I went to the Snow-Hawk factory today

[600 HO St_ours]

I was there to pick up some parts and show them my damaged track with a problem that nobody saw before.

The future of Sow hawking does not look good ...

They told me that they built the last one last year, that since they went for a custom build sheet formula along with a 18-22k price not ONE person ordered...

They also explained to me that my track edge broke because it must have been misadjusted and the clips modified at some point but their new track is reinforced better and the clips are stronger so ....

There where many explorer kits in various stage of completion though and that part the business seemed to run ok for now.

There where demo of the ZX2 suspensions systems but there seemed to be no one assembling any...

I sure hope they survive selling explorer kits and that they stay around to suply parts for hawkers in the years to come.

I should also have all it takes to make my Hawk run and try it for the first time soon, I can't wait


Bye

Francois

 

[sledr2]

Thanks for the report.

Did you take any pic's?

 

[buffaloHAWK]

probly just a few guys there twiddleing their thumbs waiting for a hawk order to come in ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ring ring..............how much?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? ok bye..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

 

[snowhawk jockey]

Naa, those guys are super busy fulfilling orders for their ZX-2 suspensions and wildly successful Explorer kits.

Remember this>> Suspension skids/mods and track conversions have been and always will be Quebec's honey hole.

Hawks were a risky and expensive foray into Major unit production and they figured out that machines require a WHOLE different level of customer relations to stay credible with the Market. It is much easier to sell hundreds of Explorer kits and skids at 20-40% margins to a distributer and cash the check than get jerked around by a VERY VERY small group of Hawk loyalists for a 5-15% margin on onesy twosey of these expensive(cost to profit) and time/space consuming machines.

Sad, but the timing for Boivin to stop Hawk production and go into cheap track conversions couldn't have been better. No Buyers for $20000 Hawks and many buyers in an untapped market for kits to turn the dirt bike I already have into a snowbike.

Economics anyone?

 

[buffaloHAWK]

yeah the explorer, 2moto, shrew kits are good and all....but the hawk has a place in this world. and the more we keep riding ours the more poeple are gonna want them. with all the bike riders getting a taste of a ski up front insted of tire, they are gonna be wanting a hawk that doesnt exist anymore.maybe someone from cat doo polar or yami will be at hawkfest and actually see what its all about...then move forward and mass produce the single ski addiction with several sizes,motor,track configuration for all riders both east and west.i am waiting for the 500 phazer motor to land in my 503 chassis!!!! anybody have a thumper hawk yet?

 

[snowhawk jockey]

SSSHHHHut the hell up about thumper hawks. Especially any comments about Turbo thumper Hawks.

The Boivin hawk has come and gone...

Who will pick up the standard?

 

[buffaloHAWK]

must be a 4 stroke hater....
it would be nice not to have to carry a quart of oil in my backpack anymore

 

[TLKDPROD]

I, unfortunately, agree with you SnowHawk Jockey. The Snow-Hawk has had its chance but poor marketing at the early years has killed it I think.

Myself, in '02, I wanted one. Well, beleive it or not I never had a chance of throwing a leg over one 'til fall of '06 when I blindly bought my "4 hour old" 503. And I was sold to the idea in '02 ... Now try to convince a Sledder to buy one that has never tried one... Good luck.

I just can't beleive Snow-Hawk adventure has only been created in '07 (Thanks to Tony waking these guys up...). Should have been done in '03 touring both countries and letting people trying them for free. Just like Mike is doing right now with the kits. ADB are putting together a few bikes that will be ready in Mid-January actually... That's too bad, that's just too bad. We all know it's the best machine on snow.

We have a french expression for that and it goes as follow : "le nom est brûlé" which would translate by "the name is burnt"... I'll let you figure out what it means... I don't know if really, we're there but as I told Tony, in my opinion, they've turned the page. Too much problem for what they get out of it. And they've "tried" from '02 to '08...

 

[mccbrothers]

Buffalo Hawk knows what is up with the hawks

The conversion kits are cool but I have ridin them all with stock motors/big bores,etc, but being a owner of a mod 800 hawk at 160 horse power nothing is better, I hope to hell, Boivin's keep the snowhawk going, if anyone wants to launch 100+ ft you have to have a hawk, a lot of the jumps we hit at 30-40 mph we could not even get a big bore Ktm conversion to climb to the top, just not enough track speed without primary and secondary clutchs and a belly pan you are pissin in the wind.Ye haaaaaaaaaaa

 

[snowhawkaddict]

Western production

This needs to get rolling now. no time to waste if we have to reverse engineer what exhists Ill tear one of ours down.

All you lurkers on hear listen up this is the future of aggressive snowmobiling. clutch tuners. motor builders. injection molders. suspension gurus. dreamers. its time to put your talent to something usefull not the old relics the lazys want to dance all over.

Come on people. what better time!?

And by the way whats up with all the pansy ars's. the sellers on ebay call me to reafirm that they should hold their price. while six or seven of you are giving some lowsy excuse like a lot of cash for something you have not tried first. Man up and beat the other kittens to the best thing you ever rode!

 

[roo]

phazer!

yeah the explorer, 2moto, shrew kits are good and all....but the hawk has a place in this world. and the more we keep riding ours the more poeple are gonna want them. with all the bike riders getting a taste of a ski up front insted of tire, they are gonna be wanting a hawk that doesnt exist anymore.maybe someone from cat doo polar or yami will be at hawkfest and actually see what its all about...then move forward and mass produce the single ski addiction with several sizes,motor,track configuration for all riders both east and west.i am waiting for the 500 phazer motor to land in my 503 chassis!!!! anybody have a thumper hawk yet?

got to look at phazer mtr on table with everything it takes to make it run and keep it cool, all laid out nice and neat like, going in a bd-5 exp. airplane. it took up the whole table, it was a BIG TABLE!

 

[snowhawk jockey]

must be a 4 stroke hater....
it would be nice not to have to carry a quart of oil in my backpack anymore

Don't get me wrong, I love Fourstrokes especially turbos. I fooled with an FST/144x2paddle/regear/highbars for a season, just to enjoy a "stock" turbo.
I think that turbo/supercharged four strokes with CVT trannies are the future.

Mcbro, nothing can touch one of those tricked out 8hundo's, for sure. The skibikes are just for lowlands and woods riding. Only hawks will really work climbing in deep pow vs the skibikes. I have several friends getting the kits either 2moto or Explorer and they are talking smack about "kicking the hawks ***" I can't wait to turn it up hill on one of those lighter fluffy days, with a bunch of those guys trying to follow the line, downshifting their asses off and wringing their motors to the moon...snicker, snicker

It's just that the skibikes are for a mainstream market and Hawks are specialty. I hope to hell the skibikes drive a huge revolution in the snomoto arena. The Yamaha Phazer was a step in the right direction, but again, still an ATV.

 

[AKrider]

I didn't realize they stopped production of the Snowhawk. That's too bad. I got to demo ride a 503 back in '02 or '03. What is ironic is the demo ride actually snuffed out my desire to buy one. I own and ride dirt bikes, sport quads and of course snowmachines and I thought the Snowhawk was the coolest concept. I was bummed out that it wasn't as similar to a dirt bike as I thought it would be. I was just at their website and I see they were advertising it as a combination of machines and I think that is accurate. The Snowhawk did remind me a bit of a Jet Ski.

When I rode the 503 I was surprised by how far back I sat on it as compared to a dirt bike. I didn't realize at the time that the Hawk lacked rider forward ergos. I just thought it felt weird. I'm bummed they stopped production cause in the back of my mind I always thought I might buy a used 503 but now I'd be worried about parts availability. Maybe that isn't a concern?

 

[cjgodden]

AKRider, I felt the same way after i rode the 503 in '03, it lacked power, felt awkward, and really turned me off. Then in 05' I had a chance to ride a 600 up at hatchers Pass. The larger motor, new ski design both made such a huge difference. My riding partner bought one the next week and after I found a used 600 i bought mine. As fare as parts go, even if ADB quit's making parts I am confident I can make anything( or have made) that can't be bought from ski-doo.

 

[snowhawkaddict]

Make the leap of faith.

Start with a used 503F, and study it's construction, you will reallize the simpicity of it. Reproducing most any part shoud be a light task for any fabricator, and all the powertrain is Ski-Doo.

The 503F set up and updated properly is no slouch and has made plenty of our Washington riders happier than when they owned Twoski machines with twice the power.

Search Youtube key words snow hawk, snowhawk, sno hawk, snohawk, etc., we even have a thread here, the site has many vids of all types of folks at different skill levels.

Some learn in seconds others can take seasons but if they stick with it the end result seems to be the same, ADDICTION!!

If AK means Alaska then you luckily have many fellow riders allready in your state to help you with your desire.

The whole purpose of our specific forum when Tammy and I started it was to get this thing noticed before it faded away, a machine this revolutionary with the name brands on it would flourish and grow the snowmobile industry beyond their wildest dreams.

By the way production only stopped/stalled when ADB anounced $21,000.00 pre bookings only, to those who would have upgraded and continued to worship and promote the company the 5k increase was like a kick in the 8alls, to those who did not know any better and had just discovered the machine, there were a few who did not seem to care what price, yet by not pre booking they were SOL!

For 2010 the promotion should go something like this, buy a mountain Hawk and as a bonus we'll throw in an Explorer kit, then your buddies will have some thing to try and follow as witness!

 

[TCSKIBIKE]

I was watching a show called "green machines" on a channel called HDNET. They were putting an electric snowmobile(based of SkiDoo freestyle) up against a yamaha touring sled. Needless to say the electric one didnt have much power but it was plastered with AD Bovion stickers and the new ZX2 skid.

Pretty cool to see AD aint dead yet.

 

[AKrider]

Wow, even without using 20/20 hind sight, it seems like going strictly high end was a bad business plan for ADB. Just from a common sense point of view, I don't see where they thought they'd have enough customers wanting to purchase a $20,000 machine?

I had no idea any of this took place until I read about it here in the forum. I wonder if ADB would be wise to redesign the snohawk to make it more similar to a dirt bike? I'd think with dirt bike ergos the machine would be more natural to ride. Seems like if you used a wide enough front ski, it would keep the floatation in check even with the added weight of the rider being moved forward.

I still like the concept. Seems like with a bit of refinement, a guy or company could really be onto something.

 

[RudeAwakening]

i like the snowhawk the way it is! if i wanted it to feel more like a bike i would buy a bike conversion kit like the explorer or 2 moto!
the price tag is another thing! but like everyone says, you gotta pay to play!

 

[RudeAwakening]

Remember, riding anything doesn't always come naturally. It takes time and practice and even then you may not be good at it. The snowhawk is no exception to that rule. In fact, I found that it has an even longer learning curve than any other machine that i have ridden. But the reward is well worth it.

Correction.......after thinking about it, there is one problem with the snowhawk, and that is the snowhawk owner. They are all greedy and hoard all the machines they can get their greedy little hands on. This must tell you something! hehehe! its geting hard to find any used ones for sale!

 

[buffaloHAWK]

i thought rude was talkin about some lovin' for a minute..."riding anything doesn't always come naturally. It takes time and practice and even then you may not be good at it" i could see some improvements too the hawk...a little more forward postion, more knee room, factory steering damper,503 fan motor,440 liquid,loose 25+ pounds on the fanner,correct the suspension so we dont have too...just tiny things that would never keep me from owning a hawk. i too will be hoarding machines so i have spares soon.