Mountain Biking - My Ski-bike project starting to take shape

The idea of this project has been brewing for a couple of winters now. Last year, the pieces finally started coming together. I got a set of kids' skis free from a co-worker. And I finally went out and bought a scrap of 4" square 6061 T-6 tubing, which would be the platform for the standoffs from the skis. The design is my poor-man's version of the Winter X-Bike kit.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t162/dminorwa/Ski%20Bike/IMG_1121.jpg

I unlaced a couple of junk hubs that I had; the back one I flattened off the spoke flanges so that they will nest solidly on the platform. So far, the biggest expense has been the stainless steel u-bolts (which I had to get from two different suppliers - - one pair for 1/2" pipe, the other for 3/4") at $5-$6 each. Front:

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t162/dminorwa/Ski%20Bike/IMG_1122.jpg

Rear:

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t162/dminorwa/Ski%20Bike/IMG_1123.jpg

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t162/dminorwa/Ski%20Bike/IMG_1124.jpg

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t162/dminorwa/Ski%20Bike/IMG_1125.jpg

I also had to make the top of the rear platform off-center slightly to accommodate the dish of the rear hub

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t162/dminorwa/Ski%20Bike/IMG_1128.jpg

The basis of this contraption is going to be the trusty ol' Mongoose, which will be refitted with its dual-crown Judy XLC.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t162/dminorwa/Ski%20Bike/IMG_1126.jpg

Ah, the name says it all . . .

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t162/dminorwa/Ski%20Bike/IMG_1127.jpg

Still have to figure out: 1) how much to shorten the skis; 2) exactly how I'm going to build my footpeg set. I want something a bit more engineered than the BMX-grind-pegs-bolted-together solution.

That looks like it will be fun.

Looks good Doug! What Ideas for spring tension on the front ski (or both skis), are you toying with?

Wow, that looks like it will be fun!

Are you planning on having the front ski longer than the rear?

My first thought was the black-rubber-bungee route but I don't want it to be quite so ghetto. The nearby Ace Hardware has a HUGE small-fasterners/parts-bin section and I seem to recall that they had a bin of torsion springs; figured I could even use a spoke hole on the hub flange to tie to. I'm hoping one for either direction of rotation on each end of the hubs will be enough.


Are you planning on having the front ski longer than the rear?I actually think I can get away with leaving the rear longer. The setups I've seen I think had a fairly short front ski. I'm going to have to go back through some of deweydude's threads here and elsewhere and look at pics again.

Careful with that thing. We like dminor in one piece.

My first thought was the black-rubber-bungee route but I don't want it to be quite so ghetto. The nearby Ace Hardware has a HUGE small-fasterners/parts-bin section and I seem to recall that they had a bin of torsion springs; figured I could even use a spoke hole on the hub flange to tie to. I'm hoping one for either direction of rotation on each end of the hubs will be enough.

That sounds like a neat and clean approach. We were all expecting a little more from you, than the rubber bungee setup!
:thumb:

Very cool! The only thing that ski-bike is missing is a few anti-chain-suck clamps.

Very cool! The only thing that ski-bike is missing is a few DOZEN anti-chain-suck clamps.

Just tryin teh hep!

A to the Wesome.

Legions of good ol' boys down here approve of your Molly Hatchet tribute.

Ah yes, I had that album .....in the 9th grade. Molly Hatchet rocks.

Molly Hatchet rocks.Indeed! (http://www.mollyhatchet.com/)