Wanted to share my impressions of my stock 900T XRS as a lot of ride reports are from tuned/flashed 900T sleds on big wide open trails. To date I have 3,500 km(2,174 miles) and most of this mileage is in very tight and twisty trails here in my area.
I am a seasoned rider with 35 years of riding in Ontario and Quebec. The group I ride with consists of two other 900T XRS, a 2016 800 E-tech, two 2017 850 X and a 2018 Cat with a tune. You can't beat the reliability of the 900T when I see the issues and the expenses the others in our group have experienced.
This is the first XRS I have had. I have always had the X pkg sleds for fear the XRS would be to stiff, but nothing could be further from the truth. This is the best handling and smoothest doo I have ridden. Ski doo has found away to set this suspension up so you get a great ride on the smooth trails, but when the trail suddenly changes to extremely whooped out, the sled takes it on with no problem and you are confident pushing it harder the next time you find yourself in the whoops. And at the end of the day, you are not left beat up because you are riding a 900 4 stroke, it is no more taxing than riding an 850, and you've enjoyed a better ride all around. Myself and the others in our group find very little difference between the two when switching between them.
The drive by wire complaints made by others of "slow to respond", "disconnected", "surge after letting off the gas", had me wondering how I had missed this behavior in my own sled as it was something I had never experienced. After focusing my attention specifically on those complaints, I am 100% confident that my sled doesn't suffer from any of those issues at all. Quite the opposite in fact - I can lift the front end at will and find the sled is instantly responsive as soon as I hit the throttle.
There is no delay in response or timing. I would suggest that perhaps those issues have been experienced by some, however in my experience and in speaking with others who also ride the 900T, it seems clear that those problems are few, unique and are not the norm or widespread. All 3 of our group's 900T's exhibit the same throttle response - hit the throttle and power is there immediately!
Gas mileage appears to be good. A tank of fuel in any of the 3 900T'S I ride with are good for 230km (143 miles).
In regards to the 3 modes, I have found the following:
Eco mode, unlike in my last 1200, is completely usable. It's very tame, but will still allow you to travel at trail speeds and well above. On a trip in Quebec, riding on a hard packed trail, I did see a speed of 130kmph in Eco mode.
Standard mode is obviously much more responsive, and in this mode you have the ability to lift the skis off the ground at will. My group of 3 900Ts also found gas mileage to be slightly better in Standard than in Sport mode by 1 to 1.5 liters to a tank.
Sport mode is very responsive and instantaneous with the slightest movement of the throttle. So much so that I find myself switching quite frequently between sport and standard because the riding area here is so twisty and tight. It's a lot of corner to corner riding and in sport it's easy to give it more throttle than what you want. But once the trails widen - its into sport mode!
A quick look at rider position: I am around 6ft and generally like to ride standing. I found the pivoting riser very functional but too short for me. I like a more rider forward position and I am able to achieve that by pushing the pivoting riser fully forward but this made the bars even lower. I installed the 2" riser block and found that made a great improvement and allows me to be as rider forward as possible. It gives me the same rider forward feeling as when I ride the 850.
Some have said they find the 900T cold. I use the medium windshield that has the side deflectors attached and don't find it cold at all. My hands stay warmer than they ever have. I think this is due to the side deflectors on the side of the windshield. My right foot does get cold at times, and I have heard this as a common complaint. I removed the plate that is blocking this area off from the muffler and it definitely helped. I have no idea why the plate was put there.
The track length of 137 vs 129 was initially a concern for me when I ordered my 900T since I was coming off a 129. I have to say though that I am pleasantly surprised by the 137 and have no regrets. With that said, one of the 900T's in our group has 144 studs and I do notice that it doesn't turn as well as the other two, both of which only have 96.
My first real complaint is about the headlights. All I can say about these is that you pay top dollar for a top of the line sled and skidoo thinks these P.O.S.'s are suitable? What a joke. Ski doo should be ashamed. I have since replaced the OEM lights with LED Eagle diamond vision and the difference is incredible.
Clutches and belt temperatures are always cool and there is very little belt dust to be found anywhere on the sled. The only difference between my sled and the other two 900T's in our group is that I installed a purple purple spring in the secondary clutch on my sled. All three of our 900T'S are still using their original belts.
I had the DS2 skis installed before I picked up the sled and use snowtrackers. I find this setup to work very well on the 900T and in fact have used this setup for the last 3 years with my other sleds as well, with the same success.
Although I have read complaints from other 900T riders, I have never experienced frozen steering with my sled, and have been in every condition possible where this might happen. Similar to the throttle complaints, I have no idea why some people have this problem and others don't.
I have never had an issue with oil blow by, although I know other 900T owners who have. I wonder if how you break in your engine has anything to do with this. My sled was unloaded from the trailer, ridden 1km down to the lake and then spent the next 100km running full out to the bar in several long pulls across the lake.
In regards to the 850 seat vs the 900T seat - when I first looked at the 900T at the ski-doo show, the seat was the first thing I noticed. I wanted the narrow seat on the 900T but it just didn't happen. I have been able to borrow the seat from one of the 850's in the group to test it out on the 900. I did like the seat switch, however I was surprised to find that I did in fact prefer my 900T seat over the 850 seat in the end.
I am very pleased with the 900T. Will it run with a tuned S/W or Cat in a straight line on a smooth trail? Not on your life. It was never meant to. But there's as big of a difference on the other end in favor of the 900T. When that smooth trail gets very bumpy or you get into big rollers that allow you to get some good air on your 900T, the Cat and the S/W will be far behind you.
In the pictures the snow this day ranged from 12" to 30"
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I am a seasoned rider with 35 years of riding in Ontario and Quebec. The group I ride with consists of two other 900T XRS, a 2016 800 E-tech, two 2017 850 X and a 2018 Cat with a tune. You can't beat the reliability of the 900T when I see the issues and the expenses the others in our group have experienced.
This is the first XRS I have had. I have always had the X pkg sleds for fear the XRS would be to stiff, but nothing could be further from the truth. This is the best handling and smoothest doo I have ridden. Ski doo has found away to set this suspension up so you get a great ride on the smooth trails, but when the trail suddenly changes to extremely whooped out, the sled takes it on with no problem and you are confident pushing it harder the next time you find yourself in the whoops. And at the end of the day, you are not left beat up because you are riding a 900 4 stroke, it is no more taxing than riding an 850, and you've enjoyed a better ride all around. Myself and the others in our group find very little difference between the two when switching between them.
The drive by wire complaints made by others of "slow to respond", "disconnected", "surge after letting off the gas", had me wondering how I had missed this behavior in my own sled as it was something I had never experienced. After focusing my attention specifically on those complaints, I am 100% confident that my sled doesn't suffer from any of those issues at all. Quite the opposite in fact - I can lift the front end at will and find the sled is instantly responsive as soon as I hit the throttle.
There is no delay in response or timing. I would suggest that perhaps those issues have been experienced by some, however in my experience and in speaking with others who also ride the 900T, it seems clear that those problems are few, unique and are not the norm or widespread. All 3 of our group's 900T's exhibit the same throttle response - hit the throttle and power is there immediately!
Gas mileage appears to be good. A tank of fuel in any of the 3 900T'S I ride with are good for 230km (143 miles).
In regards to the 3 modes, I have found the following:
Eco mode, unlike in my last 1200, is completely usable. It's very tame, but will still allow you to travel at trail speeds and well above. On a trip in Quebec, riding on a hard packed trail, I did see a speed of 130kmph in Eco mode.
Standard mode is obviously much more responsive, and in this mode you have the ability to lift the skis off the ground at will. My group of 3 900Ts also found gas mileage to be slightly better in Standard than in Sport mode by 1 to 1.5 liters to a tank.
Sport mode is very responsive and instantaneous with the slightest movement of the throttle. So much so that I find myself switching quite frequently between sport and standard because the riding area here is so twisty and tight. It's a lot of corner to corner riding and in sport it's easy to give it more throttle than what you want. But once the trails widen - its into sport mode!
A quick look at rider position: I am around 6ft and generally like to ride standing. I found the pivoting riser very functional but too short for me. I like a more rider forward position and I am able to achieve that by pushing the pivoting riser fully forward but this made the bars even lower. I installed the 2" riser block and found that made a great improvement and allows me to be as rider forward as possible. It gives me the same rider forward feeling as when I ride the 850.
Some have said they find the 900T cold. I use the medium windshield that has the side deflectors attached and don't find it cold at all. My hands stay warmer than they ever have. I think this is due to the side deflectors on the side of the windshield. My right foot does get cold at times, and I have heard this as a common complaint. I removed the plate that is blocking this area off from the muffler and it definitely helped. I have no idea why the plate was put there.
The track length of 137 vs 129 was initially a concern for me when I ordered my 900T since I was coming off a 129. I have to say though that I am pleasantly surprised by the 137 and have no regrets. With that said, one of the 900T's in our group has 144 studs and I do notice that it doesn't turn as well as the other two, both of which only have 96.
My first real complaint is about the headlights. All I can say about these is that you pay top dollar for a top of the line sled and skidoo thinks these P.O.S.'s are suitable? What a joke. Ski doo should be ashamed. I have since replaced the OEM lights with LED Eagle diamond vision and the difference is incredible.
Clutches and belt temperatures are always cool and there is very little belt dust to be found anywhere on the sled. The only difference between my sled and the other two 900T's in our group is that I installed a purple purple spring in the secondary clutch on my sled. All three of our 900T'S are still using their original belts.
I had the DS2 skis installed before I picked up the sled and use snowtrackers. I find this setup to work very well on the 900T and in fact have used this setup for the last 3 years with my other sleds as well, with the same success.
Although I have read complaints from other 900T riders, I have never experienced frozen steering with my sled, and have been in every condition possible where this might happen. Similar to the throttle complaints, I have no idea why some people have this problem and others don't.
I have never had an issue with oil blow by, although I know other 900T owners who have. I wonder if how you break in your engine has anything to do with this. My sled was unloaded from the trailer, ridden 1km down to the lake and then spent the next 100km running full out to the bar in several long pulls across the lake.
In regards to the 850 seat vs the 900T seat - when I first looked at the 900T at the ski-doo show, the seat was the first thing I noticed. I wanted the narrow seat on the 900T but it just didn't happen. I have been able to borrow the seat from one of the 850's in the group to test it out on the 900. I did like the seat switch, however I was surprised to find that I did in fact prefer my 900T seat over the 850 seat in the end.
I am very pleased with the 900T. Will it run with a tuned S/W or Cat in a straight line on a smooth trail? Not on your life. It was never meant to. But there's as big of a difference on the other end in favor of the 900T. When that smooth trail gets very bumpy or you get into big rollers that allow you to get some good air on your 900T, the Cat and the S/W will be far behind you.
In the pictures the snow this day ranged from 12" to 30"
