First 2 Days on the CMX 120

[@CRAZYMTNMARK]

We are so thrilled to have Vernon Snow MX riding a CMX! You guys are having too much fun! I hope we get a chance to go ride with our Canadian friends this season!

[@VernonSnowMX]

LOL, I was just commenting nearby that your kit sure does not suck! Hey, let's take them along for a bit of a journey of discovery, shall we? ;)

[@coastmountainsnowmx5923]

2:26 .... I remember this feeling well. Was my first time on a CMX,... with Mark Hoffman and his crew down in the Crazy Mountains, Montana. I was shocked how easily the kit rolled on the trail. It felt very different to ride compared to the Timbersled ARO and Mountain Horse kits I was riding at the time.

[@VernonSnowMX]

Yeah baby! It is silly good. I know a bunch of locals who are about to get defensive about how good their bikes are.

[@edbranson4175]

Awesome video. I don’t even own a snowbike but I live the dream through your channel. Keep them coming.

[@brandonrogers4616]

I have 2 when you try you will be hooked it's so much fun and way easier than snowmobiling

[@VernonSnowMX]

@@brandonrogers4616 Sold my Polaris Dragon the day after I rode my first snowbike, and they kinda sucked back then. LOL

[@foxtailadventures]

Another awesome vid. When we're not riding, your adventures are playing in every room of the house. And just so you know, it's completely your doing that we now have this insatiable need to buy two new Gas Gas'ssss.. It burns man! It burns! We're gonna need a bigger shop!

[@VernonSnowMX]

Woot! We have a fan. Sending you appreciation!

[@mumu-cw5tu]

Very nice! Happy to see the initial impressions are good. Excited for the more in depth comparisons! Mark and the guys at CMX do have great customer service. I live not too far from them and I picked up some spare belts from them while they were out to eat the other day :P. I honestly would've expected noticably less flotation on a champagne day like that. Not surprised at all by the comments about it feeling so nimble and liking to turn though. Definitely the most noticable thing to me hopping between kits and the CMX. I'm curious about your thoughts on their ski. I still have the Yeti ski they used before they made their own. Haven't sprung for their ski yet, wonder how noticable the differences are.

[@samschenk4508]

Huge difference! I would say the new CMX ski is a mix of a TS ski and a Yeti ski, Yeti skis get super sketchy in subpar snow. The CMX ski doesnt do that. Basically cmx ski is just a waaay improved yeti ski, 100% worth .

[@VernonSnowMX]

@@samschenk4508 Well said! I will just jump on your wagon with some of our observed details if you don't mind. In the past we like TS better off-trail and in the powder, but Yeti was better on the trail, except under certain snow conditions where it would pack-up and become useless. There is also a weird pull to the inside on a Yeti ski when in certain crusty snow conditions. The CMX ski feels every bit as good as a TS ski in the powder, feels just as good as a Yeti ski on the trail, and has neither the pack-up problem of the skinny waist, nor the bar pulling problem of the Yeti in heavy or hard crust snow. Cheers Sam!

[@big_ute]

Id love to come ride with you guys but im up in Alaska and Ive only got a 850 pro rmk.

[@thegibbster21]

Is there any particular reason on that ktm that you're running the traction control on? I'd think that would make it worse in the snow? 🤷‍♂️

[@VernonSnowMX]

Ah, you saw that! I don't know how long it was on for, but I did notice it eventually. Definitely not activated on purpose.

[@thegibbster21]

@Vernon Snow MX - The Snowbike Channel Right on, I was just curious since I'll be running a KTM 500 I just picked up. Wasn't sure if it was some sort of secret you were holding out on us haha Thanks for the reply, love what you guys do!

[@VernonSnowMX]

@@thegibbster21 The secret is that we barely know anything, lol. I hope you love your 5-hundy! Summer bike too I hope. I love my 501 for summer exploration missions, and plan to use it a lot more this upcoming Dirt Chimp season.

[@thegibbster21]

@Vernon Snow MX - The Snowbike Channel I bought the bike because I'm going to do the Oregon BDR this year with some friends, and a few other dual sport rides too. I've got a track kit as well so why not take it in the snow and retire the ole kx500 snowbike I've got. I look forward to following along and seeing you guys the rest of the winter and into the summer. 🤘 Keep up the good work on the videos, its much appreciated 👏

[@VernonSnowMX]

@@thegibbster21 Great bike for both seasons. We love BDRs. Gotta do Idaho this year. I don't thin Oregon is even released yet. You must have an inside scoop. ;)

[@nvrfollowb5]

Hell yea I’ve been waiting for this one

[@duanezink]

Try the Mtn Top ski on the ARO. You will love it that way. It bolts right up. Way better on the roads and bad snow. I now need to get rid of a brand new Traverse ski. :) Also, I went to an 18 tooth jackshaft sprocket on the ARO 3 S Pro. I heard him comment about the low power on hard corners. This solved the slight under powered feeling on ours. I lost a tad of road speed though.

[@VernonSnowMX]

Thanks for the thoughts! Given the nature of the shoot-out this year we can't swap skis, but we do have a complete MTN TOP inbound. I will ask our local guru about the 18 tooth jackshaft sprocket. I assume that means gearing it down a bit. One thing I really like about some snowbikes is that they just work great when climbing in my "Usual" terrain, and I never have to think about shifting into 2nd to get my desired speed. My Yeti 129 SS on a 450 is like that. I think the new CMX 120 on a 450 is very close to that - I just need to experience a bit more of our nasty terrain and different snow conditions. What I don't like is a bike that needs to be shifted. I think the magic bike has more going on than just gearing. I suspect the bike's engine revs are important (like how high it will rev), the track efficiency is important (everybody is getting better these days), obviously bike:track gearing, the ski can't "push" in corners before hooking up, and the finally, all of this needs to be matched with the rider and their willingness to "Give it the beans". There are definitely riders that are more timid, and those willing to throttle the bike around that tree and then see what happens. I find this very complicated, and very exciting! I have also found that some people gear their bikes up so 2nd is their go-to, with 1st only being for burping the bike out of a hole. Intersting! I love this game, and I am always keen to hear from others. Cheers Duane!

[@duanezink]

​@@VernonSnowMX Thanks for the response. I figured you would say you could not swap skis for the shootout, but you are missing out if you don't give it a try off camera. (no financial ties here except for shelling out the money to buy one. Ugh!) Wanna buy a brand new Traverse? Yes, the 18 tooth does lose a minor amount of top speed, but I have always wished my RMZ had a 6th gear on trail. I can pull 3rd until it gets REALLY steep or deep with the 18 tooth. 2nd and borderline 8K rev limit on the RMZ is the gear of choice in those few instances. I felt my RMZ with 17 tooth on a flat road would fall flat when I dove into the pow. Just commented cause you don't know until you know. Thanks for all the cool videos! Been up to ATV at Sandon several times with a friend from Hope. A snowbike trip north of the border is on my bucket list.

[@VernonSnowMX]

@@duanezink Cool man. We will get to try the MTN TOP ski and MTN TOP kit soon. After this year we will tweak our favorite kits with skis, forks, rear suspension, and track kits to make the best overall packages for our types of riding. It all just so exciting!

[@foxbody199350]

So on the last vib your trail tech fell off its mount, was it locked in with the allen wrench or not. Im wondering if i have to worry about mine. Thanks

[@VernonSnowMX]

There is a new mount and it works differently. You have to be careful that all of the pokey bits are in the hidey holes. It is easy to miss the hole(s) and just tighten it down, which is what we think happened.

[@nealrintaktm]

How far up Taylor did you drive? Do you have special clearance to drive up the road?

[@VernonSnowMX]

In this video we went to 7k. The last few years it was plowed so we got to go all of the way, and it was amazing! Now everybody is capped at about 3.5k by a big berm that you don't drive over unless you are a real turkey.

[@joel387ktm]

Cmx best all around mountain kit imo out there love mine

[@VernonSnowMX]

I don't want to spill the beans so early in the season, and before the MTN TOP even arrives, but damn, this CMX kit does NOT suck!

[@kennethstewart3532]

You guys are making me second guess my new Yeti I just bought. :( lol

[@VernonSnowMX]

I like the old Yeti better than the new TS, but that is just based on my Philosophy of Use. I like sport car snowbikes, and the new ARO 3 S is not that. Super-duper climber, but Porsche it is not. The CMX has yet to be compared to the Yeti, but we will do it soon. Then again, I would not compare it to the 129 FR, which is the current offering. We will compare it to the 129 SS, which is an absolute rockstar of a bike that Yeti just never figured out how to promote properly. Your Yeti is a Snow Porsche. Ride it hard and spank those pick-up trucks. ;)

[@kennethstewart3532]

@@VernonSnowMX LOL You betcha buddy!

[@lakecitymortgage7847]

So what's the word on the cmx?

[@VernonSnowMX]

The word is "Stellar". More to come. We don't like to jump to conclusions. The methodical testing between CMX and Aro S starts tomorrow. Hopefully our 3rd contender shows up soon as MTN TOP is sounding killer. Oh, and we still have a Yeti 129 FR and a 129 SS. I suspect we will start to bring out different head to head comparisons shortly. Hey,. this looks like your work KZbin username. If you are really lucky, like us, perhaps you can write off your snowbike! ;)

[@lakecitymortgage7847]

@@VernonSnowMX look forward to your videos. I had a 16 cmx 129. Interested in your guys take on them.

[@jmanab5438]

@@VernonSnowMX How about the rale kit. Suspension setup look like it could be fun.

[@scp8412]

@@VernonSnowMX😂so true. I think I need to start a youtube channel and offset snowbiking cost lol

[@VernonSnowMX]

@@jmanab5438 I reached out to them to see if we could talk with a real person. They never replied.

[@zplol]

Are you guys having issues with your gopros even with the newer enduro batteries?

[@VernonSnowMX]

We sure are. Actually, all of these problems are new. You?

[@zplol]

@@VernonSnowMX oh really, i had some success with the new batteries, no issues since I switched. Eager to see what you guys are going to try next

[@scp8412]

Same, new enduro battery fixed the issues

[@VernonSnowMX]

@@scp8412 So weird. So you think our batteries are just getting old? We are running Hero 10s and batteries that were new this spring. With 4 batteries each, they don't get used a lot. The camera dies, then we restart it, and it is still at like 80%. Once the camera starts to turn off due to cold, even a new battery from inside our jackets does not last more than 7 seconds. You'll see in the next video that we release. It's crazy, and so sad. We love the filming and sharing almost as much as the riding!

[@scp8412]

@@VernonSnowMX yepper, mine did the same. Once I got the enduro battery its been perfect. (there new in canada, you used to need to import them from the states last year.) Keep on sharing the stokes! Loving the videos

[@shawnmoore5621]

I thought you ditched the Yeti?

[@VernonSnowMX]

We still have both Yeti bikes. We have lost moto-trust and keep things a bit longer now. If we don't have enough bikes that work, life sucks! lol Thankfully, each of the new bikes are BOMBER. I am, however, going to have a tough time selling Anna, our Yeti 129 SS, until I am absolutely sure that I have a better bike. Despite being discontinued, it may still be the best bike, for me and my style, ever built. We'll see. I can tell you the Timbersled is NOT a replacement for me. The CMX is a total party. Andrew and I plan to bring out the CMX, and the Yeti 129 SS, to see which one is the most thrilling to ride. That does not mean the best climber, just the most fun for people who love to carve (not just ride) the trees. Sorry about the big response. Just sharing what is on my mind and what could not be recorded in our video last ride because our cameras died! Cheers!

[@shawnmoore5621]

@@VernonSnowMX its all good, I'm glad you share your experience on each track, it helps us on decision making as well!!

[@joeyelton407]

in my estimation, the frequency of good snow days vs marginal, you guys have the opposite of us in WY.........

[@rodie4352]

🤘