It’s officially winter now and for many of us that means that our riding has ended until spring, or at the very least is very much curtailed. So what now? What are the tricks and tips that we can employ to get us through these next few months?
Some of our members live in areas of the country are just now getting into prime riding season and for them it is the middle of summer where they have to deal with a climate that is adverse to outdoor activities like motorcycle riding. I’m looking at you Florida. Specifically south Florida. Some other areas such as Phoenix, Arizona also fit into this category. So that’s the first tip….take a trip to where riding in the winter is the best time to ride.
Take A Bike Trip
There are many areas around the country where you can travel to and find great wintertime riding. TWISTED ROAD recently list 10 such spots around the country that are ideal for a winter trip that is centered around riding. They will even hook you up with a rental bike to use if you don’t want to bring your own along. You can see their complete list HERE And don’t forget about Mexico!
But what about us regular smucks that don’t have the time, or the funds needed to just take off and travel to warmer climates? What can we do to get through these deep dark winter days? I’m glad you asked, because there are things you can do.
Get Warmth
Let’s start with the idea cold can be overcome with the proper gear. Wearing the proper gear can extend your riding season by allowing you to stay safe and comfortable down into very low temperatures. Our friends at The Riding Obsession put out a great article on prepping for winter riding a few years ago. You can read it HERE
Secondly, some simple modifications to your bike, or just getting the right kind of bike for winter riding can make a huge difference. When it comes to winter riding, the wind is your enemy. Cutting down wind chill begins with getting a bike that has some kind of wind protection. Adding a windshield to your naked bike, or replacing your stock windshield with a larger one for winter riding, will make a huge difference in your riding comfort. Hand guards, hippo hands, or heated grips can really affect your comfort in a positive way and are relatively inexpensive to add. MADSTAD offers MSTA members a good discount too!
I will usually bundle up, including my electric jacket and my long johns, on dry days for as long as I can. But when the salt goes down on the road the bike won’t come out. Salt is the enemy of your bike. It will get into places where almost no amount of cleaning can get it out. It will corrode parts and cause irreparable damage to finishes. Unless you’ve got a bike that you just don’t care about, stay away. Far away. So if you’re in the areas where snow is prevalent and salt on the roads is common for months, what do you do when you can’t just ride?
A Winter Project
Well one thing that many people turn to is their garage/workshop and a project bike! I’ve done this myself a few years. My deal is that I like riding more than wrenching though. So what I’ve done is spend the winter months taking a non-running bike and making it running again. I then sell it for what I have in it and let someone else do the finishing work. I put up an article a few weeks ago about setting up your garage/workshop. Let me repeat here that HEAT is a must if you’re going to be making this a winter project. Hours spent bringing a bike back to life are rewarding the 1st time you hear that bike run or ride it down the road, even if they aren’t as much fun as your regular riding. My advice is to pick something cheap. The cheaper the better. But don’t take on a basket case unless you’re willing to make it a long term project. This should be something to get you through the winter and not looked at as a money maker.
Road Trip
Sometimes just a day trip or an overnight to an interesting motorcycle related business or facility is just what the doctor orders. January is typically the time of the year when dealers start to get in their new lineup of bikes. The new models are hitting the showrooms nc that’s a good excuse to take a day and visit a local dealership. Often the dealerships aren’t busy at this time of year and you can get more access to the bikes too.
Or perhaps a longer road trip? Unfortunately they no longer do the traveling bike show that used to hit 10-15 cities around the country during the winter. But there are still many destinations worth checking out over a couple of days. If you can do these kind of trips with your riding friends it makes it even more fun. First on the list would probably be going to Birmingham Alabama and visiting the BARBER MOTORCYCLE MUSEUM If you’ve been there you know, and if you haven’t been, put it on your list! Plan to spend at least a day in the area and at the facility. It’s well worth it. There are also plenty of other smaller motorcycle collections around the country that you can spend time at. The AMA has a really nice one in the Columbus, Ohio area and there are smaller collections all around the country. Here’s a small list: 10-must-see-motorcycle-museums-across-america
Start Planning
I always spend some of my time in the winter planning my motorcycle trips for the next year. This is the time of year when my BASECAMP software gets a good workout. I’ll spend hours working on routes. Creating and refining them based on new information or new ideas of what I’d like to see and where I’d like to go next year. Internet searches and articles from such publications as Road Runner and Rider magazines are used for inspiration.
MSTA Meetups
Many of our state organizations hold monthly breakfast and/or lunch meetups year round every month. I try to make as many of these as I can. We socialize, tell stories, talk about our bike projects and riding plans, and generally just share some cheer and positivity about what is to come. These small interactions with other club members really help me to get through the dark winter days and give me something to look forward too every month.
Reading About Motorcycles
When it gets dark at 5:30 in the evening, 8pm feels like midnight. I enjoy watching sports on TV, but most of the time the TV is really just background noise. More often than not I’m either reading a book, a magazine, or on the internet while I’m “watching” TV. Often that reading is centered around motorcycles. I get a few motorcycle magazines (Road Runner and STAReview are my most favorite), subscribe to a few motorcycle blogs, and collect motorcycle books. Especially motorcycle travel books. I’ll never ride around the world, but that doesn’t mean I can’t share the trip through reading a book about someone else doing it.
Motorcycles on TV
I record all the motorcycle racing I can during the racing seasons. MotoGP, Motocross, MotoAmerica, Flat track, and any others that I can. I don’t watch much during the season as I’d rather be out riding than watching. But winter time is a great time to bing watch a racing season. I also try to find as many motorcycle movies as I can and will spend time watching them when there’s nothing else to do. I’ve seen some of them dozens of times over the years and they still amuse and entertain me.
The Internet
Doing exactly what you’re doing here. I check in on several different motorcycle forums and websites every week. I follow the MSTA Facebook groups daily. I spend some time writing for this website. I also use the web as a very valuable resource when planning trips for the next year. I probably spend way too much time on the internet, if you want to know the truth. But while it certainly Doesn’t do much for my health and weight goals, the internet has opened up a whole new world of motorcycle information. It’s way to easy to go down a rabbit hole on YouTube or elsewhere in the web and find you’ve wasted several hours. On the other hand, every hour you have wasted there during Winter is another hour closer to Spring that you are.
Isn’t that the goal?
😂