Riding in snow

[Nic in Western NYS]

Should be "JAP twin," not "Jap twin." The motor, JAP, for JA Prestwich.

Was wondering about this, thanks.

[Sasquatch Jim]

This thread makes me think of the WWII films of bikes going through mud and snow and all kinds of nasty stuff. How the heck did they do it??!!?? And some bikes probably had a foot clutch???

Tom

In Russia many of the BMWs had exhaust piped up to the hand grips and down over the toes of the boots for warming.
As for traction, the were extremely well trained riders.
 When I was in the army in the early sixties in Germany, I saw German army motorcycle teams riding through snow and on icy roads
all winter long.  They rode feet on the pegs with great skill and if off road they always rode standing on the pegs with knees bent like trials riders.  BTW I never saw a German military motorcycle with a foot clutch.  However, my Dnepr military sidecar machine had a hand clutch and the shift lever also operated as a clutch so that the left hand was free to shoot a submachine gun.  In a parade once my hand clutch cable broke.  I finished the parade using the shift lever as a clutch.

[Tom H]

In Russia many of the BMWs had exhaust piped up to the hand grips and down over the toes of the boots for warming.
As for traction, the were extremely well trained riders.
 When I was in the army in the early sixties in Germany, I saw German army motorcycle teams riding through snow and on icy roads
all winter long.  They rode feet on the pegs with great skill and if off road they always rode standing on the pegs with knees bent like trials riders.  BTW I never saw a German military motorcycle with a foot clutch.  However, my Dnepr military sidecar machine had a hand clutch and the shift lever also operated as a clutch so that the left hand was free to shoot a submachine gun.  In a parade once my hand clutch cable broke.  I finished the parade using the shift lever as a clutch.

Interesting way to keep the hands and feet warm.

I was thinking of the Harley's with the foot clutch. Not sure if the war versions had a hand clutch or not?

Tom

[Aaron D.]

Should be "JAP twin," not "Jap twin." The motor, JAP, for JA Prestwich.

A bit florid, I think.

Read the "Seven Pillars", that will inure you.

[azguzzirep]

I was riding back to Phoenix after the last SoCal Guzzi rally. It had rained all Saturday afternoon and night and was raining Sunday morning. My G5 decided it didn't want to play today and  the battery had gone flat. This was in early Dec.

Mark Ethridge and a host of others got it running but the headlight wouldn't come on. John Hardy told me I could bring the bike to his house, charge the battery and fix the light, so I did. Still rained all day so a plan was hatched that I spend the night and leave in the morning. Good idea! Thanks John!

In the morning while watching the local news, they said the road through Julian was closed due to snow. O,kay.. they said there was fog in the city (SD) but it was clear in the central State and should warm up in the afternoon.

I followed John's wife into SD from  Ramona, tanked up and took  I-8 east. I encountered light rain that I thought was fog as I approached LaGuna Pass. As the altitude climbed I noticed the sand on the side of the road looked strange so I lifted my visor and saw it was SNOW.
About now is when my rear wheel lost traction for the first time. Just a quick spin so I let off the gas some and soldiered on.

As I got higher the snow intensified but due to traffic the lanes were pretty clear. A little slushy in the middle,  but clear. My rear tire spun again and I slowed down again.

At the summit is a rest stop so I pulled in to put on more layers. I was wearing leathers but I wanted to put my rain gear on as well.

Back on the road at the summit snow all around but the road is clear but still snow flakes blowing around. I started off dry and not so cold as before.

But I only went a little ways before the decent started. I was at 4k feet and descending fast. At 3k feet the snow was rain again. At 2k feet it stopped raining. As the road levelled and I road into Imperial Valley the sun was shining and it was about 60f!

I stopped in El Centro for food, coffee and gas. I had to get my wet warm clothing off.
The next 5 or 6 hours was boring.😊

[JeffOlson]

V-Storm in the snow (the rider falls down once but gets back up and soldiers on): https://youtu.be/if8ckoQvymo

[t3caligraham]

Been caught in snow in the past, usually as my only mode of transport was once just a bike and there was that time I only just avoided disaster along a very icy country lane -  caused by youthful stupidity. 

My first bike was a 125cc Suzuki 2-stroke which was my only transport and commuter when I lived in Manchester (the UK one) around 1987.  Rode across the north of the city every day to get to the chemical factory where I worked (ICI Blackley for anyone local and old enough to remember it).  One morning it happened - 3 feet of snow dumped overnight and only the bike to go on.  I rode along the car tyre tracks on the local roads to get to work, even though not many cars were even venturing out that morning.  All seemed fine and I made it relatively upright, but my feet really suffered as I had nowhere near the proper kit - I'd started my riding days in some sort of running shoe boot things.  After freezing my feet off - I went that weekend and got some good sturdy leather boots to ride in from the local army surplus store.

Ice can be a surprise.  I used to do a lot of motorcycle rallys in the UK and Europe a few years later than the story above. For a while I had a lovely long low black and gold Yamaha XS1.1 Sport (European model not sold in the US).  There was a rally called the Brass Monkey, held on the first weekend after New Year in a small Hampshire pub.  Off we went, Jez and me, Friday evening down the slightly snowy/slushy motorway from London, stopping about halfway at the services to thaw out our hands and faces using the hand-driers in the gents toilet.  Later approaching the pub down a narrow country lane, under a freezing cold clear sky, I started loosing Jez.  Why was he going so slow?  The road was a little wet, but nothing to worry about surely?  He was usually the one who pushed ahead, riding that little bit faster than me.  So I thought I'd wait for him on a 90 deg corner, planning to stop halfway around it so that I could look back and watch for his headlight.  I don't know what made me do it, probably my cold locked up hands, but I only used the back brake as I slowed for the corner.... it was a lucky decision as I hardly slowed  I ended up just sliding along before coming to a stop with the front wheel inches from a edge of the deep roadside ditch!  I'd been confidently (naively) riding along on a fully iced up road for the last 10 minutes.  Eventually my mate caught up and we only had about half a mile before the front of the crowded pub.  It was so icy there that I had to climb off the bike onto a picnic table at the front of the building because my feet kept slipping on the iced up car park.  Amazing now to think that I did that sort of stuff for fun..... and we were camping there for 2 nights in that kind of weather !!!  A good collection of real ale, whisky and great friends soon helped us cheer up and warm up

[Furbo]

Have been caught in it a few times. Just last May....yes May.....was coming home from Germany and got into a late spring snow fall on the Brenner pass. No fun.

[RoMoMoTo]

...but some folks ride in snow for sport:

http://www.2wheelmuse.com/winter_riding.htm

[Tom H]

 t3caligraham,

Now that's a set of stories. Then camping out, must have had a warm sleeping bag!

Tom

[Green1]

Been out in snow quite a bit,i will tell you a RZ350 with Pirelli Phantoms on it gets little to no traction in a blizzard,zero,45min to go @ 7kms