Riding a snowbike is an experience unlike anything else you might get on top of – neither a snowmobile nor a regular motorcycle. The first few trips should be about getting used to riding and controlling the vehicle. The chief advantage of a snowbike is its amazing steerability and maneuverability thanks to a narrow and light base.
Over snow of average depth a snowbike can make sharp side turns like a racing motorcycle, and it develops high speed as well. A snowbike is also much lighter than full-sized track vehicles, it can be extracted from snow by the rider. A snowbike storms upward slopes and glides off steep hills in a spray of adrenaline. Its low weight lets it make instant leaps and soar off ramps.
A snowbike is a good alternative to expensive and fuel-guzzling snowmobiles. It will be appropriate for fans of off-road motorcycles who do not want to go into hibernation. Converting a motorcycle into a snowbike changes the whole idea of "riding season". There no more need to wait for next summer to take your motorcycle out of the garage! You will find yourself looking forward to first snows as much as you wait for the first bright and dry weather of spring.
At the winter extreme sports competition X-Games 2017 in Aspen snowbike racing will be part of the competition program. This announcement was made on the 23rd of September, 2016, complete with a gorgeous video teaser.
Reporters on riding a snowbike
Pavel Kurlapov, «kolesa.ru»
The snowbike accelerates fast. The vehicle is light and narrow and the cross-country ability is phenomenal. It just drives on where a heavy snowmobile would have to be balanced on one ski. Plus, cross-country bike suspensions are always more energetic than the best shock absorbers of snowmobiles, so it is sheer pleasure to bounce on a light and quick vehicle. In short, very soon snowbikes should become a mainstream sport.
«Za rulem!» magazine
The most interesting thing about learning to ride any kind of snowmobile is making turns. A flat, broad or long track resists any attempt to tilt the motorcycle. Snow is somewhat loose and sticky, so it holds much tighter than dirt or pavement. In order to turn around a track motorcycle, you really have to throw it on the side, and that is especially hard to make yourself do, because from riding wheel bikes we know that turns like that send bikes into uncontrollable dives as both wheels lose contact with the road. Here with snow just 15 cm deep the ski and the track literally press into it, rather than dragging from friction like wheels do on pavement, so tilting like that is possible.
Impressions of the Snowrider team
Every time the summer season ended we asked ourselves:–how should we continue to ride motorcycles in the winter? We tried snow-covered roads on snow tyres, we tried going over dirt. It just was not the same. Then we followed the world practice and decided to convert our bikes into snowbikes on a track. The first sets were garage-assembled just for our own use. We experimented with ski geometry and materials for a long time before we figured out something that withstood aggressive attack angles, stress and low temperature.
More time passed as we tinkered with the rear suspension. We decided on a stand-along suspension with shock absorbers that would compensate for all rough terrain and even landing shock. The frame was made from light but strong aviation alloys. And so was born Snowrider, a set for converting a regular enduro or cross-country motorcycle into a snowbike in order that cyclists can continue to enjoy speed, take on terrain, withstand hard riding and leaps. In the winter of 2015 we tried test-driving our models and were happy with the result.
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