Another vote for acf50 far better than the scotoiler 365 which even if on a fine spray lands and stands on the bloody bike. But coat it in the stuff, ride it then wash off for pristine bike underneath comes spring
I know i'm due a crash, but winter is when i practice getting the bike to slide. If you can push on through winter, come the summer you'll be amazed how grippy the roads feel. What Mat said is all you need though really, and maybe some crash bungs.
The point of riding a scooter, and not a decent bike, is that you can actually arrive relatively clean and dry. In town traffic they have all the advantages of a bike and provide far more comfort and weather protection. What's the point in riding a sportsbike on salty, slipy roads? You never make use of any of its capabilities, run the risk of damaging it, and get it and you covered in crap. Our Sym 180 cost £600, does 70mph and 70mpg, is comfortable and handles really well in all weather conditions ( yes, really ). My Tatti Ducati ST4 is a shed, but I don't want to lob it because of black ice and I don't really enjoy riding it in the winter. Maybe I'm getting old - but the good old scooter keeps me on two wheels no matter what the weather...
Personally I fully understand and appreciate the theory with the scooter. As for comfort, I'll have to take your word for it. I rode around London on a Xmax 250 and it was one of the least comfortable things i've ridden. Every bump straight up the spine as you cant take any weight through your feet or arms. Im not saying you must ride a bike in the winter, certainly not a sportsbike, although I have don't that in the past. As long as you have a transport, hopefully a bike, that you don't mind getting filthy, is reliable and is fairly comfy, that's what you need in the shitty winter conditions
the best way to absorb the bumps up your rear matt is to stop being a massive bender I just used to brace myself just like i was sat on the shitter trying to curl one. it worked for me
I used to do my winter riding on a Honda CBR400 to keep the Ducati clean but last winter here was pretty good so the Duke was used all year (except during the odd blast of snow) but I have four essential things that I do for winter: 1) Fit Oxford Heated grips (cosy) 2) Run lower tyre pressures (maybe 3-5 psi lower) 3) Fit a tall Double bubble screen(to keep the cold wind and rain off your upper body) 4) Run wet race tyres (the grip is awesome and they let you get away with nailing it in downpour!)
Riding in winter is a miserable exercise perpetuated by the skint or terminally insane. These deluded fools will tell you that, 'riding in winter will make you a better rider'. They are wrong. It will make you a colder, more miserable rider with a bigger cleaning bill. If you want to be a better rider, simply ride more often when the weather's nice. They will also tell you an XT350 is ideal winter transport. Ideal, that is, if you like loose teeth, blurred vision and staying under 40mph. What you need is a Thunderace or ZX9R, that's a proper winter hack. Bloody burgman, my arse
Totally agree, tyres are going to be the most important thing to consider, forget the fancy sticky rubber, they'll never warm up in winter and it feels like you're riding on marbles. Get some good wet tyres that warm up quickly and you'll be fine, as srad says, drop the pressure a little to help the carcass squish a little, this will heat the tyres up and give you a bigger contact patch. The rest of it is obvious, wrap up warm and get a good de-misting visor.
I'm planning on commuting on my old race bike. My duc will die if it gets ridden through the winter. I use an old lightweight dry suit that I don't dive in anymore. It goes over the top of my clothes, is perfectly water tight. Get to the other end, peel it off and put some shoes on and you are good to go. I do put some textiles over the top though so I don't look like a diver on a motorbike This is getting MOT'd today. Those tyres are not staying on. It's having some supercorsas for the next month or so then I'm putting some Conti TKC80s on it. Bring on the snow.
Supercorsas and rain would not be my choice. I hit a serious lightning and thunder storm this year nr Bellegarde France. The autoroute was like a river. I shat myself with those tyres on. I'd rather i'd had what that sexy little number RC8 has on in the pic. Thats a sweet looking bike. Besides I am getting pissed off with 3k front and rear life. Both of em need changing at the same time. Great grip when warmed up. But like ice when cold. Fell off at Thonin on cold tyres after a meal. 1st gear off with only a light touch of front brake. I was on the deck before I realised. Good job my panels were already scratched from a u-turner the week before in UK. SC's for me are hot summer use only. Rosso Corsa's for me next I think.
It is indeed a winter hack. Looks are deceptive, this has been my wet bike all season. Hence the wets on it in the picture. I do have a nice undamaged one that genuinely has "never seen rain". This one is actually covered in battle scars. I have a decent set of fairings to put on it next spring. It passed it's MOT today and even the MOT guy commented on the evidence of crashing that's on it. I'm not overly fussed about the supercorsas in the rain. I've ridden my Duc in the wet on the same compound metzelers and they had plenty of grip. If it gets too skittish then I'll put the contis on a bit earlier. I'm riding it on the road tomorrow for the first time since spring 2011. Wish me luck!
I used to commute all year around on my bikes. Started off on a ZX7R and ruined that, then a ZX6R before using a brand spanking new Ducati 748S for commuting on. The big plus point for me was it helped me avoid all the Cambridge traffic. I knew if i got on the bike id be able to do the 35mile odd ride work in at least 30minutes, maybe quicker. In a car you were looking at nearer 1hr 45minutes, sometimes 3 hours to do the same distance. The thing which ruined it all for me was that the salt & mud off the road just trashes your bike. You get home and your bike is black, esp if you live in the sticks like I did. You end up having to wash your bike every day. Then those highly polished wheels you spent months polishing... forget about them, all scabby now, the polished frame? yep, the same. I ended up doing like 25k miles a year on my bike, and when it was a sports bike it worked out at a new back tyre nearly every month, then a service every couple of months. Also when it got to the weekend, you`d have been riding all week and just didnt fancy going out at the weekend, and if you did, the back tyre was squared off due to all the weeks riding. I remember winters when i had to defrost my wifes car in order to get my bike out of the garage. I tried winter gloves etc.. but they reduced feeling etc, so i stuck with summer gloves all year around - so when you got to work i had to defrost my hands before I could get my leathers off. Also when it was really cold, carb icing became a problem on some of my bikes. After I sold the 748S and got the R1 I decided to get a £700 Diesel car for commuting instead and with 60mpg, 40,000 on a set of tyres and a service every year it was infinitely cheaper. And, come the weekend I found myself really really enjoying my rides out on the bike much more than id done in years.
I enjoy riding far more now than I did when I was dispatching. But I'm a considerably slower and less confident rider now.
No, I'm approaching F1 levels of cornering in the van nowadays That's why my license is so mullah'd:frown:
..I agree JR, I bought a .....(not sure if I want to admit to this)....a..a....Vespa GT300, there done it! I rode it through two winters. It was new but after two years it was old, well it looked old. The salt ate the wheels, springs and panels. But crucially the winter didnt eat me! Good protection for commuting tho.
I use a GTS300, again I bought it new. It looks pretty decent these days actually, I do wash it quite regularly. No signs of any corrosion at all. I took the thing apart on the day I bought it and waxed the inside of the floor pan. I also give the underneath a liberral coating of ACF50 every year.
