Anyone care to offer advice or experiences regarding getting out when there is still ice or snow on the road?
I have a neighbor whose continued to ride through most of the winter but he has a side car which obviously gives a degree of stability. I'm plenty tempted but don't want to find out the hard way that tires won't track across a slick.
I've ridden a bicycle on ice before and it just went out from under sideways. Will this also happen to a larger MC? I remember seeing in the movie "Girl on a Motorcycle" (1968) where they went riding down a very snowy road to a loggers cabin.

 

I don't think it is worth the chance that something will cause the bike to go down and you'd be left with nothing but damage.

 

It's one thing to ride on a clean road with freshly fallen snow flurries until you get to lower altitude.

Quite another to ride a winter road with ice/packed snow.

You know how a bike will fall on snow/ice? It is an accelerated fall, relative to a dry-road fall.

Now imagine a 600+ lb. Harley.

You not only will fall and damage your bike.

You will damage yourself: you will wreck your knee as you instinctively try to stick your leg out to prevent the fall but get no traction...and the bike will still fall on your leg.

 

You can do what you want, but I personally think anyone that willingly takes there bike out on a icy/snowy road needs to have their head examined.

 

Better safe than sorry, big bikes are tough to handle on icy surfaces. I have ridden lots of snow with off road bikes but don't want to on my Harley.

See this:

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/harle...highlight=snow

 

I got the Harley snow tires and plow kit for my Bonz. I did my driveway and all my neighbors. The only thing wrong the plow is slow going down. .......

 

I rode around the block once back in the seventies. My bike slid out from under me four or five times. I knew then I'd never do that again. Haven't thought about it since and never will.
My $0.03

 

No, don't do it... you'll be sorry cause you will go down. I've ridden while snowing and believe me when I say out of necessity, not pleasure. I'd have found a motel if the roads were snow packed or icy. And come on, your neighbor with the side car is just having a blast, there is no comparison with a two wheeler.

 

+1 and it was a light bike (Honda XL 175) with enduro tires on it. After picking myself up several times from hard falls a VERY SLOW speeds, I turned tail and rode back home, parked the bike and walked over to the girlfriend's house. Long walk, but worth it!

 

Yeah don't risk it man-not worth it and spring will be here soon. I have rode alot of dirt bikes in the snow and on the ice and it does not take much to go down and they go down fast! I big HD is going to go down like a ton of bricks and you will be the landing pad. Just relax, go back inside and turn on the TV! Plus you don't want to get all that salt all over you bike-not good.