Midweek topic - Is the 'Winter Bike' dead?

[SteveC#222]

The recent cold snap has me thinking.

In my yoof the start of Winter heralded a change of bikes on the road. Your 'good' bike would get tucked away for the worst of the winter and out would come 'the Winter bike' - this was some manky old sub 250cc beast of dubious heritage and even more dubious roadworthyness that you could still get around and have fun on in the ice and snow but that you weren't too worried about dropping or getting covered in salt and crap.

Usually something cheap and smallish, often East European, MZ's, CZ's were popular along small Jap trail bikes and my personal favourite, the Honda C50/70/90. Bought for a few quid with a few months tax & MOT, these bikes were ideal for getting around and having fun skidding around and doing snow doughnuts while your best bike slept the Winter away and if you killed it by the end of Winter it didn't really matter too much.

But where have they gone? These days you still see the same bikes being used all year round , even in the middle of Winter? ( except of course for Harleys and Ar5e up sports bikes that fly away to a distant Tropical Island till early next Summer).

It may be that the cheap old rats' we use to use are now 'Emerging Classics ' ... have  you seen the price of even a rough MZ or C90 these days! or that the Winters were tougher in my yoof.

Anyone else remember the Winter Rat or have any good stories?

[iansoady]

In my youth I just ran the same bikes year round. A winter bike would have been luxury beyond my wildest dreams.

I have to say an 850 Commando wasn't ideal in the very bad winter of 1983 (I think).....

[timbo]

I just commuted all year round on a Kwak GT550, and it was my only bike, taking me on two long trips around France, endless rallies all over the UK and Ireland, and a trip to the Moto Club de Faro rally in southern Portugal. In the winter, I washed it once a month, then put plastic bags over the front brake discs, and used a whole tin of WD40 to spray the whole bike. Seemed to do the trick. Came off on the ice many times at low speed, and with negligible damage. I stopped winter commuting on a bike once I moved out to the sticks as we get a lot of heavy frosts, and i became a big softie 
I still do ride over the winter but only for pleasure, and this year I'm using my 2002 RE bullet.

[Oldandwornout]

Many moons ago my z550 was used all year round as timbo says wd40 was your best friend , now run a dr650rse as my daily ride (no car) while the tenere just gets abused on the trails when I get time. Have to say though the old bones are not to keen on the cold weather it will probably be me that gives in before the bike , oh to be young !

[CrazyFrog]

My MZ ETZ301 serves that very role Steve, though it's my year round commuter too. 

[Richard]

Whatever is running is my summer or winter bike.

[timbo]

Quick winter commute story. I was heading home from work one dark winters night, on a C90, on a main road in Belfast. The road had had the top surface scraped off for resurfacing, and was poorly lit. I hit a raised manhole cover, the front wheel bouncing over, but the swing arm buckled, jamming the back wheel against it!
Quick look behind, lifted the back wheel clear of the road, and ran across to the safety of the pavement. Went into a petrol station, to phone my mum to tell her I'd had an accident. To which she replied, "I'm in the middle of watching Corrie". I then pointed out to her, that she hadn't even asked if I was alright   
On closer inspection, the swinging arm had more blue Hammerite than metal, NOT holding it together! It still hangs in the shed as a momento 

[xbally]

Yes i used to run a winter bike back in the day..if i recall correctly i had a SS125 Honda twin(very rare beasts-it was proper knackered with massive oil consumption and blue smoke out each exhaust,no centre or side stand-i used to lean it up against a wall or use a push bike prop stand that wasn't strong enough and there was a problem with the carb which meant sometimes when you opened the throttle nothing would happen-fun on the commute to work),DT175 Yam twin shock which wasn't too bad as it was quite new but the 6 volt electrics were carp and the gearing was too low for the road-great off road/in the snow though,TS250 Suzuki-ditto the DT 175.I tried a FR70 scooterette(Suzuki i think -it was that memorable) but i found it too low powered and hated the look of the thing.I then progressed to a 250 WetDream (very reliable but too heavy)and a Z250 Kawa and then an MZ ETZ250 which was quite good.I think i may have had a few more but memory is not what it was!I now run my CB250RSA which is great as it's very light.Back in the 70's my mate used to cut the legshields off a C90 and go off roading.He also had a TS90 Suzuki if i recall correctly?We used to tumble off in the snow and ice all the time as roads were't gritted as they now are and there was nothing like the number of cars on the roads and the standard of driving wasn't as bad as it now is-no mobile phones etc to distract but of course the incidence of drink driving was much higher...oh happy ,happy days...Oh and there was very little in the way of weather / safety protection-no heated grips etc.My water-proof winter footwear was a pair of wellies...hmm

[Smithy]

Like many others I never had the luxury of a winter bike and still don't, whatever is on the road is my main transport year round.

However my mate bought a Reliant every winter as he likes to be warm. I have lost count of the number of times we've had a 'plastic pig' up on two wheels going round a corner too fast! We even managed it in a Bond Bug.

I remember one year riding my 350 Jawa home from work in snow so deep that I didn't know where the road ended and the pavement began. My best ever bike for winter riding was a CZ 250 trail bike which I built myself. Light, hard as nails, cost about 50 quid and with not enough power to get into trouble.

Ian

[booxbr]

I tried all 3 of the Honda C range over the years ,finding the 70 to be the best one Then one year after passing my car test in the summer went up market with a 850 mini van ..and look what they are worth now ££££££

[Andy M]

ACF-50 works way better than vaseline and WD-40 ever did. Insurance and the MOT are more hassle than ever. The company box is costing me if I use it or not. You are up against bikes that have averaged 200 miles a year if you come to sell, so once you actually use one properly you soon hit the minimum. So few new riders are about, decent small bikes aren't that cheap. A Chinese 250 or 125 is so disposable the parts can be a swine to track down; this years Fu-eck-yu 125 is a rebadged Wun-hung-lo but last years was a Sum-Gi etc.

It makes using the one and only Honda any day I fancy it make more sense than keeping another bike.

Andy

[Steve Lake]

in my yoof, I could barely afford the one beezer bantam... to the point where I had to resort to using a guiness beer mat as a tax disc on occasions 

[Moto63]

Yes....interesting stories, I mainly just ran my cb250rs the whole year round but from time to time used to share an xl125 with big bro. As big bro was in the engineering industry back then, every winter he used to bring home a bottle of shell ensis?? (Forgive the spelling if incorrect??) we used to blather it all over our bikes, let it set then just ride, whatever the weather, 365 days a year back then. Then come early March I'd spend a full Saturday cleaning the bike, it used to come up very, very clean. I even used to clean every single spoke with a toothbrush,  solvol and a tack rag back then,   that bike was absolutely immaculate when I sold it on, arguably better than new. Think it had about 40,000 miles on it (I bought it new so did all the recorded mileage)....happy daze indeedy  ...cheers, Michael

[BrendanO]

I think lots of folk who ride bikes in summer switch to cars in winter, and I'm not denigrating them (tho I can occasionally feel smug as a lone winter biker).

Currently the NTV is my winter bike (it's 50% of the summer commute bike too), merely cos it was cheap, previous owner winter commuted it so it won't get much worse quickly. XBR tho not VERY clean is of too much value (sentimental), CX is going same way and uses lots more fuel, CB250rs is too pretty (my OTHER250rs would be ideal, when running again).

If weather is really awful, I walk or get a bus. This year I work furtherfrom home so it will be 2+ hours walk/bus combo, or borrow Mrs Brendano's unused car.

[Steffan]

The reason MZs are costing what they do is because there was a concerted effort on the part of certain W*&Kers in the club and a certain so-called classic mag to designate them classic - the price of spares went up accordingly and before you could say two-stroke they were no longer the much loved, cunningly frugal and desperately cheap transport they were meant to be. Been thinking of a small run around but cannot find anything at the moment.