Guys Ride 2010, Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend ride! Options

[drifterdude440]

The warm weather here didn't hold me back!! Midweek last week it warmed up to the mid to upper 30s around here in Michigan. I was scared for our annual Guys Ride weekend (He-man-woman-haters ride) but everything turned out well. I was in northwestern Michigan last Thursday - Sunday and got to put some actual riding miles on the Drifter! As the weekend wore on the conditions of the snow got worse and worse so for our big ride Saturday, we decided to ride the four wheelers instead of abusing the sleds. There were 19 of us riders in all (down from 27 last year because of the weather). Wouldn't you know it though, I brought my digital camera and the only time I took pictures (of my sled) was when I was loading it on the trailer to head home.

I did manage to take a few pictures of the fourwheeling ride but what was even cooler is that one of the guys brought up a helmet cam he found on ebay. With his helmet cam and my video camera we were able to take some pretty cool footage when 6 of us took about a 100 mile sledding adventure. We were only able to film about an hour worth of video and I had to slim it down to under 10 minutes for Youtube but it worked. The video doesn't show anything too exciting, but it was fun nonetheless!

As I said before, I had only put about 7 miles on my snowmobile since I got it and about all of those miles were with it propped up on jack stands. Well I was happy to put over 120 miles or so with no major issues. Only real "issue" I had was with the 5 pin connector vibrating loose that powers the lights, etc. Also, with the snirty/smuddy snow and warm weather, my hyfax wore down quite a bit it seems (lots of sand in the area) but oh well! I was able to hit a top speed of about 62.8 MPH from what the GPS told me. The speedo was reading pretty darn close to that too so I'm pretty happy! Now onto a couple pictures and the helmet cam video!

Helmet Cam Video

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v394/trebor85/DSCF0715.jpg)

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v394/trebor85/DSCF0714.jpg)

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v394/trebor85/DSCF0710.jpg)

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v394/trebor85/DSCF0711.jpg)

[drifterdude440]

What are typical top speeds of a drifter? As you see above, I was able to hit about 62-63 MPH.

[the great jashu]

I would think 60 plus is great for a Drifter. They werent built to be rockets.

Thanks for sharing the story. There are a few of us on here from Michigan, maybe we should put something like that together for us.

[macdaddy]

I would think 60 plus is great for a Drifter. They werent built to be rockets.

Thanks for sharing the story. There are a few of us on here from Michigan, maybe we should put something like that together for us.

I agree, I read all the time about MN and WI rides. I havent heard anything about the ride they used to do around Hastings MI for quite some time. Let me know if you put something together. Thanks

[drifterdude440]

I would think 60 plus is great for a Drifter. They werent built to be rockets.

Thanks for sharing the story. There are a few of us on here from Michigan, maybe we should put something like that together for us.

I agree, I read all the time about MN and WI rides. I havent heard anything about the ride they used to do around Hastings MI for quite some time. Let me know if you put something together. Thanks

Cool. If 60+ is normal for a Drifter, then I'm happy. Fast enough for me, haha. Thanks, it was a fun weekend and rewarding after working on the sled all summer. Yea, any excuse to go riding would be nice...bring on the snow already! haha

[Yotadieselboy]

Love the drifter, man she's clean, eh!

I've got a 79 340 Drifter ES that i've put a 1980 340 motor in because it has CDI and I ditched the old electric start because it was only needed with the old points motor really...

I must say between my LTD and the drifter if the conditions are right, deep snow, cold day/night the drifter is my choice of the two. She sips fuel (compared the the LTD) floats like it's a boat, and because it stays on top the snow it goes pretty darn quick....

I've always loved watching people get stuck going through the deep stuff when the drifter just cruises on threw... really well built machines... It took me a while to respect the thing because of it not having a jack shaft and being a lower performance motor... They seriously seem to just keep going and going!

Take good care of her, she's a rare gem these days my friend...

It's honestly amazing how much you can bring that gel coated hood back to life, mine almost looks as nice as yours and it was pretty rough oxidisation wise when I got it...

again Enjoy!!!

Eric

[drifterdude440]

Love the drifter, man she's clean, eh!

I've got a 79 340 Drifter ES that i've put a 1980 340 motor in because it has CDI and I ditched the old electric start because it was only needed with the old points motor really...

I must say between my LTD and the drifter if the conditions are right, deep snow, cold day/night the drifter is my choice of the two. She sips fuel (compared the the LTD) floats like it's a boat, and because it stays on top the snow it goes pretty darn quick....

I've always loved watching people get stuck going through the deep stuff when the drifter just cruises on threw... really well built machines... It took me a while to respect the thing because of it not having a jack shaft and being a lower performance motor... They seriously seem to just keep going and going!

Take good care of her, she's a rare gem these days my friend...

It's honestly amazing how much you can bring that gel coated hood back to life, mine almost looks as nice as yours and it was pretty rough oxidisation wise when I got it...

again Enjoy!!!

Eric

Thanks Eric! And yea, at first I wanted electric start but my sled only takes 2 pulls and she's running, so that's nice to show off, haha.

I was pretty happy with how mine did in the deep stuff also. I'm a new snowmobiler in general so I have nothing really to compare the Drifter to but it did well! A buddy of mine was doubtful of the quickness and weight of my sled but he took a ride a was surprised how easy it was to lift it (to turn it around) and the speed, being it's an older snowmobile.

Looks like the snow is done for the season...bummer...so I'll be working on it a bit more this summer. I believe mine was always stored inside so that helped with the apearance of it. A quick wax though still cleaned it up pretty nice. I'll definitely take care of her. The last real cosmetic thing to do yet is to replace the old broken plastic vent grills. I'll have to post some pictures of those when I get to them. Thanks again for the comments!

By the way, I love your action shot of your Drifter! Maybe I'll get an actual action shot of mine someday, haha.