People think riding a motorcycle in winter is painful and nearly impossible. The best part is Who love riding enjoy riding every season. Riding a motorcycle in adverse weather is thrilling, fun, and challenging for them. Most of the riders love to take challenges and want to experience something new and ultimately adverse road conditions and weather will help you to make a better driver.
1. Clothing
Good clothing sense is important for maintaining the right temperature to keep your body warm. Add some clothing that can absorb heat and produce insulation. Don’t wear clothing that restricts movement and wear motorcycle gear. Wear a hood that is helmet-friendly. Wear an Aerostich Windstopper that will protect your neck from the wind and keep you warm. Don’t forget about your legs, wear such type of trousers or pants that are air and water resistant will keep your feet warm.
2. Gear
After perfect layering wear good quality gear that is water resistant. Wear normal gear in mild cold and heated gear if it is unbearably cold. Heated gear is operated by a battery and some of the heated gear available on the market draws power from your motorcycle battery. Some gears come with power supplies and control systems. Like normal gear, heated gear also comes in the form of Gloves, pants, jackets, socks, vests, and many more. Heated gear is a game changer for always maintaining focus and better control of your motorcycle.
3. Inspection
Check your motorcycle properly before riding. Every motorcycle rider should at least check 3 essential things. Tires, fluids, and battery.
Tires: Motorcycle tires shrink and become harder in cold weather resulting in tires not maintaining enough friction to the road. Make sure about tire pressure and condition. To ensure a safe drive, the tire must be in good shape and able to maintain a good grip on the ground. In winter riding a motorcycle’s worn-out tire can prove fatal. Check the tire pressure properly before each ride.
Fluids: Check the fluid level before riding. Make sure your motorcycle engine oil is suitable for winter and it’s not getting any trouble to start even if it is freezing weather. Motorcycle engine coolant is very important for the smooth operation of your motorcycle engine. Where many motorcycle riders are not even thinking about coolant. They think the weather is cold enough to cool down the engine and skip the part which should not be done at all. Engines generate heat no matter how cold the weather is. Select a coolant that has anti-freezing properties. Those motorcycles that come with air cooling systems do not need to worry about coolant.
Battery: Check the battery before riding if it is properly functioning. With lower battery health your bike will struggle to start and you will not ensure your proper visibility on the road. Especially in foggy and snowfall areas.
4. Modifications
Some simple modifications in winter of your motorcycle can make a big difference in driving. Here are some modification tips for those who ride motorcycles in extremely cold weather.
Wind shade: A larger wind shade than the regular helps to block more air passing. For the bigger windshield, your body will less contact with air. It will help to maintain your body temperature and help to retain more heat.
Handguards: The installation of handguards is a good idea. Handguards usually block wind and that helps to keep your hands warmer. As A Result, you can take better control of your motorcycle handlebar.
Heated seats: Most motorcycle riders are not familiar with heated seats. You can install a heated seat on your motorcycle if it is available for your model.
Tires: Install those tires that are specially made for running in the winter season. Which maintains a good grip and traction in extremely cold weather
5. Be visible
Focus on increasing visibility so that you can easily be visible to others on the road. Select such wearing gear that contains eye-catching colors. That will help other drivers to address your existence on the road. Check your motorcycle lights before each ride if they are lighting enough otherwise, other drivers on the road may have trouble spotting you and may result in an accident. Always keep your motorcycle headlight on at a low beam and if it is a deep foggy or snowfall area keep it on a high beam for more visibility keep emergency indicator lights on.
6. Speed
Run your motorcycle at a lower speed or maintain a certain speed so that you can easily control your motorcycle on icy and wet roads. Broken areas or path holes are not always seen due to the soft snow cover that can prove fatal at high speed. Speeding also decreases visibility to the other drivers on the road. To ensure a safe ride avoid speeding.
7. Breaking
When stopping the motorcycle, by letting off the accelerator slow down first then brake from a certain and safe distance and apply both brakes simultaneously.
Before riding, always check the weather conditions. Be prepared mentally to handle any type of difficulty or stressful condition on the road. Avoid riding in adverse weather conditions.