Bolens Diablo Rouge and Hus Ski Discussion Forums

I'm old enough to have driven both the Hus Ski and Diablo Rouge when they were brand new. Loved them then and still do. In the late 80's I finally ran out of parts to keep one running and disposed of everything but a couple of sleds. My reasoning was that I would use a sled to build an articulated machine using newer technology and more power. I finally got to it this winter. I tried it out for the first time last week. Here is a utube video of it before I chopped off the Alpine nose that held the single ski. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYl-h81DSGw
I started with one of the old sleds and put on aluminum skis with UHMW on the bottom. The seat is new, to be more comfortable to my old behind. The rear of the sled has a stop light and brake light and the tongue has a 1 7/8 trailer hitch welded on that drops on a trailer ball welded to the rear of the tub.
The tub and dual tracks are from a 1971 short track Skidoo Alpine with forward-neutral-reverse. The steering/control bar is welded up from some aluminum pipe I had left over from another project. controls include throttle, hydraulic brake, kill switch and headlight hi-off-lo beam switch.The transmission shift lever is at the right rear.
The fuel tank, air box, oil injection, engine and hydraulic brake are all from a 1981 Polaris GT Indy. I had to fabricate a new exhaust to fit inside the cowling I will eventually build.
It is scary fast and I haven't had the guts to hold more than half throttle for any length of time. The reverse works surprisingly well. I was able to back down a friends 100 ft driveway in complete control. I'll probably have to put some upturned rear ends on the skis.
I guess I'll have to build the cowling, clean it up and paint it. Any suggestions on color?

I like it. You' ve given me something to think about. Hmmmm..... Have you tried it at breaking trail?

Roy,
I've only had it running for a couple of weeks so there is still a lot to learn. I'll keep the forum updated. Here is what I learned last sunday.


Damn that thing is fun!!! I was showing it off sunday, to my neighbor, and he asked
how it does in powder. I really didn't know but said, "hold my Geritol and we'll find
out". I headed out the driveway and turned to come back through the lawn. It
climbed the snow berm on the edge of the road fine and went like the dickens in the
deep snow. When coming off the lawn to the driveway the berm had a drop of about 2
feet. The front bumper of the machine hit the hard pack and stopped..... I didn't.
I did a face plant into the fuel tank, skinned up both legs on the steering bar and
scraped the heck out of both hands on something. It wouldn't have been so bad if
the machine had shut down but, of course, it didn't. As a matter of fact it
accelerated with me trying to reach the kill switch and the transmission lever. I
didn't reach either and the machine killed when it ran into the neighbors shop. It
pulled out of the wall of the shop real easy and has no visible damage. You
couldn't say that about the shop and me. His shop now has a huge doggy door and a
corner stud was pushed about 8 inches off the plate. I had a fine bloody nose and
cracked rib to keep me reminded of how stupid I was. That machine is really
fun, but now that I think of it, what happened to my Geritol?

Here is a link to the current utube video with the cowling installed.
http://youtu.be/7tIViAo9oF8

oh the memories................

Hey Man, Although I would be considered a purist, I will admit every time I see a Ski Doo Alpine I think to myself : hmmm.. That is a yellow twin track machine with reverse. That queer single front ski surely has to go though! All of us that have a Hus-Ski (yes, a Diablo is a Hus-Ski,read the vin tag) know they are not known for their hill climbing ability, no matter how much HP you have under the hood. They will spin the tracks on too steep a grade,period. That machine you got probobly has enough power and weight to hill climb pretty well. The compromise is it mabe hard to steer and sinking instead of floating like a 200 or 400. You got my vote to paint it yellow. Oh, you may want to invest in a helmet and perhaps some hockey or motocross gear .