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Message started by Oldfeller on 11/01/12 at 12:02:18

Title: Joys of the mid-winter ride
Post by Oldfeller on 11/01/12 at 12:02:18

Like some here, I don't take the battery out of my Savage, I use a tender instead.

This means on those occasional days the weather is half-way decent I get to invent a reason to go take a ride.

Today, I went to the library. I had a reserved book come in, so I HAD to go. ;)

Pull the tender, turn the petcock on, poke the choke, crank the bike and give it a little hold at a moderate RPM for 5-10 seconds, then pushed the choke in to half way and put my coat and gloves on.

Choke in, I ran the stop sign at the end of my street dragging the right peg and I goosed it while still all the way over just to see if the new tire would grip good when cold -- it did.

Proceeded at my normal pace to the library and back, big assed silly grin on my face.

Savage when tweeked is the tightest package of fun you can get apart from mebbe a supermoto bike. Certainly it is the city sleeper of all times as when the cops look at you they don't see anything worth paying attention to. Guys at gas stations always guess "250?" and really don't believe the real answer.

My Savage is a lot of fun and I will leave mine running all winter just to catch an occasional day just like today.

It comes under the heading of "chicken soup for the soul".

:)

Title: Re: Joys of the mid-winter ride
Post by verslagen1 on 11/01/12 at 12:53:30

Ah the joy of riding year 'round.
The donning of insulated apparel.
To choke or not to choke.
The riding in the brightly lit dark.
The effervescent cheer of all the northern riders. :-?

Title: Re: Joys of the mid-winter ride
Post by Pine on 11/01/12 at 13:44:38

Nice.. just did the same today!!

Son got sick.. so i drove home, picke him up and off to the doc. Got back and since it was noon and a balmy 79... hop on the bike and off to work. Been two weeks without that medicine and it was sorely needed.

(didnt even use the choke.. no warm up... and I aint bought a battery tender yet) But I want to...

Title: Re: Joys of the mid-winter ride
Post by ZAR on 11/01/12 at 18:38:49

I ride almost every day it's over 38* at 7:00 am and no rain in sight. That means a good part of the winter here in Kentucky. Warm (and windproof) gear makes the 40 mile ride to work bearable.

At 50* and sunny today(my day off!)I made good use of the weather and rode both bikes today. The Kawasaki(1980 KZ440 LTD)has sat for a couple of months and needed a good bit of coaxing(memo to self:get a battery tender hooked up to this one)to get rolling.

The Savage needed a jump but fired off and ran like a champ. Rode it to town (20 mile round trip) and was comfortable ;D in jeans and leather jacket. When it gets cold I pull out the BiLT Storm pants,Freeze-out brand mask and insulated riding gloves.

I have ridden comfortably below 30*F for short runs of 10 miles or less but at those temps I drive the truck to work!

Guess I'm getting soft in my old age :'(

Title: Re: Joys of the mid-winter ride
Post by runwyrlph on 11/01/12 at 18:44:14

697261330 wrote:

I ride almost every day it's over 38* at 7:00 am and no rain in sight. That means a good part of the winter here in Kentucky.

Title: Re: Joys of the mid-winter ride
Post by ZAR on 11/01/12 at 19:04:51

35223C32323E28510 wrote:

[quote author=697261330 link=1351796538/0#3 date=1351820329]I ride almost every day it's over 38* at 7:00 am and no rain in sight. That means a good part of the winter here in Kentucky.

That's about my standard too, but in Western PA it means i'm off the road from mid november 'till April

I did actually go for a ride on new years day 2012 in jeans , jacket and gloves- i think that was my first january ride[/quote]

Yep! This last winter was so mild I made runs of at least 25 miles on all the Holidays. Christmas run was almost 50 miles.

I'm afraid what this winter will be like.

Title: Re: Joys of the mid-winter ride
Post by 07s40scotty on 11/01/12 at 20:07:14

I too took the beast out today... was an awesome day to ride at almost 60 degrees here in TN. Surprised me though because I didn't need the choke ( got down to 28 last night). My bike loves the cooler temps- which is good because I haven't gotten around to putting a battery tender on yet

Title: Re: Joys of the mid-winter ride
Post by ZAR on 11/01/12 at 20:20:21

0C0B4F080C4F5F534848453C0 wrote:

Scotty so far I've run my '96 at 36* and 1/2 choke is all I've needed. Full choke will kill her. Course that may indicate cleaning or adjustment is needed :-/

Title: Re: Joys of the mid-winter ride
Post by 07s40scotty on 11/01/12 at 20:28:20

Maybe lol. :)
I love the winters down here! Compared to Upstate NY this is like the equator

Title: Re: Joys of the mid-winter ride
Post by Pine on 11/02/12 at 08:34:02

Woohoo.. my son talked me into riding the bike to work today. Of course it took two cups of coffee to warm me up once I in. Dress slacks just do not stop the wind!

The BEST part will be in about an hour when I go to Hooters for a shrimp and spinach salad.. dern those things are good! And they dont put you to sleep when you get back to the office.

Title: Re: Joys of the mid-winter ride
Post by verslagen1 on 11/02/12 at 09:04:58

566F6863726974060 wrote:

Slip an old pair of levi's over them, not warm enough for the dead of winter, but a lot better than slacks.

Title: Re: Joys of the mid-winter ride
Post by LANCER on 11/02/12 at 17:40:02

I was out for an hour late yesterday afternoon for an hour.
It was a beautiful day for a ride. Jeans, leather jacket and lite gloves made it comfortable.
Had just installed a new muffler, trumpet type, and was very pleased with it's performance; will post pics of it and another new muffler on the other S40

Title: Re: Joys of the mid-winter ride
Post by Blinky on 11/02/12 at 18:07:21

This will be my first fall and winter riding so I am in the process of sorting out my cold weather gear. The ICW miltary surplus boots are working fine. Winter gloves will be the next on the list. Took the bike out for the 9 mile loop through a few horse farms here in central Kentucky that I ride often to test the Corbin seat that came in earlier today. So far so good. I think it will work out well. A couple of pictures of what passes for "chicken soup for the soul" around here.
Good hunting
http://p1.bikepics.com/2012/11/02/bikepics-2474944-full.jpg

http://p1.bikepics.com/2012/11/02/bikepics-2474945-full.jpg

Title: Re: Joys of the mid-winter ride
Post by Paraquat on 11/03/12 at 02:57:17

I like that first picture.

--Steve