After moaning and wallowing in cold driven self pity I forced myself onto the road this morning since the temperature was hovering at a balmy 25F. During the ride a couple things came to mind as reasons to stay off the road in the winter. Not the cheap, obvious ones like “It’s too cold” or “It’s too dangerous to ride whenever it’s cold enough for ice to form on the road”. Everyone knows those. There are more specific, frustrating and teeth grinding reasons to store your scooter or motorcycle in the winter and just stay home and get fat. I guess you can get fat riding too…
Wandering up into the woods the roads become a bit more clogged with snow and ice but with almost no traffic it’s easy to navigate this sort of thing on a Vespa.
When asked why I ride in the winter my responses fall into two categories depending on how I’m feeling. One has to do with the magical appearance of winter. I can’t get enough of the visual splendor that seems to be consumable only by riding. Can’t access it in the car and am too exhausted riding a bike. I’m probably rationalizing here.
The second reason is the challenge. There’s a satisfaction in pushing through winter on a Vespa. It’s probably as close as I’ll ever get to high adventure. K2 is not in my future.
Lot’s of snow still blowing around especially on the smaller secondary roads or private lanes like this one. The Vespa really floats trying to plow through this deep stuff. Still, doesn’t fall into my reasons why one might not want to ride in the winter.
Rust. Just like on a car, riding in winter can eat away at the scooter. And since almost every rider I know baby’s their machine whether a scooter or motorcycle, winter pretty much takes them out of the game.
I just noticed the main body seam turning brown. I read somewhere that it’s just the Italian roast coffee leaking through but something tells me it’s more of a problem than that. Not sure how I’ll proceed.
And the other reason is things just don’t work as well in cold weather leading to all sorts of potential frustrations. Like this morning. Had a nice, winter ride through the countryside and into town to return an overdue library book. By the time I perused the books and made a few choices the fuel line froze again on the scooter. Nothing more frustrating in my book than a scooter that won’t start.
The frustration worsens as it begins to snow. Called a towing company since all my truck and trailer friends are away and they arrive in about 20 minutes only to tell me they can’t “lift” a Vespa.
Off they go and I retreat to the library to call a company that has hauled the scooter before. They can be there in an hour. I walk outside to determine my next move and realize if “feels” warmer. A quick check of the temperature shows it has risen to near the freezing mark and I wonder if the scooter will start now.
Indeed it does. A quick call to cancel the tow and off I go. Ride in the winter and stuff like this will happen. Some say it’s a wonderful opportunity for personal growth. To me it’s a pain.
So, from where I sit, winter riding is cold, frustrating, dangerous, hard on the machinery, and hard on the body and soul. Other than that it’s pretty fun and satisfying.
So, what other reasons am I missing to pack it in for the winter?
I chose not to ride this winter and parked my bike in the Moto lair in hibernation mode. I have ridden the last few winters and my bones just can’t take the dampness from the constant rain. If does perchance snow on the island most people cant drive in it so it makes it dangerous. We also get a lot of heavy pea souper marine fog. It was getting dangerous to ride in and in October on a very foggy morning I was almost taken out on a metal bridge deck when another driver wasn’t paying attention. I did love the beautiful dry fold winter days, you still experience more on a scout or bike, but the risks are outweighing the joys right now for me with winter driving on my bike. Beautiful pictures Steve!
That recurring freezing fuel line, quite annoying. No way to insulate it perhaps? A small can of sterno to light for a few minutes underneath but of course not close in contact with said fuel line?
My major reason to ride in Winter? I swore I would never let snow ever stop me from riding again. This was after being trapped by neighborhood snow for 38 days in the winter of ’07.
I just realized, I’ve never winterized my motorcycles…I’d have to look up how.
Hi, Steve
The one big reason for me to not ride is the uncomfortableness of being cold…when it’s much below 40 degrees (I know, to you that ‘s a heat wave) I just do not pull the scooter out of the garage. It is not while riding, which I can dress for, but for stopping and doing anything…that really gets to me. Of course, snow is a once a year event out here, so other than for watching out for a few slick frozen spots it’s OK from that standpoint. The fact that I’m twenty years older than you may have just a smidge to do with my feelings. I try to make riding a true pleasure, not a necessity!
Karl U
Las Cruces, NM
I like the photos but the snow looks too wet and dreary to be “fun”. I’m afraid that I don’t have any excuses to add to your list.
Steve,
Riding in the winter certainly has it’s unique challenges, but there’s nothing like the feeling one gets after the ride is over, and you’re back at the house safe and warm. You have the satisfaction of knowing you didn’t let the cold get the best of you, and that you are one day closer to spring. Scooter on!
Steve:
Sometimes I wished we had the dryness of where you are instead of our humid air here on the coast with marine fog which freezes on the road. We are not usually able to ride in our conditions when the temps get down to around +3°c, too slippery . . . so all we can do is admire your courage and stamina
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
Dar: My bones are beginning to feel the same, especially my feet. I’m fast approaching the point where it’s difficult, mentally and physically, to head out on the road in the cold. Only my temporary insanity keeps me going.
I just love fog but I have to be careful of my choices to ride in it. There have been more than a few times I’ve found myself on the road muttering, “This is stupid…”.
Charlie6: For those of us riding in winter, we should swear an oath that we’ll re-evaluate our actions against good sense.
I think I have the Vespa under control in terms of the fuel line freeze. Now something different can happen.
Karlu: Knowing you are twenty years older and still riding, regardless of what limits you place on it, is really great to know. Especially when I’m feeling drained and tired.
Thanks for sharing!
RichardM: Dreary looking is often more exciting for me because of the wider range of photographic options. Blue sky and sunshine is not my preferred photo weather…
Rick: The cold hasn’t gotten the best of me I guess though on any given day it feels like it does.
I’ll just keep rolling the scooter out of the garage and ride until I can’t.
bob skoot: I am lucky that the winters here can be dry and the roads largely navigable. We don’t often get those sheens of ice that you do.
I wanted to ride in the morning but I see more snow in the forecast.
Amazing blog. Please keep going.
I really liked your blog.
Hope a 2nd comment is fine (just left one before). I look at the Vespa tires, and they seem a joke for ice/snow conditions (going on what is standard issue from dealer). How do you work around it?
Thanks in advance.
Laurence Alter
Well, I suppose the bigger joke is riding in snow to begin with. Even aggressive winter tires only do a little to improved traction. Chains and/or studs would be the only thing that would make a remarkable difference in traction.
That said, the real secret (in my opinion) to riding in snow and ice is speed. And by speed I mean slow, slower and stop. I’m fortunate that I live in an area with many options to get from A to B with many of them extremely lightly traveled. So I can go slow, stop, push on by foot, pull over to puzzle how I’ll get through something and generally not have to worry about traffic. For many in serious suburban and urban areas this just isn’t an option when traffic flow is forcing you on or will run you down.
Regarding tires, the winter Heidenau tires I have a big and sticky. So even on dry, frozen pavement they have a lot more traction that regular tires. The aggressive tread pattern in good in slush and wet snow. On hard packed snow and ice — nothing helps. Forward motion is a dicey endeavor.
Seeing that rust really gets my blood boiling. I won’t get started on things like ‘premium brand’ and how dealers have found rust on models before they have even left the showrooms but these need treating as soon as you leave the shop.
Probably a bit late for yours but I sprayed my underneath with Waxoyl and all over (inside and out) with ACF-50. Also, over here in the UK, there is a website that sells mudguard extenders to help stop the spray from the tyres. Not sure what the P+P is like from here to you (bloody expensive from the US to Scotland, I know that!) but there might be dealers over your way that import them.
Here are the web pages just in case
https://scooterlab.uk/product/vespa-gts-gtv-sluk-guard-ultra/
https://scooterlab.uk/product/vespa-gts-sluk-tail/
(Check they are compatible with your model as the newer ones have slightly different mudguards and rear ends)
As for riding in the snow, I have never tried it on my auto. Been riding Vespas and Lambrettas since 1986 and just got on with but just not sure with the GTS. All this ABS, traction control and (lack of) clutch makes me more wary of riding in it. I may be wrong in thinking that way but, tbh, I have no urge to find out!
The rust on my Vespa is a direct result of harsh condition use over many years and a near complete disregard on my part for cleaning or caring for the machine. So I’m not troubled by it. But I have seen photos of much newer scooters in salt-free climates that have terrible rust issues. It’s shocking enough that I wonder if I’m not getting the whole story. Hard to trust the reality of things when you don’t have all the information.
Snow riding is challenging but I have to admit that as I get older my tolerance of the cold along with interest in going out to ride is fading. I have some GripStuds for my winter tires but am not sure I’m going to install them. I may just turn into a fair weather rider…