Industry firsts for yamaha snowmobiles.

Cooper0809

Cooper0809

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Just wondering what all yamaha has started in the snowmobile industry the others have copied or not, my buddy says arctic cat started a lot of industry firsts....but he is a born cat guy, I'm born with blue blood. Hoping yamaha started more....any of you guys know any history on yamaha sleds?
 
Slide valve carbs, oil injection, self cleaning powervalves, high performance 4 stroke, power steering. Not sure but i think Nikasil** cylinders and digital gauge could be on the list.
 
Oh and the new performance dampers. The ripsaw tracks are a collaberation between yamaha and comoplast also. Not very educated on the early early sleds
 
Variable handwarmers, hydraulic drive. They had multi angle helixes and adjustable clutch weights in the 80's or before, I think before anyone else. Had stock halogen headlight bulbs early - don't know if they were first.
As much as I like Yamaha and dislike Arctic Cat, I think Cat is going to take this one. They have had a bigger presence in the snowmobile world than Yamaha and have done a lot over the years.

Some information here, under 'Yamaha Firsts"

http://www.snowmobile.com/events/fun-facts-for-pit-stops-1838.html
 
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I believe Polaris should be taking the credit for slide carbs. They were using them as early as 1968. I believe yamaha was late to the game with plated cylinders too, I know my 73 Rupp Nitro had chrome bores and Im pretty my 73 Eltigre had chrome cylinders too. One thing yamaha did pioneer is oil injection and building very reliable sleds early on. Since I ride late 80's and early 90's Yamahas I wish they would have had a good braking system back then. I have a couple of my sleds converted to a polaris hydraulic brake.
 
Throttle Junkie35 said:
I believe Polaris should be taking the credit for slide carbs. They were using them as early as 1968. I believe yamaha was late to the game with plated cylinders too, I know my 73 Rupp Nitro had chrome bores and Im pretty my 73 Eltigre had chrome cylinders too. One thing yamaha did pioneer is oil injection and building very reliable sleds early on. Since I ride late 80's and early 90's Yamahas I wish they would have had a good braking system back then. I have a couple of my sleds converted to a polaris hydraulic brake.
Click to expand...

Yamaha claims the 68 sl350 was first to have slide carbs.
 
They very well could have, but im guessing that it was a one year deal. Polaris was using them at the same time and continued using them. I believe it wasnt until 1976 on the Exciter and SRX that yamaha truely started using slides. Even then, they kept using those crappy butterfly floats until around 2001 on some sleds.
For the most part, I dont think of Yamaha being truely innovative. I see them as being very good at refining current ideas. I think oil injection was a true innovation for the sport and well as taking the leap into 4 strokes. I think some of the finest sleds ever built are the 2stroke vipers myself. There was nothing really innovative or new about them. They were just an extremely refined, amazing machine.
 
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