Winter riding

It's not idea but I'll be working two jobs this winter and I want to use my kz550 all winter so as to save up for a decent jeep. Any tips to winter proofing my 1981 kz550 ltd? Any rust retardants? Any tips to keep stuff from freezing, like my battery and gas. I'm 16 so this will be my first winter season riding on the streets. I'm in Wisconsin btw and it gets cold as balls

I used my old BSA during the Winters many years ago. Here's what I learned -

Don't ride in the snow or on ice. The bike WILL want to slip and fall, so just don't do it. Guys who race bikes on ice have spikes or screws sticking out of the tire treads to give them traction, but that is not feasible for the street since it doesn't work on dry pavement.

Your hands WILL get very cold regardless of the type of normal gloves you use. HOWEVER, there are devices you can attach to the handlebars that are large enough to insert your hands into and still use the handlebar controls and levers without a problem. These things are called "hippohands" and they actually work well at keeping your gloved hands warm because they totally block the wind. Take a look at them at www.hippohands.com/HIPPO%20HANDS.htm . Also, there are such things as heated handlbar grips, heated suits, etc., but I don't know if your charging system can handle the extra load; in fact I doubt that it can because the charging system on these old bikes weren't built with accessories in mind.

You can bundle up your body and feet with windproof gear and high quality warm clothing, but your neck and face WILL get very cold if you don't wrap something around your neck and under the opening in the helmet.

The freezing point of gasoline is -97 degrees F, so you need not be concerned about it freezing. The freezing point of the acid in a fully charged battery is -76 degrees F. so you need not be concerned there either as long as you don't let the battery discharge. Ed

HIPPOHANDS

Thanks! My main concern was the battery freezing and leaving me stranded and I will look into those hippo hands. And should I run a higher octan fuel or do you not think it matters? I've got the luck of the draw in that I have the one gas station in my city that sells racing fuel still, the only down side is it runs 8.49 a gallon

The gasoline you typacally use will be fine, you may be able to find a tiny electric battery warmer that you can plug into house current when you are at home and at work. It would be needed only on the most wretchedly cold days. A 5w-20 weight motor oil would also be a good idea. I knew some guys that ran straight 5 weight in their cars. It might be a good idea to check with a local snowmobile dealer, to see what the sled-boys do. Modern ones are water-cooled, but I bet they could give you good ideas and hook you up with what really works .
I've seen some battery powered clothing that might be worth a try. I'd follow 650Ed's advice to stay off the ice, and probably off the snow, too unless you mount some knobby tires or a sidecar.

BRRRRR! I was banished to Minnesota for 13 long months, evidently for some egregious deeds in a former life. I do not miss it, even a little.

Reminds me of doing 250 miles a week on a 550 over the winter, accept when the weather is extreme that some days you can't ride into work - otherwise you and bike will get smashed up.

Some of the later 550 and bigger had a CV carb freezing problem, they were later fitted with electrical carb bowl heaters.
Your earlier slide carb model doesn't have this carb icing problem I don't think.

Remember a very cold battery can't hold as much charge, so make sure your battery is in good nick.

I'm hoping the battery makes it through the winter, I just dropped 60$ on a brand new one last week. Also has anyone had any good/bad experiences with tire chains? For moderate snow? I'm in the city and the plows don't always get the side streets. I'll look into getting a dinky battery warmer that's a pretty good idea.

Be careful,

The cold will adversely affect traction and braking as well. My experience, >250K miles on bikes over the the years, is that riding in anything <35 degrees is doable but it sucks if you have a long way to go. Also be aware the winter weather changes quickly and a 35 sunny day can turn to shit quickly. This April I went from WI to TX on a five day rally trip. Leaving I encountered heavy snow on I-35 near Rochester MN. Enough to build up slush on my forks and windshield. Thankfully, after 10 miles of so, it warmed to light rain, but I nearly called it. Don't do this, don't risk your life riding in poor winter conditions. BTW it did not reach 40 degrees until DesMoines, IA. Temp wise I was fine, but I was wearing insulated waterproof boots, thigh wader socks, two pair of long underwear, two thermal undershirts, full face with hand warms inserted, winter gloves with hand warmers, full leather and a neck gaiter. It was cold but not uncomfortable. Texas was 80 and sunny the travel back was warm too.

R

Back in 74 I had to ride my 750 Honda 14 miles to work for 2 weeks (never again)..... a snow mobile suit, gloves, helmet and tripling up on the socks didn't do to bad. I gotta agree with Ed on the snow and ice..... I sure wouldn't try it under anything other than clear streets. Give the motor a little extra time to warm up too. ... you also lol.

Had a good bud that drove his 305 Honda to school and his 450 later in the mid 60s he was a dare devil and did ok till a friend of his decided to tap the breaks in front of him and it was all over..... not much traction or a lot of damage but it took a little to get it back......... good thing they were friends cause he looked about like Arnold and that bike was his #1 baby. Have to tell you he loved Honda's ....... after the 305 he bought a 450, 550, 750 and then either the 900 or went with the 6 cyl.... lost track of him in 67 and was talking to him at a school get together.

Richardb98 wrote: It's not idea but I'll be working two jobs this winter and I want to use my kz550 all winter so as to save up for a decent jeep. Any tips to winter proofing my 1981 kz550 ltd? Any rust retardants? Any tips to keep stuff from freezing, like my battery and gas. I'm 16 so this will be my first winter season riding on the streets. I'm in Wisconsin btw and it gets cold as balls

Hi Richard,
Winter riding is one thing as others have described, but winter commuting on a motorcycle in Wisconsin might just put you in the running for a Darwin Award. Sure you can make adjustments to the bike, windscreen, hippohands etc. But before too long you're commute schedule is going to put you on snow and ice.
I suggest that you take another look at that Jeep.
Bill

KZQ wrote:

Richardb98 wrote: It's not idea but I'll be working two jobs this winter and I want to use my kz550 all winter so as to save up for a decent jeep. Any tips to winter proofing my 1981 kz550 ltd? Any rust retardants? Any tips to keep stuff from freezing, like my battery and gas. I'm 16 so this will be my first winter season riding on the streets. I'm in Wisconsin btw and it gets cold as balls

Hi Richard,
Winter riding is one thing as others have described, but winter commuting on a motorcycle in Wisconsin might just put you in the running for a Darwin Award. Sure you can make adjustments to the bike, windscreen, hippohands etc. But before too long you're commute schedule is going to put you on snow and ice.
I suggest that you take another look at that Jeep.
Bill

+1

I just had a quick look at Wikipedia and Madison Wisconsin is a tad colder than Toronto Canada in winter .... which means on snow and ice going from vertical to horizontal in less time that it takes to say "one elephant"/ Also keeping hypothermia at bay is a serious challenge like KZB2 650 said
Been there done that, learned the hard way and never again

Richardb98 wrote: It's not idea but I'll be working two jobs this winter and I want to use my kz550 all winter so as to save up for a decent jeep. Any tips to winter proofing my 1981 kz550 ltd? Any rust retardants? Any tips to keep stuff from freezing, like my battery and gas. I'm 16 so this will be my first winter season riding on the streets. I'm in Wisconsin btw and it gets cold as balls

I would seriously consider just asking a coworker for a ride to work when it's snowing or icy. It's not worth the risk crashing, it'll be worse than summer I'd imagine cause there'd be a lot less friction on the road to slow you down before you crash to a stop. That's why you don't see riders in the wintertime. It sucks riding with hypothermia as others have mentioned, and it's more dangerous, and the road salt is bad for the bike as well.

If you really want to do it though, for the little I know, I'd take a quart of motoroil and weekly grease down as much of the frame as you can to prevent rust. That's what I do to my car's unibody in the winter, and it really does wonders as it makes it MUCH easier to wash off all of salt off with confidence (of course then you have to reapply oil again). You can use WD-40 for convienence, but it doesn't do as good of a job and it doesn't last nearly as long, maybe 3 days tops, and that stuff gets gummy sometimes. I've been meaning to try bearing grease, but haven't gotten around to it yet. That might last all winter. Last thing you want is next summer taking a corner and your frame breaks in half.

I'm from Wisconsin too, I've never seen anybody riding in winter and I'm sure there's a reason for that. I'm with KZQ- riding in the winter is just a bad idea. Aren't Jeep parts supposed to be really expensive anyways?

It might not be a bad idea to get a battery tender. It is normally used to keep your battery fully charged when sitting overnight or longer. It will not overcharge you battery, so you can leave it hooked up as long as you want without worrying about it. It comes with a set of wires that can be attached to you battery so that when you get ready to ride you just unplug them from the tender and ride, and when you get back home you just plug them back into the tender. They make it very easy to use. You don't need a big fancy tender, so it shouldn;t break the bank. I use one on a car that I seldom drive in the Winter and it works great. Ed

www.batterytender.com/