Can an MB be turned into a SNOW TOY?!?

[Sgt. Howard]

Check this out- I think there's some possibilities here- this is directed towards pedal-only off roaders... but if you jack shaft this thing with only rear brakes on right grip... you would have to do pull start & (likely) centripital clutch, but THIS would be AWSOME in the snow...!
It's called a KITRAK and it is in prototype stage from a company called Engaget, to be market for somewhere around $300 according to gizmag.com
Whatcha think?

 

[Wheres my dog]

Very cool concept.... simple but very effective in the snow!

along these lines, I have always thought of the idea of a "water MB"

 

[ibdennyak]

Can't find the post, but some one did a little write up on that kit. I think the over all consensus was that it took too much power to pedal, though motorizing it would take care of that problem. Also, they preferred to use it with the front wheel rather than ski. It didn't have enough flotation to go where a ski was practical unless it was a strictly downhill course.

Need something like that myself....about 8 inches of snow, ice, wind, you name it here. Sounds stupid, but I've been riding my 10 speed road bike around. Skinny little tires kind of rudder through the snow instead of sliding around on top of it. Course you fall down a lot on the hardpack....tires just won't climb out of an inch deep rut.....and the frozen footie prints....kind of like a Magic Fingers vibrator.....

 

[arkives1]

can an MB be turned into a snow toy

When I was a young boy we used to wrap thin brass chain around our tires in a spiral through the spokes and ride on snow and ice, a couple of us adapted shortened cross country skis to the front. They'd go pretty good on very light snow or on ice but anything deeper with a crust, forget it. I'm still amazed that we didn't kill ourselves with those old schwinn cruisers in summer and winter in the mountains of Virgina.

 

[Sgt. Howard]

RE; Motorbike in snow

Actually, I started brainstorming the concept after I saw the pics- yea, we're in trouble now- and I THINK I can do this with refuse and abuse in the true 'rat bike' fashion. Now it's only an issue whether SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) will authorise the minor expenditure of $$$ and MAJOR expenditure of time to create the toy in question. As the Beach Breeze has been layed up for the Winter, THIS mith be the ticket to get some Winter travel out of it... to my mind, there will be days when I would trust it over my car, but we shall see, eh? More on this later...

 

[spad4me]

I used to stud motorcycle tires with sharpened 1 inch bolts.
You need about 30 nuts , washers , and sharpened bolts.

Per tire.

To go ice racing.
Be careful with the thing when riding

Oh yea my mispent youth LOL

 

[ibdennyak]

I used to stud motorcycle tires with sharpened 1 inch bolts.
You need about 30 nuts , washers , and sharpened bolts.

Per tire.

To go ice racing.
Be careful with the thing when riding

Oh yea my mispent youth LOL

You too eh? We could throw a 50 foot rooster tail of ice chips. Didn't want to get run over by one though.

 

[Porkchop]

Very cool concept.... simple but very effective in the snow!

along these lines, I have always thought of the idea of a "water MB"

Suzuki did that about 25 or 30 years ago. They called it "Wet Bike" !

 

[buzbikebklyn1]

very cool idea, were did that rear wheel come from, and I WANT ONE!

 

[Sgt. Howard]

snow bike

If I could rely on ice, I would do the stud wheel and put a blade up front- as it is, I'm thinking of a 20" rim behind the 26" back wheel, then build up a track of serphentine belts that fill the rim with a wider diesel valve belt with the teeth out to make ground contact- the whole thing will have flat head bolts coming from inside out every 6" to hold the layers together, you construct the tread this way to size. Real bogie suspension will be the major challenge I think... and not much at that... need to make sure I put runners on the ski in front or scarf up a single one from an old snowmobile.