Quotes From The Manufacturer

American Snowmobiler, November 2011, page 59

"THERE WERE many challenges in developing a new trail ski." says Wade West, Yamaha Snowmobile Marketing Manager. "On one hand, we had the 8HG ski on the 2011 Apex models enjoying broad market acceptance, so we hit the targets with that design. We know that setup would be excellent on our rider-neutral, EPS trail models – Apex, RS Vector and RS Venture GT. But, on the other end of the range, we had to address our FX Nytro family, which is full-on rider-forward for an aggressive rider. The 8HG proved OK, but not great for that user. We had more work to find the right calibration to meet the expectation of both kinds of riders, and everyone in between."

I'll admit that some of us were skeptical of the new package at first," says West. On paper, it has the exact same keel design as the 8HG, so we were unsure that it was worth changing an already-accepted ski. When we rode the new ski the improvement was noticeable, but it was subtle. At that point we decided to put a few expert magazine test riders first from AmSnow and then from other media outlets on the ski to get their feedback."

Skeptical, unsure, subtle, not words that inspire. Not much of a challenge, only moving the spindle bolt-hole forward 5/8" on a ski. It's understandable, if the same engineers that developed the 8HG came up with the 8HV. The 8HG keel was functionally inadequate compared to the 2005-2010 saddle-less ski. Because the 8HV has the same inadequate keel moving the spindle bolt-hole forward will not overcome the downside created by the wear rod pockets. The 44% reduction in contact is too much to overcome. They keep saying the keel is further back on the ski. That is not accurate! Moving the spindle bolt-hole forward does not change where the keel is located on the ski. Oh yes, they left out the fact they moved the spindle bolt-hole backward 15/16" from the 2010 spindle bolt-hole location, for the 8HG ski.

The magazine experts are the guys who tell you how much better the new sleds handle every year.

Why is it, every season snowmobilers call me looking to gain control of their new sleds?

Pathetic 2011 Apex ski

Insanity is

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