You have a killer collection, I think the Powder Extreme wasn't long for this world purely because it was a triple. Triples sound sweet but they're best suited on the lake like you said the powder special was around with the 580 twin that made just shy of 100 hp and likely weighed considerably less. Also in 1998 when they went to the ZR2 chassis the Powder Special got the 600 while the Powder Extreme was still on the older ZR1 chassis. Maybe if Cat rolled the ZRT 600 out on the ZR2 chassis in 98 instead of 99 there would have been another year for the extreme but I guess we will never know. You've got a rare one there and in mint condition too thanks for sharing these sweet sleds.
ive got a 98 powder special great old sled does quite well. my dad used to have the ext580 powder special. the black one. ive searched up the weight and they are heavy heavy. my 600 weighs a lot less. and i bet a triple would do much better on a lighter chassis i know some have done it before.
I had a 1998 version. Came with a 2 inch camo challenger track stock, I put on a Polaris 2 inch off a RMK 700, stiffer track hooked up way better. Shaved heads and black magic pipes, it hauled the mail. I miss it. Nothing sounds remotely close.
Live in upstate NY been riding sleds for 40 years now im 45. Raced cats for 15 years SX and cross country with many wins and championships great sleds. Rode Polaris in the 90’s first cat was my 03 F7 sno pro. My triple Polaris’s didn’t really like powder always cutting out except my 800 storm. My first Polaris was a indy 500 went good in powder for the day. Anyway my last Polaris was a 2000 800 rmk had lot of snow here in 2000 what fun that was. But anyway my buddy had a 97 ZRT black magic pipes heads maybe tuned up pretty good. Was at his place with my RMK snow was deep that day. He wanted me to ride his ZRT i was like it’s going to suck compared to my RMK in the field with 3 ft of powder. But I wanted to be polite so I took it out. I was amazed how well that ZRT went in the powder with that tiny lug track. It was unbelievable I started thinking arctic cats might be a great sled. Anyway i can only imagine how the powder extreme must be has to be awesome. Probably stopped making it because twins were getting big in the mid 90’s is my guess. Anyway great stuff thanks for sharing.
back in the day my dads friend eric bought a brand new powder extreme they also had a zrt with the mountain package and they said for some reason the zrt out performed the extreme and the extreme kinda sucked and was under whelming. might have something to do with the round slides and the auto tune feature. what ever it was the zrt did better. id still like to have a extreme but ive heard lots of crap about them.
I had 1 and I loved it!!! No matter where I went with it there was always someone asking about it and talking about the sound of it. I wish I had it back
Im finding myself very relatable.i have quite the stable of old iron cats of my erra.starting with with a 93 ext 580Z,93 zr 440,94 zr 580,1995 zrt 600 and 800….i have multiple zrts reason i use to drag race ice,snow and grass.so i have a combination of them.my zrts range from 1995-2000.my 2000 zrt is an 1140 heavy mod.so much fun and many great memories.i entered the back country mountain riding 24 years ago and have never looked back.so again im a mod guy,stock sucks type.so many mountain sleds all done up from 2006-current.great videos bud.i love seeing the old iron.
I (my dad) had a zr580 back in the day. The thing was fast, but never ran right. Dad said it was something with the carb, but could never figure it out.
I bought a 97 powder extreme at an auction and the engine was toast , so i pulled the engine out of my 2001 pantera 1000 and married them together and that is my favorite sled , engine was built by D&D racing it make 200 HP so its a fun trail sled 😁
Triples went out of favor in the late 90's. The Formula 3 600 SkiDoo was no longer a hit and the XLT/XCR 600, well there just wasn't enough crank repair shops to keep them around.
I want to give you a shout out. Thank you so much for the videos i do watch them all and appreciate them. Noone has ever explained the altitude compensation device as ive always wondered what that did. Always loved the triple Cats. Your vids are awesome keep them coming!!
Cool sleds, and that triple sound. My brother had one. Too bad though, I bought a 98 summitx and they absolutely killed these powder extremes, that 670 ho was a beast in it's day.
Over the years since they were made I think I’ve seen like 50 in Minnesota, last one I saw was about a month ago. Edit I might be thinking of the powder special after he mentioned that at the end of the video
i love the videos but it makes makes me really upset that i cant even afford any of the sleds i grew up dreaming about. Inflation/price gouging outpace increases in wages..
I have the 97 and it’ll keep up with my 04 king cat 900 across the lake but drop it into a few feet of powder, and it sinks like a stone. And getting it back out is a nightmare, it is way too heavy to lift out of any hole and even spinning it around on level ground is a painful chore. If it had reverse, it may be ok for some tighter terrain but really, it only belongs in the open fields…
Triples and deep snow just don't go together. It's just not the right choice for the application. They're WAY too heavy for starters. The lack of useable low-end grunt doesn't help either. They're cool to look back on now, but I can see why they didn't make it long.
the biggest plug fouling oil burning gas drinking no low end because no reed chainsaw desin pile of junk Had a 93 the clutch the chaincase the nose cone the thumb throttle safety over-ride loop horble rear suspension the speedo the jack shaft 7 gal fuel tank cable breaks the stator super thin pipe
