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?

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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Thanks old buddy for showing up with some new excitement!

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Gary Bell 
Owner of Sierra Ski & Cycle Works