Depends on where you live..

I have never seen motorcycles in Finland during the winter.. lots of snow and ice..

Though, I use mine in Athens Greece..

Definitely not while it snows (rare) or in places that there is a possibility of ice.. roughly not during temperatures of less than 5⁰C..

I also don't use it during rain, unless an absolute necessity..

Right gear will make your life easier.. there are cold/windy days that I still feel the cold, even though I wear the best possible gear..

It stayed there till snow melted..😆

I ride on purpose in temperatures between 15F and 120+F - lower if I am on a long road trip and I need to get moving - provided there is no snow or ice. For me, those things are emergency only or a complete no-go.

Discomfort dealing with temperature is part of my riding experience - I tend to ride long distances solo.

In cold weather for my hands, I have silk glove liners, winter gloves, and for even colder temperatures - riding mittens. And I have heated handlebar grips.

For my torso in cold weather, I wear a t-shirt. a thin long sleeved shirt, a hoodie, a heated vest, a liner for my heavy leather vest, and I have a lined leather dickie/neck gator that goes up to my chin - you can about die because of the little hole in protection between your helmet and where your jacket closes if you have a V neck like I do.

For my head, I have a couple of different balaclavas and one of my helmets seems to be warmer in really cold weather.

For my legs, I wear lined and armored riding jeans with leather chaps over them - and I have a heated seat.

For my feet, I have some sub-zero socks to go under my leather riding boots. And if that isn’t enough, I have a stock of chemical hand warmer packs. I just drop one in each boot and my feet are almost too warm.

And, I ride behind a wind screen and my bike has a full fairing.

So to answer your question, yes, I suffer from the cold riding in winter, but I have found ways to minimize it for where and how I ride.

Only if you are going to run it long enough to get it to full operating temperature — at least 15 minutes. If you just start it up, but don’t run it long enough, you drain more battery than you generate, and you create more moisture in the crankcases than you evaporate.

Best practice is to fill the gas tank and put stabilizer in the gas (unless you have a plastic gas tank; those should be stored empty), put the battery on a trickle charger (or take it out of the bike and keep it in a warm place), use fresh oil before storing, for the winter, and put it up on stands (or move it once in a while) to prevent flat spots in the tires.

Ok Is the kill switch on?

Does the battery have charge? (You want a multimeter reading of over 12.5V ideally closer to 14V) if not charge battery and try and start the bike again once it is at the correct charge. If it won’t charge to that level replace battery.

Got fuel?

Got electrics at all? (If not check master fuse! Usually under seat or rear side panel - occasionally under petrol tank annoyingly - check your manual)

when you press the ignition button can you hear a clicking sound? If so then good your ignition circuit is basically working up to the solenoid. If not then check continuity to solenoid and if connections are all ok check fuse and if that’s ok as well then replace solenoid. That will probably make the bike start again.

if above are all ok then most likely you either have heavy corrosion on the live lead to the starter motor and/or the neutral earth link cable to the engine body. (You can do a resistance test to check) (if you don’t know how to use a multimeter by the way there are lots of helpful lessons on YouTube)

Clean the lead contacts up good and try again.

If the stubborn cow still won’t start then most likely your starter motor is dead. Replace/refurb.

All the above is for a bike which won’t even turn over. If the bike does turn over but still won’t start then the ignition circuit is all good and we need to look at other possibilities:

It could be battery is a bit low and not putting enough power through the starter motor. it could be the starter motor although turning, is on its way out.

A good way to check if it is definitely a starter motor or not is to see if you can bump start the bike. If you can, and all other tests have been passed above then it’s pretty much guaranteed you need to replace/refurb that motor.

If the engine is turning over vigorously but still not starting then check that you are getting sparks from the spark plugs. (Be careful not to electrocute yourself check google for how to check spark plugs.)

If you find a weak or non existent spark replace the plugs.

if no sparks from plugs even when replaced then it could be your ignition coils have died - check they are getting power - (checking output is pretty dangerous due to high Amps so personally I just see if the power goes in and if yes and still no sparks I source some second hand coils (after of course also checking spark lead continuity) If anyone has a better technique though then please add to comments. Only ever had this issue once and the theory seemed to work ok.)

An engine basically needs three things to start, Fuel, Air, Electricity. There is also timing .modern bikes use an ECU (Engine control unit) to provide timing. If these break your bike won’t start and they are deliberately built to be non repairable. (It *is* possible but it is a really horrible job to ge all of the resin they seal it with out, its easier to source a second hand part. Brand new they cost £100’s usually.) I would leave this bit as last resort until check everything else. If a much older bike (like mid 80’s and back) it uses “points” the gaps need to be set correctly so the timing is right - it’s unlikely to just go out and stop your bike from starting though but in hours of desperation you could get a slip gauge out and check it. Again this would probably be my last resort after everything else on here as it’s unlikely. (Again YouTube how to do it)

We have checked the plugs - they were ok, producing good strong sparks but the bike still won’t start.

So… Check fuel - if an older bike you can check the carburettors quite easily to ascertain if there is fuel coming through or not. Sometimes a pin can get stuck and block fuel flow for instance I’m not going to write all about carburettors here - use google or you tube if you need further info on this area but there are several things you could look at.

If a modern bike it most likely will use fuel injectors - there is a chance that these have somehow become blocked with a foreign object like a speck of rust. Bit of a pain if they have, as most likely you will not be able to unblock it but would need to replace it instead. They are usually not very cheap so try and find a good breakers yard/second hand online if required.

Finally the air - check the air filter in the air box isn’t blocked. Check that throttle bodies are sealed tight - this last part is unlikely to stop the bike starting but will make it run very poorly if air can leak in.

Hopefully one of the above should help get you started again, I’m not a mechanic but have had various unreliable bikes in my time and the above is a list of things I’ve been through to get them going before with so far a 100% success rate (although sometimes it’s taken up to a couple of weeks of cutting my knuckles open on stuff and lots of swearing) but I hope it helps you too.

Question: “Are motorcycles safe in the snow?”

Do you want an answer from a motorcyclist who knows something about it?

For several years while I attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison and was posted at Fort Campbell’s Army Base in Kentucky I had a motorcycle as my only means of transportation and was a four season motorcyclist. I rode a motorcycle in the snow…a LOT!

The bike looked like this. It was a 200 cc Suzuki X5 Invader with five gears and a 2-cycle motor producing 21 horsepower with a 7,500 rpm redline.

Can motorcycles be ridden in the snow? Yes, definitely. But it takes a lot more skill than riding on clean dry pavement. Every mistake you make will be amplified. Any lack of forethought and any lack of smoothness will put you into a slide. Riding on snow and ice is a good way to learn what motorcycling skills you have to improve.

It is extremely helpful if, before attempting to ride a motorcycle on snow, you have already been taught and learned how to confidently drive a car on snow and ice. I mean that you know how to do that so well that when it snows you delight in finding an iced over empty parking lot where you can have fun by repeatedly putting your car into slides and catching it. To ride a motorcycle safely on snow and ice you have to think of it as fun rather than dangerous.

I was taught, when I first learned how to drive, how to drive a car on the ice on frozen Wisconsin lakes. We practiced how to purposely put cars into skids on ice and catch them. These cars were often VW Beetles which had the weight of their engines hanging out behind the rear wheels. Because of their rear weight bias, VW Beetles were easy to put into skids by popping the center mounted hand brake lever. We would learn just how fast you could drive in a decreasing radius circle before the rear end slid out and then learn how to catch thae slide smoothy without overcorrecting and without putting the car into a spin.

To ride a motorcycle safely in snow and on ice you need those skills. You have to be able to feel, almost intuitively, small changes in tire to road adhesion and chassis dynamics that occur just before a skid starts. And you have to know how to delicately and subtilely stop or control the skid before the laws of physics take you beyond the point where you will be able to correct it.

Doing that requires a LOT of experience…enough that the complex of perceptions and just the right level of response are imprinted in your reptilian brain and are performed autonomically. For, in a slide on a motorcycle you do not have enough time to figure out “OK, what is happening and what do I do next?”. And, unlike in a car, you cannot simply slam on the brakes or forcefully turn the steering wheel!

I still vividly remember a ride home from the base on a beautiful bright winter day in Fort Campbell when, after having revved the bike up to near its red line, I saw the glare from the surface of a long patch of black ice in a tree shaded section of the road ahead of me. Had I done anything abruptly, had I panicked, I would have put the bike hard into a slide and the ditch. I had enough experience to ride the bike delicately with my fingertips and all of my senses, thereby avoiding a crash. Riding a motorcycle in winter does have its dangers and, therefore, has to be done intelligently.

There are things that you can do to enhance your winter snow and ice motorcycling experience and safety. The first is to fit a wind screen to the bike. My bike did not have one. And I can assure you that you want one! After riding in a wet Kentucky snow storm back to our married couples’ base housing the front of my field jacket and field pants would be covered with a two inch snow pack making me look like a Yeti. I would have to wipe the snow pack off of my face shield with my glove at every intersection. A wind screen would direct much of that snow away from you.

You can, and should, also fit winter tires to your motorcycle.

These not only have a tread pattern better suited to riding on snow and ice and wet surfaces but they have a rubber compound that is much grippier under those conditions and remains resilient at cold temperatures. There are studded motorcycle tires available. But those are really designed for competitive motorcycle sports, not general winter riding.

And I know some motorcyclists who live in the upper midwest who continue riding through the winter months by fitting side cars to their bikes.

There are also heated grips and heated seats and heated gloves and jackets and pants and socks that plug into your motorcycle’s electrical system that make winter motorcycling safer by making you more comfortable.

Are motorcycles safe in the snow? Well, they ARE motorcycles. But with training, skill, and experience and the proper equipment they can be ridden in snow. And, if you enjoy developing skills and are already a very good driver, riding a motorcycle in snow can be a lot of fun. And because riding on snow and ice will amplify any mistake and thereby force a motorcyclist to learn how to read road surfaces and understand chassis dynamics and tire performance, a four season motorcyclist is a much better and safer rider than the guy who only takes his bike out for group rides in perfect weather on summer Saturdays.

Yes riding on snow and ice is more difficult, requires skill, and entails some risks. But, if you were frightened of any risks, you would not have bought a motorcycle, would you?

I used to ride a motorcycle to work every day before I retired in 2010. The only days I didn’t ride were those when it was raining or predicted to rain. This involved a 15 mile run down an interstate highway along with some in town cruising on both ends of the ride. The place: the North Carolina/South Carolina border.

I noted on cold days I seldom saw another rider. To cope with those cold mornings, I had heated grips and a full windshield. I wore a leather jacket but just my scrubs underneath. And of course gloves, boots, and a full face helmet.

It could be a little sporty some mornings. I would not have chosen that method if I had far to go. 30 minutes in each direction was plenty.

It depends on how often you ride it. I ride almost everyday(Not today snow has been forecast) and that is the best storage for your bike.

If you are going to park your bike for the winter, you need to prep it. Fuel stabilizer in a FULL tank of fuel. If carbureted; Shut off the fuel and run the bike until the carb is dry. Make sure your tires are at the proper pressures. Hook up a battery tender to maintain the battery state of health.

Why?

Gasoline will age badly to a varnish that will block passages in fuel lines and carbs. Even in fuel injected systems.

Leaving air space in your fuel tanks will allow moisture to get into your fuel tank and that will contaminate the fuel or just create rust on the inside of your tank.

Under inflated tires will cause cracks in the sidewalls of your tires, premature aging.

A battery will age due to cold temperatures or self discharge, so keep it on some sort of maintenance charger, not a trickle charger. A trickle charger will always charge a battery at a specific charge rate, this will boil the battery dry over time. A maintenance charger will only charge to a set value and then maintain that charge over time.

Does that help?

It may rust depending on where you live and ride and what gets put on the roads. In the UK I had a GSX600F that had completely rusted down pipes from salt on winter UK roads because I didn’t winterize it and kept it outside under a bike cover. Dealer gave me a lot of grief and a lot less of a trade in for not looking after it as I should.

In the UK I’ve had an MT-03 and an ER6n that I’ve kept garaged and covered without getting any rust on them but NZ only uses grit not salt on winter roads and I now take my bike off the road over the winter since the risks are not worth it with early frosts.

I’ve used WD-40 and CRC-556 liberally to keep my bikes as oiled as possible after using Motomuck and Muc-off cleaning sprays and a pressure hose to wash them. In the UK I understand ACF-50 is the way to go and get your bike professionally coated over winter. I’ve not seen ACF-50 in NZ and think its a specialist aviation use product:

Tested: ACF-50 corrosion protectant review

Worthwhile looking after your bike really well compared to a car come resale or trade-in time. Bikes are generally no longer daily transport and are weekend toys. Most recreational use riders expect their bikes to be prized polished possessions.

A dependable and light one. Keep it simple. You don’t want to start trouble-shooting a technologically awesome motorcycle at the side of the road at -10 deg C…

With that said, my first winter-commuter was a Honda XL600R from 1986 or thereabouts. I had this bike for two winters, until I got tired of kick-starting this pig of a motorcycle when it was half-warm, and when the parts started to get either difficult to get, were quite expensive or usually - both. Also it had a habit of going through oil seals at the shifter pedal like crazy. I was glad to let it go. This was in 2010.

I then did a stint with fuel-injected 4WD quad also for two winters, but got rid of it when I just couldn’t be bothered with the car queues at rush-hour when leaving from work.

Last winter I got a Honda NX650 from 1988, aka the Dominator. The luxury of the electric start! Anyway, it’s single cylinder air-cooled machine. I love to hate the little monster. :-)

Pic from this morning at work. Notice the worn plastics? And the duct tape on the seat? Not quite visible, TKC80-tires studded with car tire studs; sticking out two mm makes it optimal for ice on asphalt and hardpacked snow and ice.

Fuel-injection is a win some, loose some situation in my book.
The FI makes the bike more willing to start in cold mornings, but it also means you’re more dependent on a good battery. FI-motorcycles also usually come with much unneeded doodads that break or don’t do very good at negative degrees C.

YMMV, pick one you don’t mind dropping on slippery ice every so often.
Also, if you’re in the habit of dropping it, make sure the bike isn’t faired with godawful expensive plastics…

Winter riding is the best way to test your riding skills. Take care of the things below

1. Depending upon where you ride pack your clothes. If you will ride on snow and ice then make sure you have waterproof boots. Water crossings in freezing temperatures can be very dangerous if you get your feet wet. At the least put on a leak free plastic over your socks.
2. Wear warm gloves or woollen gloves under the riding gloves.
3. Keep your neck and face covered as much as possible.
4. Helmet with anti fog visor inserts are very helpful. However, if you have your face and neck covered then you may ride with open visor. That will still be cold but better than not being able to see.
5. Prepare for riding over ice. It is very slippery. If you can see ice then slow down before you reach ice and then let the motorcycle slide. Do not brake when on ice. If you see a patch of water in very cold places do not take it lightly. It might be black ice. It looks as if water but once on it you start sliding.
6. In places where there is too much of ice try to find patches of snow. You can also look for rough patches left by a vehicle tyres. Fresher is better. You may tie ropes or chains to the tyres but only for crossing the ice.
7. Don't depend upon the riding jacket alone for warmth. Use layers of thin woollen clothes. Wear thermals under your pants.
8. Carry rainsuits. In very windy conditions rainsuits will protect you from cold.
9. You may have to cold start your motorcycle in the morning. Pull the choke and start the bike. Let it idle for a few minutes. Once it gets heated properly and engine runs without touching the accelerator, roll out to ride.

Is it possible to ride a motorcycle in the winter?

It's gonna be ball-freezing cold with you traveling at 30MPH+, slippery and salty slush, both of which aren't ideal for you or your motorcycle. Even with my very nice non-motorized version of a rocket designed for fair and sometimes unfair weather, I just wouldn't risk it, regardless of your talent level. Unless you resort to specialized equipment designed for this kind of fun, it's probably not a good idea.

Ok

Ok

Be careful

Also be careful

And if you can ride like Eddie, feel free. He rode through blinding snow and ice to conquer a mountain pass others gave up on. I think it was in 1973.

My motorcycle starts just fine all year round, with temperatures from 7° F in winter, up to 101° F. in the summer. Most modern motorcycles with EFI have no problem with this, and I have no problem riding in cold weather as long as snow and ice are not on the road. I simply wear warmer gear, take shorter trips, and pay special attention to the condition of my skin all over and my body temperature.

Why motorcycle don’t start? Because their riders don’t want to. It’s a bit of a hassle dressing warmer, and if you don’t dress very well for it, wind chill factor at 30 MPH to 70 MPH can be brutally cold, causing hypothermia and/or frostbite. In the worst of not thinking anything of the danger, you could die out there, or lose a foot to the damage from frostbite. Normally, an unprepared rider just gets so cold in the first few minutes she/he can return home, warm up with no permanent damage, and decides to not try again.

Kudos to those smart enough to only ride when they are prepared and enjoy it.

Personally, although I used to do it a lot, I think riding a motorcycle in winter in general is a poor idea. It’s cold, often wet, and never that great fun.

Having said that, beginner or otherwise, riding in winter isn’t that different from doing it in summer - or driving a car in winter vs summer. The key is to understand the amount of grip and adjust the speed accordingly. Being smooth and gentle with the controls certainly helps. Low grip situations do require better finesse with the controls than when it’s dry. But with reasonable control of the machine, it’s doable. It’s of course hard to quantify the amount of control needed. Is “beginner” the first three days or the first three years? Or somewhere between those?

If there’s ice or snow on the roads, I would suggest using a motorcycle - at least anything with a lot of power - would be rather foolish. If it’s just cold and dry, much less of an issue. Cold and wet, somewhere in between.

Same procedure as with other ones..

Kill switch must be on running position. Right top red switch. (Last picture)

Gear in neutral or hold the clutch!

Push the starter button!😃 Right bottom black button!

If there is a light switch, preferably at the off position, as middle one below right.

Basically.. You don’t!!

Seriously, I’m from Windsor, Ontario, Canada. ( To give you an idea of what I had for winters) ,Sure, you could “winterize” it at the end of September.. take the battery out, drain the fuel out, put oil in the cylinders, spin it over … and wait till next year.

But wait!! There’s gonna be that couple of days in October that are super sweet. Temp up in the “rideable” zone, sunshine, and … Damn!! You miss having your knees in the breeze,, don’t you?..

So, you toss the battery back in it,. fuel it up and go for a boot. Then you put it away again.

Comes November.. Same stuff.. there are ALWAYS, the couple of freaky warm days, that are more than rideable. Spark her up and go for a boot.

December? Chances are 50 / 50 that there will be a couple of rideable days..

January / February? There will be at least one day where the roads are clear, and it’s above freezing. Bundle up and (gently) have a ride. Just long enough to get the bike thoroughly warmed up.

March? For sure there’ll be a couple of rideable days..

Hey!! Look what just happened!! You went through the Winter without putting the bike away. You basically never went more than six weeks max, without riding it!

Run Ethanol free Premium gas, with a whack of Seafoam in it for stabilizer. Warm it up gently before you go ..

But, it’s way better for a bike to be ridden every month, than to sit for six months.

I put my first bike ( 1972 Honda 550) away, and then took it out and put it away three times before Christmas. I’ve never winterized a bike I’ve owned since. Skidoo suit, thermals, and away I go on the warmest day of the month.

Just ride really, really slow.. especially in the corners.. Cold pavement is slippery as cat crap on linoleum. No dragging the knee on the entrance ramps.

Oh yeah.. and either use anti -fog on the helmet, or remember not to cough.. The world will disappear for ten seconds, until the visor de-fogs. If you hear a horn, go a bit to the right, because you’re crossing the center line, :-)

Unless you live somewhere where the roads are completely un rideable for over 60 days, bundle up, and re-kindle the passion.

FYI, I have deliberately done some winter tours just to understand the difficulties faced by riders and done Delhi to Kathmandu, Ujjain, vaishno devi, Ayodhya, Nashik, Jageshwar dham, Haridwar and so on.

For rider

Woolen balaclava

Leather gauntlets with fleece gloves

Woolen inner for body under riding gear

Woolen socks with riding shoe

If your jacket has airvents like my Zeus Airdrift, then wear windcheater betwen the jacket and Woolen body warmer.

Still after all that, you feel cold.

Eat at your normal timings. Instead of tea/coffee, drink hot water and hot water throughout your journey.

Use anti fog visors.

Use rain cover to cover your luggage

Keep extra rugs to clean headlight and indicators.

For bike

Use hazard light flasher

Keep your back and front light working

Keep your switches in top notch condition

The moment you feel that visibility is down, slow your speed at once

Don't try to do any checking on bike controls, panels, fuel sign but looking at road at all times.

I have done Delhi Ujjain in December 2019 and while coming back, I faced heavy fog, not the one in delhi i.e dry but wet fog. Every meter i move, my visor become wet and dust from tires of trucks made it dirty. I must have stopped like million times in a km. In two hours, I have only traveled less than 10km. That was the situation. The time was 4am. At the end, I stopped at some dhaba and waited for 3 hours. When at 7, sun came,the fog started getting clear. I won't say I wasted my time as SAFETY always comes first no matter what.

Ideally, we need to prepare our machines as much as we would do for ourselves. Batteries are, unfortunately, one of the most neglected parts in a motorcycle. Most of the service centers too ignore checking the battery when we leave our motorcycles for servicing. Starting the bike is all that matters and they fail to use the voltmeter. If I walked into the service center, I would request the service technician to check the voltage in front of me and make sure that the voltage should rise to a value between 13.8 and 14.5 volts when we raise the accelerator. This gives a fair indication that the battery is in good condition.

If the bike is parked for prolonged number of days, it is good to have it started once in a few days to avoid voltage drain. But, if the bike is parked for a longer duration and no one is there is do the above exercise, then it is best to disconnect the terminals and wrap the leads in insulation tape to be re-fitted once you get to ride again.

I use Lithium Ion Phosphate battery that has a longer withholding power, is possibly less than 1/3 of the regular battery weight and tension free cranks even in snow clad surrounding. I used the Deltran 10–14Ah Lithium Ion Phosphate batteries during my most recent Dominar Polar Odyssey and not had a single day of troubled start even in temperatures as less as minus 21 degrees in Antarctica.

I hate to say this, but you can’t run an engine before starting it. I think you mean,’ how long should you let a motorcycle run after starting the engine from cold, before riding it?’ Yes?

There is no hard and fast rule and it rather depends upon the type of engine: two stroke or four stroke; single cylinder or multi cylinder; air/oil cooled or water cooled and the size of the engine.

The reason why you may want to ‘warm up’ a cold started engine is two-fold:

1. to warm up the oil (make it slightly less viscous) so that it can penetrate and lubricate all the small moving parts within the engine - particularly those which ‘rub’ against each other, before subjecting it to any ‘load’ and
2. to enable you to get the engine off ‘fast idle’ (full choke), so that it is performing close to normal, before attempting to ride. If you ride a cold engine on full choke, you will not have full control over the engine performance ie: when on fast idle, you cannot rely on engine braking and slow riding may prove difficult; when the engine is slightly warmer, it will either die on you or not ‘pick up’ when the throttle is opened, owing to the mixture being too rich.

The best thing is to let it run on fast idle (don’t ‘rev’ it) until you can reduce the choke to about half with the engine idling normally - a small blip on the throttle (to let it clear it’s throat) will then tell you if the engine is sufficiently warm enough to be responsive and therefore ride. Go easy for the first couple of miles - don’t rev the nuts off the poor thing or ‘hit the power band’ and don’t labour it in too high a gear. Once the engine is fully warmed up and the choke is fully off, you can play at being a GP/TT racer or hooligan to your hearts content.

It should be noted that you should also not leave a bike running whilst stationary for too long either, as since there is no air flow through the oil cooler/radiator or passing the cylinder block, it could get too hot and start to overheat.

A good rule of thumb is to: start the bike; then close and lock your back door; return to the bike and check your tyres for nails/stones, splits and cracks; check the control cables for ease of operation and possible fraying; check that the handlebars rotate from lock to lock without fouling; zip up your jacket and put your lid and gloves; remove the bike from its stand and check the operation of both brakes. By the time you have performed these pre-ride checks, the engine note will have told you to reduce the amount of choke required at some point and the bike should be ready to ride with a restrained hand. Don’t forget to fully knock the choke off after a couple of miles, or the engine will try and stall the first time you come to a stop or splutter when you try to accelerate.

Happy riding and stay observant - stay safe.

Unless you have a sidecar rig or a trike, riding in snow is a bad idea. I’ve done it twice, both by accident. First time, it was winter in Virginia and I was meeting someone for a short ride. The roads were mostly clear, but I had to turn around on a side street that still had a little snow on it. I managed, but vowed I would not try that again.

Second time, riding back to Virginia from visiting the fam in South Florida for Christmas/NY. I started the ride shortly after midnight, planning to be home by 6–7pm. It was cold but I had electric gear and a big enough alternator to keep me warm. As I passed Richmond, I started to notice this white stuff on the sides of the road. No worries, the roads were just wet. Half hour later, the stuff was starting to stick a bit so I slowed down and tried to be very careful. By the time I got to the HOV lanes at Fredricksburg, the damn stuff was sticking, but it was still pretty slushy. As long as I didn’t have to do anything quickly and stayed out of everybody’s way, I was cool. I was VERY focused. As I was approaching my exit, I knew I was in deep caca, as the exit lane went up to an overpass and I had to make a left turn a the light. It was definitely a white knuckle ride. I didn’t make it all the way home as there were several hills I would have had to navigate, so found a side street and called the BF for a ride the rest of the way (in his convertible). The house I parked in front was owned by some very nice Canadians (are there any other types), who helped me get my bike out of the way in his driveway. I picked it up the next day after all the roads were plowed.

Anyway, final thought is avoid riding in the snow unless you have three wheels or have screws in the tires.

If you have a garage, I would recommend keeping your motorcycle inside to prevent any weather damage. If you don’t have a garage, try to find a spot that is sheltered from the elements as much as possible.