Ski Bike!

Inspired by similar ski bikes I saw online I built a ski front wheel attachment! Most production ski-bikes do away with the rear wheel in favor of another ski, but I’m glad I kept it because it is possible, although exhausting, to pedal on flats/slight uphills.

This project came together super quick and was surprisingly controllable/usable in the end. Plus the ski is wide enough that the bike can stand on its own!

The ski attaches using a standard quick release. Most bike hubs are aluminum, so I removed the hub and replaced it with a steel tube with two washers welded to each end. The outer bearing races of the original hub were tightened around the tube/washers so that the ski can rotate a bit around the axle, but still maintain a solid connection.
The standard quick release also means this ski can be pretty easily added to most bikes!

Overall this thing worked way better than I expected, given it was hastily welded/screwed/glued together in an afternoon with spare parts. The rake angle of the front fork meant that turning left and right made the ski angle into the turn, which helped a ton to keep things under control. The front fork didn’t seem super jazzed about all the extra torque it was experiencing, but at no point did it seem to be bending excessively.