Every year I like to take a moment to thank all of you for following ArcticInsider. 2023 has been a fun one! Ive enjoyed receiving your emails, viewing your photos, hearing about your rides, and appreciate you following, and commenting positively on ArcticInsider social media channels.
Here are a couple of my 2023 Highlights. Cheers to a great 2024! -Kale
JANUARY 2023
I love any chance I get to ride with fellow Arctic Cat enthusiasts. Mid-January of 2023, I was asked by Thomas Sno Sports to join their customer appreciation ride, and looking back, Im still happy it fit into my schedule. The talk amongst the group, then, buzzed about the upcoming details of the all-new Catalyst platform. Other talk surrounded around some of the Arctic Cat celebrities who joined on the ride like Willie Ewing, Aaron Scheele and Tucker and Mandi Hibbert. Read more about that Ride HERE.
END OF JANUARY 2023
Arctic Cat invited myself and other representatives of the snowmobile media like Snow Tech, Supertrax and Sledhead 24/7 to swing a leg over the new 2024 Catalyst platform models. We joined together for a great ride from the Factory in Thief River Falls, Mn to Roger Skime’s ranch. Revisit that ride HERE. In my book, I treasure any time spent with Roger and the great employees at Arctic Cat. This day was a true treat!
LATE FEBRUARY 2023
I made it a point to attend some snowmobile events I had never been to before, and one of them was the Snowmobile Hall of Fame Ride With the Champs induction weekend in late February. 2023 was a special event, as two Arctic Cat legends were inducted, Greg Spaulding and Tucker Hibbert. I said it in my stories HERE (PART1) and HERE (PART2)…if you’ve never been to this event in St. Germain, plan on attending!
2024 CATALYST IS RELEASED!
Arctic Cat closed out the last days in February with the official launch of the all-new 2024 Catalyst platform. Excitement levels were at an all-time high which lasted through the Spring order period in April.
MARCH 2023
Spring riding in 2023 couldn’t have been any better…we had a lot of snow, and I was fortunate enough to bring home a few demo unit 2024 Catalyst models (ZR129, 137 and RIOT). While all three units were in my possession a very short time before I delivered to other media outlets, I did get the opportunity to log 1,200 miles on the ZR600 129 ATAC I had the remainder of the season. This unit was/is a true smile-maker!
THREE OLD GUYS RIDE TO ALASKA!
Three Old Guys set the interwebs on their heels as myself and thousands of snowmobilers followed their “epic” journey. I hate the buzzword “epic”, but this trip truly was for long distance adventure riders and friends, Paul Dick, Rob Hallstrom and Rex Hibbert. (Pictured L-R) You can follow their 4,000 mile journey from Grand Rapids, MN to Alaska HERE.
JULY 2023 – YAMAHA ANNOUNCES FUTURE WITHDRAWAL FROM SNOWMOBILE BUSINESS
The news of Yamaha announcing their future withdrawal from the snowmobile business set me back in July. I truly wasn’t expecting to hear that, and quite honestly, still bums me out. In the same vein as Arctic Cat, I have been a longtime fan of their snowmobiles, the marketing surrounding them, and have been fortunate enough to call many of their employees my friends. You can read the story HERE.
SEPTEMBER – ARCTIC CAT LAUNCHES NEW 858 C-TEC2 STROKER ENGINE AND G8 GAUGE AT HAY DAYS
Arctic Cat kept their Catalyst momentum going at Hay Days in September when they unveiled the all-new 858 engine and new G8 Garmin gauge. Both will be available in 2025 models launched Spring of 2024.
Hope you enjoyed these stories and others on ArcticInsider. Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR 2024!
Thanks Kale for keeping us informed. Maybe you can have a word with Mother Nature ! Sitting here looking out at my Snow Gauge in my brown yard ?‼️ Wishing I could take the Catalyst Riot for a rip on some snow.
Kale, happy new year! Nice job on AI in 2023.
Happy New Year Kale! Arctic Cat could not have a better ambassador!
Happy New Year Kale! Will be picking up my 129 ATAC at the end of the week. Need snow, but the Coors light and the going over the sled will have to do for now. Will be doing the snow dance as well as looking at the snow chase to at least get it broke in. Sled is amazing in person.
Great article.
Surprised though that there was no mention of Supertrax’s wet weight comparo posted on their website in late December.
The 2024 Catalyst ZR 600 came in at least 15 lbs lighter than its peers from Ski Doo and Polaris; while AJ Lester tended to minimize the weight differential, weight reduction while maintaining durability & reliability takes a huge amount of discipline and effort by a manufacturer. Cat should be given all sorts of accolades for being able to pare so much weight relative to the prior generation sleds that it now has a 15 lb weight advantage.
I’d rather seen a dry weight. The catalyst has a smaller fuel tank. And That’s been a complaint by some. So that makes up a lot of the 15lbs. But it is lighter than the old chassis. Which is a good thing.
Approximate dry weight should be easy enough to calculate since tank capacity for each sled is known.
Cat says the 858 is lighter than the 600 so will be interesting to see where it comes in relative to its naturally aspirated brethren from Ski Doo and Polaris. I’m guessing Cat will have a new lighter weight 600 class engine in the near-future to further differentiate it from its peers.
Let’s look at the numbers to determine approximate dry weights (capacities from the mfrs webpages)…
Arctic Cat Catalyst: Fuel capacity 10.4 gallons, oil capacity 3.6 quarts
Ski Doo MXZ-XRS: Fuel capacity 9.4 gallons, oil capacity 3 quarts
Polaris Indy XC: Fuel capacity 11.5 gallons, oil capacity 3.9 quarts
Assume 6 lbs per gallon of fuel, 1.5 lbs per quart of synthetic oil…
Arctic Cat Catalyst: Fuel Weight 62.4 lbs, oil weight 5.4 lbs
Ski Doo MXZ-RS: Fuel weight 57 lbs, oil weight 4.5 lbs
Polaris Indy XC: Fuel weight 69 lbs, oil weight 5.85 lbs
Calculating approximate dry weight based on AJ Lester’s wet measurements….
Arctic Cat Catalyst: 556-(62.4+5.4)= 488.2 lbs
Ski Doo MXZ-RS: 569.5-(57+4.5)= 508 lbs
Polaris Indy XC: 583.5-(69+5.85)= 508.65 lbs
Bottom Line…
The Arctic Cat Catalyst weighs about 20 lbs less than the Ski Doo MXZ-RS and about 21 lbs less than the Polaris Indy XC based on calculated dry weights
I accidentally flipped the Cat & Ski Doo oil capacities; should be 3 quarts (4.5 lbs) and 3.6 quarts (5.4 lbs) respectively.
Also, I did not deduct coolant weight as I was only able to determine the Catalyst’s capacity (5.4 quarts); assumed all three sleds have similar amounts of coolant so would result in another 11+ lb reduction in estimated dry weight for each sled.
So, corrected dry weight estimates…
Arctic Cat Catalyst: 477 lbs
Ski Doo MXZ-RS: 495 lbs
Polaris Indy XC: 498 lbs
So Cat still has an approximate 20 lb weight advantage. Ski Doo’s website says the MXZ-RS dry weight is 480 lbs. Hmmmm.
Catalyst fuel tank is 9.4g. So your off by 6 lbs..That’s why the full of fluids wgt is so light . That’s why I only go by ISR filed weights. Which is when the sled comes off the assembly line . No gas in it . Should have did this a month ago .