Total Motorcycle Community Forums

-26F snow 20 yrs old (home on leave) and STUPID, I went for ride in this I did not get caught in it. (old XLCH)Rode 3 miles and stopped for a cup of joe. Had to call truck to haul me home. While I was drinking coffee bike's gas line froze solid. (bike was later in heated garage for 4 hours before line un froze)

just had another bad moment flashback ...It was 2 years ago and I was riding to Nova Scotia via Bar Harbor and the CAT. The stretch between Bangor and Bar harbor(40 miles,route 1A) had been tore up and hardpacked redish orange clay packed down. The sides of the roads were blocked by 3foot+ high piles of the dirt either skunned off the road or waiting to be put down. It had been raining torrentially for a while by time I got there. One line in, one lane out. Anyone even walk on hardpack clay after its been rained on? I was scared to death for almost 2 hours until I got to Bar Harbor. All the way to where 1A branches off to 3 I think it was into Bar Harbor I had an 18 wheeler dead on my "O Ring", God forbid I slipped. I was too nervous to brake or throttle. Total miserable conditions.

I got lucky. On the way home I chose a route that I use to this day which is 3. Instead of branching off to 1A I just stay all the way on 3 until Augusta,ME.

Winter of 2005 I thought I could get home before it snowed and the ride was only 15 miles. Well within 5 minutes the snow started to fall and it was heavy. Despite an inch of snow my tires had the traction to keep driving without sliding. I used the engine to brake and tapped the rear brake lever lightly.

I managed to get home and that was the end of my snow riding days until I get a Ural or the Piaggio MP3 with snow tires.

There's a fair bit of snow on the ground right now. I'll be riding my Rebel to work like i always do.

Worst conditions? Freezing fog on a two day old bike! I had to stop 9 times in 30 miles to defrost my visor-on the inside. I tried opening it but then my glasses froze Took me best part of an hour and a half to get home

joolz wrote:Worst conditions? Freezing fog on a two day old bike! I had to stop 9 times in 30 miles to defrost my visor-on the inside. I tried opening it but then my glasses froze Took me best part of an hour and a half to get home

Next time that happens just open the visor just a crack and it's still effective at defogging the inside and removing any other moisture inside without freezing your face.

I like to ride while it's snowing as long as it doesn't stick... like today. Watching my instrument panel doing it thing while the flurries are coming at me while in motion makes me feel like a WW II pilot in a snow storm.

In my early days, when I was a bike-only guy, I used to have to ride 30 miles to work everyday. The route was over a 6,000 ft. mountain pass. One day I got to the top of the pass and it was 20F, sleeting and the road had 1/2 inch of ice on it. Fortunately, I was wearing 3 layers of clothes, topped by a bulky snowmobile suit. They provided good padding for the 4 times the bike flopped over on its side on the ice. A few miles on the other side of the pass and the road turned dry again, so I continued on into work, relatively unscathed.

Definitely my worst weather ride.

This Friday gone, The Goose and I went on a 350 KM trip to a place called Clarens in the Free State. It is our summer here and the rainy season. We got caught on the open road for about 80kms in the rain. We managed to get our rain jackets on and were reasonably dry. Until it started hailing. Damn that stuff stings man. It was not frezing cold, this is one of these cazy things that happens in SA. One minute sun shining, next being pounded by hail. Nowhere to stop and we had to just keep going, the wind got up and was blowing in gusts and everytime a truck went past we were blinded. this is the kind of weather we hate to ride in.

Sounds like Kansas in the spring. Do you get tornadoes?