My son and I were invited on a ride with Timbersled last year, they brought out 4 2012 and 2013 kx450's and the area sale rep had a kx500 in an al chassis with the ap carb. we rode these for 3 hours and as some would suspect I thought you would have to ring the snot out of them, not so. They told me the 2012's had over 300 hours with no internal maintenance, just oil changes. the 13's had had the forks switched because they wouldn't hold air in the cold and the one I was riding I suspected the clutch was slipping but man were they fun. As a life long sledder I was skeptical, they will go places a sled won't due to the narrowness and how nimble they are, you can almost sidehill a vertical incline. they will not climb like a snowmobile but thats not the end of the world.
My first 20 minutes I was wondering what the hell I was doing, I fell over a bunch, can't put your foot down in the soft stuff, but then it cliked and we were going like all get out for the 2.5 hours. I think if i didn't have to drive so far I would have one, and it would have to be the sx version then modified with the wider/longer track, at 6 grand you would have to be pretty serious about it.
as some would suspect I thought you would have to ring the snot out of them, not so. They told me the 2012's had over 300 hours with no internal maintenance, just oil changes.
that is surprising, maybe it's just because of the nature of how loud the 4Ts are, that makes me think they're being pushed to the limit....being a life long sledder myself, I'm probably basing it off the way I ride my 2T sled...hard.
If I ever was to get one of these, I still think I'd rather go 2T though...those 4ts make me very nervous....and my "luck" sucks.
I've not ridden one, but from videos the sidehilling back and forth (in powder) to gain altitude seemed so slow and unimpressive, compared to a sled. A good running sled a few years out is the same cost as a track for a bike.
So seeing the kind of power they're pumping out with the turbo caught my eye. Straight up is what sledding is about where I ride. Seeing 20K+ sunk into a sled isn't unusual, and I've seen brand new sleds with turbos and or NOS being towed back to the trailer, due to bad adjustments (not to remind USMC 500 about bad adjustment), like you said though Foxx4Beaver, the ability of the 4t to handle the added stress has to be affected,,,no way will it last as long.
Tracks for all-terrain also have impressed me at the Big Nasty Hillclimb close to here. However I ride trails and can't think of many places a big fat track would be easier to ride. Like everything else,,, there is a place for it,,,the tree boondocking really impresses me,,,and no where near the damage to repair if you do hit one,,, also in a steep hillclimb tip over I'm guessing the bike doesn't roll like a sled.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKiKfUB6IJY
