I was about to say the same, my memories of this were slightly different though... back in the 90's I had a company car, it was the bosses ex-motor... wait for it.... Citroen BX TZD Turbo Estate.... Ugly as sin, but was suprisingly quick and when the temps dropped it didn't half get going, not that great at corners though. Hmmmm... must take the current motor out in the dense cold air, twin turbo now....
A few miles if necessary. Fell off twice on black ice 40 odd years ago, that's enough for me. Once tried to get to work 20 odd miles down the M1. Bright sunny day and -10 degC. Turned around after a few miles and scurried back home.
I don't miss having to ride in the crap weather, in particular one time when the council didn't bother to grit the one mile section of carriage way for my journey home after a night shift. I'm a fair weather rider now, only because I have the choice. Mind you, I did manage to put up with some bad weather riding over to see my gf staying in the nurses home
I can remember back in the 80s “damn I’m old” my H2B 750 two stroke used to run better in the cold, but that might be something to do with when riding in hot weather it melted middle pistons anyway, plus it didn’t go round corners whatever the weather. Not sure if i fancy finding out if the V4 likes the cold, sensibility is telling me may not be the best plan.
I remember my first Ducati... a 996 in yellow, it was the backend of 2000... Hodgson had just wrapped up BSB on the GSE/INS bike. I used to hang around a lot with Mike @Rage Designs back then and he said why not paint this in INS colours... get some promotive pipes and we'll do a rep... and so it was. It was finished on Christmas eve and we had a quick ride, Mike on his 916 Foggy Rep and me on the 996 Hodgson Rep. We decided to go for a longer ride on Boxing Day, so here I am in one piece leathers on Boxing Day blasting along all giddy on my new bike with Mike on his 916, after about 5 miles I'd lost all feeling in my hands, we pulled over, gloves off and stuffed on top of the exhaust and seat unit to try and get some heat in them, needless to say we literally turned around and went home. I don't do cold, well not on a bike.
I ride all year round, except when it is icy. So long as you have the right gear it can be quite enjoyable. I have a heated gilet and heated gloves for winter road riding and so long as your core and extremities are toasty, the rest of you doesn't seem to feel the cold so much. I don't find I need heated gear for green-laning as you self-generate plenty of warmth pulling the bike out of ditches, trying to kick start it and also swearing at the bike at the top of your voice when you can't get it out of the ditch or it won't start etc.
Around 1989 my GSX1100 was good for an extra 5mph on the local quarter mile test road on a cool spring/summer evening. My balls must have shrunk cos I don't fancy doing 125mph along there any more. Carb icing on my 1994 900SS was sometimes interesting. Ascending the Stelvio was one such occasion as it kept cutting out then chiming in again on some of those hairpins. Another time the throttle stuck open on Louth bypass coming back from watching the Sandracing at Mablethorpe one chilly winter's day.
As a gas turbine engineer, I can clearly state that a lot more power can be had from a unit in say Alaska at sea level than same unit up a mountain in Saudi Arabia.
Before I moved to where I am now, about 6yrs ago, I rode all year round. Hants mob were pretty active so often someone to have a ride with on a Sunday
I’m off for a ride in about 10 minutes as roads appear salt free and relatively dry. Got a new shock to test out.
Common problem with high performance 2 strokes, jet up in the cold and down when it got hot in the summer. Could always tell the people running too rich by how crisp the exhaust sounded.
Mind you, the first m600 I bought to turn into a race bike was horrendous in the cold. Carb icing would cut in, normally flat out on the a272 or surrounding road when using the rule of momentum to pass cars….and it would go bllleeeuuugghhhhhhh SHIT! 10 min of roadside, ok again, and go! And boy that bike was flat out 100% of the time on those rides!!
Back when race bikes only had 2 strokes, you could often see barometers in the pits as the mechanics altered the jetting to suit the air pressure. Still a problem in the IOM as do you jet for sea level air pressure, or the pressure at the top of the mountain, or jet safe and run rich at low level. Which is why it would be handy to have injected 2 strokes
