Ski Bike – The New Sport in Cycling
Winter is still in full swing, with record cold and snowfall totals still stacking up. Whether or not you’re a winter enthusiast or pessimist, I’m sure we can all agree that these weather conditions are not ideal to be riding in to get from point A to point B, but it can be an awesome experience.
Out of curiosity though, I was looking on YouTube for people riding their bikes in the snow and I came up upon some videos about snow biking; looking for videos like this one:
But a majority of the videos I found on YouTube are similar to this one:
Ski Bike (there’s also the snowboard equivalent) is where you take the frame of a bicycle and instead of having wheels, you place skis under the front suspension and rear triangle of the bike. There are many different forms of ski and board bikes. From what I could research, there appears to only be a handful of manufacturers making ski bikes. A majority of the bikes are homemade by individuals. Which of course questions safety concerns, but as long as your suited up in downhill (DH) gear, it would appear to be a safe sport. I think this is a creative way to ride a bike during the snowy winter months.
The best thing about a ski/board bike is it appears you can ride in any snowy condition; powder, packed, ice etc. All you would need to do is find a ski hill (any ski resort presumably) and ride on down the hill.
In the first video, Snow-DH-Trailer by madmikeaut, the first minute of the video shows the riders crashing into the powder at the end of the run. Later in the video, the bikers are riding on packed snow, which provides a smoother and easier ride (notice the sleds in front of the riders!)
Whereas in the second video, Skibiking Slo-Mo by lenzsportbikes, it appears you can ski on powder. If the rider in the first minute of the video pulled up on the handlebars after the first powder jump, he might of been able to land the jump.
Ski biking has the mentality of DH biking and BMX biking; pending on whether your gutsy enough to try to do midair tricks! Ski biking certainly has the adrenalin rush of regular biking, however it probably does not have the physical endurance one would get from pedaling; unless of course you push the bike back up the ski hill!
Ski biking could be the next up and coming sport to hit the ski slopes within the next couple of years. If it does take off, I will indeed be one of the first to give it a try! Who knows, it may even one day be considered an Olympic Sport!!
– wishful thinking; I know 
