The story of CMX from Snowmobiles and Snowbikes, told by Mark Hoffman. From the first purpose-built mountain sleds to the snowbike kits riders love today this is a fun watch if you are a Snowmobiler or Snowbiker.
The story of CMX, told by Mark Hoffman himself, from the first purpose-built mountain sleds to the snowbike kits riders love today.
This video is long overdue. We filmed it back in 2023 and are finally getting it out, and we're extremely pumped to share the story of Mark and CMX with the snowbike world. CMX didn't start with snowbikes. They were OGs in the mountain snowmobiling world and contributed a huge amount to it. They didn't just build snowmobiles. They built the machines the big manufacturers weren't making.
Where It Started
It began in a small shop in Clyde Park, Montana, fixing farm equipment and logging trucks. In the early '90s, Mark and the crew started building their own sleds because the stock sleds of the day weren't good enough. Back then, the factories built trail sleds, bolted on a long track and called it a mountain sled.
Mark wanted machines that could actually go where he wanted to go in the backcountry: high-horsepower, featherlight, purpose-built mountain sleds made with the best materials and a lot of attention to detail. A magazine feature on those homebuilt sleds got the phone ringing, and by 1995 Crazy Mountain Xtreme (CMX) was building mountain sleds full-time. Those sleds are still considered some of the first true mountain sleds the sport ever saw.
The Innovation That Changed the Game
In 1999, CMX came out with the first belt drive for a snowmobile. Mark knew it would be an efficiency gain, and the first test ride in the Bridgers proved it in a way he didn't expect. (You'll want to hear that story.)
The CMX drive wasn't just a cool upgrade. It was a complete rethink of how power gets to the snow. Polaris came out with its own belt drive in 2013. Mark and CMX did it 14 years earlier.
From Sleds to Snowbikes
When CMX built its last snowmobiles in 2015, the team didn't slow down. They turned their attention to snowbikes and brought 30 years of hard-won knowledge with them, including the belt drive and snowmobile-style rear suspension. It's a big reason people love their kits and the way they ride. Their influence on the snowbike community runs deeper than most people realize, just like Mark helped shape mountain sledding years earlier.
The Real Deal
If you've ever had the chance to talk with Mark, his son Kameron and Fergus, you already know the other side of the story. They're down to earth and just as passionate about the people riding their machines as they are about the machines themselves. Watch Mark tell the story in his own words above.
Chapters
- 0:00 Intro
- 0:54 Meet the crew: Cameron and Fergus
- 2:10 Mark's background
- 2:46 Hoffman's Machine, Welding and Repair (1981)
- 3:46 Building their own sleds
- 4:39 Teaching the factories to build a mountain sled
- 5:57 The first customer and the $12K sled
- 7:45 1999: the first snowmobile belt drive
- 8:16 The test ride that proved it
- 11:08 Why alignment matters, and Polaris in 2013
- 12:15 The show circuit and the 9/11 downturn
- 13:52 From sleds to snowbikes
- 15:21 Bringing the belt drive to snowbike kits
- 15:54 The Dominator and final thoughts
Ride It Yourself
Want to see what a CMX kit can do? Check out CMX Snowbike Kits, or book your snowbike tour with us in Montana.