Aktiv Grizzly

The Aktiv Grizzly was a dual-track snowmobile made by Aktiv Maskin Östersund AB in Sweden from 1979 to 1991. The Grizzly is still recognized as one of the best dual-track snowmobiles in the world. The snowmobile's tracks covered almost one square meter, making it well suited for use in deep snow. Similar dual-track snowmobiles include Bombardiers Ski-Doo Alpine, Ski-Doo Alpine 2 and Ockelbo 8000. Currently two dual-track snowmobile are in production, one in Russia under the name "Buran" and one in Italy, "Alpina Sherpa".

Aktiv started making tracked vehicles 1957 with the Snow Trac, a small personal snowcat roughly the size of a compact car. The company started making small snowmobiles in 1973 after purchasing the Snö-Tric brand. The first dual-track snowmobiles that Aktiv made were the Snö-Tric Blå 75- and SC 20/2 75-.

The Grizzly was also sold under license by Polaris Industries as the "Polaris Grizzly de luxe". This version had a Fuji 440 ccm engine. Also the Finnish company Winha sold early models of Grizzlies produced in 1982 and 1983 under their own brand name. Winha Grizzlies had either a traditional or flexible joint-bogie chassis, and either an Artic Spirit AB 50, A3 or Fuji EC 44-2PM-3000 engine.

Specifications
The Grizzly snowmobile was equipped with dual 38 x 384 cm tracks and a single front ski. Dual front skis were available for the XP model. The engine was a 497 ccm Rotax 503 Scandinavia, which produced 38 HP (28 kW) at the snowmobile's maximum RPM of 5700. In the mid 80's, the Grizzly switched from the traditional wheel-based chassis to a flexible joint-bogie, which made the ride smoother and the passability much better. The carburetor was a VM 32, supplied by Mikuni. De luxe models of earlier Grizzlies had a transmission with one forward and one reverse gear. The last model produced (XP, 1989–1991) had two forward speeds.

Links and resources

 * Skoterportalen Grizzly Page (Swedish)
 * Red Cross in Norway are still using Grizzly
 * David's Vintage Snowmobile Page on Aktiv Grizzly