|
    
Well, after a summer of riding the big KaTooM on dirt roads back and forth to work, I decided I was unwilling to give up my morning adrenaline rush (what a great way to start the day!) At first, I investigated possibly getting a winter conversion kit but it seems they don't make them for bikes this large (no surprise, probably tear the thing apart). | But, while investigating this product, I discovered that the manufacturer, a Canadian company called A.D. Boivin, also made a custom, purpose built "snow-bike" called the Snow Hawk. These unusual machines feature a set of forks like a motorbike, have only a single ski and are propelled by a 12" track. It also has a twist throttle - how cool is that?! Anyhow, a little research showed that they were an extremely limited production machine with only 1200 of them ever having been made and no new ones since 2008. But, luckily for me, my freind Gord Jones from Wawa has had three of them sitting in his inventory since 2006! So, a few emails and a couple of phone calls later and I was on my way to Wawa to fetch me a Snow Hawk! Here it is as they come from the factory:
Although unique, I find it rather bland looking - almost "prototype" (hafta do something about that.....) Gord had given me that dolly under the track but there was still no way to move it around. The single ski has a double carbide under it that A.D. Boivin calls the "snowtracker" and with the weight of the engine over it, it bites hard into the ground making the macine all but impossible to move and thus the mover's dolly under it in the above pics. So, I spoke with my buddy Gord and had him get me a set of "Ski Wheels" from A.D. Boivin:
These fold up behind the ski when not in use. What a clever idea and solved that particular problem.
| ||||
