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Arctic in the Winter? Arctic in the Winter?
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Photo by Marc Gibaud, Clouds on Tres Cerros and Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia

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Photo by Marc Gibaud,
Clouds on Tres Cerros and
Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia



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  #1  
Old 18 Dec 2007
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it's all about tire
Hi

From my experience (I live in Canada , not in artic, but it'is -15 celcius today and there is already (december 18 ) 165 cm of snow here) , I would never ride with standard tire on snow again. I would try to find one with metal pins or made it myself with screw. It's juste an idea I never made it.

Distance are huge in canadian artic, I don't know how long those type of tire can keep a resonable grip.

also think about the difficlty to start your engin at minus 40

FranK
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  #2  
Old 18 Dec 2007
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owwwwww!
Quote:
Originally Posted by frankkyboy View Post

-15 celcius today and there is already (december 18 ) 165 cm of snow here) think about the difficlty to start your engin at minus 40

Too Cold!, Too Much Snow, not enough.

How do you cope????????????
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  #3  
Old 19 Dec 2007
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Give Me Some Snow
It's Christmas and no snow here.
I can't imagine riding in the arctic I nearly got hyperthermia crossing the mountains one December in Saudi. At fuel stations they thought I was mad when I sat on the floor and hugged the engine.
Cheers
Ian
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  #4  
Old 19 Dec 2007
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the biggest danger is the creeping hypothermia, your hands feel cold, initially you keep stopping to warm them up.
after a while you leave it longer between hand warming sessions.
eventually they don't hurt, so you continue. a bit longer. By this time you could well be hypothermic without realising. I admit to not having any heated equipment, but with a 50w genny, it wasn't an option.
The problem is the concentration goes, on icy roads, with hgv's this could easily be fatal. I had a close shave at -36c in scandanavia, luckily there was a hotel nearby to thaw out in.
be very careful.
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  #5  
Old 19 Dec 2007
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Sound advice there from JoeC90. It's by all means doable to ride in the winter, but you must above all be prepared to cope with unexpected events. What if your bike breaks down in the middle of nowhere in -30 centigrades? In any case it's a thrill to ride in the winter time. Sheer fun, and the fellow bikers you meet along the way are every bit as crazy as yourself

In Norway, many winter riders put these babies into their Pirelli MT21's or other knobbly tires:



They are to screw into your tire, and comes in 18 and 30 mm length - the latter usable only on thick ice/snow. In the spring they can be taken out of the tire and re-used later. They are really durable - they tried them on tires on a large tractor and ran it extensively on bare asphalt. None of the spikes came out.

Here screwn into a car tyre:



Can be ordered at e.g. Norwegian Agri purchasing Co-op.
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  #6  
Old 19 Dec 2007
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Creaping Hypothermia
Yep, I got the shivvvvvers and because I had to get back to go to work I started taking risks and now I look back I should have stopped. Your mind plays tricks, I would ride over one mountain and pray for the road to drop down into the next valley where it was warmer and all the time I am thinking, this can't be happening, I'm in Saudi Arabia.
The Arctic ? Noooooo way, not for me anyway.
Cheers
Ian
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  #7  
Old 19 Dec 2007
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There are few roads in the Canadian arctic, most of them are very remote and heavily used by trucking convoys when the ground is frozen. This makes for dark, low visibility, dangerious roads. It can easily get -40 to -50 (not including wind chill) so getting lost or stuck can cost you your life.

That being said, if you do try such a feat, bring the proper gear, many people use a motorcycle side car to keep the rubber down. I do a lot of winter trail riding up north, and it doesnt take long for the hands and feet to go completely numb...
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