Cold Weather Riding

[Alba]

What rules do you give yourself for taking the bike in the morning when it has went below zero over night or the forecast is to go below zero during the commute home.

I need to take 'out of town roads' home and I am wary of them and been avoiding the bike for the past couple of weeks.

Seems a no brainer question but I'm interested in your views. Cheers for the advice.

[Steve C]

Hey there


General rule of thumb is if it's icy and I have an alternative, I don't take the bike or I wait until the sun's up and temperature is up too. I also keep speed low so that if I go down, I have a better chance of living to tell the tale.

If I had to go, I'd stick to the bigger roads where salting has taken place and volume of traffic is high enough for the surface to be well worked and ice is less likely. Early morning more of a problem than evenings as traffic volume likely to be lower. On a quiet country road, I would go VERY carefully and not at all until it was light and I could see the road surface. Rough, crunchy ice is less a problem - say sludge that's frozen -, because there's traction. I travelled from my home to Chiswick in last winter's snow and ice, and the only vehicles on the M40 were me and a police Range Rover - and it was very crunchy under the bike They didn't look at all phased to see me trundling along but I was doing about 35mph.

It's the smooth glassy stuff that's gonna get us and that's not always visible.

I'm aware that riding a bike has made me much more aware of road surface, changes in colour or the way light moves across it and it's saved my bacon lots of times. If I approach a patch where I suspect ice, I wouldn't hit the brakes unless I was confident that the road I was already on wasn't similarly affected, but I would go into super smooth mode, take all pressure off the gas without dropping it so much that I push the tyres to break contact with the surface. I managed to stay on the road (four wheels this time) one frosty morning when a transit van got impatient and decided to overtake me on the inside; he spun 180 and passed in front of me with the driver facing me and he carried on and hit the central barrier. I'd spotted the frosty surface on the crest and just backed of and stayed steady and calm, ok and I said a prayer, and I didn't spin but went past the van and noticed his face was looking quite surprised. I guess it was worse on the inside lane...

But I've bee lucky so far and at some point, it'll git me!

[krisg]

Alba.

I know exactly how you feel.
I'm dying to get the bike out on mornings to use for work.
But I travel on back B roads though Salcey forest south of Northampton to get to work.

I tend to think Is it ok to ride now.
And is the forcast ok to ride home.
If either is not good. I go in the car.

I think this probably saved my bacon yesterday.
It would have ben ok to use the bike but I didn't.
Good job as there were new pot holes on two bends and gravel on the road after two others. I would have hit one of the four for sure. LOL......

Check out this also It might help a little.
http://www.xrv.org.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=23386
Cheers.

[matthelliwell]

Originally Posted by Alba

What rules do you give yourself for taking the bike in the morning when it has went below zero over night or the forecast is to go below zero during the commute home.

I need to take 'out of town roads' home and I am wary of them and been avoiding the bike for the past couple of weeks.

Seems a no brainer question but I'm interested in your views. Cheers for the advice.

A heated jacket is my main priority but I suspect that's not quite what you meant. I try and stick to the main salted roads and avoid country roads, especially where the over hanging trees give patches of shade.

[Alba]

Many thanks, looks like it's take it easy. I'm using the bike on the odd day, wary though.

[Raven]

My usual route home involves mostly back roads, 50% of which don't get salted, so when I know that its icy I avoid them and use the main roads that you know have been salted, in my case the dual carriageway most of the way. I know all the stuff about salt damaging the bike etc, but I'd rather that than launch it up the road and injure myself at the same time.

[alpslapper]

Originally Posted by matthelliwell

and avoid country roads, especially where the over hanging trees give patches of shade.

Thats a good point and easily forgotten, specially on the bright sunny cold winter mornings.

[jabba]

Just use the mainroads the backuns are suicide

Bus routes tend to get salted as a priority in the areas that I'm familiar with, so other than main roads where salting and/or volume of traffic keeps the ice at bay you can usually follow bus routes as well. But check first that the bus routes in your area get salted

[Raven]

Originally Posted by sproggy

Bus routes tend to get salted as a priority in the areas that I'm familiar with, so other than main roads where salting and/or volume of traffic keeps the ice at bay you can usually follow bus routes as well. But check first that the bus routes in your area get salted

Just watch out for all the deisel that buses chuck out all over the road