’Tis the season to put your motorcycle away for a couple of months if you’re a sane person, but if you’re like me or this guy in the video here and prefer to squeeze in a few more riding days this year before massive snowstorms land upon us, better check your tires first.
I totally understand the brave fellow in the video here. Just this morning I rode to work in -4 degrees Celsius (24.8 F). It’s pretty scary, but it quenches that need of two-wheeling around.
Still, I mostly filtered my way through sitting traffic at slow speeds and my bike is equipped with those malleable Pilot Road tires everyone is talking about. And the street was bone dry.
In my opinion, that’s pretty safe for riding if you’re careful and feather the controls. On the other hand, what’s this Finnish rider doing here is quite dangerous. Although he’s riding a lightweight, maneuverable off-road enduro bike, his tires are not exactly what you’d call fit for the road conditions.
His Yamaha DT125 is fitted with knobby tires, which might be good in sand and some powdered snow, but not on the icy roads he’s going. Moreover, he admits they are very worn out, but he still chose to ride that day.
“Yes, I’m a f*****g dumbass for riding on those tires,” the guy admits on a forum. “But hey, I'm young and stupid, making bad decisions is what I do.”
Well, haven’t we all been there? Anyway, as expected the bike suddenly lost traction and the rider spilled, dragging his butt on the frozen asphalt. The bike got damaged a bit, but honestly, it isn’t much of a loss. It’s just a cheap daily workhorse which has seen better days. And this kind of bike is designed to take the abuse of off-road racing anyway.
On the bright side, the rider is perfectly OK despite wearing standard jeans and dragging his butt all over the road. The ice damaged his bike, but it saved his skin. He also says he’s going to fit his bike with studded tires next. Kudos to him!
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