Video: Mr. Subjective Tackles Winter Riding

[advrider]

When you see a video from Minnesota about winter riding, you might understandably think it’s about snowmobiling. But in this case, we’re getting a first-person viewpoint on how to survive winter in the Gopher State on two wheels, from Mr. Subjective himself—Andy Goldfine, founder and big boss at Aerostich.

As you might expect, Aerostich’s one-piece weatherproof suits form an important part of Goldfine’s winter riding formula:

However, there’s a lot more to this than a Gore-Tex onesie. Goldfine layers up for his trips around town, and uses an oversized suit to fit the extra clothes underneath.

He’s also modified his Suzuki DR-Z400 to handle the cold weather, including lowered suspension, heated grips, a sheepskin seat pad, new 18-inch front wheel, and 4.00×18 trials tires with snow studs. Goldfine says the idea was to try the trials tires’ grippier compound, to see if it stuck to the road better in colder temperatures. It seems the tires do have more traction in winter, but he points out that trials tires are made for smaller bikes, and aren’t DOT-legal—and he won’t be using them next season, because they’re shedding their knobs. Take from that what you will! He also tapes the levers to insulate fingers from the cold metal, and he added an accessory LED light for added visibility in winter driving conditions.

There are plenty of other clever add-ons and mods, but one interesting point that some riders may miss: Goldfine actually commuted by bicycle for a few winters before switching to a motorcycle. If you’re silly enough to consider riding your bike around in the snow (something, to be clear, that we at ADVrider do not recommend, because it’s incredibly dangerous even if your skills are up to it), then working your way up from pedal power to a motorcycle seems to be the most sensible way to do it.

Vezi sursa