You gotta love the people that buy bikes and keep them in a heated garages only to sell them 7 years later with no use and like new condition. but depreciated to 1/2 the original price. That is how I could buy my 2001 Road King Classic with Liberty sidecar with only 1000 miles on the clock. The true trickle down economy at work.
I remember my Uncle Heinfred,
On a brand new Suzi GS550, in 8 years 5000km = 3.125mi. But he would not even lend it for a ride. The poor engine for sure rottened because of lack of riding.
All my bikes were the opposite. Looked like rats and did see a wash tub only for engine repairs. But they made miles all year round.
At the "tough" riders club (excellent kitchen) they greeted me in snowy January: "Hey Timbuktu, where do you come from, you have again camel sh** on the back". - At least they never bothered me otherwise, seems because they respected a Belstaff-ed wind face on 2 ore 3 wheels in the snow and admitted their wimpy winter 4 wheels.
Now I pay frequently with akeing knees for my youngster foolness. But do you think I regret any moment. Not at all!
I lived and continue living every moment.
As Granny said: "It doesn't matter how old you become. It is important how intensive you live!"
Here we go.
Best wishes
Your Peter Pan.
PS: Rob, Did you include a subroutine to wipe out the 4 letter sh** word? It disappeared 3 times.
Well, I live in South Florida, and we can't wait for winter. The wife and I do two trips a year, spring and fall, to the NC/TN/VA areas where we have encountered snow, sleet, hail and very cold rain. Not having heated clothing, but do have heated grips and finally waterproof gloves and boots, layered clothing as much as I can get under my Tour Master mesh jacket with the rain and warmth liners seems to work with just plain Levi's. I ride a BMW R1200C with Champion, and the C puts out a lot of heat from the oil coolers on both sides of the bike about thigh high. If you are not running too fast, like in snow and ice, you get an amazing amount of usable heat from these sources. I have also found that if you place several layers of newspapers under your clothing between layers it will act as a very good windproofing material and insulate you very well. The bums up north do this and seem to thrive very well. I wear an open, full face helmet with goggles, so a scarf is very important for the nose and mouth. The goggles keep my eyes warm, and the hemlet keeps my head warm. The Arai helmet is very warm. Too warm for summer. The wife is snug in the hack with the windows up and her blanket and pillows handy. Ice on the goggles once got a bit out of hand, but I just slowed down and that took care of it. By the way, riding 3 wheels on snow and ice is a lot more comfortable than riding 2 wheels in the same condition. ABS is also nice to have in this type of weather. But down in south florida, a cold snap means jeans rather than shorts, and long sleve shirts rather than t-shirts and maybe a vent jacket and a liner just to have if it gets chilly or rainy. That's what we do down here.
Uber
It is snowing here as I write so I am only hoping that there will not be enough that they spread the dreaded Salt Sand Mix on the roads. After that goes down the rig goes in the barn until a couple of good spring rains to wash it away. That stuff will EAT anything that even resembles metal.
South FL sounds awfully good from here.
Kevin, you get spray wax which works reasonable, or Bitumen paste to brush on which works great for to protect paint and metal. But for winter riding in deed it is best to have a second rig where you do not have to take a lot of care for.
Sven
