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A snowboard bicykle made entirely out off an snowboard and a bike. At least allmost.

This is probably to be seen more of an inspiration than a true guide, since the materials may vary a lot.
However, this is a really simple project that converts two pieces of "rubbish" in to something fun. You could build this in a few hours or days depending on how much energy you want to put in to it...

Sorry for the poor quality of the photos, whey where taken using a mobil phone.

Materials required:
*Bicycle
*Snowboard
*(angle iron or similar)

Tools required:
Only your everyday tools like:
*Hammer (important)
*Wrench
*Screwdrivers
*Saw (fine tooth for the steel edges)
*Drill and drill bits

If you dont have an old snowboard lying around, you could of course use a pair of old skis, but miss out on the awsome off pist powder performance =)

Step 1: Back to basics

Bicycle:
Strip the bicycle from its wheels, mud guards, shifters etc. till all that remains is the bare frame with the saddle, handle bars and the forks still attached.

If you have the tools required to remove the chainrings(s) and the crank arms, use them!
If not, follow these simple steps:
1) Turn the bike up side down
2) Grab your largest hammer
3) Smash the chainrings as much as possible out of the way so that its no obstructing anything.
You could probably use the fine tooth saw, but that would have taken a whole lot longer.=)

Snowboard:
Remove the bindings from the snowboard and remove the straps from the bindings.

Step 2: Cut the snowboard in half

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You want to make the front half of the snowboard (the one you will be steering with) shorter than the other, this is because you will have the mayor part of your weight on the back one.

Use some kind of ruler to draw a straight line at about 2/3 of the boards lenght. Its not really crucial.

Use the fine teeth saw to cut the steel edges, make sure you get all of them, they buried like 15 mm in to the board. Then use a regular saw to cut the snowboard in half, its made out of wood and plexiglass so it shoundt be a problem.

Step 3: Attach the bicycle

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Watch the pictures how to attach the bike to the snowboard bindings.
This is done using the bolts and nuts originally holding the straps of the snowbord binding. Make sure that the nuts have nylon locking so that they dont come of in "mid air" =)

Its important that the two snowboards are level when the construction is put down on flat ground,

Picture number two displays a first design for the front ski which did not work very well.
There for we had to add a angleiron which was flattend to raise the forks by about 6 cm. Also the second modification we did was to turn the forks the other way around to give it an additional 4 cm raise. Improvise!

Step 4: Testing it out

So, how does it perform?
Well actually better then expected, though its kinda hard to control.
The large surface area of the snowboard gives it good powder performance, however you have to put quite a large amount of pressure on the handle bars to make it turn.
You can stop it by turning and putting it in a steap angle, kind of like you would on an regular snowboard.

Great fun though!

A big plus is that it actually didnt fall appart even once!

Please post a comment if you have any questions
ismith13 says: Dec 18, 2011. 1:22 PM
would the layers of the snowboard start to come apart after you cut it?
Zilduli says: May 13, 2008. 9:02 PM
For those with a front suspension mountain bike to spare for this project. You could theoretically take the front fork, cut off the piece that makes the two sides of the fork move together and attach one ski to each side. This would allow you to turn just like normally on skis. If you were to use the snowboard in back you would then have the stability and the better turning. Might want to do some research into shocks first though, I'm just guessing about their structure.
PerfectPantaloons in reply to ZilduliDec 2, 2010. 6:13 AM
Isn't there a spring inside of the front suspension???? If so this i dea wouldn't work.... Sounds great though!!!!
TheMadScientist in reply to ZilduliAug 16, 2008. 12:28 PM
I have a bike with front suspension, but it's coupled together, so that wouldn't work. nice try though.
TheMadScientist in reply to TheMadScientistAug 16, 2008. 12:28 PM
this is likely so that you don't end up bending your tire axle when counter steering.
Vulcanator in reply to TheMadScientistJan 12, 2010. 6:28 PM
cut the arch that bridges the gap between the right and left fork shocks  and remove the axle.
Zilduli in reply to TheMadScientistAug 17, 2008. 3:34 PM
I was thinking that you would cut off the piece that couples the two sides of your fork together. Again I'm not sure if that would actually work, so please don't grab a hacksaw and cut your shocks apart without further research.
Oblongata in reply to ZilduliDec 4, 2008. 10:38 AM
some types of forks would allow this, but you cant bolt both dropouts to one axle (you would lose the independent movement) and without that, the two independent "lowers" would just rotate around freely on the stanchions, so you'd have no steering control. Just do one ski (or board), it works.
zach12 in reply to ZilduliMay 20, 2008. 1:16 PM
im still tring to make a snow scooter. i need help with attaching toe skis
Oblongata in reply to zach12Dec 7, 2008. 9:27 AM
Yeah I'm going to do this with one of those larger scooters, the ones with pneumatic tires and hand brakes. Looking for old, small, decent snowboards to use and I'm going to duplicate a commercial "snowscoot" as closely as possible. I can just weld an extra tube from the top of the head tube down to the platform to strengthen it a bit; thats all the real snowscoots are from what I can tell. Oh yeah, and the boards will be rigidly mounted on mine, at least the rear. Now I just gotta find these parts!
T Bomber in reply to OblongataAug 22, 2011. 5:24 AM
I've picked up boards and stuff at the dump in Stowe,Vt.Also rental places throw them out sometimes.If you know anyone that works at a ski area,the lost and found at those places gives away unclaimed items in the summer.But that ones tricky.Whoevers in charge and the people they like get the good stuff
ajs1313 says: Feb 14, 2009. 10:11 AM
Have you considered converting the front to a single or double ski. I think it would improve your handling characteristics dramatically.
matt bennett in reply to ajs1313Feb 19, 2009. 2:30 PM
umm do you think it would be a good idea to put skis in the front and half a snowboard i the back.. it seems logical because.. iskis turn better but snowboards give more balance..so i think this would be a good idea.. any comments?
cmfail says: Sep 16, 2010. 8:27 PM
you should figure out a way to put a rudder system into the pedals to make it a little faster
sharlston says: Jan 4, 2010. 12:33 PM
hey on the oppostite side of the chain rings there should be a large bolt if you remove that and the other few washers then take the pedal off the whole crank will come of
footballgirl004 says: Dec 13, 2009. 10:40 AM
would a plastic snowboard work as well?
bones15 says: Oct 16, 2009. 2:36 PM
I'm using blocks held together with construction adhesive for my creation. It is available at any home improvement store for under $5. It does take 1-7 days for it to cure, though.
torkerman says: Aug 28, 2009. 5:44 AM
Great work! I have ridden some K2 brand snow bikes over here in Australia, the trick is to just lean it over to turn, the board will flex and corner on its edge, just like normal! I'll put up mine soon!!
spencer42 says: Mar 27, 2009. 8:13 AM
I saw a snowboard bike that had slats cut out and a thing to lower the snowboards so you could ride the bike in the spring and up a hill in the winter I sketched one out but can't find out how to lower the snowboard I will try to make an instructable to make it.
spencer42 says: Mar 27, 2009. 7:45 AM
how do you use the crank?
AnarchistAsian says: Oct 13, 2008. 8:04 PM
wow, awesome, i love snowboarding!
fosho4 says: Jan 8, 2008. 2:19 PM
Looks pretty good! I plan on doing something similar but with skis. I just pulled a bike frame out of someones trash 5 minutes ago and I all ready have the skis. One question though. With that set-up do the boards pivot with the contours of the ground or are they rigid?
Beeaver in reply to fosho4Jan 8, 2008. 4:01 PM
I'm thinking about a project like this too. I wonder which is the best for a project like this, skis or snowboard. A snowboard should be more stable but skis might be more controllable.
gbosbiker in reply to BeeaverMar 4, 2008. 12:26 PM
in my experience for using snowboard a snowboard it had better balance, but is influenced by deep powder easily, but has excellent turning because of the large surface area digging into the snow. for skis it goes faster and requires more balance and would carve into icy conditions better while the snowboard would slip and slide. the turning seems fine but not as good as the snowboard. it all comes down to what you want out of the bike. steering and balance or speed and icy control....
fosho4 in reply to BeeaverJan 8, 2008. 6:39 PM
It seems like most bikes made for this purpose use skis. Although there are one or two products that use snowboards. I've done quite a bit of research on it because there is a previous instructable that uses skis that made me want to build one. The big difference between skis and a snowboard, I think, would be the ability to lean back and forth like GorillaGrill mentioned below. It is much hard to attach skis to a bike though because they are skinnier. Pros and Cons to both sides I guess.
GorillaGrill (author) in reply to fosho4Jan 8, 2008. 2:32 PM
Well, they do pivot. The front one is not a problem, since its relatively short and most of the weight is on the back one. With the back one you could experience some wobble, and to counter that you might want to fasten it at a second place.'

Yeah, this is really one of those "straight out of the dumpster" projects =)
gbosbiker in reply to GorillaGrillMar 4, 2008. 12:27 PM
if you tighten the brackets enough the boards wont move under their own weight but will easily move under your weight.
camp6ell says: Jan 11, 2008. 9:03 AM
i like that you used the snowboard bindings - seems like a good way to attach the frame/forks to the boards. they are strong enough, right?
GorillaGrill (author) in reply to camp6ellJan 11, 2008. 11:17 AM
Yeah, actually they are.. That said, we only tried it out at relatively low speed, I'm not sure that it would take the impact of a big jump for example. But its build using only a minimum of tools and materials (and labour=)), you could probably improve on the design quite a lot.
gbosbiker in reply to GorillaGrillMar 4, 2008. 12:22 PM
i made one with wood for the brackets and the wood was screwed onto the board. the wood was drilled and axels were put through them and connecte to the frame. this works fantastically and havent had one problem. i hit jumps where i get 4-5 feet of air and 5-6 feet of distance and it works amazing
LinuxH4x0r says: Jan 8, 2008. 4:58 PM
Sweet. If I did it I would have added brakes. Great instructable!
keefurxxcore in reply to LinuxH4x0rFeb 29, 2008. 12:23 PM
how the hell would you add brakes to a snowboard?
LinuxH4x0r in reply to keefurxxcoreFeb 29, 2008. 5:32 PM
Have something drag through the snow
keefurxxcore in reply to LinuxH4x0rFeb 29, 2008. 6:53 PM
Maybe. Ice will be a pain. The only thing I would think off would be like, a scythe kind of blade or something.
LinuxH4x0r in reply to keefurxxcoreFeb 29, 2008. 6:54 PM
Or just a board with some nails through it
gbosbiker in reply to LinuxH4x0rMar 4, 2008. 12:20 PM
i tried it on something similar to this, and the only way is to put some sort of tube through the crank hole with rods going down and one big 2x4 going across and have a lever attached to it to be able to pull. ice would be a problem but could be easily done by an interchangeable brake system, one for powder and one for ice. for ice you could prolly take old ice skates and take the blades off and place them on the braking system so it digs into the ice like a hockey player doing a hockey stop. it would be best to have them at a slight angle so the scraped up ice gets pushed away from the snowboard. to make that better make each blade individually controlled so if you dont get any grip on the ice you could use the blades as rudders. (i gotta do that. i have old skates! and lots of time on my hands....) the best braking technique so far is bailing off into powder or doing the snowboard style stop.
train10 says: Jan 20, 2008. 10:38 AM
I met a guy with a "SkiBike" a couple years ago at Donner Ski Ranch in California. He was able to control it and go as fast as everyone else on the slopes. He took a couple small jumps and didn't have any problem with the landing. I think the front was solid and the rear had a spring for comfort.
wasserman08 in reply to train10Feb 27, 2008. 6:46 PM
ya my friend made one.
nrlaing says: Jan 8, 2008. 3:59 PM
I'd try a ski on the front. You'd probably get better control. Lookin good, mang! I WANT MY TWO DOLLARS!!!
GorillazMiko says: Jan 8, 2008. 3:32 PM
Looks awesome! Nice to see another person with the name Gorilla in it. :-)
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