America Winter Riders Are They Mad.

I ride all year round, I tend to use a T140 Bonnie on nice days and a tatty old T100 Bonnie sidecar outfit when the going gets tough, riding can be real good fun in snow, but always carry a change of underwear, you will need it !! Unless you go commando that is !!

 

I ride all year round, and tend to use a T140 Bonnie on nice days and a tatty old T100 Bonnie sidecar outfit when the going gets tough, riding can be real good fun in snow, but always carry a change of underwear, you will need it !! Unless you go commando that is !!

 

Mad, the whole lot of em.

 

While we are on the subject of Murica. JFK put a man on the moon.
Obama put a man in a women's toilet. Seems legit.

 

This topic got me to thinking there might be a correct way to ride in winter. I found this.

https://www.asphaltandrubber.com/products/anlas-winter-traction-snow-tires/

I'm old enough to remember when we used to change to snow tires in the winter on our cars. Now it's next to impossible to find snow tires. Imagine, front wheel drive, engine and tranny over the wheels add a little bit of snow and cars are stuck. Here they have everyone buffaloed into thinking radials have grip in all weather.

Anyway, maybe a tire change in winter would be a good thing to do.

 

Insurance should cost more for people who only go out on Sundays if the weather's nice.

 

Not mad just living their life.

Living in Alberta Canada I will put my bike away soon until next April
The withdrawal will be addressed by alternative activities but the feeling of loss will remain...

 

Having commuted through lots of winters in all conditions by bike, now that I don't have to, I only get my bike out in the winter when I feel like going for a ride.

Which is most weeks. Use the right kit and it's no problem. Adjust your riding accordingly, slow down (a bit, let's not be too silly about this!) and have fun. It hones your riding skills.

Experts in any field are experts because they practice their craft. Riding is no different. If you only go out once in a while when the sun is out, you will never be an expert. A couple of years ago I had an enforced 8 weeks off riding due to a non bike related injury. It took me weeks after that to get my skills back to a level I felt confident with.

Hike the insurance premiums for summer amateurs who don't ride enough....

 

ACF 50 is much better

 

I ride year round here in NE Texas. I do draw the line when it comes to icy roads or the infrequent snow storm that crosses this area. Temps down to 10F or so aren't too bad with the correct gear. My ride is about 20 miles one way and I dress for being out in cold temps. No problem. Insurance is so varied from one company to another that it would be hard to prove a cost reduction across the board for fair weather riders. My insurance company will place a bike on storage only insurance if I ask but I am limited in the number of times I can do that in a year. With so many "nice" days even in the winter, there would be no way to make use of that for me.

 

I spent 2 years as a despatch rider in the 80s and covered over 200,000 miles in that time so I've done my apprenticeship in all weathers. I still ride all year round but I have an Indian Enfield I use when the roads are salted.

 

Most of my miles were done up and down the M1 between Leeds and London with a 900 to 1000 mile run once a month delivering advertising copy to newspapers all over the south west as far flung as Plymouth and Swansea. I ran a BMW 1000RS at the time and it wasn't much use for anything else by the time I gave up despatch riding. Because of all the motorway mileage I used a square Avon SM tyre on the back. Wasn't much good at cornering but I could get 20K between changes.

 

I still ride in all weathers and we used to always say: 'it might keep raining on the journey but you only get wet once'...

 

Bl..dy hell man, you must have changed tyres almost every other week!