I try to make at least ONE ride in the cold and snow each winter just for experience sake and living in Texas I only get one or at best two chances to do so each year - maybe. I got my annual ÔÇÿfreeze yer buns offÔÇØ ride Tuesday night with streets wall to wall ice and snow and with the temps in the low teens. Perfect weather for a sleigh ride togetherÔǪ.etc. The wife declined to be my passenger this time.
It took a bit of effort to get the bike started in the frigid temps but after I got the fires lit I opened the garage door and rolled it out into the snow to idle for a while as I finished dressing. I prefer the layer approach and this year I got a pair of flannel lined jeans which are perfect for riding a motorcycle in the cold. Under that was a set of silk long underwear and thermal socks with plastic baggies over my toes and cotton socks over that - all tucked into my water-proofed redwings. My cold weather jacket of choice is a traditional top grain leather motorcycle jacket cut large so I can fit a large me wearing a cotton flannel shirt and a wool sweater with a soft wool scarf underneath. I have a pair of heavy winter gloves that usually do the trick but this year I should have worn my leather mittens because my finger tips got cold but this timethe feet were fine  almost toasty tucked up under the cylinders. I left the house at 5:30 pm.
My 1976 900cc airhead engine has an oil cooler between the block and pan which has tubes through it for air flow. The tubes have to be plugged in the winter to avoid over-cooling the oil. In some places the slush was up over the bottom of the crank case and oil pan extension. I left the house with the engine warmed up and running smoothly. I am sure it cooled below operating temperature during the trip since when I stopped for a moment to try and warm my gloves on the cylinders some time later the trick didnÔÇÖt work. It wouldnÔÇÖt take long for me to cool below operating temperature in this kind of weather either.
First I took the most direct rout and attempted to ride up one road that leads to a park at the top of the hill 3 blocks from my home. That road was still mostly snow and I almost made it to the top before the rear wheel began to slip on the hidden ice so I pulled in the clutch, rolled backwards letting the forks go hard right as I spun around to face down hill. I had six envelopes with the few bills I have and my mission was to post those bills and get home five miles round trip from the house to the post office down town. I had to go a longer but flatter route because the slush was now beginning to turn to ice so I rode back down the hill with the putt ÔÇô putt of my twin softly echoing off the snow and the front wheel kicking up a flurry of flakes as it plowed through the larger drifts.
I have been out in the snow before. Actually there is good traction in the fresh snow. Its when it gets packed down or gets partially melted that it can turn to a sheet of ice or a field of rough and slick ruts that force the wheels to follow first one way and then the next. To stay on a straight course, you have to maintain forward momentum and a steady throttleClose the throttle abruptly and the rear end immediately tries to swap places with the front. Did I mention 'forget about using your brakes'?
I got down town and the group of drop boxes at the post offices sat right next to a curb that was now filled with water and ice slush. I sat there for a minute trying to get the letters to go in the slot with my gloved hand thinking about becoming trapped in the ice like a ship in the arctic and when I tried to pull away from the curb there was like a 10 inch tall ledge of ice in front of me to complete the arctic analogy. So, I had to get off IN the ice cold slush and push the bike up over the ledge. Thankfully my warm dry _water-proofed_ boots remained dry and mostly warm.
There was very little traffic which was good since the down town area had been heavily traveled and now was a sheet of ice curb to curb. Everyone down there by now was having trouble getting stopped and then going again so I quickly ducked back into the neighborhoods, kept to the back streets and made it home easily. A few times I got a little sideways in the ice between parked cars so I tried to keep it on the snow as much as I could. When the rear wheel just spun, sitting farther back over the rear tire got me moving again. By the time I got home at 6:20 I was warm from the exertion and really excited and quite sober from having made a rather perilous run and more than happy to wait another year before I take my sidecar out on the wintry cold icy snow covered streets again...
Which tracks came first?
It took a bit of effort to get the bike started in the frigid temps but after I got the fires lit I opened the garage door and rolled it out into the snow to idle for a while as I finished dressing. I prefer the layer approach and this year I got a pair of flannel lined jeans which are perfect for riding a motorcycle in the cold. Under that was a set of silk long underwear and thermal socks with plastic baggies over my toes and cotton socks over that - all tucked into my water-proofed redwings. My cold weather jacket of choice is a traditional top grain leather motorcycle jacket cut large so I can fit a large me wearing a cotton flannel shirt and a wool sweater with a soft wool scarf underneath. I have a pair of heavy winter gloves that usually do the trick but this year I should have worn my leather mittens because my finger tips got cold but this timethe feet were fine  almost toasty tucked up under the cylinders. I left the house at 5:30 pm.
My 1976 900cc airhead engine has an oil cooler between the block and pan which has tubes through it for air flow. The tubes have to be plugged in the winter to avoid over-cooling the oil. In some places the slush was up over the bottom of the crank case and oil pan extension. I left the house with the engine warmed up and running smoothly. I am sure it cooled below operating temperature during the trip since when I stopped for a moment to try and warm my gloves on the cylinders some time later the trick didnÔÇÖt work. It wouldnÔÇÖt take long for me to cool below operating temperature in this kind of weather either.
First I took the most direct rout and attempted to ride up one road that leads to a park at the top of the hill 3 blocks from my home. That road was still mostly snow and I almost made it to the top before the rear wheel began to slip on the hidden ice so I pulled in the clutch, rolled backwards letting the forks go hard right as I spun around to face down hill. I had six envelopes with the few bills I have and my mission was to post those bills and get home five miles round trip from the house to the post office down town. I had to go a longer but flatter route because the slush was now beginning to turn to ice so I rode back down the hill with the putt ÔÇô putt of my twin softly echoing off the snow and the front wheel kicking up a flurry of flakes as it plowed through the larger drifts.
I have been out in the snow before. Actually there is good traction in the fresh snow. Its when it gets packed down or gets partially melted that it can turn to a sheet of ice or a field of rough and slick ruts that force the wheels to follow first one way and then the next. To stay on a straight course, you have to maintain forward momentum and a steady throttleClose the throttle abruptly and the rear end immediately tries to swap places with the front. Did I mention 'forget about using your brakes'?
I got down town and the group of drop boxes at the post offices sat right next to a curb that was now filled with water and ice slush. I sat there for a minute trying to get the letters to go in the slot with my gloved hand thinking about becoming trapped in the ice like a ship in the arctic and when I tried to pull away from the curb there was like a 10 inch tall ledge of ice in front of me to complete the arctic analogy. So, I had to get off IN the ice cold slush and push the bike up over the ledge. Thankfully my warm dry _water-proofed_ boots remained dry and mostly warm.
There was very little traffic which was good since the down town area had been heavily traveled and now was a sheet of ice curb to curb. Everyone down there by now was having trouble getting stopped and then going again so I quickly ducked back into the neighborhoods, kept to the back streets and made it home easily. A few times I got a little sideways in the ice between parked cars so I tried to keep it on the snow as much as I could. When the rear wheel just spun, sitting farther back over the rear tire got me moving again. By the time I got home at 6:20 I was warm from the exertion and really excited and quite sober from having made a rather perilous run and more than happy to wait another year before I take my sidecar out on the wintry cold icy snow covered streets again...
Which tracks came first?
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