Top 3 Snowmobile Accessories for 2019 from OEMs
The ‘Big Four’ snowmobile manufacturers have come out with their parts and accessories catalogs for 2019, so here’s our take on the top 3 snowmobile accessories available this winter for Ski-Doo, Polaris, Yamaha and Arctic Cat mountain sleds!
BRP Ski-Doo Top 3 Snowmobile Accessories 2019
1 LinQ Slim Waterproof Tunnel Bag
The LinQ Slim Waterproof Tunnel Bag is really low profile. No more puffy, black lunch box on your tunnel! It’s built with rigid material on the outside, and inside there is a waterproof roll-top to keep everything dry. You can also store an assembled shovel on top of the pack! Don’t forget, you need to carry an avalanche shovel in your pack at all times as well.
2 Ride-On-Cover
We’ve all at one time struggled to secure a sled cover while standing up high on an icy sled deck, sometimes in the dark (or every time for some riders!). Ski-Doo has addressed this problem with its Ride-On-Cover system. It’s pretty cool.
Basically, you put the cover on the sled and make all the adjustments. A velcro/quick release buckle combination opens up to reveal your handlebars. Then you simply ride the sled up onto the deck like normal! Once parked, close up the opening and you’re ready to go. None of that walking around the front, attaching clips around spindles and running boards while you’re up there.
3 FORTY7C Performance Seat
If it’s got Carl Kuster’s number on it, you know it was thoughtfully designed to help mountain riders perform better. This diminutive seat is not only lower, narrower and shorter than the stock Summit Gen4 seat, but its also lighter. The seat as features purposefully-located grippy material as well.
Yamaha Top 3 Snowmobile Accessories 2019
1 Engine Stop Tether
This should be on Polaris’ list too, but there’s no sense saying it twice. If you ride in the mountains, you need to add a tether! It’s not even really an accessory, more like a necessity. This should be your number one item in the cart.
2 Front Grab Bar
Even 200-class horsepower won’t bail you out of every jam. And when you do eventually get stuck, you’ll want something beefy upfront for your friends to grab while you pin and wiggle as if your life depends on it. Spool that puppy up and let your sledding buddies do all the hard work!
The Front Grab Bar also provides some beneficial additional protection to the nose of your sled. The aluminum bars cover more of the nose, while a pair of downtubes help protect the underbelly which houses the intercooler. You can’t afford not to put some protection in place there.
3 Windshield Pack
The 2019 Sidewinder M-TX LE comes with a nice little behind-the-seat waterproof bag, but you can never have too much storage on your sled. With the Yamaha Windshield Pack, you can convert the space behind your windshield into usable storage space! Cool.
The pack is water-resistant, semi-rigid material that looks great.
Polaris Top 3 Snowmobile Accessories 2019
1 Polaris PIEPS Jet Force avalanche airbag
Polaris has teamed up with PIEPS to offer a Polaris branded avalanche airbag. Right on! The airbag uses a proven, electrically-powered fan inflation system. What’s neat about the pack is that the system doesn’t require a heavy battery—a supercapacitor does most of the grunt work! The system can be recharged by USB, or in forty minutes by two AA-batteries in the field. That means if you ever need to deploy the airbag, you’ll be able to charge it and have it ready to be used a second time if necessary.
The pack itself has a modest 20-liter volume, with a dedicated probe and shovel compartment. As sledders, we would have liked to see an external shovel carry—but hey! This is a great start! It’s awesome to see the manufacturers making an effort to help keep mountain users safe.
2 Burandt Adventure Tunnel Bag
Okay, so this has been out for a couple of years as well, but it’s a winner. And let’s face it, the new Ski-Doo slim tunnel bag was developed because this one is so practical for carrying gear. It’s low-profile, which means snow isn’t going to get hung up and drag when you’re carving or sidehilling. An inside ledge and separate compartments keep all your stuff in place when you pop the inside zip open. And finally, big buckles make it easy to open and close with gloves on.
3 Monarch Front Bumper
You like tree-riding, don’t you, Mr. Polaris? Well, the stock bumper on your 2019 PRO-RMK AXYS 850 doesn’t exactly provide the most coverage for when your skis can’t decide which way to go around a tree at 50 cc faster this winter.
The Monarch Front Bumper not only provides extended coverage across the nose of the sled, but also down under the belly. And, it comes painted with your choice of eight colours that will match your sled’s factory colour scheme perfectly.
Arctic Cat Top 3 Snowmobile Accessories 2019
1 Rail Brace Kit
Want to beef up your modern M or Mountain Cat a little? The same rail braces installed on the 2019 Hardcore model are now available for your to bolt on your ’17-19 M or Mountain Cat sled. Bring on booter season!
2 Pro Mtn Bumper
In the interest of keeping sleds as light as possible, all manufacturers produce a pretty skimpy front bumper. However, for every mountain sledder who likes to get up-close and personal with trees (and that’s all of us BTW), Arctic Cat offers an option with significantly more protection.
The Pro Mtn Bumper features an open design with more protection than a lot of other options out there. They come powder coated in all the Arctic Cat colours, so you know it’ll match up nicely.
3 Mountain Pack
Okay, so maybe we’re flogging the low-profile tunnel bag to death, but they’re just that good! And it’s nice to know you can find one that will specifically fit your brand of sled.
The Arctic Cat version has an external carrying system that will accept a broken-down shovel and handle separately. It uses a zippered-closure instead of buckles, which eliminates straps altogether. The large version features a healthy 28-liter capacity.
Bonus Stuff!
It was hard to pick just the top 3 snowmobile accessories from each OEM, so here are a few bonus items we liked!
Polaris/OGIO 9800 Rig Roller duffel
This is more gear than accessory, but whatever—it’s pretty great. The Rig Roller is a huge rolling duffel bag with specialized gear compartments, including a padded helmet chamber. The lid opens up wide for easy access, and it’s got a telescoping handle in case you need to roll it anywhere. It’s the perfect way to cart your gear around on those road trips this winter. Roll it under your sled deck, and you’re good to go.
Camso DTS 129 Snow Bike Kit
This comes from the Yamaha accessory catalog. You know you want to! If you’ve got already got a WR450F collecting dust in your garage all winter anyway, then why not? But really, the DTS 129 Snow Bike Kit will work with many different makes and models of dirt bike. So if you’ve thought about giving a snow bike a try, this could be your chance.
Ski-Doo LinQ Removable Snowflap
In case you haven’t noticed, many of the backcountry freestyle guys like to run their sleds without a snowflap nowadays. Basically, if you want to look cool out there, you’ve gotta get on the program! Delete that thing!
But wait, snowflaps serve a purpose, don’t they? Okay, then why not have a snowflap you can take on and off? That way, you’ll have it when you need it (for the trail in, and out) and you can ditch it when you hit the fresh pow up top. Win-win!
– MS
You can find more Mountain Sledder gear reviews and product info in our gear section.