Sled Tech: INDY VR1 vs INDY XCR

Nels Eide: Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of Sled Tech! In today's episode, we're going to be talking about our top-of-the-line Indy Trail sleds: our Indy VR1 and Indy XCR. We'll go through the details on both of them, what makes them different, and what makes them the right sled for you.

When we talk about trail sleds, not all trails are created equal. There are groomed trails, big open highway trails where you're flying down them, tight little twisty trails through the trees, rough ditches, logging roads—all sorts of different terrain and riding that falls under the trail sled umbrella. The VR1 and XCR are really our way to offer the right sled for the right person who's riding a certain type of trail. The Indy VR1 and Indy XCR have a lot in common: they both ride on the Matryx platform, we've got the Race IFS front suspension, Pro-Steer skis, Pro-CC rear suspension, Lock & Ride Flex storage. They both have a lot in common, but they also have a few really, really important unique differences between them.

Indy VR1: The Groomed Trail Performer
The VR1 is our groomed trail snowmobile. So, if you want to ride fast on trails that are groomed, whether they've been groomed recently or they're a little bit rougher, and handle corners and fly down the trail, the VR1 is the trail sled for that. What makes a VR1 unique first is the engine options: it comes with the 650, 850, or the Patriot Boost engine. This is our "hyper sled" trail sled, as we like to call it. When you combine the VR1 with the Patriot Boost, it's the ultimate high-performance groomed trail sled. When you're flying down the trail or flying down the lake, Patriot Boost is an awesome engine in these trail sleds, offering 10% more power at sea level. However, you don't have to pay the weight penalty; this sled is almost 100 pounds lighter than its four-stroke turbo competitors.

A couple of other things on the VR1 are really again oriented around groomed trail performance, or trails that typically get groomed, whether they've been groomed recently or not. It features Walker Evans suspension all the way around. The VR1 utilizes 1 and 3/4-inch Walker Evans Velocity shocks with single-stage compression, allowing for easy adjustment for a softer or stiffer ride. For example, if you come out from lunch and the trail has a little bit of chatter on it because the groomer didn't go through last night, or it's getting a little rougher, you can stiffen it up. Or, if you want a more comfortable ride, you can soften it right up. In addition to the suspension and shocks, the VR1 is designed for really nice handling on the trail. You think about coming around a sweeper or a tight, twisty turn, the VR1 suspension is calibrated to stay flat and confident through the corner, riding right through it really nicely.

When we come to the back of the sled, we get to the Pro-CC rear suspension, as we touched on. The VR1 does come with a rail brace in the back here, and then Walker Evans Velocity shocks front and rear as well. The VR1 comes in just the 137-inch track length. This 137-inch track length is the longer of the two trail sled track lengths, again, really geared at that excellent groomed trail performance. The 137 Pro-CC has a little bit more compliance; it's able to bridge those bumps a little bit more, delivering a ton of traction out of the corner, especially with Boost, where you need that traction, while still maintaining really nice handling characteristics as you're flying through the tight, twisty trails. The 137-inch track options for the 650 and 850 include a couple of different choices for VR1: the 1.25-inch Ice Ripper (a pre-studded track), the 1.35-inch Cobra, and the 1.5-inch Storm. The Boost version comes with R-rated tracks, which are specifically designed for high speeds and adding studs as well, and that comes in the 1-inch or the 1.35-inch Cobra.

The VR1 also comes standard with a 7S display. Every single VR1 model is equipped with a 7S display, really building into that awesome trail performance and technology. You get offline GPS, vehicle-to-vehicle group ride, the ability to see where your friends are riding, explore new trails—all the awesome benefits of the 7S display right into every single VR1. This one's also got a bunch of accessories on it, such as an adjustable windshield, mirrors, and knee pads, again, building into this super comfortable, awesome, high-performance trail sled. You can go rack up a ton of miles on a VR1 really fast, rail around the corners, and have an awesome time.

Indy XCR: The Rough Trail Attacker
When we go over to the XCR, the XCR is a little bit of the "rough and ready" counterpart to the VR1. The XCR is our consumer version of our cross-country race sled. The XCR was developed hand-in-hand with the Indy Cross Country, which we have another video on that you can check out to learn more about that sled. But it's all about super rough trails, ditches, logging roads, jumping approaches—all of that rowdy trail riding. It's got a ton of really specific components on it, different from the VR1, in order to be up to the task from a durability standpoint and have the performance to fly through the rough stuff and keep going.

With the XCR, it starts with the shocks. All four shocks are 2-inch Walker Evans Velocity shocks, with high and low-speed compression adjustable. That 2-inch shock with high and low speed comes right off of our race sleds; both the cross-country and snowcross sleds run variants of the 2-inch Walker Evans shock. It offers lots of performance and a ton of adjustability for that XCR rider who wants to dial it into their terrain, their riding style, and how they like the vehicle to handle when they're going fast—the high and low-speed compression adjustment is absolutely there. The XCR also comes with an upgraded ProTaper handlebar. Standard handlebars on the VR1, the XCR has a stronger handlebar with a bigger hook on the side here, so when you're really cornering hard, you still have leverage on the handlebar. It also comes with an upgraded Hayes brake system—the same master cylinder and lever up here at the bar, but under the hood, there's an upgraded disc and pads that come right off our cross-country race sled.

We come around here to the back of the XCR, and this is where there are really a lot of differences from the VR1. In the rear suspension here, it's still a Pro-CC rear suspension, but taking a lot of learnings from our Indy Cross Country sled and its performance and durability and pulling them right onto the XCR that you can SnowCheck. It starts here in the back with a four-wheel rear axle—four wheels and the rear axle. This adds more durability, helps keep the track perfectly aligned, and makes it nice and strong as you're really flying through the ditch doing a lot of power-down landings. There's an upgraded coupling block here, again, a durability and strength upgrade on the coupling system. As we move forward, the XCR features a specific rail brace and stronger rail beams, all in the name of durability, coming right off the cross-country sled. Walker Evans 2.0 shocks are front and back in the rear, also both with high and low-speed adjustments, so all that same adjustment from the front is here in the back. It has upgraded pull rods, which are stronger pull rods to help that rear shock move back and forth, again, all about durability. And then, some upgraded, bigger torsion springs and a much more aggressive shock calibration, all in the name of durability, strength, and driving the vehicle forward in the rough terrain.

The XCR comes in three different track configurations for both the 128-inch and 136-inch track lengths. The first two are the same as the VR1: the 1.25-inch Ice Ripper and the 1.35-inch Cobra. The last one is that the XCR comes with the 1.6-inch Cobra, and that's unique to XCR on our trail sleds. It's really, really awesome in those ditches that get really full of snow. It's got a little bit more paddle, a little bit more lug to help push through some deeper snow while still having lots of speed to keep driving forward as you're flying through the ditch. Our Indy XCR is available in either the 650 or the 850 engine. The 650 is lighter, really responsive, offers quick response, and very smooth power through the trail. Then there's the 850, the big powerhouse, keeping that lightweight and response but with more power than the 650 offers. The Indy XCR is available with the 7S display, but it doesn't come standard. So, if you want to keep it simple, you can get the message center display, or check the box for the 7S display in SnowCheck.

Conclusion
So, there we have the top of the Indy lineup. The Indy VR1 is the ultimate trail cruiser and super high-performance trail sled, available with hyper-sled speed in Patriot Boost, awesome technology in the 7S display, and the smooth, confident handling of our Walker Evans suspension. And then the Indy XCR, the race-ready cross-country sled that you can go and buy, with big-time shocks, big-time adjustment, really strong components, ready to go tackle the ditch line near you. Both the Indy VR1 and the Indy XCR are SnowCheck exclusive, so when SnowCheck rolls around next spring, make sure you're ready. That's it for today. Thanks for watching, and we'll see you next time!