I'm in Leeds, Yorkshire, and let's say it's a little different to Joeys. On Monday it was time to fire up the GS and go and play in the snow. The sun was out. The weather report said -18C just down the road from me. All the Brit drivers were sitting at home whining about when the council were going to put salt on the roads. No matter, this Safrican was in need of a little Christmas scenery.
First stop, minus 9 C near a dorp called Kettlewell. I lo-o-o-ve the heated grips...
The pig and the trail... ...I don't love the Tourances, wasn't going to change to the TKC80's in the cold (don't have a garage), can't buy proper winter tyres for love or money, studs not legal, and B-M-W want an appointment and £25 a wheel to swap tyres
Freezing nads is worth it when the view is like this... notice the lack of cars - very, very unusual for the UK. The aging population and transport system means that the roads are choked all week long with old people and lorries.
There is some great scenery to be found by getting off the B roads and onto farm tracks.
With the exchange rate and cost of education, and being cheap, I've been skimping on the clothing. Only had a T shirt and tracky top underneath. Paid for it on this ride. Actually boots and jacket are a lot cheaper than what I paid for them in SA. Any colder than this I'd have to put on thermals. It was minus 5 to minus 9 for the whole four hour ride, so there was no quick warmup in the sun.
The sun really makes a difference to the pictures and one's attitude however. This is a picture that I took January 2010 in a place called Malham. You know how you pass an interesting little turnoff and just have to find out where it goes (I don't use GPS unless on business).... ? :-\
Well, that road pretty soon turned into this... Speed and low pressure in the tyres help in the snow. At 30-40 kph those big gyroscopes called wheels help keep things upright (unless you hit ice ridges under the snow), and I'm not shy on the throttle (last roadblock in Joeys I had to pay a few outstanding tickets :), but there is no way to keep up the speed in this mess (studs not legal on tar)...
Some general tips for riding in the snow on a GS that I can share after 4 years of commuting or long distance over here...
(Added to the Riding Tips and Training section!)
First stop, minus 9 C near a dorp called Kettlewell. I lo-o-o-ve the heated grips...
The pig and the trail... ...I don't love the Tourances, wasn't going to change to the TKC80's in the cold (don't have a garage), can't buy proper winter tyres for love or money, studs not legal, and B-M-W want an appointment and £25 a wheel to swap tyres
Freezing nads is worth it when the view is like this... notice the lack of cars - very, very unusual for the UK. The aging population and transport system means that the roads are choked all week long with old people and lorries.
There is some great scenery to be found by getting off the B roads and onto farm tracks.
With the exchange rate and cost of education, and being cheap, I've been skimping on the clothing. Only had a T shirt and tracky top underneath. Paid for it on this ride. Actually boots and jacket are a lot cheaper than what I paid for them in SA. Any colder than this I'd have to put on thermals. It was minus 5 to minus 9 for the whole four hour ride, so there was no quick warmup in the sun.
The sun really makes a difference to the pictures and one's attitude however. This is a picture that I took January 2010 in a place called Malham. You know how you pass an interesting little turnoff and just have to find out where it goes (I don't use GPS unless on business).... ? :-\
Well, that road pretty soon turned into this...
Speed and low pressure in the tyres help in the snow. At 30-40 kph those big gyroscopes called wheels help keep things upright (unless you hit ice ridges under the snow), and I'm not shy on the throttle (last roadblock in Joeys I had to pay a few outstanding tickets :), but there is no way to keep up the speed in this mess (studs not legal on tar)...
Some general tips for riding in the snow on a GS that I can share after 4 years of commuting or long distance over here...
(Added to the Riding Tips and Training section!)
- Keep warm (duh) Seriously, mistakes happen when you're cold and on this mess things happen fast.
- Winter tyres are important - can't buy Heidinaus now because they are now fitted to thousands of GS's around the land that are sitting in garages
- Snow chains can be used. Michelin Easy Grip's are light, easy to fit and if they rip (usually speed or acceleration), they don't rip the guts out of the bike whilst flailing around.
- Forget the front brake. When that front wheel goes you generally can't remeber what happened it's so fast
- You can't ride downhill on ice very well. If you have chains and some grip, coast down with no brake and both legs out. If you don't have chains, switch off, put both legs out and use the clutch to slow you. A gutter helps.
- Steer with weight, not handle bars
- Drop tyre pressure to 1.5 or even as low as 1.2, but don't offroad because you can't see anything under the snow. Low pressure helps keep the tyre warm and give more contact (more psychological than real benefit sometimes )
- Wear shoes/boots that grip on ice, even carry some of those slip on studded grips for boots. Picking a GS up is difficult enough when you have a good footing!
- Oh, yah, stay off white lines and what looks like a bit of leftover snow inbetween lanes or wheel tracks. That's probably frozen and your elbow will look like mine last week - leaking red.
- Don't ride close to cars - Brits have an aversion to buying the right tyres for the season and the councils don't have enough money to pour salt on the roads ad infinitum. Result is chaos, mayhem, sliding and abandoned cars.
- Last but not least, they put MILLIONS of tons of grit (rock salt and sand) on the roads here each year. The garden hose doesn't work (frozen, then cracked), so buy a high pressure hand-pump garden spray. Park the bike, throw and bucket of cold water over it and then spray all of the nooks and crannies. Every few months spray clean with SDOC100 and spray generously with ACF50. If not BMW disease will chomp a bike with a vengeance within 6 months of new.
