Street Legal Blog

Live from the World Champion Derby

2010-01-14T23:06:00.009-05:00

Hello from Eagle River, Wisconsin. Its setup time and I have a couple of pictures for the blog.

The SLS group entering the exhibition hall.
The busy bees hard at work.
Friendly event staff.
Spit, polished and ready to go.

The weather is mild this year for the show. It has been about 30 degrees since we have been here and from what I hear we have really lucked out. Check back again for updates throughout the weekend.

-Mark S.

WTF was that?

2010-01-11T12:07:00.003-05:00

I felt a little bad about having to turn off the Patriots game Sunday, but I forgot all about my sorrow when I saw how the Packers/Cards game ended. Our condolences to all Cheeseheads everywhere.

-Mark S.

Polaris Wins!

2010-01-11T11:59:00.002-05:00

Our poll anyway ;-) with a whopping 32% followed by Ski-Doo, Yamaha, and Arctic Cat.

Technically we are doing Yamaha next, but we are also doing another run of Cats, and we are working on getting a Polaris in our hands (perhaps a Pro X).

Happy New Year everyone!

-Mark S.

Delivering a kit

2009-12-14T19:05:00.002-05:00

Well we are leaving this week to deliver Marcus's Z1 back to him. It will be sad because it has become like a child to us. A definite learning experience and light years ahead of any earlier prototype. Without adjusting the front adapters at all it feels rock solid and stable as a pyramid in our preliminary test ride.

We would like to thank Ron from Ohio for his order. We are going to be producing a short run (5) of 2003-2005 Warrior kits beginning this month. Anyone with a warrior or a Yamaha with the same knuckle assembly who is interested should contact us soon. It may be a little while before we can run another batch of these. It looks like we are going to get a Polaris order going next and possibly do a manufacturing run of AWS 5,6, and 7 for Arctic Cat.

Lead time is already getting longer, dont hold off if you want to ride your sled once the snow melts.

OK, thanks for reading this.

Street Legal Z1

2009-12-14T19:03:00.001-05:00

Well almost, just a couple of finishing touches.

Z1

2009-11-25T17:39:00.002-05:00

Second Generation

2009-11-13T14:52:00.002-05:00

Special offers

2009-11-02T09:40:00.004-05:00

Hello everyone,

We are offering a Christmas special of $500.00 off the list price of a kit. The rebate is intended to help defer the installation costs. Local customers will get a free install instead of the credit.

Also we are running a "Pioneer" program. The candidate will receive another $500.00 off the price of the kit if he/she is the first in their state to go through the registration process. SLS, Inc. will provide the pioneer with information to get the ball rolling. We also stand behind every customer throughout the registration process.

We currently have several people in a handful of states interested in the promotions, so don't miss out ;)

Cheers,
Mark S.

Whats Next?

2009-10-25T23:29:00.002-04:00

I like the Yamaha sleds. That is as far as they look. I haven't ridden one yet. Still, if I had to choose to plunk 10g's or so on a sled right now, why wouldn't I buy a 150 hp Yamaha? Maybe I could look into a hybrid Apex with a VMax shaft drive ;D. However, I just looked up the MSRP of a 200 hp (new) VMax and almost died. They must be trying to compete with a VRod as far as maximum price goes :-{

BWS

T-Shirt Raffle

2009-10-14T15:04:00.002-04:00

Congratulations to Jennifer L. from W. Peterborough, NH and Dave G. from Epping, NH. Your shirts will be mailed to you soon.

Cheers,

-Mark S.

After a Deep Breath

2009-10-14T12:29:00.002-04:00

I am finally updating the blog. In an all out two-and-a-half week push to be ready for the 2009 Grass Drags in Fremont, NH, we pretty much drained our tanks. I have never attended a show as a vendor and never realized how much work goes into setting one up. A HUGE thanks goes out to Dave M. and Penny C. for making the show happen in such a spectacular way.

The show was a great success with overwhelming interest in the conversion kits. We are arranging test rides and should be taking orders this week. Thank you to everyone who came out to see us at the drags. It is awesome to meet such great people.

Our goal now is to have two sleds ready for an interview with a gentleman from Snowgoer magazine. We will have our prototype shaft drive ready for the test ride. Also the F7 will be available and i am hoping to have Marcus's Z1 there as well. I guess it depends on scheduling.

That is all for now, look for pictures from the drags soon on our flickr page and home page.

Mark S.

Production Update 09/24/2009

2009-09-24T10:44:00.002-04:00

The five kit production run is proceeding well. Components are flowing in from the machine shop and ups on a daily basis.

On top of building the kits right now we are building a start-up business and preparing for our first show. At the show we will have one or two sleds in the booth and a kit laid out on display. Also we are going to have some video of the history and performance of the sled as well as some signage about the frequently asked questions. If anyone has any suggestions about the show lets us know.

On a side note, we will be appearing in both Supertrax Magazine and American Snowmobiler in their December issues. This opportunity to showcase our product in these well known magazines is pretty exciting for us.

thanks,
Mark S.

Website Updated

2009-09-01T14:45:00.000-04:00

Check out the RSS Feed and new Gallery. Thanks Sarah!
-Mark S.

Coming to Life

2009-08-31T18:38:00.003-04:00

Started work on the axles and hubs.

Axles: 304 Stainless Steel

Some nice pictures of the F7

2009-08-31T10:06:00.003-04:00

Registered in Massachusetts

www.streetlegalsleds.com

2009-08-18T12:46:00.001-04:00

www.streetlegalsleds.com is now up and running. Please take a few minutes to go over and check it out.

The site is a work in progress, and will be updated frequently. If anyone has any input or suggestions for the site, (or for that mater the kits) please drop us an email at info@streetlegalsleds.com

Cheers,

Mark S.

Lots Going On

2009-08-13T13:10:00.005-04:00

A lot of things are coming together right now.

Gary & I (mainly Gary) have been working on "polishing" the handling of the F7. We changed the rear shock, adjusted camber & toe in the front end, and lowered tire pressure all around. All these adjustments were to reduce transitional over steer. The machine corners like a slot car; we felt these changes were necessary to tame the machine down a little. Everything seems to be working very well. As we are learning, the rear chain is long enough to require some sort of management devices (idlers, guides).

The second generation front end design is complete. The new front end will allow easy adjustment of caster, camber & toe. We will be using bigger motorcycle brakes and tapered roller bearings as well. The rear end for the touring will be drive shaft driven, stay tuned for details.

Mark has our website up though we need to figure out how to get it formatted better.

Gary had the bike at last Tuesday's Bike Night in Lowell, see link for vid.

-BWS-

Hi To Everyone at MSI

2009-08-10T23:06:00.000-04:00

I hope to see you soon.

-Mark S.

F7 Acceleration

2009-08-10T12:55:00.002-04:00

Arctic Cat Touring

2009-08-04T08:08:00.004-04:00

The measurement and disassembly has begun on the Touring sled. We would like to begin the machining of the steering parts by the end of the week.

Testing and Performance

2009-07-31T23:16:00.004-04:00

Gary is getting the sled put back together for the next round of testing. Our next goal is to evaluate front suspension geometry changes.

The first part of this will be a totally subjective "driveability" evaluation. We plan on characterizing steering "feel" as we adjust the geometry set points individually and in combination. Our goal is to make the machine more tractable for street driving. For example, the machine's current setup causes a fairly large amount of over-steer. This requires that the driver maintain continuous vigilance as the sled will pitch back and forth as it encounters faults in the road (cracks, bumps, off-camber corners, pot holes, etc.) While this is OK for an experienced driver who is familiar with the machine, we both feel that it is too "twitchy" for comfortable sustained on-road use.

The next part is to quantify actual sled performance. People who haven't ever ridden a sled before have no idea how quick they are. People who have never ridden a reverse trike have no idea how hard you can corner the thing. We are planning on duplicating the set point adjustments and collecting skid pad, slalom, braking, and acceleration data.

Stay tuned for more pictures and information - BWS

Production Update

2009-07-31T14:54:00.003-04:00

Today the wiring harness is being planned as well as a surprise which we will reveal when the 2-up is complete. The 2-up is an Arctic Cat Touring. The reason we chose these two models first is because those are the two donor sled we were given.

We will have this 2-up, the F7, a complete kit, and conversion demonstration sled at the NH grass drags in October.

We will be beginning limited production soon when the machining starts for the Touring sled. Our prototype has yielded some design revisions, but nothing major. The first production run will be designed for Arctic Cat models, but may also fit other makes with a little tweaking. If you are interested in a kit but have another make let us know anyway as development of the next kit will be based on customer demand.

As a final note, we are looking for volunteers in the Nashua, NH area who are willing to let us measure their sled for R&D purposes. Currently we have a 2005 Ski-Doo Rev 600 and a 2003 Polaris Pro-X 700. Your generosity will not go unnoticed.

Our Logo

2009-07-30T11:45:00.003-04:00

What does everyone think of our logo?

Swing Arm Evaluation

2009-07-29T22:00:00.000-04:00

After putting some hours on the machine Gary and Bruce decided it was time for some inspection. The swingarm assembly was removed and inspected, including evaluation and re-packing of the axle.

The F7 is a beast in snow, on the street you can imagine what it is like when the tire hooks up on pavement.

I hoped to get a video of the F7 in action, but I need to go buy a firewire cable for my camera. Video to follow...

2009-07-28T16:47:00.001-04:00

Gary tooling around MA/NH

First Post

2009-07-28T13:09:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the weblog of Street Legal Sleds, Inc. The purpose of this blog is to keep customers and fans of our snowmobile conversion updated on the latest development news of our new conversion kits. We welcome suggestions to improve the kit and our overall customer service.

The "Firecat" prototype is in it's road testing and final adjustment phase. Currently we are taking orders for the first production run.

We hope to have a website up in the next week.

-Mark