Riding in snow

[haGGard]

Riding in snow - is it very dangerous or just dangerous?

Winters fast approaching and i read in the daily mail that it could be the coldest winter in 50 years (not sure if i believe this)

I live in the south east in kent and ride a speedfight 100.

So about the riding in snow, should i avoid it at all cost or is is ok as long as im really careful and take it slowly at all times?

Is it still dangerous when its been snowing over night, but by the morning, most of the snow on the road has melted?

[Illuzion]

I've never rid in the snow before, it'll be exciting when I first do.

[TheShaggyDA]

It's not so much the riding in snow that is dangerous, it's the mongs in cars that come hurtling sideways at you from all directions.
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[katana]

I did it in Italy with a cagiva elephante. A ducati 900cc engined dirt bike. It was interesting. I did it with both off road tyres and road tyres.

I would recomend trying to go over fresh snow rather than slush as slush makes the bike go all over the place.

Be smooth with acceleration and deceleration and braking hard is not an option.

I did this on roads with few cars and sheer drops at the side of the road. Even took the bike skiing but that was a silly idea after too many sambucas. But luckly no damage to me or the bike.

In this country they grit though so it shouldn't be that much of a problem. Then again I do live in London and only chaos I saw was two years ago on M11 as no gritting trucks had been out. While in 1999 was just snow as no gritting trucks were on the road.

Last year was fun but I cheated and used the MR2 as it was more fun to get the car sideway in morrisons car park in walthamstow.

[strag]

Riding in snow is an absolute nightmare!!! Think about it, ice covered roads, no traction..... you have 2 wheels, you slide, you hit the deck. Yes, and cars are a problem, because most of them have no control either. It's as I said, an absolute nightmare.

[Git]

Snow riding is brilliant, when I was at college I used to commute about 40miles from camberley to london, one year come winter we had some pretty thick snow and playing silly sods on a tdr250 in the snow, well what can I say

Cars make it dangerous but if they are stuck

[Ste]

Snow riding is crap. It's fucking freezing, and there is also the slight matter of the lack of grip that snow and ice offer.

[haGGard]

So on a more serious note, is it ok? I know some people think its fun and whatnot but i just want to get to college and back safely.

im guessing its safe from the above posts, as long as i ride sensibly and be aware of my surroundings

[dodsi]

If its fun you are after on your scooter in the snow, carefully find a snowy carpark and do some sliding around and wheelspins etc!

But be carefull on the roads as I saw a lass on her moped do a 360 spin and land on her bum in the snow!

[Ste]

It's safe in the way it is possible and lots of people have done it without problems. It's not safe in the way it is far more dangerous than riding on normal roads.

[CBRPETER]

if your riding on a road with alot of cars it may not be very safe, all it takes is one mistake by a surrounding car or yourself, just be sensible and avoid cars and you'll be fine.
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[NickD]

Just don't, it's not worth it. If you have an alternative take it. Unless it's thick virgin snow, and you're on a proper off roader it's going to end in tears. I had no choice but to do it for about 10 years, and it wasn't a case of 'am I going to fall of on the way to work this morning?', it was a case of 'how many times am I going to come off'? It's cold, unpleasant, usually painful, and often expensive. Luckily I always seemed to fall away from traffic, but things could have been different.
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[headlamp]

Last year it snowed for one day (!) in London and I rode home, round the North Circular. A journey that usually takes me about 30 minutes took two and a half hours! The roads were gridlocked and filtering at 2-5mph for 11 miles was not easy.

I personally will never ride again in those conditions again - I saw at least another 5 bikes on the way home that had been in accidents, I count myself lucky! I just don't think it's worth the risk
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[Andy99]

When i was learning on an RD125 me and a friend on an AR125 went out in the snow for a laugh.God knows how many times we fell off going sideways up and down the roads of compacted snow,great fun was had that day

There's no way i'd consider it now unless i had a bike that i really didn't care if it got damaged,but as has been said before the roads are very dangerous for bikes in the snow as cars sliding into you are a real threat
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[Ste]

[RS1Banger]

get a bike with low centre of gravity and low seat height (ie honda cub90), you'll need both feet down and expect to "speedway" round some corners, great fun, i rode from bridlington to newcastle in 6in snow on a c70 in my youth.

Alternatively, if you want to live, get a jeep. I was driving my Suzuki SJ413 (knobblies, lift kit, etc) in last years snow and had a right laugh. In 2wd it was back end fun, in 4wd I couldn't even wheelspin except in 1st on sheet ice. I could drive over the ice ruts in between lanes without noticing.

[NSR125-Kid-UK]

I've got to ride to work in all the snow - it's only 3 miles but there's a lot of sharp corners, speed bumps, and a hill that's notorious for being covered in snow .

TBH I'm not looking forward to it one bit.
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[Sparks!]

1 supermoto
lots of snow

=

lots of fun



I'm looking forward to riding in the snow in general, I'm going to stick the old plastics back on as I know i'll drop it a few times on the way to work No way is the R6 seeing snow/ice or anything ever... NO WAY.

My only problem with snow is that I live on a VERY steep hill with a sharp 90degree bend at the end, then down another equally steep hill with a main road at the bottom..... THAT's all that really worries me at the minute.. I'm going to take the back roads I know in order to avoid almost all the traffic I encounter daily - it cuts out 3 roundabouts too. But not sure how I'm going to get down my roads
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[JonB]

I guess the only tip I could give is that, if you can, stick to the main roads as these are gritted most often and offer the most grip. If you don't feel comfortable going fast, then don't. Go at a speed that is comfortable, nobody can complain, rather get someeher extremely late than injured.
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[supermase]

Hello i used to have a peugeot speedfight and i used to basically ski on the snow. just stick your legs out on the snow and have fun. but leave double braking distance because i stacked it in the snow before =(.

[loply]

Id love to go out in the snow purely for the purpose of going up the road to a carpark and having fun.

I wouldnt dare go on any roads that normally have vehicles doing more than 30mph on them though.

If a car loses it and starts sliding towards you, all you can do is ride towards it. Bang!

Unless you have snow tires ofcourse...

[popadop]

when it snows, the dt comes out of hibernation. ..that black ice is a fcuker though,
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[craigT19]

i have been caught in the snow only once.....scared me to the point of shock, i was riding home from work along the m27 when it just oppened up, we had 3 inchs fall in little under 20 mins.

I decided to stop and was approaching the hard sholder, enigne off in neutral to limit any stress on the road. just as i got to the sholder the fron tucked sending the bike into a bush and me spinning off into the middle lane where i hit the passenger side door of a car.

lets just say i will never do it again
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[stinkwheel]

Very much depends on the bike. Small, light crossers with knobbly tyres are OK as are Jawas and MZ 2-strokes. Sportsbikes are lethal. You need either big, narrow wheels or knobbly tyres to sand any chance of finding some grip.

A stepthru with small, wide wheels is likley to be an absolute liability, I wouldn't recommend it!
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[Rory]

Don't forget that the salt that you'll undoubtably come across may well rot your scooter!
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