SNOWFEKRISSAKES, AND A LITTLE TINY CRASH

Yeah Mr. Bear, I used to ride to high school in the winter, too. The bike was a Norton Scrambler with knobby tires....worked great!

But the Busa isn't as good on snow covered glare ice as the brochures had led me to believe. Looks like I'm not going to be able to make those few extra bucks subbing for the Zamboni this winter.

I was just U-turning on a country road...3 mph...the front went out slowly, my foot went down to steady it but there was no traction for my foot either and my ankle twisted. I slowed that fall as much as I could but...

Getting it up was the challenge (getting it up is always a challenge at my extremely advanced age.) The sore ankle and slippery road and total darkness and driving snow and tandem gravel trucks roaring by didn't help at all. A bit of a scary adventure to say the least.

The usual cosmetic damage. Nothing a little sandpaper and touch-up paint won't hide. I've been VERY lucky on my tip-overs, but the bike looks like a bit of a road warrior compared to most.

The ankle...now it hurts just to floor the cage to pass those pesky motorcycle hooligans that keep getting in the way and risking their foolish and meaningless lives...
 
Forget the ankle, Is your bike OK?

Couldn't resist that cheap shot. Sorry DP
 
...I hate when that happens...last time I rendered a bike unridable it was because of getten caught in a storm like that...dropped the sucker three times before I cracked a case...VFR's don't make good winter bikes I guess, and I didn't expect the Busa to be much better...any tips on winter riding? Is it possible to ride a steetable bike in the snow? A Canadian should have good info, and he only fell once. I was thinken big nobbys or paddles on a DP bike...
 
Being car-less, I've ridden my Bandit 600 through the snow about 4 times. It's possible, but really not recommended since stopping is next to impossible. The fun part was droning past 4x4's that had spun off the 520 during one of the flurries. The driver and the cop gave me a "You idiot" look when I passed them, both feet down, sliding up the carpool lane at 40 mph. Did a little victory dance when I got home :)

Never dropped it in the snow, but put me in a parking lot in the middle of summer...

mbuehler
 
DP- Maybe you were looking up at the Helicopter that was chasing you ?? otherwise who cares about your idiotic flop in the Snow. Cadadians are morons anyway.

161 ®
 
Actually Pete, being as active as possible on your ankle during the day will give you the quickest and most complete recovery. Ice it for 10 min. or so in the AM and PM if you have time...especially PM. Elevate it above the level of your heart while icing. A bit of Ibuprofin is okay, too.

You can touch up the bodywork scratches while you are experimenting with those air intake mods. After all, that's why God invented beer & hammers.

Big bikes are indeed a handful when you have no traction. Japanese big-bore sport bikes are so nimble that you can forget how much mass they have. One slip like that reminds you quick, though. Take it easy.
 
Dr. Bear, right on about the ankle, thanx. I'm doing all that stuff except the elevating. Ankle injuries are disruptive of your life way out of proportion to their seriousness...

I think it's the steep rake of bike bore sport bikes (obviously in combination with the near race-slick baldness of the tires) that makes them so tough to handle in the dirt or snow. When you need a correction the rake makes the bars answer so quick that you (I at least) tend to over-correct.

This is exactly why I go out of my way to ride on dirt/gravel roads for at least part of my commute.

I know guys who actually refuse to get on a dirt road on their sport bike and will just stay behind when you turn onto dirt. These guys are very vulnerable.
 
Dirty Pete, have you contacted ESPN ot MTV yet?

A nice vacation in Crested Butte, Colorado might be in order.

Do you remember thew optional sno-trac that was offered for the Kawasaki H1 many moons ago?

A lot of great inventions came from *mistakes* and you may have *fell* upon something here. RODAN vs ROADKILLAN ice racers from HELL, a new level of excitement at the X-games at the BUTTE!
 
Mind boggling, that site. This guy's onto something that the ice racers I know here will be very interested in because most of them run sport bikes in summer. I'll give them the URL right away so they can prep a bike if they want to.

I can see from the photos that all you have to do is find knobbies to fit your rims and stud them.

I live right on a lake, 25 miles long, that freezes up dead smooth every year for sleds, ATVs and bikes. There's a drag strip set up, a 1/2 mile oval, winter hang gliding, ice sailing/surfing, X country skiing, snowshoeing and a 1/4 mile oval for weekly sanctioned motorcycle ice racing for money...all right outside my back window.

I used to ice race and still run the (very) occasional heat on a friend's bike. These are dirt bikes with a few mods. The traction is greater than on pavement and it's a hoot.

Studs for RoadKill...hmmmmmm
 
Crested Butte - good medicine. I spent 13 summers in Almont (between Gunnison and Crested Butte) Can't believe you guys ride in snow DP. I'm doing good to keep the Busa straight going up through gears in plain ol' rain. We get ice in the worst part of winter here. Fortunately that's a rare occasion. Hey we should get some kind of payback for those 113 degree summer days right?!

[This message has been edited by Todd (edited 06 October 1999).]
 
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