Well it got all the way down to 68 degrees or so last night, so it seems reasonable to start dreaming about winter.
Has anyone ever ridden a Chrysler Sno-Runner?
I love the simplicity. I love the scooter-ness. I can't tell if it'd be loads of fun or just awkward and dangerous. Made originally for the military. Not many out there for sale, but the ones that are seem awfully reasonable for how rare they (apparently) are. The track is about 3" wide, I believe.
OK, never mind.
I just Googled and read about the Snorunner/Snorabbit.
Those things are wicked cool!
The Chrysler Snorunner was a single ski, narrow tracked "motorcycle for the snow". They were first produced in May of 1979 and were manufactured at the Chrysler Outboard Marine Division in Hartford, Wisconsin. The Snorunner utilized a134cc. 2 cycle Power bee engine that produced 7hp. It had an integral 90 watt alternator and used a Tillotson 320A carb. Power was transferred via a centrifugal clutch. They had the ability to be broken down in a few short minutes by removing 5 quick disconnect pins for transport in the trunk of a car. They originally sold for $699.00 in 1979. Chrysler sold the Snorunners for three years. In 1981, when Chrysler was in big financial trouble, production was ended for good. The remaining stock was liquidated by COMB liquidators who changed the name to Snorabbit by putting a Snorabbit sticker right over the Snorunner sticker. COMB sold them for $288.00 each in the back of magazines. The remaining parts were also sold. It is believed that there was approx. 28,000 made, we will probably never know.
The Snorunner started as a military vehicle. The Marines wanted a snow vehicle that was light weight and had a range of 30 miles to transport a soldier. They paid Chrysler in 1977 to develop one including all the dies and testing of it. Chrysler came up with the Snorunner. It is said that the military version could go 35mph. Apparently, the military checked it out but decided they didn't want it because it couldn't perform in powder snow. In 1979 Chrysler decided to offer it to public. They first detuned it to make it go slower by adding an extra thick head gasket and a restrictive muffler. There is additional information on the history of Snorunners at sno-runner.com
.::I know the voices in my head aren't real, but man do they come up with some great ideas::.
I saw something similar to Tocsik's video a couple of winters ago (last winter the lake didn't even freeze).
However, it was a front ski on a mini-bike. The neighbor boy was riding on the lake and on some small snow covered sand dunes. It did look like fun and I was tempted to ask him if I could try it out .... but common sense prevailed, especially when I knew there was no way I was gonna fit on that thing.
Rob
"Sponges grow in the ocean. That just kills me. I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be if that didn't happen."
- Steven Wright
There's a bunch of videos of Sno Runners on youtube. They look fun, but not quite as useful as I would hope. Someone should build a modern version but make the track 6 inches wide instead of 3 inches. Because it looks like the track is so narrow that if you're in snow over a foot deep, you're out of luck. Same with powder. But in powder, even 6" might not help.
It looks like it would be perfect for ice covered lakes or golf courses that have about 2" to 4" of new snow over old.
