Look what I found....Yamaha factory snowbike?

[tomk]

I am looking into designing my own snow kit and I stumbled upon this while doing a patent search, looks like it was issued in 2010 to yamaha corp. did a quick google search nothing else came up looks interesting..... anyone heard any other rumors?

http://www.google.com/patents?id=j_...D0Q6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=snow motorcycle&f=false

 

[motojunkie101]

It looks like a factory snowbike to me. The pictures look pretty interesting too. I would guess that it will be 10 years before its in production OR Yamaha will just sell a GYTR snowbike kit.

 

[Scott]

Hmmm. Interesting.

 

[christopher]

A straddle-type personal snow vehicle includes a body frame, an engine, a front support and a rear track drive mechanism that is driven by the engine. The front support may be a front suspension that supports at least one front ski. The rear track drive mechanism may be supported by a rear suspension that may include multiple linkage members. In one arrangement, the track drive mechanism includes a drive wheel and at least a first support wheel. An axis of rotation of the first support wheel is positioned forward of an axis of rotation of the drive wheel. In one arrangement, the at least one front ski is coupled to the front suspension by a tool-less attachment mechanism.




Provisional application Jun. 26, 2006.
Filed: Jun. 20, 2007
Prior Publication Jan. 24, 2008
Date of Patent: Sep. 7,2010

 

[christopher]

 

[christopher]

 

[KAWGRN]

They know that one ride and the sled becomes obsolete!! bikes will dominate soon!!!!LOL

 

[christopher]

Would be nice to know the inside scoop on this.
Wonder if it's a dead project now after all these years.?

 

[volcano buster]

My observations:
1) looks like a cross-over kids sled something like the Sno-Scoot/Sport used to be
2) 4 stroke liquid cooled
3) no keel on the ski...?
4) How exactly does the steering linkage turn the ski?

If it works out, I'm glad to see someone interested in that intermediate size again. I think the manufacturers are going to find themselves in a bind when the older 340-500cc sleds are all worn out.