Nothing wrong with the older cats. In fact the 03 F7 was a hot sled in its day and still one of the faster production sleds produced. It had a hot tune and were hit and miss for relaibility, bro-in-law is extremely hard on his and still goes like runs pretty hard after 5400 miles.

Newer cats do have some design flaws but once again hit and miss with the problems. The torque-link thing they designed is horrible and either eats belts left and right or ya get lucky with it. Fit and finish was yet to be desired but it was a rushed to production sled so maybe this next year will be better. Can't beat the relaibilty of the 800 engine they have tho, they are great platforms and handle mods well, MY10-12.

I take it most your riding will be on trail since you are looking at a F series.. personally I would look for a later model crossfire in like 141 length, still good on trails but gives you option off trail where the real fun is.


Just learning to ride tho buy as new as you can afford with the best technology, your body will thank you for it riding trails. Also more importantly get good gear!

 

I would get a trailer to tow the sled with. You can put them in the truck but who really wants to lift a 400 + pound sled to load it. When I bought my truck I wanted a 6.5ft bed but couldn't find them anywhere and I didn't want to order. So I ended up with a 5.5 and now need to get a trailer to haul my sled around. My new sled is a Polaris Assault 144 so I could fit in there with the tailgate down and have a few feet hanging out if I really wanted to.

 

Those F7's are extremely fast, and so are the yamaha 700 SRX's. Those sleds can definitely hit 110mph if speed is your thing and you can save some money from buying new.

 

Your correct most of my riding will e on trails in vt , ny and nh.
I do plan on trying to ride fresh powered as like u said its fun

 

How come people always say the 03's are the fastest. The f7 is hands down the most popular sled where I'm from and I've seen lots of 03's get beat by later model year f7's I've seen tons of f7 vs f7 races and the 03 is no faster then any of the others, in fact my buddy has an 05 with reverse stock and he waxes my other buddy's 03 with no reverse and mods. I dunno not tryin to stir up crap just hasnt been what I've seen

 

Powder is wicked fun and an f7 will go through it better then you may think. But if you want true on/off trail performance buy a crossover sled as stated before such as a crossfire in a 141" length

 

That is Henry's Lake outlet in Idaho. Avalanche danger was too high that day and was puking snow on us so visibilty sucked, so played in the trees all day in 3-4' of powder.

 

10-4. Beautiful riding it looks like

 

Quit trying to stir **** up. Lol. 03 f7 had 10 tooth drivers and hotter burning ecu's. It all comes down to clutching. You could have all the power in the world but if it aint clutched right ya got nothin. The 04's and later had .9 tooth drivers. To the OP. you should try and trailer them inside to keep the salt off them the salt will really chew up your sled

 

03's are said to be the fastest as they were wicked lean from the factory and had a goofy calibration in the CDI box that was on par with the race teams setup. It was a hot sled and the combo in them were very hard to beat (doesn't hurt when you are only spinning a 13 and change wide track). LOTS of burn downs in that year sled obviously, especially if they left it in the 5500-7k rpm range where it was leanest, in 04 they reset them to be richer in fuel. Granted lots of sleds out there now that will beat it and you always get a couple that run REALLY good from factory (hell my 07 144 rmk could keep up with that f7 but it would ping a little even on 91 with a spalsh of AV gas... that sled was fun... )

Lots of fast sleds out there right now such as the 4 stroke turbos... but for my riding off trail and at 10kft I could not handle one of those 700lb beasts to throw around or unstick. I went light weight and decided to add power, much cheaper imo to increase power over dropping weight. (Although if I rode trail and trail only I would be all over a boosted short track nytro... haha)