<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" (Published in the February 2003 issue) More: Turn your mountain bike into a snowmobile Yamaha RX-1Ski-Doo V-1000Arctic Cat 4-Stroke TouringPolaris Frontier As we leave base camp in central Idaho&amp;#039;s Payette National Forest, we&amp;#039;re riding into the teeth of a young blizzard. But the weather unexpectedly clears when we reach the top of the rise, and suddenly, gloriously, we&amp;#039;re breaking trail through 8 in. of fresh powder on top of a 10-ft. base. The four of us ride along the ridge for ages, stopping often to admire spectacular views over Payette Lake. The sky has turned a brilliant cobalt blue, a shocking contrast to the blinding purity of the new fallen snow. This is what snowmobiling is all about: riding with family and friends into spectacular places inaccessible by any other way, drinking in the timeless majesty of the mountains, cleansing your soul. Best of all, when the evening storm blows through, it wipes away every trace of our having been here, as surely as the incoming tide erases footprints on the beach. To be honest, snowmobiling is not always this wonderful. Old-fashioned 2-stroke machines generate an annoying racket and spew out blue clouds of unburned hydrocarbons. But the same Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules that are forcing outboard motors, dirt bikes and ATVs to clean up their act by 2006 are forcing snowmobile manufacturers to switch to quieter, more economical, clean-burning 4-stroke engines. This revolution is revitalizing the whole snowmobile industry. Yamaha RX-1 The industry&amp;#039;s argument against 4-strokes has always been that the equivalent 2-stroke engine weighs less and produces more power. Yamaha engineers neatly torpedoed that theory. The new RX-1 snowmobile is powered by the same 4-stroke, 998cc, 4-cylinder, DOHC, 5-valves-per-cylinder, liquid-cooled Genesis Extreme engine that powers the award-winning Yamaha YZF-R1 sportbike. The biggest difference is that the motorcycle engine is now fuel-injected and develops 152 hp at 10,500 rpm, while the snowmobile version uses four Mikuni BSR37 carburetors for a peak of 145 hp at 8300 rpm. Thumb the throttle, and the RX-1 will try to pull your arms out of their sockets all the way up to a claimed top speed of 137 mph. We don&amp;#039;t care how blas\u00E9 you are, 137 mph on a snowmobile gets your attention. The front suspension has upper and lower A-arms with a single coil-over shock on each side. There&amp;#039;s 9 in. of travel for each lightweight plastic ski. The rear suspension features 11.5 in. of vertical travel. Spring preload and shock damping are adjustable on the single center-mounted rear spring/shock unit. Stopping is short, thanks to an oversize disc brake. Standard track length is 121 in., but there is an RX-1 Mountain sled with a 151-in. track. As you&amp;#039;d expect of a premium performance sled, the RX-1 has standard electric start, LCD gauges, CDI ignition and individually controlled hand warmers. The RX-1 ER features a reverse gear, which is selected with a convenient lever. The RX-1 is easy and comfortable to ride, even when you&amp;#039;re riding absurdly fast. The proven 4-stroke not only makes incredible torque, it should be at least as reliable and long-lasting as any 2-stroke. At $8849, the RX-1 is competitively priced. We never discovered a downside.  YAMAHA 998CC FOUR Ski-Doo V-1000 If Yamaha&amp;#039;s RX-1 is a tracked YZF-R1, Ski-Doo&amp;#039;s V-1000 is the nearest thing to a Harley-Davidson on skis. You can still order a Ski-Doo Legend with 2-stroke engines of 550cc, 600cc or 800cc, but new for 2003 is a 4-stroke of 1000cc. The Rotax-built, water-cooled, 80\u00B0 V-twin features a dry sump, heated throttle body and electric starter. The 4-TEC heads are derived from Rotax engines that power Bombardier ATVs and PWCs. Like a Harley, the V-twin Legend is for cruising. The understressed V-twin delivers a friendly exhaust note, but not a surfeit of power. It has a standard 121-in. track, twin rear variable-rate shocks, and single trailing-arm front suspension with Precision Dual-Carbide skis that Bombardier calls ADSA. Like most of its competition, the Legend comes with a single disc brake, electronic LCD instruments, hand warmers, electric start and Reverse. Prices start at $8399.  SKI-DOO LEGEND V-1000  SKI-DOO ROTAX 1000CC V-TWIN Arctic Cat 4-Stroke Touring In 2001, Arctic Cat had the first modern 4-stroke sled on the market. Essentially, it&amp;#039;s a Pantera 2-stroke touring model fitted with a 4-stroke, 658cc, liquid-cooled, fuel-injected 3-cylinder. Thanks to intake and exhaust improvements, it&amp;#039;s rated at 53 hp for 2003, a 17 percent increase. This engine is amazingly quiet, has great midrange torque and returns 25 mpg in normal riding. You can buy this powerplant in three different models: a single-seat Trail with 121-in. track, a 2-passenger Touring with 136-in. track and the utility Bearcat WT with 20-in.-wide track. Prices start at $7399 for the Trail, $7949 for the 2-seater Touring and $8599 for the Bearcat. These 4-stroke sleds are state of the art, with hydraulic disc brake, full instrumentation, electric start and Reverse. The front suspension uses upper and lower A-arms with Ryde FX coil-over shocks. The rear suspension is Arctic Cat&amp;#039;s FasTrack with dual Ryde FX shocks. Suspension travel is 10 in. up front and 13.5 in. in the rear for the Trail, and slightly less for the Touring.  ARCTIC CAT 4-STROKE TOURING  ARCTIC CAT 658CC TRIPLE Polaris Frontier The new Polaris 4-stroke is essentially a 2-stroke 700 Classic equipped with a 4-stroke, 784cc, fuel-injected Parallel Twin of 48 hp. You can plan on 25 mpg in normal riding, which gives a 300-mile range from the 12-gal. tank. Like other models, the Frontier uses what Polaris calls its EDGE chassis with a single trailing-arm front suspension and Fast M-10 or an EDGE Touring rear suspension. The single-seat Classic model has a 121-in. track, the 2-passenger Touring has a 136-in. track. Among other features are a dual-piston caliper disc brake, an electric start, Reverse and adjustable hand warmers. Prices are $7399 for the Frontier Classic and $7899 for the Frontier Touring.  POLARIS FRONTIER  POLARIS 784CC TWIN "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/outdoors/a222/1278041/>