last year.  Hopefully this will help.  Another option is to consider the Vector instead of the Apex.  The Vector is quite a bit cheaper and is almost as fast as the older Apex (and we have performance mods for the Vector).  Plus is gets quite a bit better fuel mileage.  

Any of the 2011's can be preordered with a $300 deposit by April 15th, and Yamaha and F & S have some great incentives to step up and order.  Give us a call or email and I'd be glad to explain.  See you on the trail.  Andy    

      This year we will have an Apex with Ulmer Racing Clutch kit, Ulmer air box mod,  re geared, Excell header pipes, performance spark plugs, Hygear dual rate springs on all three shocks.  All the performance mods we do are very trail dependable with awesome gains, and you will be amazed how well the suspension works with Hygear's revalving and dual rate springs.  www.hygearsuspension.com  

      The second sled will be an FX Nytro, I'm not sure of the exact model, but I'll have more exact info in the next few weeks.  The Nytro will have a 10 gallon fuel tank made by Trail Tank ( www.trailtank.net ).  These tanks are a great way to increase the fuel capacity of a Nytro from 7.5 gallons to 10 gallons.  We have installed quite a few, they fit very well and look stock.  The Nytro will also have an Ulmer Racing Clutch kit, regeared, Excell Header pipe and maybe a few other mods if time allows.    

      Third will be a 2010 Vector.  This years Vector with fuel injection, more power, and improved suspension is awesome.    We may have some performance goodies for the Vector, but it is too new to know for sure.  F & S is helping Ulmer Racing and Excell Motorsports with testing and tuning the new Yamaha's at the Old Forge Shootout so hopefully we will have some performance mods figured out for the 2010 Vector. 

      We will also have my Turbo Apex along.  This sled is gonna be amazing, 250 horsepower on pump gas!!!  

    Andy 

     We have finally found a kit to solve the cold hand issues for Yamaha sleds!!!!   www.yamaheater.com is a very nice plug and play wiring kit that can be installed on any Yamaha four stroke.  We met Yamaheater owner Rock Meister (yes that is his real name)  at the Big East Sled show in Syracuse New York a couple weeks ago.  We have installed a couple kits and the quality is very good.  The wiring harness plugs right into your sled and takes voltage from the battery instead of the ignition system.  They get very nice and toasty.  We are very excited about this accessory. 

      Just a little reminder to stop and see us at the PSSA snowmobile show in Lebanon PA on Oct. 30,31, and Nov. 1st. www.pasnowmobileandatvshow.com  The show has changed locations from York to Lebanon.   We have been involved with some of the planning of the show and the Lebanon County Fairgrounds are going to be a great location that offer alot of extras for the show (vintage show and sled speed runs for example) that were never possible at York.  

Next blog entry I'll have exact dates for our second annual F & S Demo days at Keener's Country Store in Potter County, PA.  

Bye for now and Think Snow!  Andy 

     On June 26,27, and 28th is the Codurus Blast. www.codorussummerblast.org   This is a great weekend at our local State Park with live bands, a huge fireworks display on Saturday nite, we give free pontoon rides all day Saturday, helicopter rides, and lots of other really cool events.  We are a proud sponsor of the event, and will have a display with new Benningtons, Gilgetters, and Alumacraft boats, stop by our booth to say hi.  

     Very soon we will have our demo pontoon in the water at Lake Marburg.  Every year we put a new Bennington pontoon in our slip at the marina.  It works great for us to take customers for a ride on a new Bennington, and of course helps with sales! 

Well by for now, I hopefully it won't be two months till I write in again.  Andy

       October 2 -4 2009, UImer Racing and F & S are going to be working together to have a booth at the Big East Snowmobile Show in Syracuse NY.   Here is a link to the show.

http://www.agievents.com/shows/display.cfm?showID=54&showtypeid=2&src=158&sfid=71

This will be the weekend following our Open House so we are going to be crazy busy.  Ulmer will be showing off exciting new product and it's gonna be great to Allen Ulmer there will his vast knowledge of the Yamaha sleds.      

       On the boat side April 1st is the 1st day pontoons can be put into slips at our local Lake Marburg.  We service and haul about 150 pontoons so April is gonna be VERY busy!  The showroom is almost converted to all boat accessories.  Another year of putting the sled accessories away, don't fret sled heads September will be here before we know it and the deals on sled's and accessories will be crazy! 

       April 17th and 18th we are having our 1st annual boat Open House!  It will be a great weekend of deals on boats and accessories. 

    Also the hand warmers have been greatly improved!    The Vector has a larger stator with much more output for a very nice noticeable difference.    

    Now let's talk about the early season incentives.  Yamaha is offering a 4 year (Yamaha factory) warranty.  The customer must either come into our dealership and fill out a voucher, or go to Yamaha's web site  http://www.yamaha-motor.com/sport/sno/advantage/smb_advantage.aspx and enter your info.   As long as the customer purchases a 2010 by the end of Nov. they will get the warranty, as long as they fill out the voucher info by April 15th.  Then in the fall Yamaha will also be offering additional incentives which every customer will be eligible for.  So the customer that steps up in the spring will recieve the warranty and the fall incentive!   

       F & S is also offering our own preseason incentives, these incentives are also good until April 15th.  We will be offering $300.00 free accessories (or $200.00 cash off) and a 5th year warranty no charge (or $50.00 cash off).  To be eligible for F & S's incentives the customer much put a $300.00 deposit by April 15th.   Wow what a great year to purchase a new sled!   

         This Sunday Feb. 8th I plan on going to R.B. Winter again with a 2009 Apex and 2009 Nytro RTX.   Anyone that would like to ride the 2009's shoot us a line and we would be glad to meet up.   Last  Sunday was a great day of riding at R.B. Winter.  Thanks so much to Craig and Brad for showing us around and they even made us lunch in the parking lot.  Of all the years riding everywhere in the U.S. and Canada that was the first time I cooked on a grill in the parking lot!  Very cool. 

     The last several weeks we have been testing a couple new style carbides.  The first is the Woodys Slim Jim dooly.  I have found it to be more aggressive thru the corners than the regular dooly, and it still doesn't dart.  So for those riders that don't like the regular Woody's doolys because they push in the corners, and the riders that don't like the Stud Boy dooly because it still darts the Woodys Slim Jim is a great way to go.  We stock the 6" and 8" Slim Jim's. 

       The other carbide is the Qualipieces Cobra.  www.qualipieces.com   This is a completely new concept to carbides and it works very well for not darting and is very aggressive in the corners.  For the stock Yamaha skis this the best overall performing carbide I have tested. 

       I am also going to be riding the 2010 Yamaha's in New York on Thursday Feb. 12th.  I don't know exactly what I will be riding, but I can't wait.  Although I hear thru the rumor mill a new Apex and a fuel injected Vector.  So I should be able to tell everybody about how the 2010's perform. 

     Then on Feb. 14th and 15th is our next demo ride at Keener's Country Store in Cherry Springs, PA, Potter County.  We will again have an Apex, Vector, Nytro RTX, Nytro SE, and Nytro XTX, all 2009's.  So come on over and ride with us.  The last demo was a great success, so this time is going to be better!   Our white Rance trailer will be in the parking lot.  The sign up sheets are in the trailer.      Look for the little guy with Klim aggressive sled wear in the parking lot. 

          We continue to have great rebates from Yamaha on new sleds.  We are starting to run out of new sleds so if you are thinking about a new sled now is the time. 

    It seems like I saw and talked to hundreds of our customers.  The riding conditions are the best they have been in many years.  The groomers are doing a great job, and at this point I'm not going to take a big trip to Canada this year, I'm just gonna ride in PA!   

     For those riders with 2009 Nytro XTX's and SE's, we have been testing suspension setups.  We have found the XTX to be a little soft as far as high speed compression.  Which means on a big bump it will bottom out a little too easily.  We can easily have both rear shocks revalved by Bruce at Pioneer Performance for a very nice improvement.  The SE is the best aggressive rider suspension we have ever had.  Right out of the box, (as long as the adjustment's are in the middle) the setup is great.  For those riders who feel it is too aggressive, feel free to shoot me a line and we can discuss how to make it better. 

   Well I'm signing off for now.  Gotta go get a sled ready to ride this weekend at Seven Mountains.  Anybody that wants to ride along or meet me to ride a new Apex or Nytro let me know.    Andy

(This entry moved from Andy's Corner Webpage)

Last season I ran an FX Nytro with the following mods: ULMER RACIING clutch kit, regearing, EXCELL exhaust, performance spark plugs, SKI DOO pilot skis, and revalved rear suspension. With the '08 Nytro, it was very apparent the suspension setup and geometry needed some mods. We tested most of the year, but in the end, the best setup seemed to be SKI DOO Pilot Ski's ($250 per set which includes carbides), 1mm softer preload on the ski shocks, slightly softer comp on the ski shocks, front limiter strap on the rear suspension pulled up on hole and ULMER RACING adjustable transfer blocks ($60.00) set in the middle position. This setup makes a very good handling machine for very minimal cost. Most of our tests were done with 2 Nytro's, so it was a real world side by side test.

We also tested ULMER RACING's Clutch Kit ($390.00) which makes the Nytro accelerate harder (3 to 4 sled lengths in 1,000 feet) and added 3 - 4 MPH on the top end. It was also seen that the sled with stock clutching and gearing accelerated well from 0 - 90, but at 90 the acceleration slows way down and takes forever to get to it's 105 MPH top speed. So the next step was a gearing change. A 1-tooth taller top gear and chain ($165.00) with ULMER's clutch kit moved the 90 MPH block all the way past 105 and now it ran about 112 and still accelerated harder than stock. We also tested 2-tooth taller top gear which made about 115 MPH, but slowed the acceleration down to the same as stock. I would only suggest this setup for someone running very fast high speed trails a lot such as Ontario.

 Next step was EXCELL EXHAUST's full exhaust ($850 - $1,050). Definitely the highest quality exhaust in the industry and gives the sled 6-7 HP with just a little bit of extra noise. The Nytro accelerated harder and ran about 2 MPH faster with this setup.

For any APEX owners, please feel free to email or call (see contact info above). We've tested almost everything possible for the APEX, so we know what really works and what doesn't work.

 Also while we performance tested the Nytro, we noticed the rear suspension didn't have enough high speed compression in both shocks. Which means the suspension would bottom easily on bigger bumps. It was also very harsh over stiffer bumps and would kick back too much when hitting larger moguls at high speed. We sent both rear shocks to PIONEER PERFORMANCE for revalving. Bruce at Pioneer is a great guy and came up with a great setup.

When all the riding was almost over for the year, I went and rode all the 2009 Yamaha's and Ski Doo's. Think it's worth it to have ride reviews of each sled?

Andy.