I’ve recently been in touch with Chris Bell from Premier Recreational Products Corp.  It seems a few readers have had questions, which I of course am not at all qualified to answer, so instead I’ve asked Chris to come on over here, where I’ll gladly post the questions and he can come answer–accurately, straight from the “horse’s mouth”.

The word from Chris is that the first limited-run production has sold out, but dealers are still taking deposits, and a mid-season launch is most likely.  Release for 2011 models is planned for early summer, with a full production expected, and momentum continuing to build!  …So maybe a few growing pains, but it sounds like good things are happening, and we wish them well!

Questions For Chris Bell & Premier RC

Kicking it off, here are a few questions readers had.  Chris should be stopping by in the comments, so keep a look out for his answers, and email me with anything more you want to know!

Here are our first three from reader Gregg:

#1 – How long (time wise) to change a drive belt for a consumer?
#2– are any parts made in the USA?– what parts?
#3–When will ALL dealers have display sleds?

From my inbox….

Polaris/Victory Adds the Cardo Scala Rider® Q2™ Bluetooth®

Rider to Rider Intercom Helmet Headset to Its Product Assortment

2009 Pittsburgh, PA (November 19th, 2009) Cardo Systems, Inc., the world’s market leader in wireless Bluetooth® communications for motorcycle and all-terrain helmet headsets, today announced its new distribution partnership with Polaris & Victory Motorcycles.

Polaris is well known within the industry as an expert in design and manufacturing of off-road vehicles and snowmobiles. Victory Motorcycles specializes in the manufacturing of American-made motorcycles for the touring and cruiser motorcycle enthusiasts. Polaris & Victory Motorcycles will become the newest valued addition to Cardo’s targeted distribution channel to carry the Cardo Scala Rider® Q2™ Bluetooth® headset featuring rider to rider intercom communication up to 500m/1,640ft*

“We are very pleased to be forming this relationship with Polaris & Victory Motorcycles,” said Abraham Glezerman, Chairman and CEO of Cardo Systems. “Both companies are leaders and experts in their fields; Cardo, at providing the most innovative and technically advanced Bluetooth® helmet headsets with features that are ground-breaking to the industry and Polaris and Victory Motorcycles, as a leader in the development of an array of advanced, fun-to-ride off and on-road vehicles for a multitude of riding enthusiasts across markets, including ATV, side-by-side, motorcycle and snowmobile markets. Both companies strive to continue to redefine a rider’s experience.”

“Adding the Cardo Scala Rider system to our catalog is a natural fit’” says Jason Toso of Victory Motorcycles. “We strive to engineer the best American luxury cruisers and touring motorcycles on the market, and an industry leader such as Cardo is a perfect accessory for our products and our owners, particularly as our touring line has developed.”

The Cardo SCALA RIDER® Q2™ headset features all-terrain rider to rider intercom communications up to 500m/1,640ft, depending on traffic, terrain and line of site. It also allows riders to connect wirelessly by Bluetooth® to one of the following audio sources including: in-helmet voice instructions from a GPS unit, mobile phone conversations with third parties and intercom conversations with passengers and with other riders. The headsets also feature high-quality FM radio transmissions from the embedded FM radio. It sports a noise-canceling microphone and speaker booster and is fully rain, snow and mud resistant. A MP3 player can be connected to the headset’s embedded auxiliary jack to receive wired STEREO music. Whether you are riding your motorcycle, ATV, side-by-side, or snowmobile, the SCALA RIDER® Q2™ is a great way to communicate with another rider.

The Cardo SCALA RIDER® Q2™ headset (Polaris part number 2859994) is now available from your local authorized Polaris or Victory Dealer or online at www.purepolaris.com.

*results may vary according to terrain

About Cardo Systems, Inc.

Cardo Systems, Inc., headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, is a world leader in motorsports wireless Bluetooth® communication systems. Cardo products include the SCALA-RIDER® line of innovative helmet-mounted Bluetooth® headsets, audio kits and accessories for motorcycle helmets.

About Polaris

With annual 2008 sales of $1.9 billion, Polaris designs, engineers, manufactures and markets off-road vehicles (ORVs), including all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and the Polaris RANGER(tm), snowmobiles and Victory Motorcycles for recreational and utility use. Polaris is a recognized leader in the snowmobile industry, and one of the largest manufacturers of ORVs in the world. Victory Motorcycles, established in 1998 and representing the first all-new American-made motorcycle from a major company in nearly 60 years, are rapidly making impressive in-roads into the cruiser and touring motorcycle marketplace. Polaris also enhances the riding experience with a complete line of Pure Polaris apparel, accessories and parts, available at Polaris dealerships. Polaris Industries Inc. trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “PII,” and the Company is included in the S&P Small-Cap 600 stock price index. Information about the complete line of Polaris products, apparel and vehicle accessories, is available from authorized Polaris dealers or anytime from the Polaris homepage at www.polarisindustries.com.

The news just keeps coming out on these “3/4″ snowmobiles from Premier.  Recently American Snowmobiler‘s Mark Boncher test rode the sleds and talked with developer Chris Bell.  He had great things to report on the AmSnow blog…

Initial Impressions Of Premier 200 and 300 cc Snowmobiles

Here’s a taste of what Mark had to say, or you can read the full text of the Premier Snowbile Review initial report here.

Initial impressions:

• …”sleds are extremely stable…”
• “…responsive steering on the trails…”
• “…suspensions are extremely capable…” (even with 175 pound adult rider)
• “…all the bells and whistles…current full-sized sleds come with…”
• “The fun factor is high on these sleds!”

Not bad, not bad at all.  That’s just a taste of what was said, and just a list of initial impressions.  I’d expect we’ll be hearing more in the weeks and months to come.

Don’t forget, I’ll be interviewing Chris Bell (President of Premier) myself via email, and there’s still some time to get your questions in.  Comment below or contact me via the SledChix Contact Page, and I’ll be sure to add yours to the list!

I introduced Premier Recreational Products Corporation the other day, in this quick blog post about Premier RCP. I have to say, I’m pretty excited by this company and their concept. The sleds caught my eye first, as the goal is to serve the underserved niche-markets that are not well represented in today’s snowmobile marketplace. In the future, according to Premier’s website, that could mean just about anything sledders want to see, and they’re open to suggestions. For the time being, they’re off to a great start with the introduction of their 2010 line aimed at serving that in-between set of riders of roughly (speculating a bit here) ten to fourteen-ish?

A Company With Family-Vision

This is what I really love about what I’m reading about Premier–this is a company with a vision that is building its foundations on the enjoyment and family-friendliness of the sport. It’s not a company trying to produce the next biggest, loudest, fastest, it’s a company trying to preserve the true integrity of snowmobiling by making sure there are good, safe, ride-worthy options for riders of all ages and levels. Here’s a snippet from their “About” page:

“Premier began with a vision: A remembrance of the snowmobile marketplace of old, a different view of what the marketplace of today should be. As the parent of three riders that were quickly outgrowing their 120 cc snowmobliles, this became a personal quest to reintroduce updated models to fill these current family segment market holes.

So, almost three years ago the idea to form a new snowmobile company began. We would be determined to build great products and to concentrate our efforts to build products to fill in the market gaps. We would re-introduce some highly successful, but long forgotten model segments. We would also introduce some new model segments along the way. What we would not do is follow in anyone else’s footsteps or build more of the product classes already well represented.”

An Important Snowmobile Market To Serve

In my own humble opinion (and you know I’m right ), this matters a lot. I think that introducing kids to the sport of snowmobiling gives them a healthy and positive outlet, and giving them the right machines that they can handle is essential. Kids seem to be naturally great riders, and with the right skills, attention, guidance, and equipment, they can all grow up to be the next generation of conscientious riders, out there enjoying the sport for all that it’s worth and probably all the better than us for having it!

What Would You Ask Chris Bell, President Of Premier RCP?

I’m excited about what Chris Bell and the crew are doing at RCP, and can’t wait to hear more about it. As luck would have it, Chris saw my post the other day and has been in contact with me, and agreed to do an interview with me via email. I’ve got a growing list of questions, but let’s make the most of this opportunity!

Comment below or Contact me and tell me…

What Do You Want To Know from Chris Bell and Premier Recreational Products?

OK, I’m off now to put the finishing touches on our “Enforcer Fund” can.  Donations gladly accepted…you can contact me for that too .

I’ve just come across this company, a U.S. start-up, in the recent American Snowmobiler newsletter.  Apparently AmSnow’s been talking about them, but I must be miserably behind on my reading.

Premier Recreational Products Corp Introduces 2010 Sleds For The ‘Tween Crowd

Premier Recreational Products Corp is a family-based Michigan business grown out of one family’s snowmobiling enthusiasm, and apparent real skill at building custom snowmobiles.  Premier set out to stake out their own niche in the snowmobile marketplace by serving a very underserved crowd–the ‘tween set of riders too big for the 120′s and yet too small for the next larger options.  I am learning all too quickly how soon this becomes a problem, as our almost 10 year old is already eating knees, and won’t make another year on the 120.  So this is very cool stuff for me, indeed!

Premier’s line-up is starting out with a 200 and 300 Enforcer, that you can see here.  I’ll do a little more digging on the company while you all watch this YouTube video of the Premier 2010 sleds.

Don’t miss out on more news on Premier RCP–SUBSCRIBE to the SledChix snowmobile blog now! It’s easy and ensures you never miss a post!

It’s a great time to buy for a snowmobiler!  From last years’ leftover sleds to the new sleds (Polaris Rush tempting anyone?) and preorders, and then of course to the season-end apparel close-outs, this might just be the best time to buy ahead for the next year!

Lots of dealers and online sellers are advertising huge deals on snowmobile parts, snowmobile accessories, and snowmobile clothing and apparel.  Dennis Kirk has an online snowmobile outlet store, and they’re advertising up to 90% off on some items.  It doesn’t get any better than that!  By the way, a lot of these guys have opened up shop on Ebay, so there’s an option for some year-round snowmobile bargain hunting.  Dennis Kirk has one, you can see their eBay store here.

One of the reasons I like to buy now as opposed to in October when all the fresh new snowmobile catalogs come out–besides the great prices–is that by now I’ve figured out what I’ll be needing next year, and I can take the time to get ready for the next slow to fly, without be caught-out because I’d forgotten something I needed (must remember I need new skags!!!).  So all go out with your lists in hand, have some fun, spend some money, stimulate the economy a little in your favorite way, and come back here to let us know where the great deals are!!

These are fun, and simple (although they probably will not be all about snowmobiling, but likely from sled season, as that’s the only time I seem to have a camera out!).

It’s easy to play, here’s how it goes:

1. I post a picture, and kick it off with a caption, unless I decide to let you guys take the lead.

2. You comment below, coming up with your own unique caption for the photo.

That’s it. But what would make this even more fun would be if you guys all sent me some pics to play along with, too (sledderchick@gmail.com)! Let’s give it a shot!

Caption This Snowmobile Picture

My Caption: Ride like a Man Your Mother!!

What’s yours?

This might possibly be what my kids were doing whilst I was away riding–found these in with the downloaded snowmobile pictures!! (Click on any picture to see it larger).

And The Crowd Goes Wild

Don’t forget to download your 2009 snowmobile pictures and send them along, too!  Contact me through the SeldChix blog Contact Page.

And in case you missed it, here’s a link to the the 2009 Snowmobile Season Photo Album Part I

I promised random postings of pictures from the trail and 2009 snowmobile season, so here goes!

2009 Snowmobiling Pictures

Mary Ward, Shari Hanson, Lori Crevier, Sarah Woodis

Getting Ready to Ride

Helmet Head

Snowmobiling in the Royalston, Masachusetts area - Gus & Shari Hanson, Craig Hosley, Bill Ward

Gus & Shari, still happy after all these years (Now that they have snowmobiles again, that is!)

Craig, patiently awaiting Bill to decide the course

Snowmobile trail in Winchendon, MA, Lake Dennison/Otter River area

Share Your Pics From The Season

Don’t be stingy, share the fun!  Let us see some pics from your favorite rides this year and make it a real community photo album.  You’ll find contact info on the SeldChix Blog Contact page, send them there!

Kristy Martin was kind enough to update us on the Carve for the Curves Event that was held last weekend.  The event enjoyed great support from several companies and countless individuals.  Looks like all had an excellent ride for an even more excellent cause!

First Annual Carve for the Curves

Here’s an update from Kristy:

Well the benefit first annual Carve for the Curves went off without a hitch!!! It was a fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen, for the Cure, Aspen, to help fight breast cancer. It was held on Saturday March 7, 2009. Over 45 people showed up and we had a great lunch buffet, the door prizes were a hit. I had some great donations from Scott USA, Klim, HMK, Alpine Bank, R & A Electric, and many other local businesses, which ranged from baseball caps, coats, gift certificates to 4 seats at a Colorado Rockies game, and 4 seats to a Colorado Avalanch game. I have raised so far over $1,400.00 to be donated, and of course checks are still showing up. I want to thank all of you who donated, participated and that wished me well!!

Still Time to Donate

Kristy says there is still time to donate to this event.  You can either contact Kristy Martin through her website or donate directly via PayPal to kristy@kristy-martin.com.  Donations will be accepted until Friday, March 20.  THis donation is tax deductible as well.  Contact Kristy at the above address or through her Backcountry Riding Website and she will be happy to provide you with a recipt for use on your 2009 taxes.

Snowmobile Pictures from Carve for the Curves, 2009

Kristy Martin, 2009 Carve for the Curves