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Danno

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 20, 2022
Member Number
916
Posts
929
Location
East Coast
I found myself once again commutig to work on a bike. Never sure why. But it becomes normal. From march till now..only two wheels....best was 5yrs at 300 days a yr in the snow belt. I do get vip parking..always! Hmm

Jeez...ultimate commuter bike ..DL1000, gen1. beast! What a paradox to a short tripping commute..but it rocks.

Hey have fun and if 2 wheelin to work ..rock on!
 
I rode to work every day last week! That's prob my record.

My wife and I have been driving to work together since 2020 but we had to go seperate last week.
 
Danno said:
I found myself once again commutig to work on a bike. Never sure why. But it becomes normal. From march till now..only two wheels....best was 5yrs at 300 days a yr in the snow belt. I do get vip parking..always! Hmm

Jeez...ultimate commuter bike ..DL1000, gen1. beast! What a paradox to a short tripping commute..but it rocks.

Hey have fun and if 2 wheelin to work ..rock on!
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Do/did you ride to/from work in the snow?
 
I ride into the mid-40's if theres a good chance of staying mostly dry but I don't fuss about a bit of rain. I'll ride into the 30's if theres a good reason (eg wife has the truck) but that cold tends to cut thru the gloves. I've ridden a few times into the high 20's.. good bragging rights I suppose but it really hurts...

Did it, and am not a fan of riding in the snow, either on the roads or as slush piling up on my lap. Sooner or later audiobooks playing on the stereo, a cup of coffee and sitting warm and comfy starts looking pretty good.
 
gpounce said:
I ride into the mid-40's if theres a good chance of staying mostly dry but I don't fuss about a bit of rain. I'll ride into the 30's if theres a good reason (eg wife has the truck) but that cold tends to cut thru the gloves. I've ridden a few times into the high 20's.. good bragging rights I suppose but it really hurts...

Did it, and am not a fan of riding in the snow, either on the roads or as slush piling up on my lap. Sooner or later audiobooks playing on the stereo, a cup of coffee and sitting warm and comfy starts looking pretty good.
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Yeah, I braved the cold more the first winter that I had my bike. Last winter... not as much. I've ridden in snow but never when the main roads were snow covered. There's something about being painfully cold that can take a bit of the enjoyment out of riding. :lol2

One less than ideal condition that I don't think I'll get tired of soon is riding in nighttime thunderstorms. The exhilaration is a real rush for me.
 
DJ_MI said:
Do/did you ride to/from work in the snow?
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Yes. I chose an xt225 when I moved to Ohio. But I ended up buying more bikes. The xt was the best on snow and ice. I still have the xt. The frame has been painted twice. The bike looks good. But my rims are corroded inside from the salt. Coldest day was below negative10°F

That poor bike kinda did it all. I only dumped it twice in the snow...both times I was going to spin 2nd gear having fun. The 2nd time...the bike was spinning circles around me until I finally let it go. There was a driving ban one morning. There was about 9" of snow in the street...after the plows ran all night. I got to work to find plow trail off was waist high and almost 15ft across. I dragged the bike on it's side across the snow pile. I was the only vehicle that made into the lot.

The three terrible bikes were a vino125, a55 sprint and a ct70 clone. The clone was modded. I rode all winter and there wasn't much snow. I got caught one night only 2 miles from home. There was less than 2" of snow. The 1st try ended in me spinning a 180 instantly. The short wheel base with a torque motor was nuts. That was the longest 2 mile ride ever. The a55 tomos had some porting and sava tires. I made it to work and it powerband in the parking lot. I didn't think to use the left brake. I stayed up right but my coworker noticed the tracks in the snow. I mumbled something about 2stroke auto clutch and forgetting about the rear brake.

Good times...there was some harsh beauty to those winters. 3° march morning were always beautiful and cold!
 
DJ_MI said:
Do/did you ride to/from work in the snow?
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You don't?

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woods said:
You don't?

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Um, that would be a hard NO. Well, to be fair it doesn't get that way here in Florida, but then again my work is at home now, running a forum and enjoying retirement. I ride once in a while and work on my bikes once in an even bigger while. But they're always there when I want to. And the upside is all my consumable parts (oil changes, tires, chains) last a lot longer only doing a few hundred miles a year.
 
My last year and snow in Oh...I finally tried my recent hack purchase in the snow. A 1983 r100 with a velorex hack...this was cool after slipping and sliding for a decade. The sidecar steered nice and felt lighter wth easier drifts.
 
I had my last full time job 35 years a lab technician at a school Aprox 30 miles away(Several routes).
In those years i had many bikes but i dedicated bikes for the comute and ran them more or less exclusively for that or general dodge about errands.
I ran a yamaha DT175 MX for 3 years then a Dt250Mx for 15 years then finnished off on an IZH Planeta sport 350 i still own and wont sell.
I chose two strokes because of no valves and no OHC wearing out in the aloy heads of the ubiquitous jap offerings of the time, which was a thing i wore out a head on a suzuki GN400 and a lad i worked with used to kill Honda CB125S engines after about 11k miles even with good servicing.
The two strokes were just simple no engine oil filters etc just fill the auto lube tank or premix in the case of the IZHs.
I know there are super reliable four strokes capable of space shuttle miles out there but all need servicing regular and are more complex when anything does fail which knowing my luck will be often, so simple easy air cooled two strokes just work and the modern two stroke oils are not bad on carbon build up either.
I was always up on chain cleaning and oiling every night, kerosen a drip tray (a yard of guttering with two stop ends on) and a paint brush i used to pour the kerosene back in a old can after cleaning and then lube the chain left the guttering under the chain overnight to help keep oil off the floor. Had tyres punctures slack spokes rusted spoke nipples and wheel bearings but really it was chains and sprockets the big thing to look after.
I like two strokes they just want to survive and do that very well on not a lot of maintenance.
 
I soaked my xt oring chain in used motor oil. The salt was rough on chains. The xt still has the original chain. But my rims rotted from inside out. The spoke nipples are siezed. Aluminum rims are a nightmare in salt.

I had friends with chromed aluminum cast harley wheels....what a mess. Pretty much toast. I called it poison ivy chrome...blistered and bubbled up. High grade cast aluminum plated with chrome is a bad idea for a bike in the weather. Another friend installed chrome rocker boxes on his sportster. I found a piece of chrome flaked off and galled the rocker shaft. Some file work solved the issue. But probally would have thrown a pushrod if I didnt catch it. My concerns were heard. A friend brings his new harley over...what no chrome. He smiled and said you told me not to get chromed engine parts..what a a pretty bike with polished aluminum. No chrome and cast wheels are great for winter beater bikes. Unfortunately the rim prices is high on dual sports compared to complete sets for mx bikes.

Why mx bikes and dualsports dont use the same wheels is nuts.
 
Danno said:
I soaked my xt oring chain in used motor oil. The salt was rough on chains. The xt still has the original chain. But my rims rotted from inside out. The spoke nipples are siezed. Aluminum rims are a nightmare in salt.

I had friends with chromed aluminum cast harley wheels....what a mess. Pretty much toast. I called it poison ivy chrome...blistered and bubbled up. High grade cast aluminum plated with chrome is a bad idea for a bike in the weather. Another friend installed chrome rocker boxes on his sportster. I found a piece of chrome flaked off and galled the rocker shaft. Some file work solved the issue. But probally would have thrown a pushrod if I didnt catch it. My concerns were heard. A friend brings his new harley over...what no chrome. He smiled and said you told me not to get chromed engine parts..what a a pretty bike with polished aluminum. No chrome and cast wheels are great for winter beater bikes. Unfortunately the rim prices is high on dual sports compared to complete sets for mx bikes.

Why mx bikes and dualsports dont use the same wheels is nuts.
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Uk climate and road salt is a rust breeder like few others, its a constant battle car or bike and on bikes you highlighted the spiked wheel thing, the British made stainless spokes and nipples is the way to go on decent chrome rims or aloys DID Rims and boriani rims seem to do fine on rust but you have to give them a chance by sealing them as well as you can around the holes and valve and any rim lock stud holes there might be.
I used castrol waterpump grease to seal mine the super thick white stuff its along with the rubber rim band with a good coating of red rubber grease especialy on the underside did a good job of protection from the inside in any case. Externally gust try and keep it clean around the spokes the old tooth brush and diesel thing still works like it always did even in these modern fancy aerosol can wonder strays times we live in.
Chains, ! Its O ring chains or nothing for many on bikes and wile the lube is still in and the seals intact could be a good thing, but when they have gone even a few of them its set to wear and potentially lit crud in the one side and prevent lube entry or crud exit the other, Ok i am cheap accepted and stubborn and just a tad old fashioned too and cheapo industrial chain does Matty just fine thank you. I put it on 50c to 1100ccetc and never a problem i can change chains more often and keep a good eye on condition during regular maintenance and above all cleaning better and getting lube in well too. I am of the opinion there is no short cut to long chain life regardless of what type you buy and i simply dont feel o ring chains do any better than non o rings as if the lubes out the lubes out ill spend a bit of time and spend a bit less cash every time. YOMV.
 
I need a truck for work, so that's out of the question. I've ridden on frozen roads, but got nothing to prove to myself anymore. First year I had my FZ07 I put almost 13k miles on it joyriding after work.

I couldn't enjoy my bikes if not for the work truck bringing home the bacon, so I don't let it bother me anymore. Nothing exciting about slogging down the road in a 10,000lb Grumman with the aerodynamics of a five gallon bucket pointed the wrong way, but I got a couple rocketships waiting at home for me!
 
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