One-armed Snowmobiling

[Oscar280]

Hello all. Here's a quick video of me running my snowmobile with a sensor I can control with my mouth.

I've been riding one-handed for years now with the throttle and brake on one handle bar and it works great. No complaints. However, I've been longing to get back in the mountains and to do that, your hand needs to move around and it's used to pull the snowmobile on it's side. This makes running the throttle nearly impossible. I found some cheap electronic parts and mounted a servo on the throttle body so now I can electrically control the throttle using force. This way, my hand is free to control the sled. The harder I bite down, the faster it goes. Pretty simple. In the video, I'm pinching the sensor with my finger. As soon as we get enough snow, I'll post a video of me actually riding and using my mouth to control the throttle.

http://youtu.be/sJfZ1SlLmn8

Cheers,

Oscar

[Christopher]

Oscar... Now that's using your head! (pun intended)

Nice work Oscar and thanks for posting!
This kind of resilience and ingenuity are what I love most when coming to these forums!

Can't wait to see how it works out in the mountains & snow.

Well Done.

Cheers,
Chris

[Master DIVER TOM]

Wow WE really get creative over time to adapt to WHAT EVER WE CAN in time!!!!! So many great post like this
Call me crazy But this is the positive side of our injuries is the creative ways we have . To Try and try again
So just to stir the need for a possible solution???? Might come in the form of a foot acceleration pedal for a SNOW mobile?? just thinking.
Foot acceleration can be done for a motor cycle to. You bet SAH!!!!
Drove a Triumph Bonivelle with birth erbs, What me worry
Always,
Mr Positive , Being a Padi Master diver I was Dubbed Nemo years ago When I saw nemo , I new I was going to get TAG
GREAT IDEA!!!!!
Tom

[Oscar280]

Thanks for the comments. Tom, that's a great idea when trail riding, but when riding in the mountains, you're feet are rarely in the same place for too long. You're moving all over the machine.

[Master DIVER TOM]

Hi Oscar,
Oh, I was just talking about being on the road and Cruising on a bike. Doing dirt biking would be a challenge with a foot accelerator , to keep your foot on it for -sure
Man , just when you think you get the BUgs out
I have had alot of ideas that ether I adapt to or they took more thinking to do so
or I could not find away to adapt. My motto is, you never fail by trying WOW, do we try things by post !!
Great Post-!! Oscar
Thanks,
Tom

[Master DIVER TOM]

I was thinking
I have been posting like so many others here.
Amazing
You see so many ways We Do find or ways to adapt ware possible by Post If that try does not work you move on SOME HOW??? I think We All become unstoppable in our own ways over time Determination to overcome, Some way some Next idea to try comes up, alot of post like this To me it is a blessing to find ways to try and a JOY to remember the small and great thing we find we can do by our post, I think , threw all the Pain We find another idea to try even thou , we work threw the pain because we know That pain and gain do happen to archive what ever we can with our limitation were left with??

The most inspiring things come from our trys and a Hell of alot of Gusts we post We all know what it takes, By so many post to.
Courage comes with a price to try. A Quest for a better pain med for nerve stretch , Still never found the right one at 61.
What I do know its is harder to try when your pain level is hi
Driving a semi with birth erbs and pain level were

Just thinking,
Tom

[johnmetalman]

Just remember injuries...y'all scare me sometimes....who cares what they say.

[Master DIVER TOM]

You made me SMILE
There is one thing we share in Trying in life with our own limitations. Is a
Courage to try and try again attitude leads to a new Possible thing to adapt to in time Sometimes??
Over time like US is the battle scares of trying over time , Ouch It hurts when I do this Doctor, Doc reply , then dont do it. Yeah right , By our post here, is there seems to be many of us, who, Must be a ( gluttons for pain) by what we tryied and end up adapt to overtime.
Just thinking
My reply to the doc (what- EVER, Doc )
We all are SOOOOO!!! creative over time , By our Post and our trys to adapt to a Vast amount of trys that do work out by our IDEAS we dream up by post to ITS REAL not just hope adapting is real in our trys , I think to Remember this when things dont work out I had plenty of those to over time like Us
Just a
Tom

[Vynter]

I lost use of my left arm from a snowmobile crash in 93. But I have been snowmobiling since. I have been out west to almost everywhere (Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, British Colombia) riding with the big guys. For me I just needed to install a lefty throttle for my left sidehill needs. But I can definitely see where this setup would be handy because switching between throttles kills your momentum, and that's never good in the deep stuff. I've just had to learn to plan my lines a bit more that the other guys.

How did it work for you this year? I'd be afraid for inadvertent jaw clinches in some situations though. Between the both of us we'd be one hell of a rider.

Jamin

[bcarpjr]

Guys, I'm new to this page and forum. I lost use of my right arm in Feb of 2013 due to a snowmobile accident. I had a full brachial plexus root avulsion on the right side, all the nerves were torn completely out. I have a Ski-Doo MX Z 600 and many spare parts from the MX 600 I crashed. I would love to be able to go and ride again here in West and northern Michigan. Equally as important though, I would like to get to know you folks and share some of our stories, experiences, and ways we've overcome these challenges. I'm pleased to have found this group. Do they make a standard left-hand throttle?