Motorized Snow Bicycle

[joe-craft]

Hey guys, has anyone ever tried rigging one of these kits up to our 80cc bike motors?

https://www.ktrakcycle.com/index.html

[CalgarysFool]

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!

[Dan]

Very cool. Use one of the small rollers as an inside friction drive?

[jasonh]

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.

[joe-craft]

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.

[CalgarysFool]

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

[Dan]

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.

[eDJ]

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.

[macimpala]

Pure death wish you cant see the ski but here is a pic I took this summer in Murdo SD

[macimpala]

2nd try pic