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Are Snow-bikes the future of our sled industry?

Rode up in N. Idaho this weekend, everyone around me, our riding group, family members, etc. are selling their sleds and switching to those Timbersled MountainHorse conversion kits for their dirtbikes.

Is anyone else around the U.S seeing alot of people making the switch? I love snowmobiling but if everyone else around me is going to ditch the sleds and go with the bikes I don't want to be the odd guy out with nobody with sleds to ride with hardly. Are the sleds going to be a thing of the past in a few years, and the bikes taking over??
 
I don't think they'll replace sleds, but they will get more popular. What I see coming though is the elimination of 2 stroke sled engines. We'll all be running 4 strokes in a few years. Look at the dirt bike market - all four strokes.
 
I don't see it replacing sleds, just giving people another option. People still ride ATV's or even drive UTV's instead of riding dirt bikes, and lots of people use cars instead of street bikes. I don't see the snow market being any different- there's room for more than one toy. Personally from what I've seen on the snow bikes I don't even have that much curiosity about riding one- my sled seems more versatile to me.
 
I am one of the people that sold their sled and decided to jump in on the Mountain Horse. No doubt, the Mountain Horse is a lot of fun. There are days and conditions in which the Mountain Horse shines and days when the sleds will shine. Snowbikes and sleds both venture in the backcountry but each has it's own place and route. Neither mix very well together.... if you are on bikes you want to be with others on bikes.

That being said I would love to have both a sled and a bike but I currently lack the financial power to do so. Something cool that the snowbike option gave me was that now I have a toy to ride year-round.
 
I don't think they'll replace sleds, but they will get more popular. What I see coming though is the elimination of 2 stroke sled engines. We'll all be running 4 strokes in a few years. Look at the dirt bike market - all four strokes.

No way will this happen....look at KTM their market in 2-stroke is amazing and they don't even have direct injection yet.

I have ridden snow bikes and they are ton of fun but they work better when there is less powder when I usually ski, a snow bike will not go where a sled will when it is chest deep, which for me is when sledding is the best.

The other problem with snow bikes is you need a big bore bike to make them fun and on tight single track in the summer a 250 four stroke is all you need so you really need two bikes...but there is tons of room for both and they both are a blast!
 
god i sure hope not, fun to toy around with but with no horsepower, no range and having to constantly ride the thing all day long it gets to be old. you can never just sit and cruize, its like riding a dirtbike in the sand, always having to watch your balance and look out for every little dip and hump. if you want to putt around on a hill all day long its great, going out on a 3ft.+ day for 60 miles, good luck with that;) a snowhawk would be a much better way to go, then at least you'd have some real power with some range, but still a pain in the arse to ride all day long...
 
I rode one and when I am out of college I definitely want a snow bike as my trail sled but there is no way in it will ever replace my M. As said before you need a 450 or BB bike and as a amateur MX guy I need a 250F so as for a all purpose snow bike that isn't much of an option however it would convert nicely to a X cross street machine. They are just another great way to waist 10K away on a nitch toy. Where they shine is as a boring trail machine replacement For warm day otherwise you will freeze!, and not for top speed but trails can be fun again with the family and slower riders. I was on a more versatile but lower quality kit that rides more like a bike than a snow hawk made by AD Boivin "explore kit"
 
They are an absolute blast, but there is still no compromise for a perfromance sled on a deep pow day. The really cool thing about snow bikes is that they are taking our local ridding areas that we have beat to death on sleds and making them new again. You can get into places on snow-bikes never accessible on sleds. I am sure it is just a matter of time before the green police catch on and add restrictions, but in the mean time I want one. Just need to figure out how to afford both.
 
they do way different things, i think the reason they are taking off a LOT in N. Idaho and NW montana is that its so tight and treed that you can explore a ton more terrain much easier on them where a sled is just to hard to ride in them. they sidehill everything, and if you got a group of bikes its way fun, but like rush said, you cant mix and match as you both want to do very different things!!

kind of like playing with quads/bikes in the summer. different types of riding.

personally my goal is to build a turbo sled that handles way easier and is lighter then anything else on the market, so then you still have your huge power but have an way fun toy to ride in the woods. after riding a turbo yami powered sled, even my 450 feels kind of week in the dirt(goes fast, just perception) so i can imagine it would feel sort of silly for me.
 
Rode up in N. Idaho this weekend, everyone around me, our riding group, family members, etc. are selling their sleds and switching to those Timbersled MountainHorse conversion kits for their dirtbikes.

Is anyone else around the U.S seeing alot of people making the switch? I love snowmobiling but if everyone else around me is going to ditch the sleds and go with the bikes I don't want to be the odd guy out with nobody with sleds to ride with hardly. Are the sleds going to be a thing of the past in a few years, and the bikes taking over??

Right now, I wish like hell I had a snow bike. in marginal snow conditions, I bet they're awesome.

Anything more than that, I don't care what it looks like in the videos, there is no way a 450 thumper is putting enough power to that track @ 8500+ feet to make me seriously consider replacing my sled with a snow bike.
 
I would guess nearly half the miles on my sled are from marginal snow conditions. It would be great to have an alternative to make crappy snow more fun and keep miles down on the sled too. With that said though, I have been bouncing off some serious land mines on my sled out in the hills due to lack of snow (nothing serious knock on wood). I wonder what kind of spills a guy would take on a snow bike ridding in low snow conditions.
 
I would guess nearly half the miles on my sled are from marginal snow conditions. It would be great to have an alternative to make crappy snow more fun and keep miles down on the sled too. With that said though, I have been bouncing off some serious land mines on my sled out in the hills due to lack of snow (nothing serious knock on wood). I wonder what kind of spills a guy would take on a snow bike ridding in low snow conditions.

yeah, all it takes is a one ski catch and you're over the handlebars. no other ski to support half the machine.


as for me, hell no i wont get away from sleds. i like the hand warmers for one. and the seats. and the feel of a sled. and the power. and the sound. and the rush.
 
I am in mn, I went to a bike because trail riding was starting to become reaaaaallllllllly lame for me. I get to go out west once a year so I plan to bring the bike out there when I go but for riding back country here i am pretty stoked and hopefully it will be fun to ride trails too. as for the crashing thing it is a factor, similar to a bike, but the ski never washes out! and think of riding a quad in really rough terrain and a bike in rough terrain a bike can just get the weight back and fly right over the rough stuff, where a quad can go ever it but has to go slow and bump over it.

plus how much tougher are bikes then sleds, I have watched my bike flip end for end, 3 flips! on dirt and I have just picked it back up and kept riding! if that was a sled it would be totaled! only one ski to hit stuff with, no hood to crack, no A arms and tie rods to break only one piston to blow, 1/2 the parts.

you can get a bike that already has lights or put a stator kit in to run lights and handwarmers. it takes up 1/2 the room in the garage, 3 can fit in a truck bed, you can ride it all year, if you by the right bike it can even be a road bike!

the get 20mpg!

to me it was a no brainer! I sold both of my sleds already, no regrets here
 
It is probably just a fad, how long did the snohawk last? With that being said...I think they look like a blast to ride.

Not a fad. Timbersled is sold out of kits for this year by mid December. They now offer three different kits now also. 121, 137, and 121 snocross/trail. They made a kit that works. The other kits don't compare. It is just another awesome option for the snow.
 
I' like to build a frame and stuff an 800 twin in it and run the mountainhorse that would rock!!!
 
Everyone has made some good points to the OPs question...going on 4th season with the Explorer Kits, but can't find a reason not to have both! :face-icon-small-coo

TRITON.jpg


Anything to get off the couch...just ride! Oh, get the wife on a 250, and she won't care to ride a sled again....
 
I think with the ski stance on sleds getting narrower on mountain sleds that eventually will have a single ski, long track, four stroke, turbo charged, hybrid, but still a sled, best of both worlds. :face-icon-small-win
 
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