Arctic Cat’s XF series breathes new life to its crossover segment.
Hear ye all, assembled for today’s lesson. Whether stout believer in the Arctic Cat history, or skeptic of the lofty claims you’ve been hearing, reading and repeating – take heed to what cometh. Cat’s striking, new Procross chassis is across its performance segment, which means the aged (by today’s standard) Crossfire machines are only available as non-currents. The new-for-’12 XF series is the Crossfire successor, and the premium package, in LXR trim in this script, is a crossover machine that will have mass appeal.
While the engine is the returning (and bulletproof) 1056cc parallel four-stroke twin, it breathes new life sitting in the significantly lighter XF chassis. In the power to weight game, we think things have improved some with the 125 or so horsepower, dragging fewer pounds. Cat is not necessarily open-book about its weight figures, especially on these first year production sleds. We know by comparison that the F series is 50-some pounds lighter than the Twin Spars they replace, but no word on savings comparing XF as replacer to M-based Crossfires.
The driveline is said by Cat engineers to bring about some new efficiency. As stated in previous OSMs, the traditional chain/gear driveline is not old technology, with its fixed center distance and Torque Control Link. Less friction, therefore less drag is the claim. Perhaps it was us feeling like we were riding the new Holy Grail of sleds – this is a long sermon just to tell you that the new 1100 four stroke feels like it has new life with a healthy bit of bottom and mid-range torque that pulls smoothly to full shift-out.
Its striking appearance draws attention like the burning bush itself. Its attractive, styled lines and body cladding are available in black, green, or a limited version in white and orange, if you were quick to worship and purchased in the spring.
Sitting under the XF LXR luxury packaging is a 141-inch Cobra track with 1.25-inch lugs. It’s a good match for the power and the machine has overall balance and footprint enough for the occasional exodus off the trail into deeper white brilliance. A center grab strap is there for drivers to have added leverage for maneuvers that test faith.
The pulpit from where a rider will bear witness to all those seekers of more information – and they will be asked questions about how it rides and handles – is a comfortable place from which to sing its praises. Ergonomics are refined and shaped around a driver in a way that meets requirements of modern sleds: sit down/stand up, rider forward with careful attention to comfort. The front of the seat is tapered for easy maneuvering, and the two-piece tapered tunnel has a narrow topside that makes it easier and more comfortable to straddle.
Like the other Procross sleds, the front suspension is entirely new and steers predictably, in part due to the super-tall spindles. We like it. The rear is the returning FasTrack skid with several clever updates for durability and just-plain better engineering.
A sled with this much new is hardly evolution – why, some may think the mere suggestion is blasphemy. And it’s the sum of the new parts that make us believe it’s born again.
Where to start . I put an rear air bag suspension in my cooike sheet Polaris in 1993. My welding didn’t hold up, but I had the right idea. In 1995 I built a sled using an after market extra deep tunnel and extra tall homemade seat so my knees didn’t have to work so hard. When the Summit rider forward came out I knew that would be my next sled.I was tired of fixing every week to ride the next weekend. However I could not leave the 2004 800HO Summit stock. There were a couple of obvious problems. No heated running boards and the TRA primary clutch. It was like BRP was not prepared to go all the way with the best ideas of what mountains sleds needed, especially the pride BRP has in their old 40 hp 250 pound Elan TRA.Today I ride a stock 2007 800R Summit 162 holey track, heated running boards, tall window, and the Comet 109 four post primary, and DJ helix secondary, with 21 43 gearing. I have 10,000 km of mountain riding on the sled, so this winter I will rebearing the entire unit. I don’t care for the XP chassis, so I’ll wait for the next chassis series before thinking of buying.I ride with experienced people who are on Arctic Cat Mountain Turbo, Polaris Dragon, and MX Express Yamaha sleds. No one leaves me behind, and if a trail needs to be set, I go in first on my 07 Summit, simply because of what the Summit will do.My suggestion to BRP is to heat the inside corner of the running boards (because it is simple and cheap to doo) and start offering the Comet clutch on the mountain sleds (if BRP doesn’t want to build their own primary).YamaDoo PolCat, the best of all worlds.