Ride upright, corner and brake gently.

A few flurries or a dusting of powdery snow is pretty easy to ride in, just ride gently, especially in the turns.

Clear roads with patches of snow, ride gently on the cold pavement, but be ever alert for snow and ice, especially in turns and in shadows. Treat patches of snow like you would treat steel plates in the road, hit them square and upright.

Deeper snow, say an inch or two, is challenging. Especially if it's a wet snow. The bike can wash out from under you very easily. You really need to be gentle and smooth in everything you do. You always want to be positioned such that should a tire slide you've got a chance of staying on top of it. Biggest problem with this is cars are going to be capable of driving much faster than you, so you're going to be crowded, pushed, and cut off by other drivers. It can get darn ugly with this.

Deep snow, ~6" plus, is often impassable to a bike on street tires. Yea, if it's powder you can get through it, but if it's wet and heavy, you'll frequently be stopped. That really sucks, especially if you're on a roadway.

Traveling in the lanes or ruts that cars have cut sounds good, and often is. But that is where snow is compacted to ice or ice like material. Doable when going straight, but turns can get ugly, as can braking and accelerating. You really want to pay attention to the surface, almost foot by foot, as you travel over it.

Icy conditions, I wouldn't even bother to try. Without ice studs in your tires, I don't see how it could be done for more than a few feet at best.

Crash bars on the bike are important, in my opinion. Riding snow, you're going to use them. Picking a bike up in the snow is an interesting experience btw. Those cute video's of girls picking bikes up, they're using traction under their feet. In the snow, you've hardly got any. Makes it much harder to pick the bike up. Especially a heavy bike.

Tire wise, in snow, the more tread grooves the better, in both directions. Nothing smooth or sport bike like. Think adventure type tire, if you can get it. Otherwise, probably the oem type Dunlops are going to be about the best for snow.

You need to be sealed up from the snow, especially if it's actively snowing while you ride. Cold snow hitting your neck and going down your collar chills you fast. A rain suit works well.

 

As a kid in Maine with a sportster, I tried it. It was not fun. I bought a 42’ police trike for the soft beach sand, it was better than two in the snow, but after a couple of explorations in 2-4” of snow, I gave that idea up. Also, Maine on the coast had wet, heavy snow that froze solid each night.

Ice racers have a controlled environment, shoveled off ice. Your road, plowed or unplowed is a potpourri of surfaces. Feet down, marginal speed is maybe the best you can hope to achieve. You can do it, but you’ll be asking yourself why. Also, the Harley may not be the best choice.

Let us know after your first big snow.

Now touring, especially over passes I’ve ridden in snow. I usually try to follow a car or truck tire path. This is not a blizzard, but snow covering the road. Again, wet snow made it easier as it compressed to slush under a tire.

 

I guess it depends on the snow.
One morning riding to work I got stuck in a heavy snow that was not in the forecast. My last part of the drive was down a pretty long curved hill to an intersection. The snow was so heavy and wet that I had zero ability to keep the bike up-rite without using my feet and had to steer with them too. Scared the hell out of me, almost dropped it several times and came extremely close to hitting the curb in the curve. I also slid through the intersection as brakes were completely useless.
I've never had that happen in rain.

 

Lived in Rochester, NY for about 20 years. There was a guy who rode a harley and escorted funerals 12 months a year. In the winter I'd see him a lot. He had what was basically a large set of training wheels.
He knew his stuff. He'd be out in all weather conditions. After seeing him, I'd adopt his solution if I ever needed to.

 

Some guys have an enduro type bike with a miniature snowmobile track on the back and a ski in the front to play in the snow. Never see them on the street. Those studded tires ice racers use are great, never see them on the street either.
I think you will come up with a better idea for next winter if you are still alive and still can’t afford a winter beater.

 

Watch the weather forecast is the best snow riding tip.
A homemade sidehack setup is probably the best solution. Notice the rider uses no brake when slowing for the signal.