Did not see any prices, how much?
Do you have them in stock?
How easily do they adapt to a Polaris stile ski mount, like what is on the Mountain Horse?
Only one left in stock from this year's production. Retail for the complete kit (Stainless Steel Baseplate, Ski insert, twin axis lock and all hardware) is 300$
No plans on doing any more unfortunately. Kinda questionning the final price too, eh. Honestly I didn't think of selling this thing to the Snow-Bike guys cause none has the Hawk ski except the Exlorer kit guys... And an explorer is so bad in anything deeper than 8" of snow already the owner won't think the ski is the problem... For a guy who already has that ski, it's not too bad of an investment at all. But if a guy has to buy the whole ski with the twin axis mount, twin axis rubber donuts, snow trackers, carbide runners and a whole bunch of bolts that's like 500$ right there. That's without the mount that links the ski to the forks... So... If I had time & bikes available I'd come up with a kit but for now I'm just gonna leave it to the other guys, they're doing pretty damn good, just a matter of time before they find a solution that works as good as mine. But those are a big pair of shoes by the way. Right now the front ski setup seem to be the most overlooked thing on snow-bikes according to me.
It is not all ski floatation that is the problem,the skids are to far to the back for proper weight distribution.
Look at the new Horse prototype sucked forward as far as possible, they are on to something right there.
cheers..........
If you ask, I'll choose bite & perfect control over flotation any day, even when I rode spots like Revelstoke or Sicamous. I know it's not all about flotation ! And yep, weight distribution, I see ya. A conversion kit will always stay a conversion kit. Not much a ski will do against that besides the fact that you gotta add some bite to it it you don't have a lot of ski pressure. Not just adding a set of snow-trackers or carbides but also some sort of a twin axis, that adds a lot of bite cause you get the 2 edges of the ski biting, not just one. According to the last 5 years of Snow-Hawk testing I have done, a ski has to have both (bite & flotation) to perform awesome everywhere. Just my 2 cents here.
Not sure the Timbersled ski sucked as far forward is for weight distribution... Maybe some of them can validate that but theoretically, they're playing with a virtual measurment called "trail". ADBoivin has also played wit this. Here's a little drawing, sorry it's a bike but same principle applies :
Below is a very good explanation of the "trail" concept right there from Dave Moulton's Bike Blog. But I'm gonna say the following from my experience : Less trail and you get a more direct steering feeling. More trail (ski more towards the back) and you get more stability and predictability off the ski. Also rides better at high speed. More of a direct steer feeling is probably what Timbersled is after.
Here's the article :
If you draw an imaginary line through the center of your bicycle’s steering tube (Steering Axis.) it will reach the ground at a point in front of where the wheel actually contacts the ground.
The difference between these two points is known as the trail. Trail assists steering; as you lean the bike to the left or right, the steering axis moves in that direction, and thereby turns the wheel in that direction as it pivots on the point of contact with the road.
Trail also assists the bike in holding a straight line. It works on the same principal as a castor wheel on a grocery cart, which goes in the direction it is pushed. (Or in theory it is supposed to.) This is why it is called “trail,” because the wheel trails along behind the steering axis.
Fork rake or offset is the distance between the steering axis and the wheel center. It doesn’t matter if the fork blade is curved forward in the traditional way, or if the fork blade is straight but angled forward from the crown. If the offset is the same the bike will handle the same.
You will see from the drawing above, if the head angle is made steeper then trail decreases because the steering axis moves closer to the wheel’s point of contact. Conversely, a shallow head angle will lengthen trail.
Less fork rake, increases trail, because the wheel center is moved back away from the steering axis. More fork rake means less trail because the wheel center is moved forward.
That being said, I beleive an adjustable Trail measurment is what needs to be. It'll be a never-ending debate among Hawkers on which the 2" or 6" trail adaptor is best. It's a very personnal thing... And a lot of those who bought the Adjustable trail adaptor (from 2 to 6" if I remember well), ride it right in the middle... !
Wow that's a big arse post ! Hope that's not too much techy info !
Time for another coffee !
Peace.
Thierry
