I live in central Michigan so winter a thing. The worst of it is over, so I guess I made it. A 30 mile round trip commute to work with snow and ice, with little incident. I did fall once going like 5mph lol, it was pretty silly.

Admittedly, I had alot of factors going for me that many other would be winter commuters likely wouldnt.

I work at a school, so for those real bad days, school would likely be closed. Also, about 22 out of the 30 mile trip is dirt roads, and of those paved miles, about 6 are 55mph speed limit. The whole trip is super low traffic.

I seem to have the perfect bike for it, a Yamaha XT225, and put the fattest Tusk Adventure tires I could find, and finally, put about 50 studs per tire. They were igrip brand (St 11-f). I think Ive only lost 1/100 studs so I’m happy with them, although they were a PITA to install since the bit warped throughout the process, making the 2nd 50 take 2-3x to stud than the 1st 50. Igrip did sent me a free replacment bit though.They seem to give me a good balance of grip between snow, ice, mud and pavement.

Lens fog/freeze was a challenge. Pinlock helped but it will be an electric lens next year.

  • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
    4·
    2 days ago

    Good on you.

    The only snow commuting I’ve ever bothered to do was using my tiny little pit bike back when I still had it. It weighs about nine ounces and has a seat height comparable to most library footstools, so you can just ride with your feet out, plenty of throttle throwing a constant roost behind you, and go everywhere absolutely sideways. It’s basically impossible to bite it because even if you dump the bike you can just stand up. It falls over, but you don’t.

    That’s probably not the most efficient nor quietest way to get anywhere but it worked, and damned if it wasn’t a hoot.

  • JayleneSlide@lemmy.world
    5·
    4 days ago

    Bummer about the fall; hopefully you and your bike are unscathed. Massive thumbs up for winter motorcycling! I did it on my FJR, and it was always a tense occasion. And where I live (PacNW) doesn’t have real winters like yours.