Perched on an electric snowbike and staring at a field of untracked snow on top of Vail Pass in Colorado, my anticipation was high鈥攂ut it was nothing compared to silently blasting through the 10 inches of powder, snow flying over my head. My hunch was confirmed: MoonBikes are unadulterated fun.
is a new-to-the-U.S. brand of electric snowbikes that is out to blur the lines of what personal snow machines look like. With a lightweight, agile design and a quiet, high-efficiency four-horsepower motor, a MoonBike blends the best aspects of snowmobiling, off-road dirt biking, and fat-tire biking. With a steerable ski up front and a motorized track in the rear, it rides smoothly on snow-packed trails and maneuvers through fresh pow with exhilarating ease.
I鈥檝e been snowmobiling about two dozen times in Colorado, Wisconsin, and Canada and I generally love the thrill of it, but I also find snowmobiles to be a little bit too much machine sometimes. They鈥檙e loud, heavy, and steer slowly (especially with my limited skill set and aversion to crashing). Plus, the engine exhaust can be nauseating. You also need wide-open spaces or dedicated trail systems to go snowmobiling. and are other options for motorized snow-riding, but they come with similar challenges.
MoonBikes have none of those drawbacks. The battery-powered snowbikes are relatively light (192 pounds), easy to ride, and almost silent, but they鈥檙e also extremely powerful, with instant torque at the touch of the throttle and a top speed of 26 miles per hour. Manufactured by Bosch Marignier in France, they can be configured with one or two lithium ion batteries (at standard and performance levels) for 1.5 to three hours of run time. Better yet, they can be taken on forest trails and backcountry spaces wherever e-bikes or snowmobiles are allowed.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an easy way to explore in the winter,鈥 says Jason Bonser, North American general manager for MoonBikes. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e super light, they鈥檙e super approachable, and the learning curve is really quick. People ask me how long they鈥檒l go, and my favorite answer is simply: 鈥楢ll afternoon.鈥欌
A startup founded in the tiny mountain village of Saint-Nicolas-de-V茅roce, France in 2018, MoonBikes is the brainchild of CEO and founder Nicolas Muron, an entrepreneurial engineer who set out to create an environmentally conscious recreational vehicle for exploring winter terrain. A $5 million round of seed investment helped the company grow its base in Europe鈥12 resorts have adopted MoonBikes rental programs鈥攂ut the company expects the real growth to be in U.S. market, Bonser says.
MoonBikes opened a North American office in Boulder, Colorado, 14 months ago and has since developed partnerships with Michigan鈥檚 Boyne Mountain Resort and The Resort at Paws Up in Montana. The company is talking with several resorts in Colorado about starting a rental-based touring program, but it鈥檚 also selling MoonBikes one at a time. At $8,900, they鈥檙e not cheap, but they鈥檙e half the cost of a new snowmobile.
The brand showed off its bikes in January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where it also launched a new app that will allow users access trail maps, monitor altitude, and track distance, speed, duration, and battery level on a ride.
Can MoonBikes be an eco-friendly alternative to snowmobiles? While it might not move the needle for advanced snowmobilers who might miss the all-out power of a gas-powered motor,聽 MoonBikes is hoping to develop an audience out of other motorized and non-motorized recreational consumers who ride motorcycles, ATVs, mountain bikes, and fat bikes.聽 The bikes are meant to only carry one person, but I could envision using MoonBikes to sherpa gear into the backcountry or to tow skiers during alpine touring sessions.
I love winter and engage in it every way I can鈥攁lpine skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, fat biking, alpine touring, skimo racing, winter mountaineering, skate skiing, and snowmobiling鈥攂ut while I own gear for all of those human-powered sports, I know I will never buy a snowmobile. They鈥檙e too expensive and I just don鈥檛 have enough interest.
And, admittedly, I don鈥檛 have expandable funds at the moment to add a MoonBike to my quiver. But as I am watching more fluffy snow fall out my window, I鈥檓 definitely thinking about saving for one.