Topic: why we live & ride in Colorado

[paddy paul]

Just another beautifully Day here in CO, did some work in the garage, cleaned up they cylinders,if you could make it  to the main streets you could ride... and did I tell you it was 6 degrees when the picture was taken.. but at least its sunny and no humidity..... Stay warm and ride safe no matter where you are

[Gordon]

if you could make it  to the main streets you could ride...

That's my problem, too.  My garage is off the alley which hardly gets any direct sunlight during the Winter, so even after the streets are completely clear the alley is still coated with ice for a few days to a couple of weeks depending on the temperature.  It's supposed to get up into the lower 40's in the next few days, so hopefully I can get the bikes out soon!

Nice picture.

[Hush]

You think you have problems?
It's supposed to be 40 degrees "C" here in Napier NZ tomorrow, far too hot for riding and wearing a helmet.....oh no hang on......it will be just right.

[ekpent]

ARRGGG-We are officially done here in Michigan. Last nights snow and still coming - Lets here from Wisconsin,heard you got it bad.

[Steve F]

Just another beautifully Day here in CO, did some work in the garage, cleaned up they cylinders,if you could make it  to the main streets you could ride... and did I tell you it was 6 degrees when the picture was taken.. but at least its sunny and no humidity..... Stay warm and ride safe no matter where you are

Don't know if I would want to live where YOU live...looks like sombody stole yer engine!  That sucks.

[paddy paul]

most of it any way.. ;Snow leprechauns

[nobody]

if you could make it  to the main streets you could ride...

That's my problem, too.  My garage is off the alley which hardly gets any direct sunlight during the Winter, so even after the streets are completely clear the alley is still coated with ice for a few days to a couple of weeks depending on the temperature.

It's doable, albeit sketchy. Make sure you have good boots, drag your feet and take it slow, try not to lean the bike. That's what I did when I had to bring my bike home from Breckenridge on a cool twenty five degree night in March. There was a good hundred foot stretch of ice between the parking garage and the street. Now the ride down the highway with this antiquated headlight? That's a whole different ballgame... SCARY!

[Gordon]

It's doable, albeit sketchy. Make sure you have good boots, drag your feet and take it slow, try not to lean the bike. That's what I did when I had to bring my bike home from Breckenridge on a cool twenty five degree night in March. There was a good hundred foot stretch of ice between the parking garage and the street. Now the ride down the highway with this antiquated headlight? That's a whole different ballgame... SCARY!

I tried it once on ice, on the way home from Heffay's a couple of years ago in January.  Went down on the left side and scraped up my nice stator cover.  It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't on a slope.  Going uphill the rear tire loses traction pushing the bike.  Going downhill both tires lose traction trying to stop, and it's no fun sliding right out into the speeding traffic on Alameda!

Get yourself an H4 for that thing!

[nobody]

I tried it once on ice, on the way home from Heffay's a couple of years ago in January.  Went down on the left side and scraped up my nice stator cover.  It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't on a slope.  Going uphill the rear tire loses traction pushing the bike.  Going downhill both tires lose traction trying to stop, and it's no fun sliding right out into the speeding traffic on Alameda!

Oh yeah, I was lucky enough that this patch of ice was fairly flat. A slope would definitely  complicate things.

Get yourself an H4 for that thing!

Haha, I will after I sort out the transmission and switch to some low rise bars, these drag bars don't put the brake lever in a very good spot. A brighter headlight is most certainly on the to do list.

[OldSchool_IsCool]

Hey Gordon!

Next week, I'll be visiting family that live at Fairmont & Alameda.  Let me know if you would like me to stop by and give you a hand getting your points straightened out! 

[Gordon]

Let me know if you would like me to stop by and give you a hand getting your points straightened out! 

I don't get it.

[OldSchool_IsCool]

Don't you and I often come down on opposite sides of the "Points vs Dyna" debate?  Or am I more confused then usual?

[HondaMan]

Just another beautifully Day here in CO, did some work in the garage, cleaned up they cylinders,if you could make it  to the main streets you could ride... and did I tell you it was 6 degrees when the picture was taken.. but at least its sunny and no humidity..... Stay warm and ride safe no matter where you are

Hey, where's your snow!?
I've got plenty extra here, maybe I should send it to you?

[Gordon]

Don't you and I often come down on opposite sides of the "Points vs Dyna" debate?  Or am I more confused then usual?

Ah!   I was going to say how my bikes don't have points, but now it makes sense.

[Simpson]

It was 70 degress here the last couple days. 
Everytime winter rolls around you guys remind me why I moved from central New York.
Brrrrr...

[dave500]

hi,on the east coast of australia,snow is only in the fridge!!its probably like your new orleans or miami ,hot and humid,we ride all year down here.the riding like you blokes do on icey roads and all,courage and skill.

[IHWillys]

Yeah, I rode year round an '82 Virago 750 for a couple of years when I was a student at CSU, had no other mechanized transportation and lived miles from the nearest bus stop in town.  Now I mostly remember those times in the snow as a very stupid thing to do but I never had much of a mishap doing it, just slow speed stuff.  Multiple times I had someone follow me at a safe distance at my slow pace in the far right lane on the packed snow of College Ave, must've been fellow riders watching out for the idiot on the bike, or lawyers(hehe).

An exposed air-cooled engine is good for warming one's hands at the stoplights.  Those were the times when I wished for long red lights.

Ken

[dave500]

hey ihwillys,,ive only ridden a dirt bike in snow,about 17 years ago in victoria /australia,it was an early 80s yamaha IT 250 ,we wernt expecting it on this long uphill venture,,anyway we could hardly steer with good knobbies(tyres),and as for the putting the hands on the exhaust pipe!!that was the first and last time i ever did that!!its true ,it works!!snow belongs on post cards only!!!

[Freaky1]

It's going to break 40 today...I can feel it! I used to ride to Fort Collins year round because my girlfriend went to CSU, it was usually 2 or 3 in the morning after the bars closed, looked somewhat like the guy in "The Gumball Rally" but no stopping, just flat out as fast as my little Virago 500 would go.

[Gordon]

It's going to break 40 today...I can feel it! I used to ride to Fort Collins year round because my girlfriend went to CSU, it was usually 2 or 3 in the morning after the bars closed, looked somewhat like the guy in "The Gumball Rally" but no stopping, just flat out as fast as my little Virago 500 would go.

I didn't ride to work this morning because I went in at 4am and I knew the alley would be frozen solid, but I'll be riding again starting tomorrow!  Even if I have to go out there with my flat spade and carve out a path for the bikes.   They really need to be ridden and I'm getting a very twitchy throttle hand.

[d3buttz]

I Just got back from running errands on the bike, it was hairy as hell getting out of the side streets of my neighborhood with all the residual snow in the shade, but once i got out onto the main streets it was all go.  A pair of long johns and gloves and i am comfortable.  mid december and i can still ride!- i love colorado.............hey gordon-wanna meet up for a ride tomorrow?

[Gordon]

hey gordon-wanna meet up for a ride tomorrow?

Can't, unfortunately.  I've got my son until 3pm and then I go to work.

[Don R]

Do they use road salt there? Thats why mine won't come out unless it warms and rains first.

[Gordon]

Do they use road salt there? Thats why mine won't come out unless it warms and rains first.

They use liquid magnesium chloride.  Once the roads are dry it's no problem.  They put it down immediately before a predicted snow storm, so I'm not normally out on the bike then anyway.   

[Don R]

I think we use that here on bridges and special areas. Salt everywhere else.

[IHWillys]

hey ihwillys,,ive only ridden a dirt bike in snow,about 17 years ago in victoria /australia,it was an early 80s yamaha IT 250 ,we wernt expecting it on this long uphill venture,,anyway we could hardly steer with good knobbies(tyres),and as for the putting the hands on the exhaust pipe!!that was the first and last time i ever did that!!its true ,it works!!snow belongs on post cards only!!!

My Virago with regular street tires was much easier to ride in the snow on the streets than my XL500 with  aggressive knobbies.  I tried the XL once and barely got down the street before turning around.  The Virago weight/center of gravity/tires would cut through the loose snow whereas the XL front-end wandered and pushed and plowed, etc.

The warming-the-hands-at-the-stoplight routine was done while wearing multiple gloves and on the cylinders not the pipes!  In the cold, my hands were the main problem.  They'd get too cold to pull in the clutch or effectively brake.  Some heated grips would've helped immensely.

...
They use liquid magnesium chloride. ...

Yes, unfortunately.  It's a salt too.

Ken

[MötleyRöx]

Paddle tires work well.   
Non-hardpack, of course. 

[Gordon]

Yes, unfortunately.  It's a salt too.

I don't recall saying it's not. 

[Freaky1]

The mag cloride they use here is evil, it will rot wires, pit and dull aluminum, all kinds of nasty things, I wish we just used salt.

[Gordon]

I just don't ride until the main roads are dry again.  Mainly because I don't want to hit an icy-wet patch in the shadow of a building, but it also solves the problem of the mag chloride. 

For the cars, as soon as the roads are dry and it's above freezing I take them to the carwash down the street that cleans the wheels and the undercarriage in addition to the top side. 

[754]

Gordon, get a few buckets of sand..


 easier to sand a narrow path for your bike than digging out a path...