Killa's guide for the winter ride *2011 edit*

[killa]

I thought using my experience I’d make this thread for the months ahead, I’ve been told I post a lot of shit so I hope this helps some of you new and maybe also experienced riders.

Winter is coming and for a lot of you bikers I know this is going to mean it’s harder getting up in the mornings because you’re dreading that journey. Well, winter for me now is not a problem temperature wise, I started off riding in winter back in 1999 wearing a non biker jacket, jeans, £15 pair of gloves and trainers, some frost bite and gravel rash later I found some better gear.
I do think that advice for each part of preparation should be explained by a biker, you have to have the experience in my opinion.
Protection against all of these things that I have collated from the past and other sources, do sometimes require a load of cash, like me some of us don’t have money to burn so I will try and give options for both situations.

Killa’s advice for winter Riding

Prepare your bike
Prepare yourself

-The Bike-

Brakes: Check the brakes while rolling the bike, stationary they can seemed to work when pushed with them on but it’s a different story with a little speed. Check when pulling away and also check the rear as you do this.

Lights: They go together with the battery obviously, a blown headlamp bulb in the middle of no where is not funny, you could carry a spare if you know your bike is prone to eating them up, or just carry a spare under the seat, in your backpack or panniers if you have them.
Clean the lenses of all of them, the road can be very dirty in winter, I carry a multi purpose cloth in my bike jacket pocket. The headlamp especially can deteriorate quickly on a long journey, a regular stop to clean should stop you squinting for the road ahead.

Tyres: Again, you don’t want to be caught out with this one, you cant replace them in the street.
Before a ride, go over the tyres (with gloves on) with your hand, you’re looking for deep cuts and foreign objects, while brushing off any pieces of glass or stones you might find.
Search the net or pop down to your local bike shop to find the latest products for helping you out with punctures.

Steering: Riders can jump on, start her up and shoot of down the road not realising the steering is catching some wiring or the tank bag they just put on causes a problem with turning, have a test of it before you set off. Ice, rain etc is not fun with less than 100% turning ability.

Top Tip!!
I heard from a website this little lot is referred to as Bacon Lettuce Tomato Sandwich checks
Just so you can remember

Fuel: Might sound daft but most lack of fuel incidents happen on the motorways, in winter this is a very very dangerous place to be when the conditions are foggy, icy or in heavy rain.
Make sure you’ve got enough in the tank to make it to the garage, don’t take chances.
Letting your bike warm up is good for a few reasons, one is you wont have to let off the choke while riding, and you will get better response from the bike straight away.

Coolant: Some guys I know have been caught out because they’ve been putting water in the rad’s during summer and forgot about it when it gets into minus temperatures. Make sure you’ve got enough anti-freeze in there because the temperatures can change radically from day to day in the UK.

Battery: It is a good Idea to check or purchase a new battery for the winter months, they do tend to last around 2 years but you have to take into account the winter puts a lot of strain on the battery. It gets dark quickly soon, so you don’t want to be caught out.

Oil: No need to explain why, just check it and put the right stuff in there.

Mechanical: I know it’s obvious but really, don’t mess about now, it is going to be worse for you if those little jobs you know about aren’t put right. You can’t sit in your nice warm car waiting for the recovery man.

-The Rider-

Attitude: Your attitude to riding in the winter will change naturally (I hope), but you have to make some things a priority.
One good tip I heard in the past is “Cagers don’t expect to see bikes out there in winter”, true, so you have to expect the unexpected, all the time.

Clothing: This will vary as the journeys you take are going to be either a long journey or a short commute.
I have never worn leather jacket and leather trousers before but I have been told they are the best for protection and tarmac surfing, the downside to this set up is the wet and the cold, from others experiences the leather can get cold and wet which will disturb you’re riding.
Remember that in temperature ranging from 5-10 degrees when you are travelling a mere 40mph the chill factor can bring it down considerably wearing leathers so you have to consider for yourself what gear is best in the conditions you’re going to be facing.
‘Goretex’ is what I find best for all year round wear, cool in the summer (removable liner), keeps you warmer in the winter without the hassle of carrying water proof outers. This must be said for the gloves to
When purchasing clothing it is an idea not to purchase things like trousers, jackets and leathers over the net as you can’t try the item on, you might be a 42 in Alpine gear but be uncomfortable with Hein Gericke.
This in turn means less concentration on the road and the appeal of wearing the kit will become a problem.

Layers of clothing help an awful lot as it traps your body heat between them, If it is pretty cold out I tend to wear a t-shirt, jumper and my bike jacket (with liner). A pair of jeans with the ‘goretex’ trousers over the top, boots with thick socks and Hein Gericke gloves and a scarf.
As you might know the neck area can get painful if there isn’t anything stopping the wind.
Cheap gloves also have a tendancy to let in cold air because of crap stitching, don’t spare the cash on what is really needed.
I have a small walk down the road to my lock up, if it is cold I will put the gear on indoors, and walk to the lock up, the heat generated while doing this helps a great deal.
I’m not too familiar with electrics but for the rider who is a little less daring you can look at products from ‘Gerbing’ and ‘Widder’ for example, there are electric vests with gloves and also heated grips. The vest are attached to gloves via a length of wire, they connect to the battery and a thermostat so you don’t cook yourself.
Find them on EBay or at a decent bike shop.

-Riding-

As said before your attitude should change in winter months when riding, most importantly is know your bike and your personal limits, it’s not a race and you shouldn’t push your self.
People’s endurance levels for the cold vary, don’t make yourself push through the pain like Rocky, make regular stops if you have to, get some blood circulating, it happens pretty fast.
Plan your journey and give yourself plenty of time.
As a rider with experience I can judge the weather for the day pretty well most of the year round, but during the winter as we are just a little island in the sea this changes very quickly so there is no excuse really for not checking Teletext or the news for an up to date weather forecast.
Frosty, also icy conditions are created over night, it maybe sunny the next day, but remember that the conditions in shaded areas are there for a longer period of time throughout the day.
With November creeping up, leaves will fall, add a bit of rain and you have something almost as bad as ice, I like to see it in the simplest way…..Tyre’s need contact with the road, put something between those and you’ve created a layer, watch out for country roads and tree-lined roads in town.
Gritting trucks also create this layer, they do a decent job for cagers but make the roads pretty slippy if there haven’t been a lot of vehicles on the road or if there hasn’t been a considerable amount of rain to wash it away.

I’m sure I’ve covered all the main points here, I know there is more to the riding technique’s but with this list you can go far wrong, the more prepared you are for the harness of British weather anything less will not be a problem!

Safe riding

Killa
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Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult.
Bike:- Yamaha TRX850 | Killas Biking History | Killas Gaming History | Killas autmotive history

[paulthewitt]

good report. cant really think of much else.

maybe wear a hi viz jacket (as long as you arent too image conscious)

Paul

[Mr.Everready]

Nice report but just one question.

Did you really write it all or copy and paste it from somewhere else ?
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[killa]

I got the structure from somewhere, as I have a bad memory, but I wrote what I thought would be more appropriate.

Sorry if it seems that way, took me about an hour.
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Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult.
Bike:- Yamaha TRX850 | Killas Biking History | Killas Gaming History | Killas autmotive history

[colin1]

Id say layers of gloves is just as important as layers of clothing.

The plastic gloves from petrol stations are can be worn inside to keep the rain and wind from getting through. I have some overmits that are big waterproof things that go on over the gloves.

When its really cold, I wear fleece mittens over my biker gloves, under my overmittens. Unfortunately this hampers using the controls a bit.
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[Claud 14.7 to 1]

Make sure you keep an eye on your tyre pressures (I find they go down quicker when the temperature decreases).

In the winter, you need all the grip/feeling/confidence you can get so keep them toped up. I check mine at least 2 times a week in the winter (and always find they need some extra).

[Mr.Everready]

[killa]

Hey I don’t go mad all the time.

Your not a piss taker
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Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult.
Bike:- Yamaha TRX850 | Killas Biking History | Killas Gaming History | Killas autmotive history

[Walloper]

Good work killa. Top of the forum.
My 2p
Buy decent winter gloves and you won't need layers.
But they may cost £50 ouch.
Better than thinking, "F**k my hands are cold." Instead of paying attention to the road.
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[instigator]

[mr.z]

Just to help illustrate the wind chill factor..

10°c@ 40mph= -18°c
5°c @ 40mph = -22°c
0°c @ 40mph = -29°c
-5°c@ 40mph = -36°c


After that it gets a bit silly.. obviously anything wet @-5 IS going to be ice..

My favourite winter rideing item is a windproof balaclava looks stupid but keeps your ed and neck warm ..
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>RidingSkills<->Tech Tips<->MyBikes<

[McGee]

Nice killa,

Its going to be strange here last year they got 2 feet fo snow! Never haveing rode in real bad weather i might acctually use my jeep
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Its pronounced Jixxer!

[riichy]

[Dom_]

And people laughed at me for buying 5 balaclavas at £1 each...

..or does it look stupid?

Good read Killa.

[instigator]

[Mr.Everready]

[Dom_]

hehe..

I sold 4 of them for £5 each, just got this one left now, can remember ash t using one under his lid for a bit. Bet the petrol stations loved him.

[Gazdaman]

Thick gloves are a MUST.

When I was doing my bike test training I was wearing some sports (read tarty Thierry Henry type things) underneath my dad's big thick bike gloves.

I felt physically sick my hands were so cold.

If it's a 2 stroke, might be worth carrying a small WD40 and a spare plug/spanner. When my MZ 125 got very very wet the spark would earth out against the frame. Bit of WD40 on the HT lead and a bit of a wipe and it was fine.

Reflective gear is a damn good idea obviously. Take it easy aswell, greasy roads are not fun.

I also had a silk type thing balaclava thing, it was very very thin but incredibly warm. Kept my face and neck warm in the winter. I suggest everyone who's going to seriously winter ride gets one!

Gaz

[JeffT]

[VFR400UK]

I've found high vis jackets to be useless as on alot of bikers your hidden behind the fairing.

A light coloured helmet helps fromt he front, from behind and the sides a neon yellow rucksac works every bit aswell

[Sparks!]

Best tip: Get a car
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[mr.z]

https://www.bikeseen.com/

I've got some 3M mirror tape (very clever stuff, relects most of the light on it straight back) on my panniers, and put some on the back of my helmet, sounds stupid but it looks ok and works very very well.

Got a high vis waist coat in orrange, kep it on the bike for REALLY bad conditions, for fog, heavy rain e.t.c.


Honestly can't say at any point ive regreted rideing in winter, you need to ride verry differently but its no less enjoyable if your prepared for it..
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[VTR SP1]

I can't see to much on your list that you would not have to do all year round other than wrap up and go easy on the throttle.
All basic stuff really.

SP1
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I rode the Nurburgring backwards.

[superstacker]

Only other thing, if you lose traction because of ice, leaves or diesel.

I find staying upright, laying off the throttle and steering very slightly out of the skid will keep you with rubber on the road. Touch the brakes and you will crash.

[colin1]

Id agree with stacker there.

If you lose the back a little, u release the throttle until you have straightened up, but then you put a little back on so you have even weight distribution to get you thru the next bit.

Hi vis jackets work great as its not often you are tucked behind the screen on the way to work.

the silk balaclava sounds good
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