TAKE 6

Many people didn’t realize that the single-ski snowmobile market has been around since Pink Floyd, The Beatles and The Stones were busy topping the charts, and families would huddle around their 23” Phillips black and white TV to watch Star Trek and Bewitched. For those of you that have never seen a television that isn’t a flat screen, or are not familiar with those bands, we’re talking about the mid-1960s. There were many attempts at single-ski snowmobiles over the years, but nothing really stuck around long enough to be a successful single-ski snowmobile, other than the Ski-Doo Alpine, which was designed and purpose-built for other reasons than recreational riding. The single-ski market never became popular until the “kit” made it possible in the mid2000s, to transform a dirt bike into a “snow bike”. Over the last decade, there has been a growing popularity of snow bike riders that travel off-trail, exploring the deep snow that the outback has to offer across North America, from the east to west coast, whether it be in Wyoming or in Quebec. In this issue of Take 5, we take a look at one-ski snow vehicles that tried their hand at the one-ski market, and are no longer around.

SNOW HAWK

Truly a snowmobile with one-ski that shares more characteristics with a watercraft than a snowmobile. The AD Boivin Snow Hawk was purely a snow vehicle, unlike today’s current kits that are based on a dirt bike, allowing the owner to swap the ski and track out for tires in the off-season. The Snow Hawk entered the snowmobile market in 2001 with a Rotax 503cc fan cooled engine, which was a little underpowered for what riders expected, but was fun to ride. In 2005, they replaced the fan cooled engine with a more powerful Rotax 600cc liquid cooled engine, and shortly thereafter there was a Rotax 800 H.O. offering. In the final year of production (2008), the Snow Hawk was only available in the 800 H.O. trim, which pointed in the direction that owners wanted more power with a better power to weight ration. In its final year of production, the Snow Hawk tipped in between 410 lbs. to 416 lbs. with three different models; a trail, mountain and enduro.

HONDA CUB EZ-SNOW

One of Honda’s “efforts” into the snowmobile market was this “snow bike” conversion kit, which made a lot of sense for Honda at the time. The EZ-Snow kit was based on the 90cc Cub, which was already being produced as an off-road motorcycle in the model line-up. All the owner had to do to transform the Cub was to swap out both tries for a ski and track. This all made perfect sense to many, but it never took off, possibly because it was only available on a 90cc two-stroke, and it never expanded into large engine sizes of Honda’s off-road bikes. Sadly, they chose not to stick with the EZ-Snow kit after the Cub was discontinued in 1996. Looking back, some might say they were well ahead of their time with a “kit” that transformed a dirt bike into a snow bike.

CHRYSLER SNO-RUNNER

Chrysler is said to have jumped into the snowmobile market in the mid 1970’s as an opportunity to take advantage of the booming market. They did so with the Sno-Runner, which in their marketing tools called it a “snow bike”, even though it resembled more of a GT Snowracer. The single-ski, Sno-Runner featured a twist-like motorcycle throttle, and was powered by a Chryslerbuilt 134cc engine producing 7 HP, and could reach a top speed of 25 MPH. A unique feature was that with the help of five pins, the Sno-Runner could be assembled or disassembled, allowing it to be transported in a sub-compact car. Everything sounded great for the Sno-Runner and Chrysler dealers were ordering larger numbers. However, it turned out that the Sno-Runner had a problem that would prove to be detrimental to its future. The Sno-Runner was incapable of performing in any depth of snow that wasn’t hard packed, thanks to a twenty-one cleat, 3”-wide track and a narrow front ski. This is very problematic for a “snowmobile”. In the Sno-Runner heyday, Chrysler sold 28,000 units from 1979 to 1981, for less than seven hundred bucks!

CYCLE SNO SHOO BY DIVERSCO INC.

This could be the very first snow bike kit ever produced. With our investigation skills, we were able to track the Cycle Sno Shoo all the way back to 1967. Diversco pitched the motorcycle world that if they owned a “cycle”, then in fact they also owned half a snowmobile. The Cycle Snow Shoo kit advertised that it only took twenty minutes to convert a motorcycle to a twin track, one-ski snowmobile. We felt that twenty minutes to swap out sounded more like a NASCAR pit stop. Looking at the hand drawn pictures, you get a feeling that not everything is going to line-up perfectly. The Cycle Sno Shoo kit is designed to fit any Suzuki, Honda, Yamaha or Bridgestone, from 80cc to a Honda 305cc. With the traction that the Cycle Sno Shoo offered, it advertised speeds of 60 MPH, which is backed up by being “Colorado” tested. Diversco also offered the sweet fairing seen in the photo with the smiling couple. The fairing was an unknown additional cost to the $449.95 kit.

SKI-DOO ALPINE/ ALPINE II

This steel frame cycloptic Clydesdale of a snowmobile had a long production run dating back to the 1964 Winter Olympics, and ending in 1995. The Alpine and Alpine II were designed as a singleski, dual 15” track tracks, boogie wheel suspension workhorse, and after 1970, it even came with a cigarette lighter. The Alpine and Alpine II were predominately seen grooming snow trails around the world for snowmobilers and skiers. Over the years, as trail systems improved, so did the grooming equipment. Larger, enclosed, dual tracked vehicles like Bombardier BR 100s, Piston Bullys and tractors were being used. These new and larger tracked vehicles were also much more user friendly, with creature comforts like air suspension seats and heated cabs. By 1996, the Alpine II was replaced in the Ski-Doo line-up with the new workhorse - the Skandic Wide Track.

ARCTIC CAT SVX 450

When Arctic Cat launched their SVX 450 Snow Bike in 2017, the industry got excited. The SVX 450 was based on French off-road motorcycle manufacturer, Sherco’s 450 platform, and if Arctic Cat were able to pull this off, it would have been quite a feat. The idea was to have a purposebuilt snow bike that was actually registered as a snowmobile, and not a kit assembly on a dirt bike. Arctic Cat felt that there would be a good demand for a true snow bike that was not designed to replace the ski and track with tires in the off-season. Another rumor was that they believed they could come to the market cheaper than a traditional dirt bike combined with a snow bike kit. By coming to market in their desired SVX 450 format, it would have meant that the vehicle passed all snowmobile certification standards. Being able to have your snow bike registered as a snowmobile has a lot of perks. Essentially, it would mean the SVX 450 could be legally ridden wherever snowmobiles can, unlike other snow bikes that can only be ridden where off-road motorcycles can, including private land. To achieve these standards, Arctic Cat had some hurdles that were starting to add up, such as the brake. The rule is that a snowmobile must have a left hand brake. Motorcycles have a clutch lever on the left side, making a needed adaptation, as well as the need for proper lights and reflectors in set locations. The exhaust also presented a bit of a problem; in order to be considered a snowmobile, it must be contained from the rider, and not allow any form of contact. These were just a few of the issues, and since 2017, we haven’t heard much more about the dream called the SVX 450.