Here’s a nice note I received from my friend Erik J. from Sweden, about a nice start to his new Arctic Cats and the winter of 2019. Enjoy.
We are hanging in our winter house for winter holiday and have started to break in the new 2019 mountain cat.
Days are short, with daylight for 3 hours and we are a bit low on snow. Ice skratchers down. River ice and forest roads keep us rolling.
I am glad for a visable temp gauge on the sleds. The old TZ1 turbo doesn’t care if the snow is low, I just take it to warp speed and let the track be a fan….still makes me happy.
The new engine feels very nice and responsive. And the 16-year-old driver tells me that the new handelbar controls are much better than on the ’17 M6000 that his little brother has inherited.
The FOX QS3 shocks are amazing and I love to flip the lever to try out the different settings.
And I am truly amazed how good it runs… not getting warm or cooking hyfax with schratchers down despite a 3″ track. I thougt it would be a nightmare.
It gonaa be a beast in the deep snow.
I was a bit worried that the new controls where too small to work with gloves on. They do feel a bit naked to be full of snow and might freeze up, time will tell.
And a very interresting thing is the new 2019 throttle flipper, my wife absolutely loves it.
On her Z1 Turbo EXT I have already mounted the thinner rubber grips, which was a big improvment for smaller hands. But the size and angle of the new throttle lever is hard to change, no mather how we try to turn it she still gets pain in her thumb and hand after a while. Hopefully we’ll figure out a solution.
Happy New Year. May the snow be with you.
– Erik.
We have taken our first significant ride of the season today too and agree with Erik on the benefits of the new controls on the 2019 models. It is SO NICE to easily activate reverse/forward with big heavy gloves on, no more removing a glove to try to push on the recessed little button that used to be present over on the throttle side. Is just as awesome to be less dependent on trying to give a twist to an ignition key that is normally caked in snow and ice to engage the electric start and instead pushing the easy-to-reach button with a gloved hand to start the engine. And, the new simple and easy kill switch button is natural and easy. The 5 position hand/thumb warmer controls make these warmers better than ever. In 85 miles of running ditchlines and twisting trails did I ever once inadvertantly turn the warmers on/off. I didn’t think the brakes that we have had the last few seasons could possibly be improved upon, but they are better than ever for 2019 too. And as Erik also states, having this much information displayed on our gauge and being able to toggle through it so easily is great too. Is easy to think that not much changes from one model year to another, today has been a great reminder that just isn’t the case this year. I’m glad that your year is starting off well in your country Erik, ours is starting to rock too!