Motorized Snow Bicycle

joe-craft

joe-craft

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Though 10 out of 10 for cool factor, for a pedal bike, I think it's a gimmick. More effort to ride than to just walk.

But for an Motored bike? Joe, you've made this a viable idea!

Imagine the children and parents alike, gawking in disbelief as you ride that thing UP the tobogganing hill! What a hoot to ride this thing down the street after a fresh snowfall!

And when the snow's not so fresh, swap the ski for a studded knobby tire.

Oh, someone please, build one!
 
The only issue I see is you would need to use either Pablo's shifter kit, or Andy's disc-brake sprockets

That would be totally fun though. Put a 56t sprocket or larger on it, and you'd have some major pull for some fun (using Andy's sprocket)...or keep it in low gear with the shifter kit.

Holy crap, that sounds like fun. Now if only I had the money ($400, ouch). And some good areas to play in the snow here.

p.s. the videos on the site make it look really fun :) Too bad you'd never get in a ski area with a motor on it. Gotta find some snowmobiling areas or something.
 
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I knew this would get someones attention, i was looking around and saw it, got thinking and posted it. i knew u would have to use some other mounting technique for the sproket, the shifter kit would be cool, high speep snowmobile, XD , now if you could mount it with andys adapter thing, use the high performance air filter, tuned exhaust, oooh yeahh! and were i live in canada, and winter is like 6months long, and snow for all that time, this would be ideal for getting around in a hurry,and if you look at it, $400 isnt that bad for all youd be doing, take for example, if you buy an engine kit, i spent $210 can for mine, a $5 bike, and getting a shifter kit here before Christmas, that an extra $200, S/H not included, if we can afford this stuff, why not get this kit, for all the EXTRA fun wed have, paying a total of $800 for all this, instead of paying $4000 for the ruffly the same thing if you went out and bought the actual snow bike youd see the difference, and not to mention, this is still street legal, you can ride like normal, or kick in the motor and be off and zooming past the cars that are having trouble getting through the snow, all in all, it a sound investment. im going to save up and get one no if ands or but. After my X-mas shoppings done of course.
 
I was planning to put my spookytooth bike away for the winter, once the snow flies, but this gives me some incentive to build my second bike. I'm with you on the idea of this Joe. No point getting a really good mtn bike to put it on. Second hand and cheep as they go.

I was thinking that some kind of carrying device in order to carry the studded front tire and ski, so you can switch back and forth, depending on conditions changing.

Brenton
 
Andy you have disk brake sprockets!? Cool, I just asked some one last night how they mounted the disk. There goes this weeks bike budget. I have been given a limit, lol.
 
When you live in a part of the world where there is a longer winter with plenty of snow and ice you'll likely see such thingss. Where I live I've only seen a dozen snowmobiles now and ridden on one of them. But as a kid one of my uncles had these old "Boys Life" magazines from the mid fifties he had collected and I was allowed to peruse thru them on rainy days when visiting.

There was a bike very similar to the one in the photo but more home spun. The rear wheel was wrapped with an old mans leather belt where small holes had been punched in two rows to stick roofing tacks thru those holes. The tacks were then cut with pinch cutters to where they rose about 1/4 inch above the leather and this was wrapped around the tire. The belt was wrapped with heavy wire thru the rim & spokes round and round in about two inch spaces to lash it tight to the rim. This was then taped over with cloth electricians tape of the day. (today we would use duck tape)

The ski on the front forks had a larger wooden half circle fixed to the ski. Thus the forks didn't have to be extended as the top of the
half disc rose high enough for the bolt and 2x4 spacer blocks on either side to
allow the bolt to mount the forks and keep the bike level. The ski had 2 2x4's shaped to it running it's length with screws coming up thru the ski into them to make it solid and between the 2x4's sandwiched was the wooden half disc bolted in place. It was all pedal power. I'm sure it was fun for the kids of those days and an inspiration for tykes like me back then either to see it in operation or look at the plans in a magazine.

By the time many young boys were getting old enough to take up tools and do things they were hearing Gloria Steinem telling their moms, "If only women had the courage to raise their sons as daughters". Then she never had kids of her own to experiment with. LOL So I made every effort to get raised as a
boy while there was still time left.

Years later, speaking of specialized snow adapted devices, I saw a VW Bug with the rear fenders removed and a tire/tack drive like on the back of that bike. I don't think it had ski's on the front wheels either.

I've seen old pictures of a sled with a motorcycle in the center of it with the front wheel removed and bolted up similar to what I described above. It was braced at the back to keep it solid and the rear tire had been snow studded smiliar to the bicycle tire. On either side of the bike were two seat backs so two people could ride on the sled seated on either side of the cycle. out on the front was a smaller stearing sled that the riders could steer with a rope. I'm sure sitting next to the carb the speed could be controled and they wouldn't have wanted to go real fast.

With winter coming....we could see some real creativity around here. You don't have to be the first to do something. In fact reviving something everyone has forgotten is a thrill when you see the reactions of people who never heard of it before. :)
 
Instead of having just one ski on the front, you incorporate a dual action ski to the front. Just like a regular snow-mobile has, only at a narrow stance.
I have a cousin who did this to his 250 Suzuki a few years back. He mad a 4' track for his bike and added two radical skies to the front of his ride. It took all of 2 hours to get the feeling of riding it on the snow. Next was history in the making. This has been around for many years in the mountains of WV. My father grew up there and they did the same back in the late 40's, only know one really took it as a smart mode of transportation. It was a real chore to actually get good enough to be comfortable tracking in the snow on peddle power. Especially if it was through a rough and deep gully, or old storm wash.
Out here in the desert, it would actually be like doing the cool thing. I can see out-riggers on many bikes too, just to help stabilize the side torque and weight ratio-slip action from peddling. There are reasons why sleds have wide tract belts, and to only have a narrow tract less then 4" is only asking for trouble.
The laws of physics is always a determining factor in my efforts to make something work, especially if it is on the verge of stepping out of the box. Most rear space on a bike chassis is ~ 4" at the most of clearance, if the tract is only, say 3" wide, then the actual weight of 200 lbs will make a very hard to ride item in anything deeper then 6". I am 5'10" tall @ 250+ lbs, the minimum size tract required for my large frame would need to be at 4" wide and 4' past the center axle on my bike. Plus the front steering skies would need to be at least 10" from outer edges to actually carry my weight safely across anything deeper then 6". I live where the best snow on earth falls for some of the best skiing around the world. And when I am on the slopes, I drop 4" to 6" on a normal snow pack, up in the denser areas, I drop over 12" down into the medium pack. It would require a special made chassis to get my big butt over the snows and through the woods..........rotfl

I am game for anything out of the norm...and this is one of those gimicks only the fool hearted would do. I am game to do one, but it would require a larger cc engine for my efforts to function like we would expect it to work.

Game ON everyone.......this fat old walrus is ready for winter fun.:ride2:

Maximo
 
I wonder if you could make a better one of these yourself.

2 skis in the front, make em nice and wide. Then in the back, you could figure out a way to make a large trac that's outside of the bike frame driven by your tire...or something.
 
In another thread here Saddletramp asked for ideas for a Trike. I thought of this thread and wanted to suggest this.

Consider putting track drive on both rear wheels of a trike and a ski on the front,
or just leave it a wheel.

Anyone remember the WW2 German Kettenkrad ?

l.aspx
 
The Ktrakcycle kit would be easy to motorize on a hard tail mountain bike using the shifter kit.

Too bad I no longer live in Minnesnowta, I have a 29er hard tail this would look good on. Not much use for me here in Seattle, though.
 
i reckon this is an awsome idea. I live in Australia and would love to try it in the sand dunes! How do i go about it? What brackets or kits would i need to attach to sprocket to the rear wheel? Any ideas? Has anyone do it yet?
 
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