Not wise but possible...
If you live in the great PNW, you may have noticed the snow which now covers our roads and lives. Common sense would dictake that riding a motorcycle with no training wheels in the snow could be a low traction equation which doesn't end well. As always, I am moved by my curiosity in order to test the reaches of my stupidity. Thus I was out and riding my motorcycle this past weekend. With nearly a foot of the white stuff covering the ground, and the roads sorta packed down, it looked like it could be fun.
And it was! The hardest part was backing out the garage, through the deeper snow on the driveway. After that, moving is easy, just no leaning or sudden movements. I could sanely reach speeds between five and fifteen miles per hour. I was in reasonable control of slow tail-sliding stops, or would just pull in the clutch and slow naturally. The front tire didn't suddenly shoot out from under me or anything. It was rather suprising how easily the tires would hook back into traction after a little skid. I soon attempted power slides and goosing the throttle through turns. These pushed the tail out and allowed slightly faster turns. If held too long the rear tire would swing out too far. As I counter steered to keep the front end pointed in the direction of travel, the bars would hit their maximum travel and the bike would either fall over, or I could try and put my foot under it, come off power, and slide to the stop while sideways. Sometimes I'd slide too far sideways, my foot would go out from under me, and I'd be doing some minor splits over my horizontal bike in the snow. Luckily the transalp is not too heavy to pick up. I even added rope "chains" which aided in traction greatly. I could plow through the deep crusty snow with ease.
Check out some proof:
-Squirrels
have fun in this giant Subaru commercial we call home
And it was! The hardest part was backing out the garage, through the deeper snow on the driveway. After that, moving is easy, just no leaning or sudden movements. I could sanely reach speeds between five and fifteen miles per hour. I was in reasonable control of slow tail-sliding stops, or would just pull in the clutch and slow naturally. The front tire didn't suddenly shoot out from under me or anything. It was rather suprising how easily the tires would hook back into traction after a little skid. I soon attempted power slides and goosing the throttle through turns. These pushed the tail out and allowed slightly faster turns. If held too long the rear tire would swing out too far. As I counter steered to keep the front end pointed in the direction of travel, the bars would hit their maximum travel and the bike would either fall over, or I could try and put my foot under it, come off power, and slide to the stop while sideways. Sometimes I'd slide too far sideways, my foot would go out from under me, and I'd be doing some minor splits over my horizontal bike in the snow. Luckily the transalp is not too heavy to pick up. I even added rope "chains" which aided in traction greatly. I could plow through the deep crusty snow with ease.
Check out some proof:
-Squirrels
have fun in this giant Subaru commercial we call home