Who swaps the wheels/swingarm-track/ski every spring and fall?

[Ben 500RR-S]

I wonder how many of us don't have a dedicated bike for dirt and another for their snowbike and who swaps the kit out every spring/fall for wheels-the track and ski?


I plan on making the swap once the snow is all gone and again in the fall. As I change my own tires, and go through at least one, if not two rear tires a season, other than needing a little help lining up the swingarm bolt into the track/tunnel, the swap is not too bad-even though I have not put the wheels back on yet, I don't anticipate it being any harder than having taken everything off to do the install.


Where I am, once the snow is gone, it is gone and it is dirt time. There is very little, if any, overlap and if there is, it would still be cool for the dirt and all the legal riding areas aren't open yet.


Who else has been doing the swap(s)?

 

[wwillf01]

No swap here...I run dedicated snow and wheels... Here withing an hour you can ride the desert.... Or ride snowbikes out from the house... Especially on bad years like this... Riding wheels more than ski...

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[teal_210]

I swap every year, but I have a second bike for the in-between seasons. Rode dirt and snow last week.

 

[M5-]

Got sick of doing that 5 years ago, dedicated use bikes only. If you snow bike a lot as in 100 hours or so a season then you have all summer to freshen your engine for the following winter otherwise you are always chasing the clock. As mentioned there is actually a lot of overlap riding as well.


M5

 

[scottbilt95]

season swap

right here. one of the bonuses is not have to watch another $10-15K piece of equipment depreciate in the off-season.

 

[rhino89523]

Dedicated here, If i wasn't I would have missed a whole winter of killer dirtbiking and stared at my snowbike still waiting for snow. I put my kit on an old steel framed CR500. I think the snowbikes handling isn't much of an issue other than addressing the forks, my main dirtbike is a CR500 motor in an "X" frame and that bike I very much care about the handling. I would definitely need an extra set of forks which wouldn't be that big of a deal I guess but I actually prefer the motors set up differently as well. Snowbike I like my close ratio transmission, I like a Gnarly pipe, I like a V force 2 reed caged spaced off, I like a PWK39mm carb, I like the CR250 Ignition and then there are the airbox and tunnel cooler mods and all the hoses that I run to my cooler and thermostat and carb heater. The CR500x trail bike I like the wider trans, stock pipe, stock carb.....just too much work going back and forth for me, the kit cost what it cost, the bike for snow I have a little over 2G into, the motor is worth that alone and it appears the price of motors is staying the same or going up so depreciation isn't an issue.

 

[Excalibur]

One dedicated and two that switch for summer use.
The Black 16 SXF 450 w/Yeti SS129 stays snow only. The White 17 FX350 w/ARO 120 and the Orange 18 XCF 450 w/ARO 120 go back to wheels for dirt use.

 

[wwillf01]

DAMN IT AND I WAS BUYING SNOWBIKES BECAUSE I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST LIKE AN IRA....

right here. one of the bonuses is not have to watch another $10-15K piece of equipment depreciate in the off-season.

 

[medicman]

I change mine out spring and fall, This way i can do maintenance

 

[Timberview01]

I'm a swapper... That was a big part of the attraction to the snow bike, actually. The one or two hours it takes to install / remove the kit saves me from owning another $10K toy that sits around over half the year. Of course, I haven't modified my bike as heavily as some, so that makes it a lot easier.

 

[rhino89523]

What he said ^ makes sense to me. If I was on a bike that didn't have some of the issues I have ran into with the 500...namely cooling, and the bike ran a kit well right off the dealership floor I might go back and forth. I personally would have either the airpro set up or a dedicated set of forks and I would have a dedicated master cylinder and air box for both set ups. If you had just those parts dedicated I think the switch would be a little over an hour.

 

[jaredXwoodsman]

I swap my kit on and off. I bought extra parts to make swapping easier. 2 sets of bars with bark busters, grips (heated on the snowbike bars), stock and cut out air box, separate brake set up for the snowbike so I don't have to bleed brakes. I'm sure theres a few other things I've done to make the process easier.