[fordtruckin]

Originally Posted by OL_JR

Beauty sled 35, A buddy of mine growing up had what looks like that exact same sled color and everything. Last time I rode it was over twenty years ago and as far as I know it's still going strong today.

I had an 89 arctic cat cheetah 500 to bomb around on and let's just say that if a kid who hasn't even reached his teens yet can wreck a snowmobile over and over it's probably not built very well lol. I'm in the market right now as well and am going to stay away from the older Cat's but not sure how the newer ones are these days.

The newer Arctic Cat Bearcat's look ideal for ice fishing as well as the Yamaha's VK's but from what I can can gather it's really old technology. Over seas they are pretty much a staple it seems though.

One thing that bothers me is manufacturers selling utility snowmobiles without a pull start. Growing up when it was -40 and school was out that meant pond hockey and snowmobiling, only way to get a machine going was pull start.

Only the 4 strokes don’t have pull starts. If you opt for fan cooled 2 stroke it will come with it. As far as a good sled hard to beat a utility. A tundra vk50 a bravo etc... a mid 2000s arctic cat m6 or a Polaris RMK vertical edge or escape. (Cat has A arms Polaris has trailing arms) With a 144ish track. That will get you around on the ice as they were really more of a trail sled than mountain sled(compared to mountain sleds of today). Either way there are Plenty of those around. If you want new look at a Skidoo Expedition Sport. If I was getting a sled specifically for ice fishing trapping and some trail riding that’s what I would do. Those 600 and 900 ace engines are proving extremely reliable with many well over 10000miles over on the Dootalk forums. If you find a 90s Polaris Indy that would work well too if you don’t mind something a bit older. As long as it’s in good shape there’s no bent trailing arms torn seats missing lugs and the hifax is good. You may need to do a top end depending on miles but that’s just normal sled maintenance.