just returned from the berks. in mass and there was waist deep snow ... got high centered right of the trailer got the truck buried also bad start...knee deep slush on the lake . with over 2 feet of ice under that..



i really think i want a set of tracks


didn't stop snow the whole weekend i left following the plow trucks

 

We've got next to nothing anymore since the rainstorm that brought snow to Western Mass. Well, we do have minor flooding with sump pumps going.

 

Sten.....JUST got power back on! Lost it right after my last post here. What a nightmare. We had to abandon-house and head to a friend's place. I fired up my Yamaha inverter generator in the AM after the power was out all Friday night, then it would die after about 15 minutes. Fire it up again, and it would die. I was pissed beyond belief. Almost threw the thing over the bank....Turns out the control board was recalled and Yamaha never bothered to tell me about it. Nice. Yamaha fixed it when I brought it back to the dealer, but was closed on Sunday AND Monday. Was a long cold night last night....

It's days like this that make you wonder and realize how absolutely and completely controlled we are by electric energy. Our national grid is something I feel requires more investment, monitoring. Even though this storm caused local issues, can you just imagine the chaos if a large NE chuck dropped when it was 10 degrees.

 

Ridin'....Sten answered your question on registration in Maine.

I'd be really thoughtful (for lack of a better term) about buying tracks while living in MA. Yes, it would be nice to have, but it depends how much free time and money you have. They are expensive and it's costly to travel to ride (miles, gas, room, food). Reason I own tracks is that I sold my Polaris sled and didn't want the money to evaporate.....as we know it does. I wanted something to show for the machine. In addition, I have a long drive and plow all but the heavy snow falls. I live right on the sled trials....Literally can ride down our road, across a field and onto a network of snowmobile trails.

Tracks can not compare to a sled as far as comfort and speed over rough terrain. A modern sled can blow away an 850 on tracks. There is no comparison on a trail. I was just up in Rangeley, ME on the ITS system.....I had forgotten how fast sleds are. I was getting passed at 35-40, like I was standing still. Not trying to talk you out of it, but you need to be able to use them to make it worth the cash. You'll have to be honest with yourself and consider how often you'll use them. Kids,house, wife.....they seem to consume vast quantities of your time. To sum it up, think hard about it before you write the check. You can't return them.

 

ya fun we were lucky up here and didn't loose our power and only had it go off and on a few times. you guys got hammered more by the wind then we did. i too have a yamaha 6600 gen. ready to rock and roll. i start mine at once a month to keep the gas cycled thru and it is stablized as well. would like to had an inverter, but way too much $$ for that size watts. mine does my whole house w/ a flick off a switch. (got to think of the wife you know lol)

 

The big problem in New England is two words; telephone poles. There has been an effort in Massachusetts at least to put the cables underground, but this is usually only done with new building projects. Like building a bunch of houses on a Cul-de-sac. It's just very expensive to put existing lines underground to protect them from tree branches. I was kind of fortunate in that they literally came down our street just a couple weeks ago to trim branches that were threatening the lines. We had an ice storm in the late 90s that knocked out power for 48 hours. I used a Coleman heater, stove, and lantern to try to keep the heat up enough to keep pipes from freezing. I have a generator for the sump pump and fridge. I bought the woodstove the following spring and it's been a blessing. It's nice to know I can cut my oil bill by 75%. Hard work? Yes. Big payback? Yes. If my math is correct, I save about $1200 a year after all costs are considered.

 

Thanks for the input Funride. i agree with a lot of what you said....just been riding sleds for about 30 years now and got into quading around 6 years ago. My first machine I bought brand new was an 2005 sportsman 800 and now that is gone and I just picked up the 850. The snow this year hasn't been consistant enough for me to even bother to register my Sabercat as in a few of the past few winters. I also plow two large drives with the wheeler and am always trying to climb the steepest hills and just try n keep me out of the mud lol. I have looked at the pricing and there is an investment there as you mentioned. I also know what you mean about the speed of the sleds and understand that the tracks won't even let me come close to what my Cat will do. I just think it suck's that we have to sit back and wait for spring to get here to ride the quads and wouldn't mind paying the extra reg money to use it almost year round. I have a free place to stay up in Wakefield NH and it's a short ride over to Ossippee ME where I park and go riding so that isn't too much of an issue. I guess I'll look into it some more and see about letting the sled go and using the money for the tracks. Are you satisfied with them overall? Anyway....glad you got your power back...we were lucky down here and only lost it for a few hours.

 

Ridin'......Love the tracks. Really enjoy riding year 'round, as you mention. The tracks turn the bike into a tank. You can literally bushwhack off trial and plow trees over as needed. My machine will go places a normal sled could never go in deep snow (if it lost momentum). It just sits on top and takes off. Plowing is joke, it will bend the plow. I think you'll be pretty happy if you take the plunge (~4K). Ossippee is not too far from me. Would be fun to ride with another rubber shod 850

 

Wind was scary. I moved the kids into our room, away from a huge pine. Neighbor said he's never seen winds that severe around here and he's 75 or so.

I drained my generator, stabilized what was left, and ran it dry. No exercise for it for months....I guess I would have figured out the control board was bad earlier, if I had. Might need to start doing that.

 

Moose....The cost to bury lines is like 10x more than aerial. Would be great to have them underground though.