AmSnow.com is now SnoWest.com
Canada's A.D. Boivin Design tells AmSnow that it's streamlining its product lineup to three models for 2007, while launching two new snowbikes.
The Lévis, Quebec, manufacturer has been making the single-track, single-ski Snow Hawk for five years, introducing a small Junior model (sort of like a pit bike) for this season.
Now Boivin plans to replace its Outlaw and Sport/Trail models with one Snow Hawk Top Gun, featuring a 140-horsepower 800cc H.O. Rotax engine. The snowbike, as company president Denis Boivin calls it, will weigh slightly less than previous models and will feature just one track length, 128 inches, to simplify sales and manufacturing.
In addition, the firm will launch a new, lightweight Hawk Jr. R120x to complement its Jr. R60 that debuted this season. The R120x will feature a Swedish-made 120cc fan motor that creates 14 hp.
Boivin says the new models will appeal to a wide range of consumers that the firm sees expanding each year for its unique product. He says the company has consistently increased sales of its previous Snow Hawk models each year.
Simplifying the lineupHowever, he says it was time to simplify the top of the line to avoid offering too many choices. The previous Outlaw and Sport/Trail models could be ordered with either long (136 in.) or short (121 in.) tracks. Each featured a Rotax 600 H.O. two-stroke engine.
Boivin says the Top Gun, which will come in yellow with black and white trim, will give riders more of what they want - power. The Rotax 800 H.O. will create 140 horses (103 Kw). Plus it will only be available in one track length, 128 inches (325 cm). The new track also has a new lug pattern and design to make it run both quieter and faster. That's important as quiet becomes a larger issue everywhere snowmobiles run these days.
"This will be a real classic in the industry I think, with good power and lighter weight," he says.
The new Top Gun weighs slightly less than the previous model, checking in right at 400 pounds. The chassis weight was trimmed 7 pounds, while the engine is two pounds heavier.
Boivin says his engineers also came up with a new rear suspension they call MotionLink, which offers a linkage between the chassis and the rear swing arm. This, he says, will make the Top Gun smoother through small bumps and yet stiffen it over bigger and rougher terrain.
Clutching will consist of a TRA III with the HPV VSA 10 to efficiently put the power to the track. Plus there's a Brembo 34 mm twin piston braking system.
Pricing has not been set yet, but Boivin says it will be in place by late January. The Outlaw long-track went for around $10,399 US/$12,899 CA, and look for Top Gun to be in the same neighborhood. Production will begin the final quarter of 2006.
Juniors open new markets The Junior Hawks will be coming out sooner, late summer to early fall, but Boivin notes that they can be used year-round.
The company has created a $100 kit that replaces the front ski with a wheel (See it at www.amsnow.com). He says this is something customers asked for and increases the more powerful Jr. R120x's usefulness. Boivin says people say they will use the vehicle to get back into the woods and across fields for hunting in the fall.
"The cherry on the sundae is that you can use it all year round," Boivin says.
Yet Boivin also sees the new R120x as opening a whole new snow market for the Juniors by encouraging younger riders and families to enjoy riding on the snow.
First, it's powerful enough to be fun. Boivin says the R120x will run 40 mph with its 14-horse Radne Manufacturing motor, while weighing only 100 pounds.
"These are fan-cooled and very viable and tough," Boivin says, noting that Radne engines are used in karting and other recreational uses.
The new Junior also fits well between the two other models. It's shorter than the Top Gun and taller than the R60 - seat height is 29 inches (73.7 cm) compared to 31 inches (78.8 cm) for the bigger Top Gun and 25 inches (63.6 cm) for the R60.
Boivin believes it'll be the perfect size for 12- to 14-year-olds and provide a fun snow machine for youngsters to ride with their parents.
"This is more a fun package for the family and it's affordable," he says. Again, no pricing has been set, but with the Junior R60 running $2,499 US/$2,999 CA last year, look for the bigger, sportier R120x to be a little less than $4,000. Boivin says that would allow a family to own three Junior Hawks for what they might normally spend on one upper end snowmobile.
With the winters getting warmer in parts of North America and snow sometimes being less plentiful, Boivin says the multi-season usefulness of the R120x becomes a big plus in its favor.
He also anticipates more young riders racing both the larger and smaller Juniors, which he believes will increase the market for sleds and Snow Hawks as those riders become adults. That, Boivin says, helps address the shrinking marketplace of the past several years that most attribute to bad snowfall.
For now, the R120x will be available in black with green trim while the R60 will be black and orange, with an orange ski.
Overall dimensions for both Juniors will be 77x25x37 inches (196x63.5x94 cm). The differences will be in the engine size, gas tank and seat height. Plus the smaller Junior has a friction braking system while the R120x has a mechanical disc brake.
The R60 also weighs about 10 pounds less, making it better for younger and smaller children.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
www.adboivin.com