ElectricMotorcycleForum.com
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Richard230 on December 26, 2016, 05:07:55 AM
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Here is a link to a potentially useful and scary article by Bike Bandit regarding the dangers of "black ice" and how to detect it. The blog includes a disturbing video showing nothing but cars skidding on ice and smashing into things, which is not all that helpful, unless you like to see cars skidding and spinning on ice and smashing into things. :o
http://www.bikebandit.com/blog/post/black-ice-the-invisible-winter-threat (http://www.bikebandit.com/blog/post/black-ice-the-invisible-winter-threat)
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I've commuted in icy conditions in Portland and Seattle. I've gone down once in freezing conditions but it was surprisingly on hard-packed fresh snow rather than ice (I was also still a novice rider). I've seen cars careen around because of these conditions.
It's much preferable to have dual sport geometry to control your balance dynamically, and some offroad-oriented tires to deal with the actual traversal.
Mainly, just consider the conditions that promote this: resting moisture on the ground just before an overnight freeze, and then consider where it will likely form. You can get around it quite easily if you understand where it's going to happen (not just geographically but what part of the pavement in that area will get the ice vs stay dry). It also helps to plan a route that minimizes elevation changes and slow down to avoid requiring traction. Preferably, delay commuting until the sun is shining so that either it melts the ice or visibility is good enough for you to see and avoid the traps.
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I'm about as hard-core as anyone on two-wheels; I never "put the bike away for winter." But if there is any chance of ice/snow on the roads, I take the car (I have a 2001 Subaru I bought SPECIFICALLY for those days when riding would be far too risky). I bought the car brand new and it JUST broke 90,000 miles this year.
By contrast, my 1999 BMW K1200LT (which I also bought brand new) broke 200,000 miles, my 2013 BMW C650GT just topped 20,000 miles and my 2016 Zero S (which I picked up in April) now has over 7,000 miles on it.
If you REALLY want to ride in icy conditions and refuse to consider more than two wheels, maybe you should consider:
http://www.aerostich.com/self-tapping-carbide-tire-studs.html (http://www.aerostich.com/self-tapping-carbide-tire-studs.html)
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presuming you are being more cautious, is there a typical way a Zero will lay down from loss of traction on ice?
how to protect fhe bike specifically a Zero?
what challenges should a rider be prepared for when this happens?
would it be unwise to find some ice and practice riding on that surface?
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unless you like to see cars skidding and spinning on ice and smashing into things.
Sure, I once spent an "interesting" hour waiting for a train in the freezing cold, watching cars coming into the car park, hitting the ice, and very slowly spinning out of control into the kerb. It was like slow motion automotive ballet. ;D
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presuming you are being more cautious, is there a typical way a Zero will lay down from loss of traction on ice?
how to protect fhe bike specifically a Zero?
what challenges should a rider be prepared for when this happens?
would it be unwise to find some ice and practice riding on that surface?
Any bike will lay down very hard if it does on ice or hard packed snow. The time I went down was on a V-Strom and the tail assembly was warped by the impact; at 5mph. :(
Crash bars can't hurt. Wear armored layered gear.
The Zero doesn't have much to damage; just needs a way to land on something sacrificial that won't transmit a lot of shock to the frame itself.
I will say that I gave up car ownership 10 years ago, so my perspective is about making it work, not that it works that well. I had already learned to drive in a real upstate NY winter in a pickup truck.