Mountain Biking - Snow Biking?

I'm going skiing this break, and was wondering if you have any good ideas on how to set up your bike for snow biking.

I've done a little snow biking before. It's fun!
Basically, I use the gnarliest beefiest tires I have. You gotta just deal with the fact that you will slide around like a mofo as soon as your tires get packed with snow, but it's still pretty fun. Disc brakes are a big plus. :)

If you use the narrowest knobby you have it usually works a lot better than a big fat tire. With the fat tire you are just pushing the snow, but if you use a thinner tire you will knife through it more easily. Everyone claims you need a big fat tire for flotation, but to get any flotation you have to have a HUGE tire thats not going to fit on any standard bike.

Or you can find an old set you have wghich are really worn and drill screws through them to make snow spikes.

seely is rite...you need something along the lines of a snowshoe.....i like that make your own studs idea....when my current tires wear down, i think im gonna do that

actually there are kits to turn you bike into a ski. the lbs around me has an older fsr they've setup with skis where both wheels would go. looks like a blast to ride, i wish i had a website or something for the kit, but i dont remember the name.

How do you move other than downhill if you just have skis?

How do you move other than downhill if you just have skis?

you don't. :-)

How do you move other than downhill if you just have skis?

chairlift.. the only way to fly. besides he said hes taking a skiing trip over break, what better way to scare the crap out of the other mtn users than to show up with a long travel ski bike. it would be a blast, and a great way to practice jumping- snow is a lot softer to land in than dirt.

I know that alot of ski mountains in Australia don't allow ski bikes on the hills as they are too dangerous for the rider and other mountain users.

if you lower your tire pressure to around 5 pounds lower than the minimum pressure, they work great, unless youre worrying about pinch flats. I put my tires at 30 for the winter and i have 2.0 kendas on my mongoose. I have a set of "snow tires" that i only use in the winter but they are normal tires and i run them at about mid pressure or until you see them sink down 3/4" after you sit on them My favorite snow tires are Specialized Hardrock'rs 1.95

sorry. they should sink 1/4". any lower and you lose control easier from the tire folding over

I know that alot of ski mountains in Australia don't allow ski bikes on the hills as they are too dangerous for the rider and other mountain users.
there are ski places in austrailia?

Hahaha...yeah...australia has some big ass mountains. I think one of the big redbulls takes place there. That and aussies are some awesome boarders.

And whistler doesn';t allow ski bikes either.

Seely is (mostly) right. But I fancy Tioga Bloodhouds (agressively knobby 27x 1-3/8 inch cyclocross tires) http://www.mtbr.com/reviews/Tire/product_23336.shtml
Tioga Bloodhounds keep my Marin Sausalito (and me) upright on most snowy trails and roads.
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/tires/630.html

But I don't think I'll be waving to you when I'm Telemark-skiing A-Basin in early March 2005.
Then again, who knows? A-Basin inspires the extreme ;-) You could be floating on powder on a Santa Cruz Blur with 26x2 Hutchison low-pressure tubeless Scorpions. (Low pressure and moderately aggressive knobs, hence more friction on snow- I think; -).

We need a new thread on this topic....We're not talking about the 700 x 35 C Nokian Hakkapelitta TR1110 studded tires for snowy/icy roads- that's a no-brainer. We're thinking semi-aggressive knobby, low-pressure, and NOT sinking-in-snow off-road tires. Any one from Finland or Norway found a bike/tire combo (no reindeer, please :-) that drives through snow without exceeding your aerobic threshold and without experiencing that sinking sensation?

Maybe researching winning tires/bikes that have performed well in Iditasport (extreme) conditions will narrow our choice of off-road snow tires. Or maybe not. What I have found so far is what worked well in 1996-2000 Iditasport (bike) races. All this was pre-Hutchison and pre-Tioga R&D. http://www.allweathersports.com/isport/ibiketips.html

Another source of info may be the (extreme) Snow King World Cup [bike] Race held in Kvitfjell, Norway on 10 February 2004. http://www.worldcup.kvitfjell.no/ep/18/?articleid=19

Maybe Siemens (who sponsored the race) will outsource a "Siemens Snow King" MTB snow tire to (for example) Continental ;-)

:roflmao: :roflmao:

Hey don't laugh at us, we got some fully sick ski mountains here. They are like fricken huge, yeah. We will kick all yo buts with are big hills, um I mean mountains. Even redbull think we have big mountains, they hold like this huge fully sick snowboard event at thredbo which is like a sick 400 metres long.

Hahaha...yeah...australia has some big ass mountains. I think one of the big redbulls takes place there. That and aussies are some awesome boarders.

And whistler doesn';t allow ski bikes either.

That would be the RedBull Ride.

Or you can find an old set you have wghich are really worn and drill screws through them to make snow spikes.

Just make sure the screws aren't too long- they might not clear your frame/arch if they are too long.

Actually, there is a Redbull sponsored Aussi event in winter for snow boarding in Thredbo.

Go that way, really fast; if something gets in your way . . . turn.

Just watch out for this kid...



I want my two dollars!
http://www.xenafan.com/movies/bod/images/johnny14.jpg

Fun! But looks like something out of DreamWorks. You're cheating a little. Isn't this a pix of a Nordic track? Plus that looks like a 1940s DH ski. And is that "backpack" Starbucks' Cafe-con-La-Nieve answer to CamelBak?


:roflmao:
<<<<<<

We need a new thread on this topic....We're not talking about the 700 x 35 C Nokian Hakkapelitta TR1110 studded tires for snowy/icy roads- that's a no-brainer. We're thinking semi-aggressive knobby, low-pressure, and NOT sinking-in-snow off-road tires. Any one from Finland or Norway found a bike/tire combo (no reindeer, please :-) that drives through snow without exceeding your aerobic threshold and without experiencing that sinking sensation?

That may turn out to be difficult to find. Heck, even with modern cross-country skis you need a track to ski on. No way you could just wander off the track to a pristine forest with those, which is why they sell longer and wider special skis for deep snow X-country. Riding a bike on ski tracks might be physically possible, especially if the track was of the wider type designed to accommodate both skating and diagonal type skiers. However biking there would certainly generate a lot of hostility, as even the two types of skiers sometimes have difficulties sharing the track.

Snowmobile tracks are rideable too, but probably too dangerous. Snowmobiles are fast, very often operated by inexperienced riders and the snowy forest dampens their sound quite well. You might be in for a nasty surprise in the middle of the next downhill.

The best place IMO would be a well-maintained quiet downhill with suitable lifts, possibly even dedicated for bikes alone. If anyone knows of such a place, please post it here! :D

--J

Fun! But looks like something out of DreamWorks. You're cheating a little. Isn't this a pix of a Nordic track? Plus that looks like a 1940s DH ski. And is that "backpack" Starbucks' Cafe-con-La-Nieve answer to CamelBak?

Not quite DreamWorks... A&M Films though...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088794/companycredits

Special Effects
Consolidated Film Industries (CFI) [us] (titles and opticals)
Dream Quest Images [us] (special optical effects)

BTW, you might want to investigate what Carolyn "Curly" Curl used for her record-setting downhill run... 120MPH.

http://www.speedski.com/images/CarolynCurl-bike-motion.jpg

my buddy and I are working on a snow bike made out of an old rigid trek antelope and a couple of cheap-ass snowboards from anderson's... will get pics when its finished!

CL

Just did a search on Copernic. Wow! Convert a mountain bike to an MTB frame and inline skis! That goes beyond even the Zen of SS/Fixie! Zero gears and zero brakes? These apparitions would scare the Scheisse even out of snowmobilers ;-) Here are some incredible pics! http://www.winterxbike.com/photo_gall/photos.htm

Here's a link to the X-Bike product info. The cross-country variant (just replace the front MTB wheel with a ski) gives new meaning to the term "hybrid". http://www.winterxbike.com/product.htm

:roflmao: :roflmao:

I did just find out they are legal in Whistler. But you need a guide...:(