Winter riding

[Will F]

Bloody salt is coming soon! I will not be venturing out in it but may ride her for this weekend on our annual dent trip,if it's too foul the hayabusa will take the dirt!
Just wondered how many oc members ride the bikes through winter?

[Miti]

Hi Will;

I think this depends largely on location... I moved up North of Glasgow , back in '97 and carried on all-year riding until about five years ago... That was after I had to replace all the calipers on my ride-to work hack (1984 - VF1000FE) after that year's salt had corroded them so badly that they were actually beyond reconditioning...

I have a few bikes and NONE of them is less than 20 years old... Parts are becoming scarce and expensive, so corrosion damage has to be taken seriously...

I know a few folks who are still all-year-round riders, but nearly all of them live South of the M4...  I still remember the day I collected my V1000 from Cheshire.  It was a lovely January day - bright sunshine all day... I drove down with a pal and we had a great chat and a cuppa with the po, prior to loading her up onto my bike trailer... The grin disappeared off my face when we arrived home and I realised that the spray from the car had liberally coated the bike with road salt..!! I washed here down there and then (still on the trailer) and took the following day off work to ensure that I could get into every nook and cranny and get the salt off...   

Dent is a great place to ride around... The lanes between Sedbergh, Dent and Kirby Lonsdale hold many happy memories for me.... Will you be popping into the George or the Rising Sun for refreshment..?

Miti

[Rob B]

Hello Will,

The Nickel framed Vampire certainly doesn't go out during the winter although it would be the best one for the job because the fairing works well. The V1000 with painted frame does if it has to but gets a hot water wash as soon as I get home, although some say that hot water is the wrong thing to do. Any thoughts?

Fortunately I have got a very early 955i Daytona for the winter that cost almost nothing, is worth less than nothing and is absolutely brilliant! Everyone should have one in the garage or just left outside and neglected for the winter months. Apart from a new battery every two years, an oil change every five and an ocasional hose down it gets no pampering and just works. Maybe this will be the winter when it lets me down for the first time, but probably not.

If you do ride the Hesketh through the winter and want to power the headlights, heated gloves or whatever then definately throw the Sparkrite regulator in the bin and replace it with a Boyer Bransden Power Box.

Have a good ride

[REMF]

My 'cooking' bike is a BMWR1150GS. Not the ugliest bike in the world....but close.
(Fit Sargeant seats and it's actually very comfortable)

A lot of the GS owners who use their bikes all year round in adverse weather use ACF50.
The recipe seems to be to clean the bike in late Autumn and get it perfectly dry - even using a leaf blower to assist if neccessary.
cover the bike with ACF50  http://www.acf-50.co.uk/motorcycle.htm,  avoiding the brakes and lenses.
By next year the bike will look horrible, but all the gunge will be stuck to the spray; not to the bike.
When you clean it off next spring, all will be nice and shiny

[Scott]

Hi all,

Of note, I ride my trusty workhorse (BMW R1150 R) 365 days(ish) a year with a daily work commute of 130 miles including ice and snow! Other than usual corrosion/pitting issues (minor) my main battle is, like Jeff's bike, is the callipers which have had to be stripped down a couple of times.  Due to time riding, i rarely clean the BMW - every other month -  but I do coat the bike with used engine oil before the first salt application arrives.  On the whole this seems to work quite well but I will reapply about once a week.

Scott