I usually try to avoid the snow and resort to commuting only this time of year.But after two winters commuting on the 6r I've had to ride in snow/ice several times bye accident.Now that I've got some experience and my gears defeating the weather, I just felt like trying some more extreme weather and roads today, it was alot of fun and I just wanted to share.
I keep my bike in my laundry room lol, so I literally had to dig a path around my house to get to the street.
The streets in town were clear and dry in places, the next picture is about 15 miles out of town where I turned off of the main county road
There's a creek on the far side of the bike with a nasty drop in places.The road had alot of turns the next mile or two, but no hills yett.I saw a cow off in the woods so I stopped.It was alone, in a bad looking area without food.So I revved my engine to get it up and going.Luckily a couple driving their side by side atv came by, I showed them and they took the problem off of my hands and went to find the owner.The cow is the dark dot in the middle of the next photo.I hope they got it out of there by now.
When I left that area, I started encountering hills.I had to ride up about a dozen that are worth remembering.I had to push the bike up a few hills over the next few miles and take several breaks.One hill was about a 50' drop over a distance of around 100', I stopped at the top and tried inching my way down at walking speed.But the bike just took off, both brakes were locking up and I could see ice in places I was heading towards, I got into a situation where I needed both feet on the ground while using the rear brake, I reacted fast and flipped the kill switch so I could put my right foot down and use engine compression as a rear brake.It worked great and I got my speed back down to a walking pace before the front end finally washed out.I was almost able to lay my bike on its side, but technically i ended up in a ditch lol.My ankle twisted the gear shifter, but other then that my painted parts never touched down.After i got my bike on the sidestand, i used the spark plug socket with a cheater bar to gently bend the shift lever to a rideable position.There wasn't snow or moisture on the side of my bike anywhere and I was in a few inches of snow so I'm certain its scratch free.When I went to lift my bike up I snagged the turn signal on my clothing and yanked the signal off of the bike.No big deal tho, as long as there's no scratches.Jt even offered me a new turn signal if needed, thanks alot JT.
The hill from hell, sorry for the term but I can't think of another one that suits it lol.
There's a waterfall at the bottom of the valley I was in at this point.I knew it would be frozen and its why I chose this route, picture opportunity.I hope they turn out nice.
But since I was in the bottom of a valley, I had to get up the opposite side of the hill from hell.
That isn't gravel, its sand a farmer dumped on ice.I made it half way up then started sliding backwards.I tried it again using a different line and ended up pushing the bike to the top, probably the last 50'.The soles on the Alpinestar ridge boots are amazing lol.They are serrated almost and even grip on ice.
Finally made it back onto solid ice after a few more hills I was able to ride.I can handle snow or ice, but it was really hard to take on both at the same time.
It might seem stupid to some people to ride on ice like this.But I'm getting comfortable with it and this was one of the funnest rides I've been on.I just need something with knobbies for the future.Believe it or not, I was gone for 2 hours total wearing a $20 pair of Speed and Strength gloves, my summer gloves actually.I own snowmobile gloves and had them with me, but I didn't need them today.The bar mitts were $15 on amazon, and I have a pair of the $20 Tusk grip heaters.I just wanted to mention that in case anyone is struggling with heated gloves or something.I hope everyone enjoys this, I'm going to go clean off my bike now.Cheers to another year we get to ride
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I keep my bike in my laundry room lol, so I literally had to dig a path around my house to get to the street.
The streets in town were clear and dry in places, the next picture is about 15 miles out of town where I turned off of the main county road
There's a creek on the far side of the bike with a nasty drop in places.The road had alot of turns the next mile or two, but no hills yett.I saw a cow off in the woods so I stopped.It was alone, in a bad looking area without food.So I revved my engine to get it up and going.Luckily a couple driving their side by side atv came by, I showed them and they took the problem off of my hands and went to find the owner.The cow is the dark dot in the middle of the next photo.I hope they got it out of there by now.
When I left that area, I started encountering hills.I had to ride up about a dozen that are worth remembering.I had to push the bike up a few hills over the next few miles and take several breaks.One hill was about a 50' drop over a distance of around 100', I stopped at the top and tried inching my way down at walking speed.But the bike just took off, both brakes were locking up and I could see ice in places I was heading towards, I got into a situation where I needed both feet on the ground while using the rear brake, I reacted fast and flipped the kill switch so I could put my right foot down and use engine compression as a rear brake.It worked great and I got my speed back down to a walking pace before the front end finally washed out.I was almost able to lay my bike on its side, but technically i ended up in a ditch lol.My ankle twisted the gear shifter, but other then that my painted parts never touched down.After i got my bike on the sidestand, i used the spark plug socket with a cheater bar to gently bend the shift lever to a rideable position.There wasn't snow or moisture on the side of my bike anywhere and I was in a few inches of snow so I'm certain its scratch free.When I went to lift my bike up I snagged the turn signal on my clothing and yanked the signal off of the bike.No big deal tho, as long as there's no scratches.Jt even offered me a new turn signal if needed, thanks alot JT.
The hill from hell, sorry for the term but I can't think of another one that suits it lol.
There's a waterfall at the bottom of the valley I was in at this point.I knew it would be frozen and its why I chose this route, picture opportunity.I hope they turn out nice.
But since I was in the bottom of a valley, I had to get up the opposite side of the hill from hell.
That isn't gravel, its sand a farmer dumped on ice.I made it half way up then started sliding backwards.I tried it again using a different line and ended up pushing the bike to the top, probably the last 50'.The soles on the Alpinestar ridge boots are amazing lol.They are serrated almost and even grip on ice.
Finally made it back onto solid ice after a few more hills I was able to ride.I can handle snow or ice, but it was really hard to take on both at the same time.
It might seem stupid to some people to ride on ice like this.But I'm getting comfortable with it and this was one of the funnest rides I've been on.I just need something with knobbies for the future.Believe it or not, I was gone for 2 hours total wearing a $20 pair of Speed and Strength gloves, my summer gloves actually.I own snowmobile gloves and had them with me, but I didn't need them today.The bar mitts were $15 on amazon, and I have a pair of the $20 Tusk grip heaters.I just wanted to mention that in case anyone is struggling with heated gloves or something.I hope everyone enjoys this, I'm going to go clean off my bike now.Cheers to another year we get to ride
Sent from my BNTV600 using Tapatalk
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I don't think these bikes were exactly designed for pushing up a 100' Ice covered hill! 
