Don’t you love it when something new and unexpected jumps up and kicks you in the butt and leaves you with a big old grin?
I’m Gary Bell, I own Sierra Ski and Cycle Works in South Lake Tahoe for 32 years. Earlier this winter I was contacted by Don Koski, a name from the past because a friend and I had built Lake Tahoe’s first mountain bikes, clunkers as the Koski brothers and the rest of the Marin crew called them. We were building our bikes when I met those guys and found out how much they were already doing so I spent some really fun days riding with them and watching what they were building and… drinking beer.
So when Don walked into the shop with his latest creation the Koski snowbike FM2, a full suspension purpose built ski bike I was really surprised but not so excited at first but loved the look of his creation. I like tricked out toys! It took a few visits from Don before he convinced me to come out and take a ride.
We go up to Sierra at Tahoe, Don gives me the first timer do this don’t do that and off we go. The first run felt weird, I kept grabbing for a brake, you know it felt like I was sitting on a bike, but not. It takes about a minute to understand how the bike moves, how to get on and off the chair and how to slow it down! Then on the second run it hit me. I haven’t laughed that much on snow for a long time. It was suddenly so easy to cruise around, sliding through turns at first and then all of a sudden I got the skis to hook up and actually do pure carved turns, unreal!
The amount of suspension, the seated position, the quality of the bike, it all felt like I was just on my mountain bike but on snow. I couldn’t stop laughing. If you ride a downhill bike or a Freeride bike you are right at home on this bike. Oh the potential of this thing! Mark from the rental shop was on one that he rides a lot. It was amazing to watch him on steep terrain, in the trees, rocks, bumps, way inspiring.
I love skiing and I love my mountain bike. This is a whole new side of sliding on snow that I am definitely going to play with some more.
Thanks old buddy for showing up with some new excitement!
Gary Bell
Owner of Sierra Ski & Cycle Works