As I sit here and log into Barn Finds this snowy morning to check the tips page, literally drinking coffee from my Raider Twin-Track coffee cup, what should pop up but this 1973 Raider 34TT twin-track snowmobile tip! This refurbished gem can be found listed here on Facebook Marketplace in Oneida, Wisconsin, and they’re asking $2,000. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Mr. Snowmobile: Lothar… of the Hill People for the tip!
Detroit native Bob Bracey worked his way up in the auto industry, working for all of the Big Three car makers at some point in his career. In 1969, he founded Leisure Vehicle, Inc. with the thought of making a more automotive-like snowmobile. One with better handling, a better ride, and a unique four-point (two tracks, two skies) stance. In 1970, the prototype was ready, and production started for 1971.
The Roamer, based on the original prototype, was the first version, but it proved unpopular. Next came the Raider, and most of the original bugs were worked out; the future looked bright for this young company producing what were at the time very unusual and cool snowmobiles. Mr. Bracey had worked at Kar-Kraft and was on the team for the Ford GT40 MK II, so he knew a thing or two about making cool vehicles. I’ve never ridden a Raider, or in a Raider snowmobile, but reviews of the day say they were stable and weren’t as tippy as some sources say they were. This one would have weighed 420 pounds with a F/R weight distribution of 40/60.
You sit in the Raider snowmobile, not on it. That freaks some people out as they think it’ll tip over, and then you’re done. The seller says this one has new seats, and they do look perfect. The passenger gets (or has to) ride on top of the engine cover, in case you were wondering where the other seat was. This sled also has brand new tracks, not an insignificant thing. Also, it has a new starter, new bushings and bearings, new drive sprockets and idler wheels, new fuel lines, new cables, a new 12v battery, new track guides and slides, along with new Raider flaps in the back. This snowmobile wasn’t restored to look like new, but it sure sounds like it’s ready to go, mechanically.
The engine in the 34TT should be a CCW (Canadian Curtiss Wright) 398-cc 32-horsepower twin-cylinder with electric start, along with “emergency” manual start. Power is sent through a 850 Salisbury torque-sensing “transmission” to the rear twin tracks. The seller doesn’t say how it runs, but I have to believe it works great, due to all of the new parts on it. You could take the cosmetics to the next level for show duty – not that it wouldn’t draw a crowd as is – or just ride it. Have any of you owned or ridden a Raider snowmobile?
We find the coolest stuff here on BF with you, Scotty, bringing some of most unusual single track and snow machines into the limelight. It appears this was another engineering feat that came to the surface but didn’t seem to take off like many of the others for whatever reasons.
My dad saw something like this here in the US some years after his TDY to Thule Air Base in the mid-50’s: he said a guy would’ve given 3 months pay (a very considerable sum at the time) to have one there!
FWIW, it’s now called Pituffik Space Base, located in Northwestern Greenland, near Baffin Bay, about 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle and 947 miles from the North Pole.
A rig like this would’ve been a phenomenal improvement over the issued WW2 Weasels they were constantly having to fix!
Bullseye 🎯 again Nevada…. 🎙Howard
No, no, Scotty, and whoever this “mystery Lothar” person is, should get the credit, and I thought I was “Mr. Snowmobile”,,,hmmph
Most have been here long enough to figure out who wrote about what by the banner headline. To understand, the eastern half of the country has seen a record amount of snow and cold, some reports say some trails in the UP (der hey) are impassible. Locals are overjoyed. A lot has been said about these, by me, mostly negative, again, by me, but truthfully, they do have a legitimate purpose, slogging through those impassible situations. Not unlike a bulldozer. My gripe, is the motor. I had a CCW 400 in my Scorpion and it never ran right. Turns out, and I see here, it needs a phenolic spacer between the carb and manifold that helped with vapor lock type symptoms. And to think they use these motors for ultralights!!! No thanks. For a utilitarian purposes, they are okay, but they tip rather easily, and an air box is needed as snow dust would choke this in a second,,,and btw, that video was taken on the 4th of July,, :)
Ha, an engine that stalls while in the air would be a worst-case scenario for sure. I never knew that about the CCW engines; I assumed they were as good as any others. The Raider was for sure best for groomed trails, and I bet some of the tippiness was due to not having them on solid ground. Says the guy (me) who’s never been on solid ground. Thanks for the info, Mr. Snowmobile Sr.
You have to work real hard to design an engine that gets vapor lock in cold weather. The two track single ski never caught on for some reason. What was the disadvantage?
Vapor locking in these old sleds was not unusual and a royal pain when it happened.
CCW engines are good engines with tons of them built. Of course, things can happen and not everyone will run flawlessly. Same can be said for a Rotax, JLO, Fuji etc.
I hope no one buys a Raider, or for that matter most any vintage sled expecting it to be their main ride for the winter. These are VINTAGE sleds that are a blast to ride around or show off at any one of the MANY vintage shows and rides. Most will not accumulate a lot of miles most winters.
Raiders are popular with collectors and actually quite a few were made and few got scrapped because they were odd, so they tended to get tucked away instead of junked. There were lots of N.O.S. parts around but in recent times they are drying up.
If you want this you might want to make sure you can fit in it. They are compact.
I would guess the asking price is a tad steep but not way off base.
I was lucky enough to ride in one of these at our local Winterfest in Ontario, Canada when I was a kid. it was the only one like it that day. (The local snowmobilers were offering free snowmobile rides on the frozen bay in our neighborhood to the kids)
I’ll never forget how lucky I felt to get to ride “in” this one instead of on the back of a typical snowmobile. It was probably 1976/77 and I was 6 years old. I remember it like it was yesterday, still, at now 55 years old.
Until this story, the only double track I was aware of, only because my cousin had one, was a Bombardier Ski’Doo double track. But then again, I wasn’t that interested in snowmobiles or motorcycles for that matter.
Hey Scotty, you’ve been in Mn. Do you member Ralph Plaisted’s snowmobile trip attempt to the North Pole from St. Paul in 1968? I think him & his team rode Ski-Doos.
And then the I-500 Winnipeg to St. Paul 500 mile race that started in 1966 and went on for a few years.
Hey Jon! Yes, sir, I remember the name well. Here’s a fun story on how it all came about.
https://snowgoer.com/snowmobile-features/a-historic-snowmobile-moment/2687/
Raiders did have Kohler engine brands in the later years to best of my recollection.