I got a chance to put several hours on my new spark yesterday. I will compare it to what it will be replacing. We have a 1992 polaris sl750 2up and a 3up gtx 580. For breakin since its severly detuned we just ran wide open the whole time. Power wise its about 1 mph faster than the gtx but the lightwieght gets it out of the hole way faster. The sl750 has a about a 3mph edge on the spark. Top speed was 42mph which is right in the ballpark of all of our riding buddies who have gtx's and xp's just a tad slower. We ride lake Wausau mostly which has 3 decent sized rivers and a 10 mile stretch of open water so speed is about right in the relativly calm water.
The spark is a bit bigger machine than I had hoped for and the hull although nimble does not allow the insane fun get wet factor of the tiny polaris. When trying to do high speed cuts when you can get the polaris to spin and slide backwards the spark will just cut and turn like the gtx. I think removing the adjustable chines on the back will help get rid of the excessive stabilty . Being a bigger hull and nearly the same size as our battleship gtx you can ride all day with modest manuvering and never get even so much as a drop of water on you. My wife will apreciate that.
Every one who rode it agreed it is just plain fun with the light weight and quicker handling than the old 90's machines its replacing.
One of the important factors which was fuel consumption since we ride 2 to 3 times a week in the summer the spark met our goal. The gtx which is the most efficent of our machines used 3.95 gallons of fuel and the spark used 2.9 doing the exact same riding. That comes out to about 1.5 gallons per hour. My polaris which of course with a much bigger(more powerfull) motor uses about double that of the 60hp spark. That should save me several hundred bucks a month just in fuel alone.
All in all I give the spark a big thumbs up and will be trading in the gtx on a 90hp 2up with ibr becasue thats pretty much all that avalable until winter production starts back up.
I dont think I will be remapping the one we have now as its just a bit slower than out target speed of 45 mph . I will install the manual reverse and I think the wife will be fine on it as she is not an agressive rider. So spending $1000 to remap would not be justified. Maybe in the future when the aftermarket reprogrammers are more reasonably priced say $300 to 500ish Ill buy one.
I will try and keep the old sl750 going as long as I can since it has no resale value and it is the most fun sit down Ive even been on. Its also handy for running shallow rivers where I wont care about grinding it on the gravel beds. It can also be nose down submerged running and shoot water spouts that I doubt the big spark will be able to do.
The spark is a bit bigger machine than I had hoped for and the hull although nimble does not allow the insane fun get wet factor of the tiny polaris. When trying to do high speed cuts when you can get the polaris to spin and slide backwards the spark will just cut and turn like the gtx. I think removing the adjustable chines on the back will help get rid of the excessive stabilty . Being a bigger hull and nearly the same size as our battleship gtx you can ride all day with modest manuvering and never get even so much as a drop of water on you. My wife will apreciate that.
Every one who rode it agreed it is just plain fun with the light weight and quicker handling than the old 90's machines its replacing.
One of the important factors which was fuel consumption since we ride 2 to 3 times a week in the summer the spark met our goal. The gtx which is the most efficent of our machines used 3.95 gallons of fuel and the spark used 2.9 doing the exact same riding. That comes out to about 1.5 gallons per hour. My polaris which of course with a much bigger(more powerfull) motor uses about double that of the 60hp spark. That should save me several hundred bucks a month just in fuel alone.
All in all I give the spark a big thumbs up and will be trading in the gtx on a 90hp 2up with ibr becasue thats pretty much all that avalable until winter production starts back up.
I dont think I will be remapping the one we have now as its just a bit slower than out target speed of 45 mph . I will install the manual reverse and I think the wife will be fine on it as she is not an agressive rider. So spending $1000 to remap would not be justified. Maybe in the future when the aftermarket reprogrammers are more reasonably priced say $300 to 500ish Ill buy one.
I will try and keep the old sl750 going as long as I can since it has no resale value and it is the most fun sit down Ive even been on. Its also handy for running shallow rivers where I wont care about grinding it on the gravel beds. It can also be nose down submerged running and shoot water spouts that I doubt the big spark will be able to do.
ive read that people have had problems with stuff getting clogged in intake ( seaweed, pebbles, etc) so im thinking of getting some sort of additional cap with a grate, screen, etc. on it. keep the reviews coming!
