Which should I go with? Snowmobile? Snowbike?
My personal opinion is Snowbikes.
I'll instantly have a grip of snowmobilers ready to jump me now but let me explain!
It's just my opinion, and it's just my experience that snowbikes are best!
I didn’t grow up snowmobiling, very rarely rode them, and I grew up on dirtbikes and atv's.
Now when I jump on a sled (snowmobile) with my buddies that grew up on them, I feel like the little brother trying to tag along. Very frustrating and I can't stand slowing everyone down.
I jump on a snowbike and it feels natural, it handles and steers how it should. I can also rip with the best of the sledders and not feel like a drag.
I can also help them out in certain adventure scenarios because I have a snowbike. Its very easy to drop in and scout a route vs having a sled drop in first and risk a bad situation. I can now bring some value even to a sledding crew.
Obviously someone that grew up on a sled will probably say the reverse of everything I've said so far.
Here are a handful of points that can help if your unsure which type of machine you should invest in. If your looking for a new winter hobby, so you can make the best of the darker part of the year, it's hard to beat either snowmobile or snowbike.
Choosing Snowmobile or Snowbike
First thing first: How old are you and how much energy do you want to spend learning something new?
Like I stated earlier, I didn’t grow up on sled's, and a lot of my buddies did.
I'd rather jump on a machine that I'm familiar with and immediately have fun and rip with them!
This is opposed to taking several years of pounding the slopes and breaking lots of parts, and spending lots of time trying to fast pace my learning curve...just so I can ride confidently.
The snowbike, as far as learning goes, is more like learning to ride a bike.
Most everyone interested in snowbiking is to some extent a dirtbiker, same concept on all controls.
A few days on a snowbike and you're covering country and climbing into terrain that will take you years to confidently explore on a snowmobile. It also won't cost you many sets of A arms and bumpers etc...
The risk factor on letting go of your snowbike on a steep slope is very minimal compared to a sled. A snowbike for the most part falls over and sticks to the hill, a sled is most likely rocketing down the mountain and finding a tree only after its picked up maximum velocity.
The type of terrain that you dream of riding will play a part in it.
If you love the tight drainages that feel like single track dirtbike trails or hard enduro features, a snowbike may suit you much sooner than being able to take a sled on those same obstacles.
A snowbike is definitely is most at home on the steep, cliffy, tight trees and creek drainages.
A sled (snowmobile) for most people will be intended for open hillsides, rollers, lots of maneuvering room type terrain where you can practice proper handling of the sled, before slowing venturing into the nasty fun stuff.
If you couldn’t care less about the above nasty terrain or tighter treed hills, and are just fine in open, more gentle terrain, this may not be a factor.
Where you live in the country can play a big part of it.
If I lived in a big mountain range with lots of sugar snow, extremely deep snow with lots of resets during the winter, I'd probably have both a sled and snowbike.
Theres no doubt that the sled is king of deep snow for speed and power.
Deep sugar snow can still be a blast on snowbikes, you just ride slightly differently. You'll do more climbing up and dropping into steep tight chutes and ridges, all while blasting down at fairly crazy speeds, and marshallow pillow blasting with crazy accurate machine handling.
The snowbikes don’t rely as much on the snow conditions to decide how much fun to have. The variable snow conditions in most of the Pacific Northwest (PNW) is perfect for snowbikes.
The spring snow through June can be some of the best riding around, due to the amount of traction and speed you can carry through some amazing country. You won't be worrying about keeping your sled on edge in set up snow that can make sledding more challenging for newer sledders.
Being able to rip steep, snowy, north facing chutes, and steep, snowy hillsides...all while wearing a t-shirt in June is hard to beat! Then, just a few short months, and you're already prepping for a new season.
Reliability of Snowmobiles vs. Snowbikes
Reliability between the two mostly just comes down to how well you know your machine, and how much you care about maintenance so its fairly equal.
Sleds can get a bad rap, due to the fact that a lot of people don’t take proper care (summer-ize) of a machine that will end up getting put away for the season.
Snowmobiles can get forgotten, because of thinking you will get "one more ride in before summer" - that ride never happens, and before you know it, its winter again. By that time, you're demanding the most out of a machine that’s been sleeping for months. This is the worst thing you can do with a engine/seals/bearings etc.. they need to be cared for and used.
Click Here to Read Our Guide for Snowmobile Winter Prep
If someone is more about trail cruising and flatter surfaces, just looking to get out on some nice groomed trails, a nice cruiser snowmobile would probably be the ticket.
If theres one thing that will make me furious with a snowbike, it is having to hit many miles on a hardened packed trail. They are miserable on a snowbike. Most of the time I'm off the trail as soon as possible, partly because I can take shortcuts easily and rip any terrain happily - instead of taking a trail in.
Pricing is fairly neck and neck. A well decked out snowbike or sled is easily over $20k, while an introductory unit is around $10k. If you're lucky, you could find a pretty decent sled or bike setup for just over $10K
These are a few of the high level thoughts that can help steer someone in the right direction.
Even though I'm somewhat biased towards snowbikes, I truly feel you need to just pick something and send it!
Either way you will have a blast planning adventures into some pretty rad country that is only seen during the winter by those that ride snow machines!
Get geared up, learn the safety factors and equipment and just get out and ride. Either one is money well spent for Winter-time mind resets!
Can snowmobiles and Snowbikes ride together?
Yes and No. Because of the longer learning curve on a sled, the 2 people riding are often at a different point in their abilities to ride more technical terrain.
If the goal is to just get out and have a leisure ride in terrain thats somewhat suits either machine, you can have plenty of fun and not feel hindered by either machine.
If the sledder is a very new rider, even a new snowbiker will be very bored waiting on the sled.
A decent snowbiker and a great sledder can find terrain that suits both very well and can have some great line battles all day! (This is probably the best scenerio.)
Basically you and your buddies would have to just get out and start ripping to find a good happy medium on terrain that suits you both well and you'll have more fun than you'd know what to do with!!
- Written by Aaron Bell, Goats MRC Technician
Goats Mountain Riding Co. is a Snowmobile & Snowbike Service Center - Offering upgrades, diagnostics and repair for mountain riding machines. View the Service Center (Click Here)