quebec bob

38f at 5 am on the mountain at home...2000ft...the start of the fall season, we loose 2 hrs of daylight between now and Oct 1st...won't be long before we are building some more great memories of riding Quebec!!

Have had both, Klim is really great stuff, but try it on, some sizes run a little small, and on the colder days, it is not as warm, I have been wearing a lite down jacket as layering and found it very warm and lighter as well , both brands are very good, and ditto on the ski doo absolute 0, my friend says it is the best he has ever had.

They are going to be hard to get, I per-ordered one in March and was told it would be in in October, ordered it when I snow checked a 2020 sled, was told that was going to be the best way to get one, I tried one at the demo rides in New York, seems like a nice helmet.

Dennis, the owner of Le Cabanon worked at the refinery in Montreal for 30 years, he has high test non ethanol and a lot of the stops on the trail do too. They make an ethanol tester, fuel tester by daansen, about 20 dollars. It is a small graduated test tube, pour fuel to the line marked fuel, the add water to the line marked water, and it will separate the alcohol from the fuel and you can read it by percentage. Go to 5 different stations and test a sample of the gas, you will be very surprised how much they differ, some will say 3 % others may say 14%. Almost all the on trail lodges that sell have non ethanol fuel. www.fueltestkit.com.

I'm having trouble figuring out which one is Eric?

OK, I am not trying to be a wise guy or anything like that, but I want everyone to know about stable and condensation. This is one little test everyone who owns a piece of equipment with a seasonal gas engine really needs to do so they can see for themselves how important it is to treat your gas, whether it is a plastic tank or metal. Take a plastic fuel can and put a few gallons of gas in it when it is say 10f outside and leave it in your trailer outside over night.In the morning , before you pour it in your sled, get a funnel and a screen funnel for paint and place that paper paint funnel inside the regular funnel and place it in another empty gas can. Now start to pour the gas into the other can, DO THIS SLOW BECAUSE THE ICE THAT FORMS FROM THE CONDENSATION WILL PLUG THE SCREEN!! Gas does not freeze but when it is poured and goes through a screen it will separate the water from the fuel and freeze, it looks like ice from a snow cone. Yes fuel in plastic cans or tanks gets a lot of condensation in it. When we were racing and at the lake all day we wanted high octane and this was a little trick we would do to insure we had the best fuel, first time I saw this I was shocked, you will be too, some how this goes right through our sleds, but sitting all year with ethanol phase separation, not good. Canadian fuel is non ethanol, but good practice is to treat it, best practice is to install a few shut of and run it dry with stable. We started riding in 1966, so I have cleaned my fair share carbs and fuel systems, any thing you can do to prevent this is cheaper and easier to do. Nothing worse than getting there and having you or your buddies sled down on day one because of bad fuel. Proper Planning Prevents!! Bob.

That fine is way too small, should include 5 years suspension and sled confiscation!!

JG, did those clean shaven loggers run Quebec out of razor blades??

Old Quebec must have been incredible, I wonder what the engineer set the weight limit at on that bridge, a double load of logs, and they worked!!

You almost forgot the best pics??

I saw a couple 850's this year with 16plus k, still running well. I rode 3k plus on the original belt, it still looks new, no need to change it yet.

Torx, what an idea, fasteners that most do not have a tool for, and now there are 3 different torx screws, must be tool manufacturers need a new piece of hardware so they could sell more tools. I thought the traditional nuts and bolts were working just fine, not to mention how hard these are to get out when they corrode and strip, great idea!!

The weather is looking very good this coming week, highs in the low 20's f, cold enough to keep the trail crispy and plenty of snow. A lot of places are closing after next weekend, so this may be the last full service week of the year, !@%^#$!!, it went by way too fast this year, another incredible Quebec season is almost over, hope next year is this good!!

Stan, you are dead on there, people come off the trail from the south end of town and if they are looking for the dealer the first place they find is the closed one, that has been that way for years now, then they turn around believing there is no longer a dealer. Who knows what they need, but now they are thinking that they are stuck, when in reality 2 more blocks down there is a very good , well stocked dealer and they are quite capable and very well stocked.This site and this kind of input can well make or break a trip for some one, this is what makes this place what it is!!

there is a closed ski doo dealer there but a newer open dealer down the street a bit, can be a little confusing, but they are there.

Hotel Marineau, just as you drive into town on the right hand sign, lodging, food, trail passesand parking , very nice people.

You have an amazing eye that picks up everything at a glance, great pic.

according to the menu it is also cooked and burned, hope this is not one of those places play hard has been telling us to just trust the chef!!

RoadRunner, lot of Quebec Riders post all kinds of great,helpful , and interesting thinks here that we all like, but what you have posted here is way over the top, incredible to say the least, YOU HAVE NOT WON THE DAY...YOU WON THE YEAR!! Many thanks, Bob.

Mike 6500 miles, that's a really great year, no break downs, even better. I am looking forward to retirement where my biggest to do list is wearing out a sled. Still a lot of snow, you will probably ride again, if not have a great summer paddling with your dog. Bob.

I got to ride the 900 turbo extreme as well. To be honest with you, I was a little disappointed with the turbo in the extreme. It comes in a 2 up package that is very noticeably heavier than the 850 etec. I swapped rides in the middle of a 10 mile loop with a 70 year old and he took the 850 and I rode the turbo extreme back in. When we got back he leaned over and put his thumb down to the turbo. The 850 is way more fun to ride and I think the 900 turbo extreme has different suspension calibration, is heavier, the engine is twitchy at throttle input, and pops and backfires on de-cell. Also, on that sled Eco and the middle mode make it under powered and very heavy feeling. Also the 850 has RER and the turbo does not. The fuel tank is 12 gallons so with a can on back, 16 gallons or 250 ish miles, that is a nice feeling.For touring and maybe popping out on a big lake to explore and make your own trail, this is an incredible ride.I never did try low gear but I am sure it would pull out a stuck sled with ease. The wide body Gen-4 also offers much better wind protection.You will have no problem clicking off trail miles at 60 to 70 mph on this sled, I think that p-drive clutching really works great on this sled, it launches out of the whole with great authority, not like a heavy utility sled, I think is pulls better than a 600r MXZ.

Phil, it cost me 2950 to ride 2 seasons, and 100 dollars to register in New Hampshire, bought the sled at 300 over invoice from Troy Power Sports in New Hampshire, they do that for all out of state orders, even on 2020 models, plus give 10 % off after the sale on oil, parts, clothing, etc. I never did anything other than grease it, and put oil in , 3/4 of a quart every tank, a little tough after riding 4 stroke for the last 8 or 10 seasons. I think any time you can ride a new sled for under 2k a season, you are doing it as cheap as you can

Phil, you cannot ride for free, cannot be done, but boy is it expensive to keep a sled 10 or 12 thousand miles and let the warranty expire. In Mass. there is basically no riding or very limited, maybe 1 week all season this year on marginal snow. You cannot give a sled away here, literally. So if you snow check and take delivery in October, your first payment id due in April of the following spring, so you just rode the first winter with a 500 dollar snow checked sled and put it away for the season with out making a payment yet. you get a transferable 4 year warranty for snow checking the sled. Next season you maybe ride in December, the Jan, Feb. and March. You put the sled up for sale the end of February and make it available mid-March, with a 2 year warranty and i had 3100 miles and kept it mint, not a scratch anywhere. So I listed it here and sold it on the 2nd day, and made 12 payments, and the guy who bought it was very happy. He got a like new sled, with a 2 year warranty, and I got a new sled. 18 people wanted to buy this sled over a 1 week period. If i keep it 3 seasons the price goes way down and it gets much harder to sell. I was never able to get any good money for a 5 year old sled, and put a lot into up keep. So buy something that is popular, keep it 14 or 15 months, snow check it, make 12 payments, and move it. Cheapest sledding i have ever done, period. It took 1 day to release the lien and transfer best warranty, and outside of the 500 down snow check, I rode 2 seasons on somebody else's money, why would I write a 15, 000. check?? This site is where all the serious, able riders are and I never had an easier time selling a sled than I did I here, just like to say thank you for that service, really great,Bob.PS, also bought in no tax New Hampshire and registered it there, so no tax at home, where there is no riding any way.

I just got back from Old Forge New York, where we got 40 miles of seat time on the new 2020 sleds. All we rode were models from Ski-Doo. First thing, pictures do not do justice to the Free-Ride Blue, one of the best color schemes on snow...just my opinion that this sled is really beautiful to look at. Next, the new 850 extreme...WITH OUT A DOUBT THE VERY FINEST ALL AROUND SLED ..MAYBE EVER BUILT...PERIOD!! I am not a brand loyalist..just calling it after 2 10 miles rides, and I have been riding since 1966. This is not a cumbersome work sled, you keep looking back at stops and cannot believe 154 inches 20 wide is behind you. Hooks up like nothing short of a studded ice racer, the 850 moves it better than a 600r, although not quite as good as an 850 renegade, but not far behind. It really smooths out the bumps, and handles very flat, less intuitive than a back country, but you can really haul down the trail very aggressively without getting tired or feeling like you are tugging a work sled around. This thing wheelies at will and you actually have to back out of the throttle and learn how far you want to go, get used to it a little bit, fun factor is incredible. This sled will more than put a smile on a 20 year old, a 45 year old and a 65 year old tourer, kind of like a BWW station wagon!! Next was the 850 backcountry XRS, with a 146 track.I just sold a 2018 backcountry with 3100 miles on it, so I know the sled. The XRS model handles way better than the x or standard model, and it felt stronger than the 2018 engine and the 2 inch 154 rumbled a bit down the trail, more of a deep snow sled, ski-doo reps said hard concrete trails are probably not the place for this model, they said cooling and torn lugs are going to be the end result.Polaris looked very nice, quality, fit and finish have come a long way, they have upped their game. Arctic Cat had almost exclusively lime green versions of the new riot, the lines were getting very long and we made a 400 mile trek to be first in line at 8am, so we did not stay around to ride everything we wanted to. The new oxygen helmet was there, this seems to be a very well thought out product, I ordered one. If you get a chance to ride the expedition extreme, just do it, if anything you will at the very least come away with a big smile, Happy trails, Bob.

now that is funny!!