Hello (winter riding and ice)

[Stevenslang]

Hello everyone,

Just had a question about riding in the winter. I have moved to a new flat and unfortunately parking is very limited (I’ve got one spot, but there’s no where near for visitors). So when guests come it’s very difficult. I am debating swapping my car for a motorbike so that people can use my parking spot when they come over. Is it viable to not have a car and only a motorbike for commuting all year round. I would have to ride around 40 miles a day mostly motorways for work. From what I’ve researched before, it’s obviously possibly to ride during the winter (don’t know if it’s comfortable), but I’m more worried about how do I get to work when there is ice and how often is it where the roads are Icey in the uk so I wouldn’t be able to get to work? Or is there a way around this without a car. Should mention I can’t get public transport to work either. 

Thanks,

Steven 

Edited October 2, 2024 by Stevenslang

[AstronautNinja]

If you have a car I'd be keeping it tbh, if you don't have a garage your bike would be stolen almost immediately and 40 miles a day is going to be quite a grind imo. 

 

Yes you can commute daily, many do. Personally that's not something I'd be choosing to do especially if I already owned a car. 

[AstronautNinja]

A topic recently discussed in detail 

 

 

[Pie man]

I would keep the car, I'd rather not have visitors, so anything that would put them off calling the better for me 

[bonio]

When I used to commute I found that there probably two or three days a year when I couldn't get in on the bike because of snow or ice. It wasn't a big hassle as there were buses I could take, and I could usually work from home - I don't know what I'd have done if I hadn't had a bit of flexibility. I was commuting into Cambridge, so in the south and not up in hills, so snow and ice are fairly rare.

Other things to think about losing a car are

* do you ever take passengers? how would that work on a bike?

* do you move large loads? Even a week's food shopping is more than will fit on a bike.

* do you need to do longer journeys? Long journeys on small (I'd say sub 1000cc) bikes aren't much fun. Long journeys (over 300 miles) on any bike are tiring.

There are people here who ride and don't have a car, so it's possible. But there's a lot to think about before taking the jump.

Edited October 2, 2024 by bonio

[RideWithStyles]

Yea stick to the car.

Edited October 8, 2024 by RideWithStyles

[Stevenslang]

8 hours ago, RideWithStyles said:

Yea stick to the car.

Even if you did the bike trying to park a bike and a modern car (their all freakin huge now) in an even large bay or area isnt really enough space for the both.

bikes (even abused shoddy ones) are way too expensive nowadays, some are more expensive than they were new!

 

can you place ground anchors in the floor of your bay (you’ll have to ask permission of your landlord or owner first) or wall so you can secure it at your place? If not its very easy to nick.

Insurance can be a real sticking point until you’re older and many years ncb.

 

doing the training and tests are very expensive and time consuming.

 

Basic kit, especially decent adds up to a good wad of money even before adding luxury.

Most kit is either summer or winter based which is horrible in the other side of the  season and a mid (even with vents and linings) is just not not broad enough so you’ll probably want two pairs of kit…jackets, pants, gloves, boots adding cost and space used up in your flat, which don’t pack well with all the armour.

 

winter riding is mostly miserable.

uk salt is horrendous to bikes so regular cleaning and protecting that should be done in winter is not fun, can you do that easily at your place? 
 

bikes are sensitive to tyre pressures, suspension settings, temperatures and ware.

 

even simple and very slow crashes hurt and replacing kit is costly even before t bike parts.

riding on ice or snow is best avoiding, even a car with cheap Chinese summer tyres your stand a better chance.

Tyres cost more per miles…

damages and general service with a good independent garage isnt much cheaper than a car and worse if you factor in a regular valve check that cars never get.

 

car you can fill full of shite and shopping etc. the biggest topboxes are only around the 50ltr mark and most are odd shaped, panniers are less unless you want the gs sqaure ones but that adds more comprising than it’s could be worth. the kits to mount isnt certain to be available for every bike and model, plus add to cost.

My opinion, you can do trips on 500/600cc bikes very well and cope well with luggage and pillions, stick to twin and triple engine configuration if wanting to do all three as low end flat torque flat torque is great on the road with these engines.

 

there is more im sure that the others can chip in with but that’s enough of the reality from me for now.

Thanks for the detailed response, realistically a car is the better option for me, but if my girlfriend chooses to stay for longer period of times this becomes extremely difficult with two cars at my new place. I believe I can keep up with the upkeep and live with the storage capacity, and cost of having a bike. My only real worry is having to ride it every day with no alternative. So if it’s freezing temperatures, then I’d still have to go out to work. And from what most people have said, that isn’t doable. Thank you 

[Fiddlesticks]

I do ride summer and winter. Only two days a week, 45 miles each way in *most* weathers.

 

Motorways are not usually a problem, even frost isn't usually too much stress. But I have got to the other end of the motorway once to find snow, and took the inevitable spill. Unless you are out to test your skills and have nobbly tyres, snow is just no fun at all.

 

So there's the odd day when I wimp out and take the car.

 

The other thing is, the bike gets washed, dried and garaged after just about every ride, especially when they've gritted the roads or when it's wet. It's a time commitment, offset a bit by better journey times in traffic.

 

Keeping gear clean and dry is another issue, as is maintenance, tyre wear etc. Have heated seats, grips and hand guards, lots of layers, and waterproof outers.

 

For two of us, one car and one bike works well, but I wouldn't want to be completely without a car for the practical stuff.

[RideWithStyles]

Well that’s the rub if you want visitors the slight inconvenience

Edited October 8, 2024 by RideWithStyles
Autocorrect

[Nick the wanderer]

Hi,

Keep your car and park it somewhere else when you have visitors. There is always somewhere to park and if you have to walk ten minutes so be it.

Much much better than commuting on a bike in winter, that distance you will quickly hate it. Yes there are some that do it but they are a minority with webbed feet and furry backs.