AK440

Uh huh. Do you have a welder and a metal shop in your garage? Me wanting Cat to get off their ass and produce what they already have patented isn’t asking for the moon.

Hey fucktard, did I say I’m buying a 450 MX bike with an overpriced and under engineered ski/track kit? Think about it, there is less material in a purpose built snowbike. If there is less material there is less cost. The whole damn machine is smaller and lighter than a modern trail or mountain sled. It doesn’t require cast aluminum pieces to make the frame. It can be built out of tube steel like an ATV. Tube steel isn’t expensive. The fucking rear skid suspension components can be the same exact shit they use on regular sleds, same as everything else like switch gear, handlebars, the Blast 400cc motor, same clutches, same heat exchangers. It’s a goddamn parts built machine with a unique frame and a motorcycle fork. Not exactly rocket science nor high tech or high performance.

The power to weight of a purpose built snowbike combined with its agility would make current mountain sleds look lame and silly in steep/deep terrain. Right know they are quite capable in the right conditions and are a halfass, dirt bike contraption with a manual clutch and shifting. Why? There are less parts. Are you kidding? A sled is way more complicated to build than a snowbike. Everything has to be bigger, heavier, longer and more powerful to deal with the additional weight. A sled requires even more body panels for fucks sake. Sounds like you’ve not looked at the bulkhead of a snowmobile since the 80’s. The don’t stamp out bulkhead parts anymore.

There is no reason that a factory built snowbike could be a nice alternative or compliment to a sled. Most snowmobiles own more than one machine. Wouldn’t it make more sense to sell less expensive snowbikes to the Midwest group that rides out west than $15,000 mountain sleds? I have no idea how big of a group or how popular it is for the Midwest market to haul their machines all the way to the mountains but it must be pretty significant seeing as how mountain sleds dominate sled sales now. This group must have significant disposable income, so less expensive, more capable toys for mountain riding would be very appealing. As far a maintenance intervals, that’s why a purpose built snowbike is needed. A CVT equipped 400cc 2-stroke is going to be far more reliable and more powerful than a strung out 450 MX bike that was designed for summer use only dirt bike with a much lighter drivetrain. If Cat was to release their snowbike I could see Polaris offering something the next season. BRP already has a concept snowbike that actually makes way more sense for the average rider. https://sledmagazine.com/the-white-rabbit-concept/

I’m totally fine waiting until ‘24 for my new Catlyst. I’m going to be flexing so hard hauling it around in my Tesla Cybertruck.

I just found this. https://www.ruffiansnowbikes.com Pretty simple looking machine that only weighs 200lbs!

Cat’s snowbike concept was based on a factory converted Sherco dirt bike with Camso track kit. I can see why it never went into production. How many people are interested in buying half a dirt bike that can’t be converted back to summer use without scrounging up all the parts yourself? Camso ended up dropping that track kit as well around a year or two later. I seem to remember their being a safety related recall about them. Who cares what Polaris does or doesn’t do? They’ve missed out on many market opportunities in the snow side of the market, 4-stroke sleds, bringing back a triple, paring their Indy line back by dropping the liquid cooled 600 & 800 and trying to force the market to embrace their stupid ass baler suspension design for over 10 years. They’ve been losing in market share year after year to Doo and have only themselves to blame. Cat’s patented design for a snowbike is very sound. I’m certain it’d already be available if Textron wasn’t holding the snow division back. The snowvehical market is ready for something different. Something less expensive. Something that offers riders a different experience than the way overpriced sleds they are buying currently. Since mountain sleds lead sales nowadays, who cares if a snowbike doesn’t appeal to grey haired, groomed trail crowd. The thing is snowbikes would still sell because the same dumbasses that buy a 174” 850 to ride around in a corn field will also buy a snowbike. It’s all about marketing and who’s promoting things in video clips on the internet.

I’ve ridden a snowbike across a paved road to connect a trail and yeah, it’s a bit sketchy and more difficult than a regular sled but for what snowbikes are used for whys that a deal breaker? The sled manufacturers already offer different types of sleds for different purposes, what’s so wrong with offering a production snowbike? They’d serve a niche of riding just like two up touring sleds, utility sleds and mountain sleds all serve their niches. A 400cc single like what Cat has would be very reliable and long lived in a light weight snowbike application. It doesn’t surprise me that some dipshits are having shortened life expectancy issues with the 450’s in motocross bikes. They were never designed to be held at high rpm for many minutes at a time when climbing tall, steep mountainsides. They don’t have the oil capacity for that type of use. The fact that the snowbike market continues to grow shows it’s a legitimate segment and deserves more attention.

Judging from the videos I see on YouTube, there are plenty of retards in Iowa and other pancake flat Midwestern states that ride 3” paddle 163” 800+ mountain sleds in cornfields with a dusting of snow. Since these dipshits buy what they see in videos on social media, I’m confident a factory build snowbike will sell. Hell, have the bike come with a backpack with a shovel and these same people will be all over them. As far as cost, I suspect most snowbike guys already own their dirt bike so it’s not as expensive as you made it out to be in your other post. Plus they can ride that same bike in the other three seasons. I agree that the converted dirt bikes suck on packed trails. That’s no surprise, look at how they are laid out. An actual purpose build snowbike would be much more controllable and balanced. Ever seen a sled converted over for summer use with tires on the front? Sure, they go down a trail but suck ass for everything except climbing straight up steep sand dunes. I firmly believe there is a market for this type of vehicle. Hopefully Cat has the balls to produce their factory built snowbike. I’d be first in line at the dealer ordering one in the spring.

I saw that fucked up abortion in action on YouTube years ago. All that work to make a normal sled perform worse than it did originally. I’ve watched the review on that retarded mobility scooter with one of the Lester’s waxing poetic about how everyone needs a $7,000 yard toy. People in the comments ask “What about the lack of a seat?” And the middle aged Lester is like “You don’t get it. You’ve never ridden one! You don’t need a seat. Standing is fun. Everyone needs three of four of these to ride in their yard because they aren’t worth a shit to ride more than a mile on a regular trail.” No fucking thanks! That patented Cat snowbike would be priced less than a regular performance sled. I see it coming in well under $10,000. With mass production on their modern assembly line there is no reason it should cost more than $7,000. Regular people could actually afford to by a pair of them and they’d both fit in the back of any pickup truck. That’s what I want, a mass produced, factory build snowbike that isn’t a converted dirt bike.

I hope they sit on all those overpriced 23’s for a long time. The fricking OEM’s gouged the hell out of people last spring. I suspect no one ordered a Lynx because of how expensive they were. We’ve finally hit the point that the majority of people have been priced out of the market. Interest rates are up and most people in North America aren’t going to spend $15,000+ on a toy they can only ride a few months or sometimes weeks out of the year. They can buy a damn side by side for similar money. The OEM’s fucked themselves by chasing after the boomer market with more and more expensive and feature laden sleds to appeal to a small percentage of people with significant disposable incomes. Harley has already been negatively impacted by the same stupid business practices. Yamaha just gave up on the sled market at they only appealed to the same old demographic. The ‘24 snowcheck season will be a bust for all the OEM’s this spring.

Those stupid kits are not the future of this type of vehicle. I’ve seen them up close, Rube Goldberg type set ups with multiple chains, brackets and such. Turning a well balanced dirt bike that was designed for summer use into a snowmobile is a waste of time and money. They are too tall, too long and who the fuck wants to shift gears in snow boots and operated a hand clutch with winter gloves? Ever watch guys try to remount a dirt bike conversion in deep powder snow? Looks like a monkey fucking a football. Then you have the issue of the stupid things stall out as nothing coasts to well in snow and it’s very easy to lose your momentum in deep snow. Hopefully Cat releases their patented snowbike design and really shakes up the market. So are you and your buddies running down to the dealer to buy an under $10,000 Blast? Or maybe you are picking up an INDY 550 or is the EVO more your speed? I hear the NEO looks nice and rides like a champ with its missing center shock. Cat could have this market all to themselves and they already have a great motor in the 400 for this application. Snowbikes are way more capable than the current $15,000-$20,000+ 850, 900R and turbocharged mountain sleds being offered.

The prices of sleds are out of control. The only way to bring them back into reason is to offer machines that are less expensive. How to do that? Build a snow going vehicle that uses fewer parts. A truly production based snowbike will be half the weight of a regular sled. I’m not talking the typical abortion of a converted dirt bike but a purpose built snowbike. Cat will be gaining market share once they release this machine. https://sleddermag.com/arctic-cat-snow-bike-patent/ For those that’ll claim it’ll never happen, okay boomer, no one gives a shit about your aging demographic. Those that haven’t already quit, the rest are rapidly aging out of the sport. The sled market can’t sustain selling fewer and fewer sleds every year with an average 600cc trail sled costing $14,000 and hardly any decent intro sleds coming in under $10,000. Snowbikes will lower the price of entry and appeal to younger riders who don’t care for riding from bar to restaurant to bar on groomed trails every weekend.

Cat will pull a lot of guys back over to the brand with this new sled once it’s fitted with the larger motor.

The steel tube bulkhead will make it much easier and less costly for them to make geometric and strength changes over time. The more I see of this new sled the more I like what I see.

The 600 is more than enough when ridden properly on trails and in the ditches. I’m glad to see Textron finally doing something in the sled market.

I like how you jumped in to defend your boyfriend. What are you an F7 doing this weekend? Going antiquing or attending a hot yoga session?

Still don’t care bud. Sounds like you need to go ride your 4-stroke Ski-Doo touring sled down to the nearest homeless shelter and serve more free beans and save the world. After that, go visit these meth’d out redneck fucks at the jail and offer some financial support for their illegitimate kids and multiple baby mamas.

Who cares? Bunch of drunk shirtless rednecks beating the piss out of one another.

That Lesh guy is well known for being a complete douche.

I can see and understand your position on it. I thought 550 was a useless member, contributed nothing to the site and is definitely no big loss. But, the members of this site thrive on bashing dipshits and that dipshit provided traffic. He was stupid enough to allow himself to get baited into a ban. I guess my point is, what he said isn’t as bad as the photos he was referring to nor that someone actually posted them if they were indeed his wife. That guy was just asking for crass remarks about her. I agree with the description 550 made about her even though I don’t care if he got banned or was let back on.

Compared to what was posted by others and what he got banned for saying, the whole thing is stupid. Honestly, Who gives a fuck? This site can’t afford to lose any more members. With that I’m heading back over to the original HCS site that actually receives traffic and they talk about sleds.

I liked the original Thrashers or was it Trashers name. It has sled forum history from the Snow Goer site. I don’t see a need to change it.