Snowy Day Filler: More about Skis for Motorcycles

I woke to about 5 inches of snow and temps in the high 20s low 30s. So, working from home I also snow-throwed/shoveled escape paths/drainage paths so that I can ride out of the neighborhood tomorrow. I probably could have snuck in a quick ride around 3pm but it was a bit iffy since the temperature was plunging as the sun got lower....oh well. Here's some filler content:

Back in DEC of '06, while unable to ride due to being snowbound in my cul-de-sac, I blogged about fantasizing about ways to ride in spite of snow. LINK. That, was one long stretch of being stuck due to snow.....a snow blower has resolved the issue for the most part but last night I found myself searching for workable solutions again, after all I now have a lighter motorcycle whose ancestors had been designed with sidecars in mind!

I had found the pictures of Sanoke, a mentor rider, and his outrigger device which allowed him to ride on snow without worrying about falling over. It was so cool but I also knew the fabrication of which was way beyond my capabilities. LINK

So, some more searching on the Internet resulted in the following review by Motorcycle-USA.com about Husqvarna's Army Automatic motorcycle which sported skis! Yep, back in 1978 the Swedish Army put out a requirement that Husqvarna was trying to win a contract on.

Excerpt:

The Swedish army wanted a motorcycle which could transform a raw beginner to an expert rider in five working days. The bike had to be a true multi-purpose machine which would have decent highway performance, be good on the tens of thousands of miles of forestry trails which cover much of Sweden and, critically, would work in deep snow.

Some photos from the review:



The full article is well worth a read: LINK

Of course, this was 30 years ago and I doubt such motorcycles are available anymore. Can anyone in Sweden confirm this for me? What a cool thing it would be, to have such a motorcycle and ride into work on a snowy day.

Here's some pictures I've found courtesy of Google's search engine, just goes to show the urge to ride on snow is widespread.





This looks like fun!