A great trip with lots of good memories! This one was about both the miles and smiles!!! A quote from the week, 'This can either be a great story or end badly' Lots of snow everywhere we rode. Don't go off trail without momentum!!!! 4 of us. Me on my new 2012 Renegade 1200 X. First trip with it. 1 Attak and 2 Apex's.

Day 1:

Maniwaki. Arrived Sunday night, leaving on sleds Monday. Tried to meet up with Midrange and buy him a beer but we couldn't meet up. Our destination was Clova, Hotel Tamerac. Took the Lepine trail. I would say 75% of the trails had not been groomed in a while but with the fresh snow they were soft and fun. Some bumps can be ok! 233 miles.

Day 2:

Clova to Label sur Quevillion. 235 miles. From Seneterre to Quevillion was unbelievable. Very, very fast. Stayed at Hotel du lac. Nice place.

Day 3:

Long and most adventurous day! Our destination was Roberval. Lots of miles but we had heard that Quevillion to Chib is very fast. And we figured we could stay in Chib if we had too. Well, when we woke up there was about 3 inches of fresh snow on the sleds. Ok, this may slow us down a little but no worries. We were on the sleds and riding out of Quevillion by 7:00. Wow is that trail fast!!! As fast as you wanted to go. I lead and basically kept it at 85-90 the whole way. With the fresh snow I probably wouldn't get much more out of her!!! Problems occurred when the Attak continually overheated. Every 5-6 miles. We arrived at the intersection for Wasinipi which says 24 km. We all need gas at this point but figured its not too much further. Well, the trail is single track, very moguled. I read a post where someone on QR broke trail and big thank you!!! By now, all our low fuel lights are on. I don't know how far my Doo will go after that light is on as the sled is new. The Attak light had gone on miles before the Wasinipi intersection. We follow the trail to a "plowed" road. Looks more like a driveway. We follow the tracks to the right but that's where we lose the tracks due to the fresh snow. We follow the road for a few miles and the Attak runs out of fuel. We decide to leave 2 guys and 2 sleds, one with fuel and one empty and I and another keep looking for fuel. 4 miles down the road, mine runs out of fuel. At 100 miles exactly. Thought it would get better than that but it only had about 800 miles on it at this point so hopefully the motor still needs to loosen up. Sled with fuel decides to keep following the road. Well, the road ends at a camp with no people. He comes back after searching the camp for fuel and taking a gas can he found. He left money for the can. Then we decide to use my iphone for GPS coordinates. I barely have reception but after a while the map comes up with where we are and the roads. Turns out by blind luck we were heading in the right direction to begin with. We head there doubled up and leave my sled. We meet up with the other guys and check the phone again. Wasinipi is 7 miles away. We head there and find it!!!! Thank goodness for the iphone!!! Not 1 sign since the sign for Wasinipi on 93. We get the 2 sleds fueled up and head back to the other guys and they and the sled are gone. Huh? Turns out someone with a camp not far away went by them on a 4-wheeler and gave them gas. Guy was very nice. They had gone back to my sled and added fuel but I had taken the DESS key so they had to leave it. So we give the guy $50.00 for the fuel he put in our sleds to get them to the station and give him the full gas can we stole. Turns out its his Uncles camp we found. He also said they are going to sign that trail but are waiting for money. Not sure what that meant. We then head back to 93 with over 2 hours lost. We decide to press on to Roberval and make it there by 9:00. It must have been snowing there most of the day as there was 8-10 inches of fresh snow on the trails...Fun! 384 miles for the day.

Day 4:

Roberval to Parent. Stayed at Hotel Parent. 228 miles. Have you ever seen the bar scene on Star Wars? That reminded me of the bar at that hotel. I loved it!

Day 5:

Parent back to Maniwaki. 206 miles. Some rally going on in Maniwaki so there were care and car carries everywhere. We loaded up and headed for home.

Got home to green grass. Depressing. But heading back up to either Maniwaki or Gaspe at the end of the month!!!

Great report

Great report and pics! Are you sure you had your sled full of gas? That seems really poor gas mileage, I mean I know how that strech sucks gas esp. if there is fresh snow but that seems really poor. Maybe when it's broke in. Did your mileage improve as the week went on?

Well, I didn't "burp" it. That probably would have put another 1/2 gallon in. I didn't learn that trick till after when a gas station attendant showed me. (burping is when you push the rear of the sled down and the air bubble in tank comes out and allows more gas in.)

And I thought it was pretty poor also. There wasn't that much new snow. I knew I'd be pushing it to get to Wasinipi but didn't think I'd run out. I don't I'd have made it even if we knew exactly where to go. When we made it back to Maniwaki the Attak that ran out was on E and I still had plenty so maybe its getting better.

Star Wars bar scene, love it that is classic. Oh yes downtwn Parent, happening place fr sure.

Downtown Parent has some of the finest tarpaper siding I have ever seen !

We had two 1200 renegades on our most recent trip (2012)). At minimum even in heavy snow, 130 miles out of a full tank......they were also in the break in period.

Great report. Just got home myself from 1100 miles in 4 1/2 days. Gonna make my buds who were complaining about 250 miles read this.

iPhone question. Did you fire up DATA ROAMING just to find gas? Great idea for emergency IF you can find a signal. It would be great if the new FCMQ app would let you d/l some Data about a route prior to leaving the wifi range of your hotel. aGPS in iPhone works fine even without a cell signal. Doesn't like cold much tho.

Edited February 5, 201214 yr by actionjack

We had two 1200 renegades on our most recent trip (2012)). At minimum even in heavy snow, 130 miles out of a full tank......they were also in the break in period.

How big is the tank on the Renegade?

Only time I turned the data roaming on. Cost too much otherwise! I kept the phone in my inner jacket pocket and it was fine. Thanks for info on the FCMQ app, I just downloaded it.

I think the tank is 10.6 gallons.

Edited February 5, 201214 yr by Sled Dog

Nice ride and pics are worth a 1000 words. Don,t get to crazy about the perceived poor fuel milage, all the numbers you hear are under best conditions with a lot of throttle controll. An apex probably is really 14mpg at 60mph touring, if you take off easy and use a lot of steady throttle under 70 mph you will go 145 miles on a tank. The four stroke motor makes a ton of tourque down low at say 2800 rpm and why they have clutch engagement at 4300 is a huge mystery to me. There is more torque down at that rpm on that 1200 than an 800 makes at 4500 rpm, just look at the dyno charts. I put an aaen 4 tower clutch on a 2005 warrior with a team roller in the secondary and bring the clutch in at 2850 and with 4 fly weight holding the belt you take off without reving the engine and the sled really hooks well at that speed so you have great traction and you can roll on the throttle and go, also made the sled a lot faster, LIKE 8 MPH. this set up goes 145 miles on a tank and I have never run out of gas and it is also a lot easier on the sled, all about effiency, but if I go 80 to 90 all day 110 miles is all you will go.I have the same set-up on a supercharged 2005 vector and you can go 165 on a tank at 60.

Nice ride and pics are worth a 1000 words. Don,t get to crazy about the perceived poor fuel milage, all the numbers you hear are under best conditions with a lot of throttle controll. An apex probably is really 14mpg at 60mph touring, if you take off easy and use a lot of steady throttle under 70 mph you will go 145 miles on a tank. The four stroke motor makes a ton of tourque down low at say 2800 rpm and why they have clutch engagement at 4300 is a huge mystery to me. There is more torque down at that rpm on that 1200 than an 800 makes at 4500 rpm, just look at the dyno charts. I put an aaen 4 tower clutch on a 2005 warrior with a team roller in the secondary and bring the clutch in at 2850 and with 4 fly weight holding the belt you take off without reving the engine and the sled really hooks well at that speed so you have great traction and you can roll on the throttle and go, also made the sled a lot faster, LIKE 8 MPH. this set up goes 145 miles on a tank and I have never run out of gas and it is also a lot easier on the sled, all about effiency, but if I go 80 to 90 all day 110 miles is all you will go.I have the same set-up on a supercharged 2005 vector and you can go 165 on a tank at 60.

Interesting info Bob, I sure wish Yamaha would have made the tank just a little bigger though. My '09 Apex GT only has like a 9.2 gal. tank. The last trip to Quebec I went 127 miles and then used 30 liters so I still had over a gollon left, but my sled is def. broke in I have about 6,000 miles on it. Now those miles were not WOT but a nice cruising speed and somewhat soft conditions (It had rained all night and into the morning) I think 145 miles with those conditions would be doable for me in stock form but that would prob. me near max. What is the approx. cost for the clutch upgrade on an Apex and also that '05 Vector if you don't mind my asking?

Thank you for sharing Rich.Sounds like you guys had a great trip.We are leaving thursday morning.Heading out to Parent(to see if beer taste as good as usual) then Roberval on friday.We don't know yet what is our destination afterward.We must be in Saint-Michel-des-Saints feb 16th.

BTW......went to motel des Draveurs friday night but you guys had already left.Oh well in the meantime cheers to you.

How big is the tank on the Renegade?

They are 40 liters.

Nice report sleddog, just got in last night from a 3 day 1050klm ride myself. I particularlly like your report on the trail from LSQ to Chibougamau, we are planning on doing that loop in 2 weeks, we were supposed to have done it this weekend but 2 out 6 of us had to work on monday. I will post a photo report later.

Thanks for that info Quebec Bob, i have an 08 Apex with 16k on it now and this weekend i found my sled was doing poorly on milage, gas light would show up at 145klms and some times 135klms, i know from previous experience i can run 35klms on the light before the sled stalls even adding that it's still too little i find. I keep a 5l spare can on board now at all times.

I just changed my chaincase,driveshaft and jack shaft bearings, maybe i tightened the track too much. Would you have any additional tips on how to get more milage out my 08 Apex, i'm a little disappointed, my 04 RX1 used to get 220-240klms from a tank. I am most certain these sleds can do alot better without having to dump in tons of money on aftermarket products to improve their performance.

JG

Nice report Sled Dog. A group of us will be traveling the same way in about 10 days. We already prepped ourselves for the trip in to Waswanipi since the station at Miquelon is closed. A couple of years ago we had to make our way to Waswanipi and we got lucky and hit it correctly the first time.

This is what we did. Let us know if this is correct to your recollection - Take the spur trail off 93 to Waswanipi to the end. Take a right on the road/driveway. Go to the end and take another right on that road/driveway. Take that to the end and you're at the main road, Rt 113. Turn right up the side of Rt 113 and go up the hill. The gas station/convenience store is on your right not far beyond the Police station.

Does that sound right to you?

Thanks,

Rick

Trailblazer loosen that track. You will see improvement. I have had the same issue. Track was too tight.

Thanks Iceman, that was my next move.

Sleddog, what would say the milage be from LSQ to Chapais.

Its about 212 km trailblazer, give or take a few.

Cool, we'll carry fuel and skip Waswanipi detour.

Cool, we'll carry fuel and skip Waswanipi detour.

Saw on an earlier post there was gas available in 5 gal. cans at Demairsville but I think I too would take an extra gal. and just dump it in 20 miles up from LSQ.

Great report. Thx a bunch!

Heading out soon with Midrange.

Nice report Sled Dog. A group of us will be traveling the same way in about 10 days. We already prepped ourselves for the trip in to Waswanipi since the station at Miquelon is closed. A couple of years ago we had to make our way to Waswanipi and we got lucky and hit it correctly the first time.

This is what we did. Let us know if this is correct to your recollection - Take the spur trail off 93 to Waswanipi to the end. Take a right on the road/driveway. Go to the end and take another right on that road/driveway. Take that to the end and you're at the main road, Rt 113. Turn right up the side of Rt 113 and go up the hill. The gas station/convenience store is on your right not far beyond the Police station.

Does that sound right to you?

Thanks,

Rick

Exactly right. If you cross a bridge going over an open river, your on the right track.

A great trip with lots of good memories! This one was about both the miles and smiles!!! A quote from the week, 'This can either be a great story or end badly' Lots of snow everywhere we rode. Don't go off trail without momentum!!!! 4 of us. Me on my new 2012 Renegade 1200 X. First trip with it. 1 Attak and 2 Apex's.

Day 3:

Long and most adventurous day! Our destination was Roberval. Lots of miles but we had heard that Quevillion to Chib is very fast. And we figured we could stay in Chib if we had too. Well, when we woke up there was about 3 inches of fresh snow on the sleds. Ok, this may slow us down a little but no worries. We were on the sleds and riding out of Quevillion by 7:00. Wow is that trail fast!!! As fast as you wanted to go. I lead and basically kept it at 85-90 the whole way. With the fresh snow I probably wouldn't get much more out of her!!! Problems occurred when the Attak continually overheated. Every 5-6 miles.

Ever figure out why the Attak was overheating?

Thanks for that info Quebec Bob, i have an 08 Apex with 16k on it now and this weekend i found my sled was doing poorly on mileage, gas light would show up at 145klms and some times 135klms, i know from previous experience i can run 35klms on the light before the sled stalls even adding that it's still too little i find. I keep a 5l spare can on board now at all times.

I just changed my chaincase,driveshaft and jack shaft bearings, maybe i tightened the track too much. Would you have any additional tips on how to get more milage out my 08 Apex, i'm a little disappointed, my 04 RX1 used to get 220-240klms from a tank. I am most certain these sleds can do alot better without having to dump in tons of money on aftermarket products to improve their performance.

JG

The carbed engines did better on fuel - believe it or not.

Trailblazer loosen that track. You will see improvement. I have had the same issue. Track was too tight.

Good catch iceman. The dealers all seem to want to tighten the tracks to the Factory spec which is way too tight and contributes to the hyfax wear problems too. Another tip I've found to goose more mileage out of the Yammis is to use a synthetic gear oil in the chaincase. (It would also work in the other brands depending on what they spec for lube. The Yammis spec is API GL-3 75 or 80w gear oil) If you have an older Yammi with the closed window track, the SLP track saver buttons decrease rolling resistance ALLOT! and will help with mileage.

Edited February 8, 201214 yr by vt_bluyamaha54

Ever figure out why the Attak was overheating?

Nope. We ordered a new thermostat and temp sensor. I'll change that out and add water wetter. And make sure its properly bled. All I really know to do. The radiator fan was working.

The Attak had a rough trip. Overheating, gotta be a crack in the muffler cause its loud now, tunnel protector hanging, inner idler wheels delamed, ripped seat. But it made it and that's what matters on a long trip!!!