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.
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They use liquid magnesium chloride. ...
Yes, unfortunately. It's a salt too.
Ken
