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Snowbikes are the future


AK440

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10 hours ago, EvilBird said:

My biggest argument with you about this is still cost. 

You seem to not acknowledge what dirt bikes and motorcycles cost nowadays. 

A factory Snowbike wont be that much cheaper than the new Sleds if they are anything decent. 

I rode a KTM with a timbersled kit once. Was fun. 

When they first came out I almost bought one for my EXC 500. But since then the desire has worn off. :dunno:

AC could sell one for about the same cost as the blast.  That engine was developed to power a bike.  65 hp, lighter and 100 times more reliable than a 450 mx bike, and has a cvt (not only is that much easier/fun to ride, its also way lower cost than building a clutched gear box.

Conversion kitted bikes need a ton of work done to the forks before they are ridable, just pushing a ski through the snow about bottoms out a MX bike, before you even hit a bump.

Tooling costs for a steel space frame are tiny, relative to the cost of any casting, or molded part.  All the work is done by CNC benders and laser cutters, only tooling required would be a couple welding fixtures, and maybe a welding robot, although I'm pretty sure they have plenty of extra capacity since they are only building a fraction of the atv/sxs they did before textron.

 

Edited by krom
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3 hours ago, krom said:

AC could sell one for about the same cost as the blast.  That engine was developed to power a bike.  65 hp, lighter and 100 times more reliable than a 450 mx bike, and has a cvt (not only is that much easier/fun to ride, its also way lower cost than building a clutched gear box.

Conversion kitted bikes need a ton of work done to the forks before they are ridable, just pushing a ski through the snow about bottoms out a MX bike, before you even hit a bump.

Tooling costs for a steel space frame are tiny, relative to the cost of any casting, or molded part.  All the work is done by CNC benders and laser cutters, only tooling required would be a couple welding fixtures, and maybe a welding robot, although I'm pretty sure they have plenty of extra capacity since they are only building a fraction of the atv/sxs they did before textron.

 

Hey I aint hating if they can build it cheap I am all for it !  

I just dont expect a legit factory Snowbike for under $10k . 

To me its still alot of money , most 20 something year olds I know buy used Sleds....like we all did at that age. 

Thinking the yourh will somehow embrace snowbikes over Sleds is a fucking pipe dream IMO.  

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9 hours ago, EvilBird said:

Hey I aint hating if they can build it cheap I am all for it !  

I just dont expect a legit factory Snowbike for under $10k . 

To me its still alot of money , most 20 something year olds I know buy used Sleds....like we all did at that age. 

Thinking the yourh will somehow embrace snowbikes over Sleds is a fucking pipe dream IMO.  

Blast ZR has a msrp under of $8399.  Have you seen the price of used sleds these days? 15-20 year old junk is selling for 4-5k.  New stuff is easy to get a loan for, adn has much lower rates

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A modern offtrail sled will be way way better than a snowbike and they certainly aren't trail machines.  Also I don't think a blast engine and CVT system will fit in a bike frame not nearly as well as what some people here think.  The cvt would add a ton of width especially when you factor in a belt guard and enclosure.  And rotational mass.  The lay down structure would not work very well either with the air intake being below the exhaust and on the front side.  If they were so great, somebody would make one.

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20 hours ago, mnstang said:

A modern offtrail sled will be way way better than a snowbike and they certainly aren't trail machines.  Also I don't think a blast engine and CVT system will fit in a bike frame not nearly as well as what some people here think.  The cvt would add a ton of width especially when you factor in a belt guard and enclosure.  And rotational mass.  The lay down structure would not work very well either with the air intake being below the exhaust and on the front side.  If they were so great, somebody would make one.

Cat already has patent drawings for what you describe. I’m sure they have multiple working prototypes. I don’t understand all the hate towards snowbikes? At some point in the future it’s going to become evident to someone that you can only narrow up a mountain sled so much before it becomes pretty much unridable in anything but powder snow. They already suck to ride on a packed or groomed trail from the trail head to the play areas. A snowbike just makes more sense for deep snow as it can side hill 1000 times better than the most narrowed up ski stance of any mountain sled. 
 

Yeah, and I think it’s unlikely that the average double bacon burger eating, beer swilling, mid-western groomed trail rider is going to run down to their dealer to buy a factory made snowbike. But…. some of these same dipshits buy 165” mountain sleds to ride on 6” of hardpacked white ice on groomed trail networks so… if the marketing is good enough, they sell a few to this crowd.

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23 hours ago, mnstang said:

A modern offtrail sled will be way way better than a snowbike and they certainly aren't trail machines.  Also I don't think a blast engine and CVT system will fit in a bike frame not nearly as well as what some people here think.  The cvt would add a ton of width especially when you factor in a belt guard and enclosure.  And rotational mass.  The lay down structure would not work very well either with the air intake being below the exhaust and on the front side.  If they were so great, somebody would make one.

 

Yea, just look how low that air intake is, and how wide it is....

https://sleddermag.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Arctic-Cat-Snow-Bike-Patent-Banner.jpg

 

Arctic Cat Patenting Purpose-Built Snowbike - Adventure Rider

Arctic Cat Snow Bike Patent Application | Mountain Sledder

Arctic Cat Snow Bike

Edited by krom
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46 minutes ago, Not greg b said:

For those stand on things?? I never saw the price on them. 

Yep, I looked up the price one day.  It was either 8 or 8.5.  A year or two ago so could be more with bidenomics 

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18 minutes ago, Deephaven said:

AK is only infatuated with snow bikes as the dumb ass thinks they will be cheaper so that he can actually afford one.

Prove I don’t own a sled. 

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10 hours ago, Not greg b said:

I saw them at haydays. For an ice fishing special they would probably work good 

Like they said, if you had a chunk of property or access to land to fuck around on... they might make an amusing toy.  I can see that.  

9 hours ago, mnstang said:

Those would be fun!  But not for 8 grand 

That's approaching M-Blast $ 

8 hours ago, AK440 said:

Prove I don’t own a sled. 

Can we see your snow bike? 

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24 minutes ago, Deephaven said:

He can't post pics, lol.

I made him an offer so he could... which would be easier than digging up decade old posts from another site.

No dice thusfar... :dunno:

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4 hours ago, Crnr2Crnr said:

Like they said, if you had a chunk of property or access to land to fuck around on... they might make an amusing toy.  I can see that.  

That's approaching M-Blast

Can we see your snow bike? 

Happy I Love You GIF by Warner Bros. Deutschland

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On 1/2/2024 at 1:23 AM, AK440 said:

Bwahahahaha! I just wanted to see you totally own up to actually snowchecking that turd of a sled. You went to the dealer, put a deposit down, waited what, 8-9 months for that lard ass machine to arrive? Then it wasn’t even an HO. :lol2:  

 

 

My my my, the fishing was so good today. :fishing::fishing::owned::lol2:

 

Did you do any riding on your snowmobile today? Your season sounds fucking awesome. Zero rides and 2024 has now started. 
 

I have snow, rode this afternoon. Riding in snow is fun. Do you even know what snow looks like? 

 

B592FA08-3D22-4FF5-932E-28C26D7CD04D.jpeg

 This is His Sled Guys :lol:

So ashamed He wont even show anything other than the Skis on whatever POS this is . Any Guess by the Skis? :dunno: :lol:

On 2/29/2024 at 8:28 AM, Crnr2Crnr said:

I made him an offer so he could... which would be easier than digging up decade old posts from another site.

No dice thusfar... :dunno:

 

On 2/29/2024 at 8:29 AM, Deephaven said:

He has nothing to post pictures of...

 

On 2/29/2024 at 11:47 AM, AK440 said:

Still waiting for you to prove I don’t. :read:

 

D1190049-EAD9-4779-942D-127582C56AE6.jpeg

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