And so it begins...

steven.blanc

Tis woeful, I serviced my GasGas enduro bike and thought Id take it for a quick spin up the lane, no grip and thats with new race knobbilies on!!! I saw a lunatc drive the M50 on a cb500 the other evening

shrapnel222

took the scooter out today. main roads are good enough but any other road is lethal. didn't enjoy it tbh but 30 minutes on the scooter beats 2 hours on the bus.

HEATZ

got a problem with my brakes.....

Luckycharm

Thought about it today but my estate is an ice rink so will wait till monday- commute is killing me this last week.

Dorsanty

I got free from my estate 2 days ago but regretted it immediately. The 200 meters or so to actual tarmac from garage was scary stuff. Back wheel wanted to come around a few times and front wheel went wherever the solid ice pushed it.

Once free tough I was able to spin into town and back out. No fun to be had though, contemplating having to get back home safely all the way. Tapped the front brake for a sec in a moment of madness and had the front lock up instantly, real butt clenching stuff. Got her home safe and sound but won't venture out again until Sunday at the earliest.

Stay safe all, patience is key!

Odysseus

It's been killing me having 4 bikes parked up in the front garden and not being able to travel, there are my only method of transport.

Alkers

Finally got back on the road again today. Still a few dodgy patches in the estates but the main roads are fine. Bike started on the button (garaged) but it's filthy now from all the sludge on the road! Hopefully the cold doesn't come back!

Dirk Gently

got out for a spin myself today. some shaded roads are still icey but generally conditions are good.

lord lucan

I got her out to work yesterday,felt great to be back on 2 wheels. Sadly this morning was a different story,dropped her on black ice at a roundabout.:(

Doubt the guy is a boardsie but if he is hopefully the guy who had a slide at the N4 flyover at Woodies this morning is ok. Nasty slide on black ice.

Dirk Gently

lord lucan wrote: »

I got her out to work yesterday,felt great to be back on 2 wheels. Sadly this morning was a different story,dropped her on black ice at a roundabout.:(

Done the same thing myself last January. A few days after the thaw and thought everything was ok but hit some black ice on a junction and went sliding around a bend across the other side of the road. Luckily there was no traffic at that hour of the morning. Scary feeling when both wheels go together and you know you're on the way down.

Luckily I broke the bikes fall though and there was no damage to the bike. :pac: Once I realised there was no traffic and I was sliding at a nice pace along the ground I held onto it and didnt let it go.

The early mornings are a pain in the arse this time of the year. 6am the roads can be pretty bad but by mid morning they're all fine after the temp rises a bit. Very hard to spot the ice but I know most of the potential bad spots along my route now.

Hope you and the bike are ok.

EvilMonkey

lord lucan wrote: »

I got her out to work yesterday,felt great to be back on 2 wheels. Sadly this morning was a different story,dropped her on black ice at a roundabout.:(

Doubt the guy is a boardsie but if he is hopefully the guy who had a slide at the N4 flyover at Woodies this morning is ok. Nasty slide on black ice.

Unlucky, hope their isn't too much damage to yourself or the bike.

Luckycharm

lord lucan wrote: »

I got her out to work yesterday,felt great to be back on 2 wheels. Sadly this morning was a different story,dropped her on black ice at a roundabout.:(

Doubt the guy is a boardsie but if he is hopefully the guy who had a slide at the N4 flyover at Woodies this morning is ok. Nasty slide on black ice.

Ouch hope you are Ok, was back on the bike today it was great - main roads were fine, road out of estate was an ice rink only about 150m long but ended up going slowly along path as it was clear.

Sesshoumaru

Simona1986 wrote: »

Finally got back on the road again today. Still a few dodgy patches in the estates but the main roads are fine. Bike started on the button (garaged) but it's filthy now from all the sludge on the road! Hopefully the cold doesn't come back!

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056118102

I'm going on the assumption that I'll be off the road until the new year at the earliest!

grumpybore

Bloody snow .....havent been out on my bike in ages ,first the snow ,then the ice ,now the bloody car drivers who insist on going at zero mph .........roll on spring .

CrazyRabbit

grumpybore wrote: »

Bloody snow .....havent been out on my bike in ages ,first the snow ,then the ice ,now the bloody car drivers who insist on going at zero mph .........roll on spring .

What makes you think that Spring will be any better?

Cuddlesworth

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

What makes you think that Spring will be any better?

Because that's when we start looking forward to breast day.

lord lucan

EvilMonkey wrote: »

Unlucky, hope their isn't too much damage to yourself or the bike.

She's a few more battle scars on the right hand side to match those on the left hand side from a similar incident 2 years ago. The joys of using her for commuting 52 weeks a year i guess. I was a bit sore but tbh i was more concerned about the machine but she's running grand so it's all good.:)

grumpybore

lord lucan wrote: »

She's a few more battle scars on the right hand side to match those on the left hand side from a similar incident 2 years ago. The joys of using her for commuting 52 weeks a year i guess. I was a bit sore but tbh i was more concerned about the machine but she's running grand so it's all good.:)

Wow ...well done to anyone who can use their bike all year round ...respect . I am only a leisure rider these days ,but for the majority of the year (not just summer) ....about 20 years ago ,when my bike was my only transport ,it was used every working day ,but age (wisdom?) have taught me that if the ground is white, forget the bike.......altough a mate of mine has just bought a Gilera 3 wheeler ,and I cant wait to try that in the next belt of snow...which is appartnetyl next Thursday

lord lucan

grumpybore wrote: »

altough a mate of mine has just bought a Gilera 3 wheeler ,and I cant wait to try that in the next belt of snow...which is appartnetyl next Thursday

I'm seriously considering at looking at a Piaggio MP3 tbh. After January & Februarys weather and now a rough start to this winter it may be an option. Haven't found anything online to suggest how it handles in snow/icy conditions,i'll be interested to hear how your mates Gilera handles.

What puts me off is the ambiguity about it's licensing. Apparently it's taxed as a bike but a car license is required to ride it??!!

Sesshoumaru

lord lucan wrote: »

I'm seriously considering at looking at a Piaggio MP3 tbh. After January & Februarys weather and now a rough start to this winter it may be an option. Haven't found anything online to suggest how it handles in snow/icy conditions,i'll be interested to hear how your mates Gilera handles.

What puts me off is the ambiguity about it's licensing. Apparently it's taxed as a bike but a car license is required to ride it??!!

Yes taxed as motorcycle and requires car license to ride. But AON insure it as a motorcycle, so I could have it on the same policy as my Monster. I posted details before on this, should come up in a search under my name.

My MP3 is in with the mechanic, but as soon as I can I'm planning on changing tyres to the Metzeler Feelfree Wintec

http://www.metzelermoto.com/web/products/newproducts/feelfree_wintec/default.page

They're the only scooter or motorcycle tyre I've found designed to work at low temps and have the M+S stamp on the side. I've already ridden my MP3 in the snow and it wasn't bad, but I'm hoping with some better winter tyres its performance would improve.

grumpybore

lord lucan wrote: »

I'm seriously considering at looking at a Piaggio MP3 tbh. After January & Februarys weather and now a rough start to this winter it may be an option. Haven't found anything online to suggest how it handles in snow/icy conditions,i'll be interested to hear how your mates Gilera handles.

What puts me off is the ambiguity about it's licensing. Apparently it's taxed as a bike but a car license is required to ride it??!!

Yeah , they look like they could be a lot of un in the snow ,but hey lets get real ....we wont have snow forever .......I will post here about how my test ride goes ............

If you can ride one on a car licence , does this mean my better half ,who has a car licence but rides a vespa 50 twist and go , does it mean she could ride one without having to go through all the bike test stuff ??

Sesshoumaru

grumpybore wrote: »

Yeah , they look like they could be a lot of un in the snow ,but hey lets get real ....we wont have snow forever .......I will post here about how my test ride goes ............

If you can ride one on a car licence , does this mean my better half ,who has a car licence but rides a vespa 50 twist and go , does it mean she could ride one without having to go through all the bike test stuff ??

We won't have snow forever, but we have plenty of rain and and cold weather generally as well. You don't know what you're missing until you've tried emergency braking on cold wet Irish roads.

License wise you need a car license. So I can't see why anyone would have to do anything motorcycle related.

grumpybore

Sesshoumaru wrote: »

We won't have snow forever, but we have plenty of rain and and cold weather generally as well. You don't know what you're missing until you've tried emergency braking on cold wet Irish roads.

License wise you need a car license. So I can't see why anyone would have to do anything motorcycle related.

Oh ,I have tried it many times ...my bike are oldies , drum brakes and narrow tyres.....makes for very defensive riding (at the best of times!!!!)

Cuddlesworth

Sesshoumaru wrote: »

We won't have snow forever, but we have plenty of rain and and cold weather generally as well. You don't know what you're missing until you've tried emergency braking on cold wet Irish roads.

License wise you need a car license. So I can't see why anyone would have to do anything motorcycle related.

I love that you actually found bike winter tyres. I've been looking for ages since I noticed that my tyres don't heat up at all during winter(BT021's last year, Pirelli Angels this year). But I wouldn't want to ride them in Summer because of the wear. If a normal tyre gets 10k, I'd be surprised if those got a bare 4k during summer.

grumpybore

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

I love that you actually found bike winter tyres. I've been looking for ages since I noticed that my tyres don't heat up at all during winter(BT021's last year, Pirelli Angels this year). But I wouldn't want to ride them in Summer because of the wear. If a normal tyre gets 10k, I'd be surprised if those got a bare 4k during summer.

Is that 4,000 kilometers ? on a tyre ? ......wow you must ride hard .My Royal Enfield (yes I am an old fart) got 20 k out of the front tyre ,and the back one is still going strong after 20k ,hopefully another 10 k left on it

Cuddlesworth

grumpybore wrote: »

Is that 4,000 kilometers ? on a tyre ? ......wow you must ride hard .My Royal Enfield (yes I am an old fart) got 20 k out of the front tyre ,and the back one is still going strong after 20k ,hopefully another 10 k left on it

Depends on the tire. Sports can get 5k ridden hard, sport touring 10k and touring, god knows. I'd assume the older bikes and relating tire sizes would carry a much harder compound then the newer ones. You can't triple the power and keep the same rubber compounds and brakes.

What is pissing me off about motorbike tyres here is the the lack of Siping and the necessity for warm operating temperatures. I find a real lack of grip during Winter for anything up to thirty minutes of riding because the tires fail to warm up and a inability to remove any substantial amount of water which we clearly get enough of.

I would love to pick up a set of those Wintec's but they seem limited to scooter size's.

grumpybore

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Depends on the tire. Sports can get 5k ridden hard, sport touring 10k and touring, god knows. I'd assume the older bikes and relating tire sizes would carry a much harder compound then the newer ones. You can't triple the power and keep the same rubber compounds and brakes.

What is pissing me off about motorbike tyres here is the the lack of Siping and the necessity for warm operating temperatures. I find a real lack of grip during Winter for anything up to thirty minutes of riding because the tires fail to warm up and a inability to remove any substantial amount of water which we clearly get enough of.

I would love to pick up a set of those Wintec's but they seem limited to scooter size's.

.....and therein lies the difference "power" ...my Enfield 350 will cruise at a steady 80kmph ,takes a while to get there ,but will stay there all day ,sipping fuel at a parsimonous 80 miles per gallon ......so nope not much power there . I have also a brit 500 which uses the same tyres ,runs a bit faster when bravery permits (cruises at 100 -120 kmph) the Avon roadmaster tyres last about 15k km.......I suppose its horses for courses

Sesshoumaru

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

I love that you actually found bike winter tyres. I've been looking for ages since I noticed that my tyres don't heat up at all during winter(BT021's last year, Pirelli Angels this year). But I wouldn't want to ride them in Summer because of the wear. If a normal tyre gets 10k, I'd be surprised if those got a bare 4k during summer.

Finding the right tyre (and bike) for winter has been an obsession of mine for a while now. I have Pirelli Diablo Rosso tyres on my M900 and they're OK. I rode in to work yesterday and this morning and didn't have any issues. But that's only because I take it very easy. On the cold wet roads I know it would be easy to slip if I pushed it too hard. I looked at those Angel tyres you have, Pirelli list them as having more wet grip than my Diablo Rosso tyres. So I think maybe I'll give up on Pirelli now for winter tyres on my motorcycle!

On my MP3 I currently have Michelin Sport Pilot SC tyres, they're the OEM tyre and are quite good. But in the cold I find the rear slips too much, which eventually brought me to the Metzeler Wintec tyres. I haven't got them yet, but I'll post up here how they are once I get them.

Wear and tear isn't too much of an issue since I can use the M900 more in summer if I want. I may even go with just Wintec on the rear of my MP3 as front grip with two tyres is still good enough. It should be easy to switch the rear back to a Michelin in summer as the rear wears around 3 times faster than the front tyres, so requires changing a lot more frequently.

lord lucan

Forecast is for very icy conditions from tomorrow so i think my wheels will be off the road for the rest of 2010 by the looks of it. PITA but it's not worth the risk taking her out in them conditions.

grumpybore

lord lucan wrote: »

Forecast is for very icy conditions from tomorrow so i think my wheels will be off the road for the rest of 2010 by the looks of it. PITA but it's not worth the risk taking her out in them conditions.

Tis the season for home servicing