e bike in the ski plane

Joined
Nov 27, 2015
Messages
783
Location
S.E. Idaho USA
The first time I've rode the Montague all winter, what a blast, especially with the BBSHD/Rohloff hub combo. Ski planes are rare enough, ski planes with folding e bikes....I think I'm the only one. rsz_img_20180313_103110222.jpg
 
How do you stop the plane? On snow, I mean.
 
You rock buddy!! Jackson (Farfle on ES) has a Cessna 172 now so we can easily fly in to visit you. I would love to have you land that ski plane at the top of the steepest mountain you've got around and drop me off with a pair of skiis. :)
 
If I had the money, I'd buy the Montague. Looking at the website now you can buy thei X90 frame no fork for $150+$50 s/h to USA only. I would have bought it otherwise. I'm going to look into it more, maybe use one of those common mail forwarders. Yikes, I signed up for shipitto with 60"x60"x8" and 6lbs and they quoted me $500.

craneplaneguy said:
The first time I've rode the Montague all winter, what a blast, especially with the BBSHD/Rohloff hub combo. Ski planes are rare enough, ski planes with folding e bikes....I think I'm the only one. rsz_img_20180313_103110222.jpg
 
Chalo said:
How do you stop the plane? On snow, I mean.

The snow slows the skids down after touch down, I love watching them take off and land on Lake Lucille in back of mother in laws house. My wife's brother and his buddies operate a kiteboarding service up in Alaska and they have a guy involved who has a plane, they are all about getting dropped off up on glaciers. These guys are what I'd call very competent crazies.They even had Snowboarder Shaun White up there taking kiteboarding lessons at one point, word was he was about crapping his pants when he went out with the Alaska crew.


Craneplaneguy man you really got it going on there, fly in and I'll throw my folder in there too, I'll buy the fuel and a big fat lunch after we land at Sunriver Airstrip.
 
Chalo :Stopping on skis is part of the "fun", and can be the biggest challange, especially as almost all my landings on are double fall line slopes, up to 13 degrees or so. On the steeper slopes I DON'T stop, if I do I'll start sliding backwards, so I get it parked sideways to the slope before coming to a full stop. And, the same site landed at the same speed etc. a few hours later can yield vastly different results as the snow softens or get's harder, I never cogitate as hard doing any other type of flying, including summertime dead stick ridge soaring, as I do when setting up a mountain side ski landing.

Raisedbrows: Not only do I not have room for another person, I don't have room for another bike, But I do have room for the Travoy folder trailer, a small camp kitchen bag, a couple sleeping bags, folding lawn chair, mattress pad, etc., in other words enough for 1 person very basic camping. Oh, a small soft cooler for cold beer, that always seems to fit also.

LiveFor: I landed at 8900' a few days ago, but again, no room for another person! Actually, without the bike, I could......

Here's a shot of some tracks I left this early winter, with just enough snow for the ski plane but not too deep for the fatbike. Those are my ski tracks dissappearing into the sky, with the engine at idle, due to the slope aiding the takeoff. Getting the Montague e modified and the addition of the Rohloff hub, has increased the practicality of the plane a huge amount, as there is nothing worse then walking after flying in somewhere!
rsz_img_20171209_154157600_2.jpg
 
You guys that land in the snow on slopes must be pretty experienced pilots with quite a few hours, gotta hand it to you, I have trouble just making it down the front steps when it's icy. No room for us, darn, maybe you could mount a bike rack up top for us, it would be like the ultimate bike ride/wingwalking experience, heck Luke has probably gone that fast on a bike already.
 
Luke goes faster then I fly, from what I have read :shock:

Like anything else, do it long enough and often enough, and you get it figured out, landing on mountain sides on skis etc. Riding e bikes is what's been kicking my ass lately, I take riding a lot more seriously now, like I do flying, it's serious business!
 
Chopper and $$ for that ski ride Luke. I used to have to do it the poor mans way, skins on telemark skis. If you are seriously skiing, you really need to look into doing it free heel.

Not just for mountaineering, but for lift skiing too. I used to piss off the local ski patrol big time, because I could out race them to first tracks in the mornings. I could ski uphill so much better to the powder stash with free heel. And later in the day, just a few easy shuffles in telemark skis would take me up to an untracked line all the dumbshits in regular ski gear could not reach. I'd ski first tracks all day in a place everybody else thought was tracked out by 10 am. Because free heel, I could ski uphill so easy.

Best of all, in a telemark turn in the powder, the snow goes over your shoulders, not your knees. When you can ski a double black on tele skis, you have made it to the top of the pyramid with any crowd. IMO, its the ONLY way to do 45 degree slopes.
 
I can't recall if I ever posted a pic showing how the e Montague fits in the plane, absolutely the same as before adding epower, just a bit more weight of course. It's secured by several straps, and I try not to crash (if it came loose, it'd be because i already had major problems, I have well over 2000 hours flying with both a regular and now the e Mont's on board). i carry the bike probably 75% of the time, and always when going somewhere cross country. The room underneath is where the rear passenger seat normally goes, and lots of misc. can still fit there when carrying the bike. The main baggage compartment is behind the bike. It's about 36" long and the fuselage width and depth, so a fair bit of room, I can also tie stuff outside on the lift struts, usually a folding lawn chair in it's bag, nothing too draggy. Access to the rear area is a bit limited with the bike in place, so I try and keep stuff I may need up front where I can get at it. It's all a compromise

Hey DD, I agree with everything you said, but I'm a snowboarder! rsz_img_20180318_085019174_2.jpg
 
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