MX-Z Man on 2/27/2002 9:47:00 PM
Well I got a chance to ride the REV last night. The conditions to test it were perfect except for some intermentent visiablity problems. The trails were full of 1-2 footers, junk corners, tight turns, and decent straights. For comparison I brought my VERY well dialed in ''02 700X. The REV was the sled making the rounds at various dealers and had used by many. I was somewhat surprised at the results.
My first impression: The REV absolutely makes bumps go away. They are non-existant. The seating position was as natural as you cuold possiably have. The moving windshield is a non-issue as is the rear snowflap. I took it down the trail in a shakedown run, getting the feel of the sled. It does not take 2 hours to get used to, it takes about 2 minutes, if that long. Its sweet. After a short run I picked up the speed (actually WOT) in the straights, again, no bumps through the 1-2 footers. I slowed down and into the severely rutted corner and it was slightly upset, although not out of control. Back on the gas for some more straights, its good. Back to get my sled for a back-to-back.
My 700X, same trail: Geez, its about the same quality of ride, actually more stable through the corner. Better go back and get the REV for another, longer run.
REV again: Same trail, only a longer, farther run. About the same results. At this time one of my riding buddys was on my 700X. We put the 2 side-by-side through the straight 1-2 footers. The sleds were absolutely even from start to finish, side-by-side, all the way to the end of the trail. Well...
We stopped and discussed what we all liked about each of the sleds and did some more short and longer runs.
Last REV run: LONG run, through some real junk. The sled works great, seems somewhat squirrly sometimes, turning in air but easily corrected.
Last 700X run: Same stretch of trail, perfect. God I love that sled!
Final Impressions: The REV is a great sled. It will make good riders out of bad riders. Many who THINK they can ride will wreck it. Believe me. I think this sled would make an awesome touring sled because of the natural upright riding position. Personally I thought I was going to HAVE to have one. I don''t. I like my 700X at least as well, if not better. I''m not trading. I do think SD is making a mistake not offering the X package in the ZX-X chassis. I do think if your not on a ''02 X you''ll find it to be way better than what your currently on. If I had to buy either one new today I''m not really sure what I''d do.
For the record the trails doing our side-by-sides on were straight, flat(but rutted), and completely empty. I put about 25 miles on the sled throughout the night. We were the ONLY sleds on this section of trail. We were putting no other sleds in danger, and we were NOT drinking. The other riders testing this sled were SD and Cat riders. The Cat guy was trading this week (hes buying it) and I''m not sure what the SD guys are doing.
You''ve got to try it, its great, but so is my current sled...Good luck and enjoy.