Our bike club is grooming over 60km trail network with three snowdog machines here in one Finnish town. On snowy winter the machines get ridden like 30km avarage for whole winter. We have also alot of technical trails and we grom so that is is possible to ride also with regular mountain bikes. Those original grooming plates just get hammered out of shape very quickly in harder use. Its like welding a new layer of steel every year. Some of grooming plates has been modified to have round front end. We have also plastic layers underneath each plate so it makes easier for the machine when show wont stuck in the bottom and it wont pile the snow in front of the plate. For our trail this machine is the only option to go with since snowmobile wont turn in many curves. It's just a shame that the machine is Russian and even if there was no sanctions i wouldn't buy anything from then no more. Its a lot of welding and lathe work maintaining these when you have to make your spares.
Thanks for your input! Our trail system we are grooming is roughly 12km trail. We are happy with the FatBike groomer and classic ski groomer. We've been grooming for 3 years and have had no issues yet. We are lucky to have pretty nice trails with no big rocks to hit. We like the idea of rounding the front of the groomer to make it easier on the machine. As for the Snowdog company, they are now being made in the USA. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for throwing out these great videos of the “dog”. There are very few good videos out there. I live in northern Maine and groom 13 miles of Fatbike trails by hand and it’s getting tough to keep up with the big storms. We have old school narrow twisty trails with short punchy climbs and descents, roots, boulders etc. I think once we get a base established with snowshoes, the “Dog” would be the answer for us. I would rather groom with a Tundra or Skandic, but I just don’t think we can fit a sled on some of our trails. Great channel guys!
Thanks for watching Jay! There are several groups in MN that use a Snowdog to groom their trails. They do a great job and can fit on those windy paths you were talking about. We appreciate the support! Let us know if you have any questions.
Great video dude! I got a new snowdog this year. Can't wait to get that groomer but those things need to be made better. They need to be made so they grab and compress snow. Like the front should be a mouth that pulls in snow so its actually getting compressed rather than just flattened. There's a perfect design but the front needs to be circular and smooth and tapered leading to the back where it can compress it into a mold, you would get better stiffening and then I'm wondering if it would just be better left flat or if the comb design is better.
I wonder if a person could rig up a small utility trailer on two snow boards or something. You could pull a truckload of stuff if they machine could handle it. Hell you could pull a popup camper or a mini ice fishing shanty. Maybe rig up some kc lights to the front, and even a winch. Be cool if there was a way to make it generate electricity while driving too.
Do you know what the State of Minnesota’s position is on these in terms of legality for use on snowmobile or ATV trails or elsewhere on state forest land as well as whether they need to be registered?
As far as I'm aware, it's legal to ride on state trails if you are using it to get to a destination such as a fishing lake, but otherwise I really don't ride on high traffic trails. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for watching! And absolutely yes. They can go so many places no snowmobile could go and and still go in incredibly deep snow. If your not big into riding 50 plus miles a day i would choice a snowdog.
Grooming snow is a complicated thing, as there are a lot of factors that go into it: temperature, moisture, age of snow, snow depth, ect. I would reccomend checking out guides from other people or programs, like UMD's RSOP ski trail grooming guide. Thanks for watching!
