Finally we have a New Apex!!!   I  have had the conversation with hundreds of fellow sled heads of why Yamaha hasn't brought a new Apex to the market for way too long.   Well Yamaha has introduced a new sled that answers all the questions of how we can improve upon an already great sled. A few of us from F & S (Tim Wilt, Bob Hamm, Greg Rose, and I) had the oppurtunity to ride the 2011 Apex in Mayville, NY.  We also had a 2010 Apex along for comparison and after riding the 2011, I didn't want to ride anything but the 2011.    

    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    

       We just set our dates for our second annual demo ride in Coudersport ,PA at Keener's Country Store.  Saturday January 16th, 9:30-4:00 and Sunday the 17th, 9:30-2:00.   Last year was a great weekend with perfect weather and a great crowd of people.     

      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 

It's hard to believe that fall in here already and the first snow has fallen in PA.   I'm really getting the itch to ride.  New addition to the toy list is a 2006 Apex GT that I purchased for myself.  We will be installing a turbo kit from Full Power Performance.  www.fullpowerperformance.com  A little history of Full Power.  Justin Fuller (owner) started the business about 4 years ago.  For many years Justin was the behind the scened technician and designer at Bender Racing.   The turbo kit will have different horsepower levels depending on what octane fuel is used.  Will be about 250 hp on regular and 300 on a race gas / pump gas mixture.  We are installing low compression pistons and higher strength connecting rods, this makes it possible to run higher boost with lower octance fuel.    This sled will be availible this winter for F & S customers to ride.  Of course only experienced riders!  HA 

     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 

It's been a very busy April and May at F & S.   Service is SOOO busy, and I'd like  to apologize to any customer that has had to wait to have their boat serviced.   Barry, Bob, Scott, and the new addition to the shop Andy have been working crazy hours.  We now have a second Andy, so we have two Bob's and two Andy's.  It's getting a little confusing!  Sales have been great too.  With the current economy we are very fortunate to be so busy.   

     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

      Several customers are still riding in northern Quebec and the Gaspe.  This time of year is great to ride, the crowds are down and the temps are warm.  I wish I could go but thankfully we are busy.    Boats have been very busy and we are still having a great sale on leftover Yamaha sleds.  Interest for the 2010 Yamaha's has been great.  F & S really stepped up with great Spring order incentives for the 2010's.  Also some last minute changes to the 2010 Apex is great news.  The Apex gets the anti slip drivers, monoshock II rear skid, which is basically the same specs as the 2010 Vectors.  F & S Spring incentives end on April 15th, give us a call or email.   Don't forget we welcome trades! 

       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.