Riding in Snow.. Do you? how do you do it? how do you avoid the obvious?

[soocom1]

having just seen a post with someone going through a snowy day on a road, I am wondering how anyone handles the snow on a two wheeler?

To me thats's just a death wish waiting to happen. I have had multiple spin outs on a 4 wheeled vehicle way too many times.

How does one handle that on a bike?

[akbeemer]

Well here is what happens when you wait a day too long to leave Alaska...

They were leaving Glennallen on their way to Haines. A local trailered their bikes south until they were out of the snow.

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[akbeemer]

This a Dutch guy and a German lady leaving my house in Fairbanks. It was February and they were headed to Deadhorse. They made it there and back without incident.

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[drneo66]

This a Dutch guy and a German lady leaving my house in Fairbanks. It was February and they were headed to Deadhorse. They made it there and back without incident.

Yeah... but Sjaak doesn't exactly commute...


Right now (mid-October) I feel it gets warm enough during the day to keep the temp of the roads above freezing in MN. However, I've decided that if there is moisture on the roads and it's dipped below freezing overnight, I'll take the bicycle to work instead.

I have ridden to work when the temperatures were cold enough to snow, but the ground was warm. After that ride, I decided that the reduced visibility (both my visibility seeing through a fogged/snow covered visor and other vehicle's visibility) wasn't worth it.

[soocom1]

Given that the bike is now the daily driver I have to watch the weather.
Being in the foothills, the snow will hit for the sake of it being mountains.

So until I have a cage with 4wd it looks like Ill have to deal with it.
The other half will drive me on wet days, but in all honesty it wont be super practical.

[saddleman]

I rode to work for two straight years all year in the early 1980's from Ann Arbor to Plymouth Michigan. Many days I had to leave my feet down all the way to work & back home. I rode in the snow & ice here in North Carolina until 2016. I'm 64 years old now & finally gave up riding on slick roads. Here is a picture of my K1200LT after riding home in a ice storm from work a few years ago.

[Omega Man]

I rode to work for two straight years all year in the early 1980's from Ann Arbor to Plymouth Michigan. Many days I had to leave my feet down all the way to work & back home. I rode in the snow & ice here in North Carolina until 2016. I'm 64 years old now & finally gave up riding on slick roads. Here is a picture of my K1200LT after riding home in a ice storm from work a few years ago.

Rocking the studded tires
OM

[henzilla]

Rocking the studded tires
OM

Saw that too...TKC's on a LT?

I think I'm too old for any of that

[PGlaves]

Voni and I got caught in a July hail storm in the Kananaskis outside Calgary one year. The hail was several inches deep and turning slushy. It was enough that Calgary got out their snow plows in July. And, we were up in the higher country where it was deeper than in Calgary. We lucked onto one of the few driveways off the highway and stopped to wait it out a bit. After a number of cars went by there was enough of slushy wheel tracks to allow us to get back to the Lunatic Fringe Rally grounds - very carefully. The challenge was waiting long enough, but not so long that it got dark before we got back.

[Pauls1150]

An attempt to actually answer soocom's question - Learn dirt skills, water, sand, and mud. Wear decent gear.

When I lived back in the northeast (pre-1975), I never owned a 4-wheeler, just a bike. Two different jobs over the years were each about 12 miles away each way; the jobs were in very different directions, and traveling required vastly different road types and conditions.

There were days when I "slipped out" a couple of times each day (didn't have a leather, but the old Navy peacoat was quite heavy and held up well), and days when there really wasn't any issue (besides freezing my sorry butt/etc. and getting home with a solid layer of ice on my front and on the face shield...). A partial solution there is to ride a bike that's OK to drop - either minimal or cheap damage, or roll bars. It also helps to have a bike that you can actually "throw around".
There were other days when I was the best moving vehicle on the road! Some fairly steep hills with curves were involved, and I was "outrigger paddling" up or down them - while the cars were either sliding out sideways or just stuck in place.

One of the jobs required me to negotiate a sharper-than-ninety-degrees left turn in the street (not an intersection, just a fold) ... The snowplows consistently created a big berm on the outside (right side) of the bend, and several times I actually used that berm to bank into my turn, big fun.

Now that I'm old, retired, and ride bigger bikes... not so much. Several years ago, I was on the Los Angeles Crest (route 2) on one of my airheads, and got into some black ice - definitely not fun, my knee put a big dent in the gas tank and it was so slippery that I needed help just to pick it up again.

[PoorUB]

I have ridden in snow a few times, I generally try to avoid it! We rode up Beartooth pass in snow once. We went up in a fairly large group and my estimation 3/4ths of the group turned around when they hit snow. The rest of us plodded along. The road surface was warm so the snow was
"slushy", plus riding a 900 pound Harley helped! We reached the summit and sat there for a hour, then the sun came out and it turned into a beautiful day.

Another time I was at the local HD dealer and sat and visited with the regulars when they came in. Next thing I know is it was closing time and someone asked me how I was getting home. Looked outside and there was 3-4 inched on the ground. The service manager offered to give me a ride home and leave my Harley in the shop, but I rode it home. Pretty sure I was the only motorcycle out that evening.

As for riding in snow, you need to do things differently. If the road surface is cold, don't ride in the wheel tracks, they are typically slick. Ride in the middle of the lane, you know, where you are not supposed too! You have a bit more traction on virgin snow over the tire tracks. If the snow is slushy, tire tracks are where you want to ride.

Take your time, keep your speed down, no fast movements. Taking off and stopping are going to be much slower than normal. Shifting gears is a balancing act, no slamming gears, when shifting try to match engine speed to the road speed and let the clutch out slowly. I grew up on dirt bikes and I wonder if that experience helps to ride on slick surfaces.

[jgoertz]

Agreed w/everything said in the prev. message. A few years ago, a group of us Old Phartz were up in WVa, doing a bit of late Oct. leaf peeping. One day a couple of us headed up from the hotel to ride the Appalachian Highway, 30 miles of boondoggle. As we headed up from our hotel, my wife's voice came through the intercom, "I didn't notice those white rocks yesterday!" You guessed it -- it had snowed overnight. We -- 2 bikes, 2 couples -- rode on up to the start of the AH. We pulled into the rest area, where two young men were unloading their mountain bikes. They asked which way we were heading. When we said we were going to do the 30 miles of the AH, they came back with the admonition to be careful, as they'd just hit a patch of black ice at the bottom of the last rise. We debated turning back, then said, "If they can do it on bicycles, we can do it on motorcycles." Very careful driving, no sudden moves or turns, smooth on the throttle, riding in the virgin snow, and we made it. At the visitors' center (southern terminus of the AH), they looked at us like we were nuts. They offered us all the hot coffee/hot chocolate we wanted to warm up. The sun was shining now, it was warming up above freezing, and the day was getting better. We finished our ride -- about 100 miles all told, maybe more, and pulled back into the motel w/o incident. The other older OP thought we were nuts for continuing on through the snow/black ice (we were!), but we made it. And our wives still ride with us, tho' we haven't been anywhere where it snowed on us since.

The key to riding in snow is to to find the virgin snow. Be careful, watch for ice (if you can see the road surface), don't hit the brakes hard, be smooth, easy with the throttle, and pray to whatever god you worship to keep you safe. And dress for the temps, plus the wind chill.