Frost Without Sun: Everything About Riding a Motorcycle in Winter
A motorcycle, in the opinion of many of our bikers, is a seasonal thing. Therefore, in many countries, where the season on average lasts only four to five months a year at best, real motorcyclists feel cramped. Perhaps that is why it is there, rather than among bikers in Alaska, Norway, or Canada, that the wildest winter motorcycle trips take place. And the concentration of “winter bikers” per capita here is, again, higher than anywhere else. How not to freeze, not to lose control of the motorcycle, and try to get some pleasure out of riding a motorcycle in winter, read about it in this collection of tips.
Slow down
In winter it’s slippery, so any two-wheeled motorcycle on asphalt has to drastically reduce its pace, sometimes down to a turtle’s speed. Proper preparation allows you to regain some of the lost speed, but only up to certain limits. That is why, unlike autumn riding, when you can safely finish off a set of tires left over from summer, a motorcycle needs to be re-shod for winter.
Prepare the motorcycle
In general, winter riding is extremely hard on a motorcycle: apart from the fact that it will almost certainly end up lying on its side, all metal surfaces will be under attack from corrosion, which salts and chemical reagents only help along. No matter how hard you try, by spring your beloved bike will look worse. That is precisely why many motorcyclists buy a separate, not very expensive vehicle specifically for winter, usually a beaten-up enduro, for which winter or off-road tires are available.
Think about tires
Owners of sidecar motorcycles, who feel relatively comfortable on summer tires and have an additional point of support, do not always bother changing tires.
Everyone else will have to look for solutions: winter motorcycle tires do exist on the market, but while they are often available for scooters and enduros, owners of other classes of motorcycles will have to make an effort and search for alternative options.
For example, you can find an off-road knobby tire of a suitable size and mount it on a road bike. Such a tire can be found with studs or studded independently; for instance, there are studs on sale that can be screwed in yourself. They are not cheap, but as everyone knows, you don’t economize on safety.
Install additional wind protection
Once the tire issue is solved, it is necessary to take care of wind protection. It doesn’t matter how fast your motorcycle can go on snow if, after fifteen minutes in the cold, your bones start to ache. All options are good here: a large windscreen, deflectors, or better yet, special handlebar covers or felt “mittens”, leg and knee protection made of thin plastic or rubber. And it absolutely does not matter how it looks from the outside, the main thing is to shield yourself from the wind as much as possible.
As for tall windscreens, the top edge of the windscreen should pass below the level of your eyes. The thing is that no matter how transparent the screen looks in the garage, after five minutes on a busy highway it will no longer be so, and after frequent wiping it will become completely matte. That is why excessive height becomes a problem.
And for the most hardened extreme riders who are planning a long winter ride, we can recommend installing a washer system. The recipe is simple: a washer reservoir with a pump from any car, a button, and a nozzle mounted on the handlebars or the windscreen. Such a gadget will save time on stops to wipe the helmet visor and, in general, extend its service life.
Use heated seats and grips
Install heaters: even the cheapest heated grips noticeably lift your spirits and help keep your hands warm, not to mention more expensive and sophisticated models. In winter this is not a whim but a necessity. You can also think about installing a heated seat: finding a standard universal solution will not be easy, but motorcyclists have long found a way out. In any large auto parts store, heated pads for car seat covers are sold, powered by the cigarette lighter.
One such heater can simply be placed on top of the seat, secured, and plugged in when necessary. Or you can spend time removing the seat upholstery and installing the heater underneath it, adding an extra switch on the handlebars. This takes much more time, but ultimately brings more satisfaction.
Take care of visibility
Most likely, you will have to spend money on a new set of riding gear, because nothing you used in summer and autumn will be suitable for winter. You should start with the helmet: a standard Pinlock, even if it is new, definitely won’t cope with severe frost, so you will have to choose from snowmobile models. And even if none of them are likely to be homologated for public roads, they will be safer.
Snowmobile helmets are designed for frost, which is why they most often feature a heated visor, additional insulation, and ventilation designed for cold conditions. Budget models exist among them too, but if even they seem excessively expensive, you can limit yourself to a winter balaclava, a regular motocross helmet, and good snowmobile goggles, they usually work quite well in the cold too.
Keep your feet warm
As for boots, it’s better not to experiment, because feet freeze faster than other limbs. The best choice will be good winter boots, either snowmobile or fishing boots. The market offers many reasonably priced models, but there is one thing that unites all winter footwear: their bulk, which makes shifting gears and using the rear brake extremely inconvenient.
Everyone solves this problem in their own way: some simply get used to it, others modify the pedals, for example by installing a dual-arm gear shift pedal, which allows you to shift up with your heel. This is the most convenient solution. And if the issue with boots remains unresolved, visit any fishing or sports store, there you will certainly find so-called “self-heating” insoles, which can keep you warm for a while.
Dress for the weather
As for pants and jackets, the choice here is also quite limited. That is why you will again have to rely on special workwear for outdoor jobs or more expensive snowmobile gear. In any case, the jacket should completely cover the lower back, and the pants should reach up to chest level. Only this way can you avoid a chilled back.
It’s better to choose a size with some extra room, so that your summer motorcycle jacket and pants with knee protectors can fit underneath the winter gear. As a rule, even snowmobile models lack minimal protection, and falls in winter are no softer than in summer. And of course, don’t forget about thermal underwear, even the cheapest and simplest set will increase your comfort many times over, not to mention more expensive models.
Install additional lighting
In winter, daylight hours are extremely short, so you will have to ride in the dark quite a lot. In this regard, installing additional lights on a motorcycle moves from the category of useless tuning into the category of vital necessity. Today the market offers a mass of solutions for every taste and budget, but we would recommend installing modern LED high-beam lights, they are bright and lightweight, even if not very affordable.
Protect the motorcycle
In addition, it makes sense to protect the fork seals as well; in winter they are especially at risk. You can buy special guards specifically for your motorcycle, or you can simply cut part of a plastic bottle and secure it to the fork leg with a clamp. Rubber gaiters that completely cover the working surfaces of the fork, however, are better avoided, moisture condenses under them and only accelerates corrosion, although they do protect against sandblasting on the road better than other solutions.
Preparation does not end there; there are still a number of tricks that can make a winter biker’s life easier. For example, in frost you still have to start the motorcycle, especially if it has been standing in the cold. That is why before winter you should take care to buy a higher-capacity battery and always have a can of “quick start” fluid on hand to make cold starts easier.
Monitor the onboard electrical system voltage
By the way, once you install all the electrical equipment we recommended above, the motorcycle’s generator will be working, if not at its limit, then close to it. Therefore, we would advise supplementing the heaters and fog lights with a small but simple device called a voltmeter. Budget options are available for sale; installing them won’t take much time, and they bring a lot of benefit. It’s better to turn off the maximum heating mode on the grips in advance than to end up stranded with a completely drained battery.
With these simple but useful tips, winter rides will not only bring a sea of adrenaline but also won’t undermine your health. Surely our readers who ride in winter will be able to add to our list with their own experience.
