I’m eating dinner and all of a sudden it really hits me that the riding season is genuinely over for me in the next few weeks.
It’s 0-2 C every morning now and the afternoon it gets up to 9-10. I just got this bike in June. The tires are probably not very good below 6.
How do y’all cope with having to put the bike up for winter? Do you pick up a winter hobby?
I moved to the west coast of the US to avoid this problem. Granted, now I have to deal with the march of fascism, but at least I have my moto 😅😔
Get a sidecar. No, really - it’s tons of fun in the snow, and is the only moment in your life that car drivers will slow down and let you pass.
That’s a fun idea. I heard steering is really weird with a sidecar.
Might need to get myself a bike that’s compatible for that haha.
It’s not that weird, just asymmetrical. Well… Which makes it really weird, yes, but also tons of fun.
i live in Sweden and drive my bike from mid march to mid december. avoiding days when it is ice on the road. i ride a Ducati. until 5 years ago i just got my Husaberg/Husqvarna during the snowy months. a 250-400cc is absolutely enough. and fixing the bike for next season.
I just have a road bike and most of our roads are coated in slippery ice. People use studded tires so I’m not going to risk wiping out :P I guess I need a studded winter bike
chicken… ;)
My wife wants me intact when I get back home haha. I don’t trust Michelin road 6 on slushy ice roads 😄
I live in the desert, and it gets cold in the winter. Dont really have to deal with ice much, but temps are low. I have had heated grips on a couple bikes, which help offset electric gloves. I now have a nice leather jacket, but prior i used a heated vest plugged into my SAE port. I also wore extra leggings to mitigate my legs freezing. Long sleeves also, even with the heated vest. As long as my traction is good, i will ride anything. I have been daily for a few years now, screaming hot and cold. TLDR Layers Heated gear Good jacket and gloves
Black ice and unplowed snowy roads area big problem where I’m at otherwise I’d just get warm gear. Envious of the desert! Dry heat is much more bearable.
Finland here; I used to push the bike season to the max, one year I rode still in the first week of December (nice day for a 130 km trip one way, but the ride back in the dark with icing rain on goggles and nothing to wipe them with was the worst time I ever had on a bike) and started in March (my only time falling on a bike, on black ice)…
Now I’m content bringing my baby inside to the comfort of the house when it first starts pushing toward 0 °C over nights, doing maintenance and maybe putting on a coat of wax. Building up the urge to fly again next spring. To everything there is a season :)
Yes black ice is what I want to avoid which means I have to finish soon. I don’t want the season to end!!!
Sounds like you’re close to me, which means that the snow is coming in a few weeks.
I like to pretend I have a ton of hobbies, but mostly I drink and play video games.
I look at it longingly. I will ride on nice days (no snow/ice) until about where you’re at now, temperature wise. Warm gear, layers underneath, etc. but after that I cover it.
I hate to brag, but where I live I just switch over to my winter jacket and maybe electric gloves on a cold day. Assuming you don’t want to move somewhere else, maybe you could buy an old bike and spend the winter restoring it?
How do you find the electric gloves? I thought about getting them but they’re very expensive
If you have a warm garage build something to ride when it gets warmer, if not, video games?
One typically needs money for tools and junkers off of marketplace. All my money is gone from this bike 😭
So… video games for bikers, plenty for car people, I think the last biking one I enjoyed might have been called gp500.
Or play something like Just Cause/GTA and explore ride. JC2 had some spectacular water/beachs, sunny calming speed boating, perfect for winter.
Just cause 2 is great. I played the crap out of that when I was younger.
