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Electric snowbike

Brown Dog ADV

Active member
Premium Member
Jan 7, 2015
263
43
28
Bend, OR
boon docking through the trees and not make any noise!!!

I think the all electric bikes are the way to go. Another 10 years and it might be feasible. I think it would be so weird to be boon docking through the trees and not make any noise!!! haha

As crazy as some people may think it sounds... I think you're right on track with the "boon docking through the trees and not make any noise" idea.

Coming from a skiing and snowboarding background, there used to be nothing better than flying through the fresh snow when all you can hear is yourself breathing and your friends around you having fun!

With all of the crazy rich treehuggers trying to close Our Forests to motorized recreation, We need to find a solution to being quiet if we want to stay. :beer;
 
M
Oct 12, 2017
333
78
28
Toronto
As crazy as some people may think it sounds... I think you're right on track with the "boon docking through the trees and not make any noise" idea.

Coming from a skiing and snowboarding background, there used to be nothing better than flying through the fresh snow when all you can hear is yourself breathing and your friends around you having fun!

With all of the crazy rich treehuggers trying to close Our Forests to motorized recreation, We need to find a solution to being quiet if we want to stay. :beer;


Just because you want and think something should happen, it does not follow that it will happen. Electric snow bike limitations are caused by the battery capacity and extra weight, not tree huggers' disdain. Our sport does not cause as much forest use conflict in the winter as it does in the summer. Just try to be as quiet as possible all year long. And you guys who ride those intentionally loud set ups (you know who you are) - you're not kids anymore, time to grow up. Less sound = more ground!!:musicnote:
 
N
Mar 21, 2016
599
213
43
NW oregon
No traction for the Hydrostatic Kubota snowbike :face-icon-small-con I am disappointed. No need for brakes do it hydrostatical just 2 hoses going from the engine to the drivaxle with the drive motor right on it. the engine could be located anywhere on the bike not being limited by chain or belt drives.

I guess no love for tractors on this forum come on guys lets hear it for the kubota snowbike :cheer2::cheer2::cheer2:

Too much loss from fluid power would be my guess. Any fluid system generally has large cooling systems, big cooling means lot of hp wasted. Anything that changes power in forms loses some. Change direction of power like a shaft drive, power loss. That’s why chain drive is more efficient than shaft. Even an Oring chain takes a few hp compared to belt, just from the friction of those tiny o rings. So fun factor and weight means minimizing losses.
 
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N
Mar 21, 2016
599
213
43
NW oregon
Just because you want and think something should happen, it does not follow that it will happen. Electric snow bike limitations are caused by the battery capacity and extra weight, not tree huggers' disdain. Our sport does not cause as much forest use conflict in the winter as it does in the summer. Just try to be as quiet as possible all year long. And you guys who ride those intentionally loud set ups (you know who you are) - you're not kids anymore, time to grow up. Less sound = more ground!!:musicnote:

In our areas, as I’d guess most are, the only time you’ll bother someone with loud pipes near the parking areas. We quickly disappear into the deep woods where sound doesn’t really get far, or more accurately people without machines don’t get far. In boats they have something called “captains call” exhaust which is a device that the captain can switch that routes straight piped exhaust through a muffler for when stealth mode is desired. When out on the open water, they can flip it to be teenagers again. It’s a pretty simple setup. Not that I’m suggesting we adopt that, but it could be one way to impact our appearance to the huggers.
I’m only 3 yrs into the winter machine sports, and I gotta say it’s fairly hilarious to me the negative vibes I’ve noticed at the snow parks where we have slednecks parking next to XC skiers and snow shoers. They shoot nasty looks our way that are truly impressive. I always wave and smile, usually that is met with sneer, or just looking away ignoring me. Funny.
 
P
Nov 28, 2007
1,795
761
113
Yukon Canada
Too much loss from fluid power would be my guess. Any fluid system generally has large cooling systems, big cooling means lot of hp wasted. Anything that changes power in forms loses some. Change direction of power like a shaft drive, power loss. That’s why chain drive is more efficient than shaft. Even an Oring chain takes a few hp compared to belt, just from the friction of those tiny o rings. So fun factor and weight means minimizing losses.

I am well aware of the drawbacks ,but would make for an easy build no clutches or gearbox so a lot more engine options. You could driving the Hydraulic pump straight of the crankshaft. The likelihood of Kubota building a snowbike is about the same as an electric or a factory build snow bike. Very low.
 
E
Dec 19, 2007
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interesting idea about going hydraulic, there was a 2 wheel drive yamaha wr450 a few years back that used a hydraulic hub for the front drive.

A dead give away of poor efficiency is anything that gets hot is not efficient.
Belt cvt will get hot enough to burn you, a hydraulic pump, generator and electic motor, etc wasting hp to make heat.

For a while now i've been running one plain chain and one o-ring chain at the same time to see which wears out faster. So far they are stretching equally but I notice the o-ring chain gets almost hot enough to burn on the road and the regular one is cold......
 
D
Aug 29, 2010
244
41
28
Vancouver, BC
interesting idea about going hydraulic, there was a 2 wheel drive yamaha wr450 a few years back that used a hydraulic hub for the front drive.

A dead give away of poor efficiency is anything that gets hot is not efficient.
Belt cvt will get hot enough to burn you, a hydraulic pump, generator and electic motor, etc wasting hp to make heat.

For a while now i've been running one plain chain and one o-ring chain at the same time to see which wears out faster. So far they are stretching equally but I notice the o-ring chain gets almost hot enough to burn on the road and the regular one is cold......


except that most of the energy released during combustion in a gas engine just makes heat. only about ~20% goes to kinetic energy. electric is waaaay more efficent(~90%). but storage of power(battery technology) is the issue
 

Chadx

♫ In the pow again. Just can't wait to get in..
Lifetime Membership
Feb 2, 2010
718
521
93
Bozeman, MT
Yep, and that just shows how energy-dense liquid fuel is. ICE are super inefficient and yet still make so much more power with much longer range per pound when considering the entire package (engine and fuel vs motor and battery). Such a shame, too, because I am a huge fan of electric powered things.

A snowbike with the same range and weight as our current ICE powered bikes I'd take in a second, even at a 150% price premium. To not deal with the overly-loud exhaust, oil changes, steam and keeping engine warm and not needing all the extra specialty equipment we currently need to make our bikes run well in the snow would be money well spent. I sure wish there was an all-electric pickup truck that would do what I need a truck to do, or a series-hybrid (I don't like the parallel hybrids). All in due time I suppose.
 
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M
Oct 12, 2017
333
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28
Toronto
Perhaps one day, when we are all gone (200+ years), the "intelligent" machines we leave behind will be riding around in the snow with unlimited range, once they figure out the small-package fusion reactor.:face-icon-small-coo:face-icon-small-dis
 
N
Mar 21, 2016
599
213
43
NW oregon
Perhaps one day, when we are all gone (200+ years), the "intelligent" machines we leave behind will be riding around in the snow with unlimited range, once they figure out the small-package fusion reactor.:face-icon-small-coo:face-icon-small-dis

If our robot overlords are more intelligent than us, they won’t be riding around on snow bikes lol. They might snowshoe in reflective silence, but probably not even that.
 
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