Winter Sport of Snowbiking Explained
Winter sports fans are in for a treat this year as a little known activity has been gathering momentum and will make its mark properly this season.The sport of snowbiking takes place on a normal piste and involves traveling down the mountainside on a modified push-bike. Chucking yourself down a ski run on a bike is nothing new, but the hundreds of people who tried it previously didn’t do too well on account of the fact bicycles rely heavily on good ground friction. For many years ski and snowboard fans have been working on advancing designs in the hope of developing something that worked. unfortunately, early snowbike designs had some major floors, and only recently have snowbikes been produced that really work well in different snow conditions.
The best snowbike on the market is produced by a Canadian company, and they are so confident that the sport will be a huge hit, that they are arranging the first even world championship for 2010. Rather than being built for tricks or jumps, snowbikes are normally purpose-built for control and carving ability. This will be reflected in the world championship events that will be based around slalom and speed competitions. Unsurprisingly, the best snowbikes available today take heavy influence from powered snowmobiles. Steering comes in the form of a front-mounted large blade which is attached to handlebars, and the bike is lower to the ground than conventional bikes. This gives the rider much better steering control, but only one blade is needed as snowbikes are a lot lighter and do not travel as fast as snowmobiles.
Snowbike manufactures admit that snowbiking is not the easiest of extreme sports to master, but that it is well worth putting in the hours to master. Apparently learning how to snowbike shares similarities with learning to ride basic mountain bikes. It is a skill that takes a little while to get right, but it has a steep learning curve and once you’ve mastered it you won’t lose it.Now that adult snowbikes have proved a success, women’s and children’s snowbikes are starting to be manufactured. There are also multiple extras now, such as stabilisers, headlights and even horns.
Given the nature of many daredevil snowboarders and skiers, it is likely that some will attempted the most difficult mountain runs on the snowbikes without much practice, something not advised by snowbike manufactures or ski resort owners. Snowbikes are much harder to stop than snowboards or skis, and if you havent mastered the technique you will not only be risking your own safety, but you may be endangering the safety of other winter sports enthusiasts also.
In fact there have been a number of ski resorts in America who have banned snowbiking from their slopes until they have done their own safety tests. The majority of locations however are understanding to snowbikers, but still suggest that everyone is careful until we know just how safe they are. Whatever resorts think of the bikes, with a reported 30,000 snowbikers worldwide, this one seems like a trend that is going to stick (or slide as the case may be).
