Tag

winter

Browsing

If you are in a region that gets all four of the seasons, you are likely counting down the days to the coming snow-thaw. 

As such, this article might be coming to you a little late for this season, but for next winter you should consider mounting some winter traction tires to your motorcycle. Yes, such things exist.

To be fair, I too was unaware that you could get a motorcycle tire that met the criteria from the DOT,  in order for it to carry the “mountain/snowflake” symbol, but apparently Turkish tire-maker Anlas has such tires in its line-up.

That’s right, for regions of the world that require special tires during the snowy months, there is a tire out there to keep you riding all-season.

The snow from Portland’s Snowpocalypse is melting right now, and the rebuilding has begun. Jokes aside, we could have had some serious fun last week with Christini’s latest AWD motorcycle, the Christini II-Track.

Taking the snow bike concept to the next logical Christini progression, the Christini II-Track features not one, but two, power-giving snow tracks, and the machine is now available for purchase from this plucky boutique American brand.

Depending on your geography, the start of snow bike season might finally be here. These modified dirt bikes have snowmobile-like treads at the rear, a ski at the front, and look like an absolute blast in the frozen white stuff.

We’re sure that any time two snow bikes find themselves together, that some form of racing ensues. But now, to make things a bit more legit, the American Motorcyclist Association has officially sanctioned snow bike racing, starting the AMA Championship Snow Bike series in the process.

I was surprised when I discovered that we haven’t spoken about Timbersled before now, and the company’s line of snow bike conversion kits. It’s a concept that’s been intriguing me for some time now.

That intrigue started when the Idaho-based company was acquired by Polaris last year – adding to the juggernaut that Scott Wine is creating in Medina, Minnesota – which is where I first saw Timbersled’s interesting take on motorized winter fun.

For those who don’t know, Timbersled’s concept is a pretty simple one: it allows dirt bike owners a fairly straight forward kit that enables them to create a snow bike for winter riding.

The MotoGP World Championship begins its customary winter testing ban period today. From now until January 21, 2009 there will be a complete embargo of on-track testing. During this period time period, team riders are not permitted to ride their respective bikes in preparation for the upcoming season.

During the seven-week break constructors will continue developmental work, whilst riders will use the free time for training, recuperation, surgical procedures, and stealing each other’s crew chiefs. The first test for MotoGP after the ban is lifted is set for February 5th through 7th, at the MotoGP Official Test in Sepang.

Source: MotoGP