Damnable Road Salt

[MrZappo]

I live in Northern Indiana and daydream like a child of a motorcycle utopia like you southern boys are living in ... A little salt ? 24 hours without riding ? Oh the humanity !!!

You just described the best day that I can expect to see from December through March ...

Jealous !

 

[El Toro Joe]

The mistake on the lake. So sad.

That's right...move along...nothing to see here.

 

[Fred W]

Ha ha... global warming in action. The southerners are experiencing the cold we Yankees know and love.

I bought my '05 used to begin with and then racked up more miles on it than any other bike I'd ever owned. After 4-5 years I figured I was already ahead of pace, financially, and decided I'd like to ride in the winter during a couple of lighter snow winters we had in a row.

Came to learn several things: 1) I really like ride when it's cold out, so long as I have good heated gear on. 2) The FJR will not self-destruct when exposed to a little chloride (they use more calcium than sodium these days) 3) Algore may have been right and I might have to move north-er to maintain my preferred lifestyle of cool clime and minimal human annoyance.

As I get older I seem to be less tolerant of both cold and humanity, which is quite a conundrum. But I'd not lose much sleep over exposing the Feejer to a little of the beet juice they spray on the roads.

 

[RossKean]

It's still sodium chloride used in these parts and I think in much of North America; at least where large tonnage is used regularly. Its the chloride part that does the damage, anyway. Calcium and magnesium salts are more hygroscopic and have a greater tendency to absorb moisture and stay wet. Airports may use calcium and magnesium acetate, sodium formate or urea as lower corrosivity agents for runways. (Ethylene and propylene glycol for aircraft). These are far too expensive for streets and highways although they are MUCH kinder to delicate motorcycle parts.

Anyway, far too cold, far too much ice and far too much salt to even consider riding. Sometimes we get a short mid-winter break but I am usually lucky to be out much before St. Patrick's Day.

 

[Bill Lumberg]

Going to get over 60F tomorrow.