ElectricMotorcycleForum.com
Makes And Models => Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2013+ => Topic started by: eou_edu on July 18, 2017, 08:34:02 AM
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I've been reading this forum for a while thinking about my first purchase of a zero fx. I have been looking into the possibility of a snowbike set up. For those that don't know a snow bike is a kit that replaces the back wheel with basically a snowmobile track and the front wheel with a large snowmobile ski. It is becoming very popular and taking a huge dent into the snowmobile market share. Is anybody already doing this with a zero FX?
Advantages:
-No gears to shift. The biggest complaint of snowbike is loosing momentum from shifting gears.
-ability to remove the battery if you get stuck for less weight to lift it out.
-high torque motor which is important considering what you are turning compared to a wheel.
-silent operation, floating through cloud like powder at 30 mph.
Disadvantages:
-cold, will the cold kill the batteries? I don't plan to ride below 20 degrees. would this be a disadvantage if I keep the battery in a warm place until I ride then running it hard should generate heat? Or surround the battery with small hand warmers?
-Might be too hard to on the motor
-nobody makes a "fit kit" for it as of yet. Yeti said they would work with me if that's the direction I want to go. Timbersled's motto used to be "we build a fit kit for anything." Polaris bought them out, I asked them a few weeks ago if they would make a fit kit and they said, "no because it probably wouldn't be very good."
-range (of course) a gas snowbike gets about 1/2 the mpg at similar riding speed than a motorcycle. I could see not loosing momentum by shifting gears as a way to save fuel but lost again when you account for the cold weather operation.
Anybody have a guess on anticipated range? With a yeti snowbike 120" snowbike kit the bike ends up weighing about 30 lbs more than it would as a normal motorcycle. The combine range on a zero fx is 62 miles. Would 31 miles be a reasonable expectation?
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Amazing, have dreamed about this when I see timbersled kits at the Polaris dealership, next to the Zero Motorcycles lineup in the same shop. Do it!
Some pointers for cold weather operation, you can add a neoprene wrap around the battery which helps a lot. Practically any current draw will warm up the battery for better performance, once you have insulation to retain the heat it will get up to temperature quickly.
I would doubt the FX to have enough battery capacity to make a snowbike worthwhile, but don't let that stop you! I would love to hear about progress on this project :-)
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Snow hawk track on a zero.
Drool. (it would be a lot quieter!)
AD Boivin's factory pilot having fun on an icy 22 km closed course on a raining winter day! Average speed of 110 km. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37S1QN-G0mM)
Man that would be So fun!! I love watching people play around on those.
snow hawk 900rr 2012 bin bin stock!! Gopro hero2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQFAbVYO0Fs)
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I have converted a Snowhawk directly for Adboivin using a Zero 2015 powertrain 2 years ago. 8)
Doc
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Sweet! Pics? vids?
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Put a heating blanket or cozy around the battery so you don't lose range while riding.
Aerostitch has an example:
https://rideapart.com/articles/zero-below-zero-zero-preparation-reposted
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Assuming the track and snow resistance will create constant/frequent high loads, OVERHEATING may be even more of an issue than the cold. The FX reaches thermal cutbacks pretty quickly if run under repeated high-torque acceleration cycles, especially pre-IPM.