Tag

snow

Browsing

If you are in a region that gets all four of the seasons, you are likely counting down the days to the coming snow-thaw. 

As such, this article might be coming to you a little late for this season, but for next winter you should consider mounting some winter traction tires to your motorcycle. Yes, such things exist.

To be fair, I too was unaware that you could get a motorcycle tire that met the criteria from the DOT,  in order for it to carry the “mountain/snowflake” symbol, but apparently Turkish tire-maker Anlas has such tires in its line-up.

That’s right, for regions of the world that require special tires during the snowy months, there is a tire out there to keep you riding all-season.

When asked why he climbed Mt. Everest, George Mallory uttered the three most famous words in mountainering, “because it’s there.” Marc Marquez’s assent of the Kitzbühel ski slope might not be as profound, but in typical Red Bull style, it was certainly lurid.

Armed with a Honda RC213V race bike – shod in spiked tires made by ice speedway racer Franky Zorn’s crew (another Red Bull sponsored outfit) – Marquez climbed to the top of the Austrian peak, roosting ice shards and popping snow wheelies along the way.

The spectacle must surely have been an interesting one for the unassuming snow-goers of the area. Of course, we are just surprised to see Marquez go to such great lengths to avoid the lines at the ski lift; but then again, being the 2016 MotoGP World Champion has its privileges.

The snow from Portland’s Snowpocalypse is melting right now, and the rebuilding has begun. Jokes aside, we could have had some serious fun last week with Christini’s latest AWD motorcycle, the Christini II-Track.

Taking the snow bike concept to the next logical Christini progression, the Christini II-Track features not one, but two, power-giving snow tracks, and the machine is now available for purchase from this plucky boutique American brand.

Depending on your geography, the start of snow bike season might finally be here. These modified dirt bikes have snowmobile-like treads at the rear, a ski at the front, and look like an absolute blast in the frozen white stuff.

We’re sure that any time two snow bikes find themselves together, that some form of racing ensues. But now, to make things a bit more legit, the American Motorcyclist Association has officially sanctioned snow bike racing, starting the AMA Championship Snow Bike series in the process.

A photoshopped image, along with suspicious timing, got us on the wrong track (pun intended) with Christini Technologies, but indeed the American outfit is working to bring its two-wheeled drive dirt bike technology to the snow bike market.

The idea seems fairly obvious, which of course is why we thought it was the perfect April Fools story, since all it requires is Christini to attach a Timbersled track to the rear of its chassis design, and develop a front track and ski that can be powered by the Christini 2WD drivetrain.

I was surprised when I discovered that we haven’t spoken about Timbersled before now, and the company’s line of snow bike conversion kits. It’s a concept that’s been intriguing me for some time now.

That intrigue started when the Idaho-based company was acquired by Polaris last year – adding to the juggernaut that Scott Wine is creating in Medina, Minnesota – which is where I first saw Timbersled’s interesting take on motorized winter fun.

For those who don’t know, Timbersled’s concept is a pretty simple one: it allows dirt bike owners a fairly straight forward kit that enables them to create a snow bike for winter riding.

If you want to know the real story behind Ducati’s snow tire shod Desmosedici two-up ride with MotoGP riders Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden, well this video should shed some insight into the antics that the Ducati Corse crew has been undertaking at the 2012 Wrooom media event being held at the Madonna di Campiglio ski resort this week.

Catching some big air on the Italian Alps, our protagonists race down the slopes on their snowboards, egging each other on to go faster. However, when Hayden hurts his shoulder (the American GP racer did break his collarbone and ribs two weeks ago in real life), the Ducati Corse duo have to get Hayden down the mountain as soon as possible, and video goodness ensues. Yes, MotoGP racers have such a hard life.

About the only time the Ducati Desmosedici GP11 was competitive last year was during wet sessions and races. This trend lead to one of Valentino Rossi’s more humorous sayings of the season: that in order to win a race on the GP11, it would have to snow. Well Rossi and his teammate Nicky Hayden may have finally gotten the break they needed, as the Ducati Corse crew has outfitted the two-up Desmosedici with studded tires for the Wrooom media event taking place this week at Madonna di Campiglio ski resort.

Stepping out of the A&R office briefly today, we noticed a slight nip in the air, which in California means that the weather has dipped below 70°F. For the rest of the country though rain, ice, and snow have already begun to rear their ugly heads, and two-wheeled enthusiasts have already begun to put their motorcycles in the garage for winter’s cold freeze.

But these actions are not necessary, and BMW has sent Chris Pfeiffer with a modified BMW G450X “Snowcat” to remind us of that. Video after the jump of some quality snow-filled hooliganism.