Who rides in winter

[Guest]

Its that time of year again. -2 this morning in Glasgow which isn't probably that cold compared to some of the places you lot will be living

I try and keep my bike on the road as many days of the year as I can in order to keep everything running as it should.

I always felt that if you let an older bike sit for too long, they don't like it and tend to develop "issues" when you finally get it running again for the spring.

Riding into work in the morning and back again in the evening in pitch black always feels kind of weird but the roads seem less busy and you do feel pretty fresh by the time you arrive! Anyone else riding through winter?

[JakeF]

Had to google the conversion, lol. -2 Celsius is about 28 degrees F, so yes it does get MUCH colder here in winter. It's been a few years since I had a bike on the road, but as long as there's not snow or ice on the roads I wouldn't hesitate to take the bike to work in the winter. I remember one time I'd ridden from Kansas City to Lincoln, Nebraska on a service call and got caught in a snow storm on the way home. The 4 hour ride home turned into 7 hours, but I made it!

[Guest]

7 hour snow storm ride sounds pretty bleak! I don't envy you that one ha! What were you riding?

[JakeF]

That ride was on a Suzuki Intruder 1400. I kinda miss that bike.... many thousands of miles all over the country and never a single issue.

[hillcat]

We get a thing called ice so it's 4-wheelers, sleds, skies and boards here.
Although when we were young we would stud dirt bike tires also.

[DoomBuggy]

When I wore a younger man's clothes the bike was my only transportation winter or summer. Rode in enough freezing crap to never want to do that again.

It has been a few years now, but I used to try to have a bike up and running for the Toys-For-Tots run each year. Other than that once the white stuff starts to fly it is time to start fixing and modding for next year.

This winter's list, get the heads sealed up, figure out the transmission leak, new bars/switches/internal wiring, and maybe repaint the gas and oil tanks.

[DoomBuggy]

...Although when we were young we would stud dirt bike tires also.

I did that a few times, freaking BIG TIME fun.

[Guest]

I got caught in snow last year and my hands got so damn cold I had to pull over and put my gloves on the hot cylinder heads for a few minutes to heat them up and bring my hands back to life!

[AlbertaFarmer]

Can't do much after October up in my part of Canada. The road outside my window has a good inch of ice on it this morning. Might get a few nice days yet, but it's hardly worthwhile riding. The roads will be covered in traction gravel for the next six months.

I'm not sure what your worried about with them sitting? Mine usually sit a solid four to five months at a time and they have always fired right up every spring. That's stored in sea cans and sheds that have no heat, and we routinely see -35 Celsius (-31 F).

[Mwatson]

I do, so long as the road conditions allow. I'm not big on trying to ride in snow, but the cold temps are fine. It gets pretty cold in Oregon.

[DoomBuggy]

..... and we routinely see -35 Celsius (-31 F).

Not no, but HELL NO! Exactly what do you farm up there, icicles?

[Hoghead]

Someone found a way-hardcore!



I'll ride all year round, but don't commute Nov-Feb anymore.

[Mwatson]

Someone found a way-hardcore!

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I'll ride all year round, but don't commute Nov-Feb anymore.

God damn!! I remember as a kid growing up in PA, it was not uncommon to see some of the MC guys riding in some shitty ass weather during the winter. Deffo hardcore.

[Tattooo]

I've always loved riding in the fall and winter............. That's my favorite time of year to ride..............

[Skjoll]

It only rarely gets to single digits around here in Louisville, usually ~20°F for lows and roads are well plowed so winters are definitely doable. When I lived in New England I had a CB360 with studded dirt tires just for bad winter weather... it was a blast in deep snow.