Mountain Daredevils
Snowbiking is This Year’s Winter Sport
There has been a winter sport that has been brewing under the surface for a few years now, and is set to explode on the scene properly this season.The sport of snowbiking takes place on a normal piste and involves traveling down the mountainside on a modified push-bike. The idea was conceived over 50 years ago, but people found that using a conventional bike was ineffective and rather dangerous. For many years ski and snowboard fans have been working on advancing designs in the hope of developing something that worked. After years of trial and error, and a few accidents, a snowbike design was finally conceived that was both functional and practical.
A Canadian firm currently offers the best bike on the market and they have announced the first snowbike world championship will take place next year. Snowbikes are not really freestyle or jumping pieces or equipment, but instead built for speed and manoeuvrability. 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. They maintain a lower centre of gravity and are steered using a bladed mounted to the front which can dig into the snow to change direction. 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 traditional mountain bikes. The learning curve is pretty steep, but when you got the hours of practice under your belt, its not something that you’ll ever forgot how to do.Snowbikes are now beginning to be made in multiple sizes so that people of all ages can enjoy the sport. They also come with some additionally safety features including padded framing and stabilisers.
Although many confident skiers and snowboarders will be keen to try out the snowbikes on the steeper and more difficult runs, it is advised that everyone should have a go on learner slopes first. Snowbikes are much harder to stop than snowboards or skis, and if you haven’t 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. Most resorts however are allowing snowbikers, but recommending that people take care when using them and when around other people using them. Whether ski resorts like snowbikes or not, it seems that the popularity of the sport will continue to increase and we could even see some big extreme sports brands enter the market very soon.
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