8 Ways to Scratch the Riding Itch Through the Winter
1. Customize Your Bike
If you live in the great white North, you aren't going to be doing any riding for a few months, so it is the perfect time to pull the bike apart and customize it! New wheels? New exhaust? Big bore kit? Crate motor swap? Custom paint? Plan ahead and order all your parts before the end of summer so you can just hole up in the shop and wrench away all through the winter. If you are planning on a custom paint job, be sure to check around with your preferred painter to make sure they can squeeze you in.
>>Join the conversation about ways to scratch the riding itch during winter right here at HDForums!
2. Restore a Basket Case
Maybe your bike is already just the way you want it. How about finding a basket case and spending the winter putting it back together? Plenty of people spend weeks on jigsaw puzzles, or model train layouts, but you can't ride them when you are finished. Picking up a bike in a box or many boxes, like the 1930 Harley-Davidson VL above, and working all winter to put it back together can be very rewarding. You will definitely learn a lot, your mental health will improve from all the quiet contemplation and study required, and when/if you sell it afterwards you might even make a pretty penny.
>>Join the conversation about ways to scratch the riding itch during winter right here at HDForums!
3. Rent a Bike on a Tropical Island
When you just can't take the winter any more, why not jet off to a tropical island like Hawaii or the Bahamas? You can rent a 50cc moped most places for practically nothing, and many of the larger towns will rent you full sized bikes as well. In Hawaii, most of the Harley dealers have a rental fleet washed, waxed, tuned and ready to go, so all you have to worry about is the strange looks you are going to get from the TSA when you board the plane in full black leather riding gear. Even riding a moped in the Caribbean beats freezing your ass off in North Dakota waiting for the spring thaw.
>>Join the conversation about ways to scratch the riding itch during winter right here at HDForums!
4. Watch Old Biker Movies
When you can't go out riding with the gang, why not invite them over and enjoy a night of classic biker movies? In the 1960s and '70s, the motorcycle replaced the horse, and the biker movie was as popular as the Western genre. Between Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and other streaming channels, there is practically nothing you can't find with just a few clicks. Many of these movies are awful, but that doesn't mean they can't be the catalyst for a good time with a bunch of your buddies when the snow is piling up outside. This might not be the definitive list, and some of these movies aren't really in the biker genre, but it is a great place to start: List of Biker Films.
>>Join the conversation about ways to scratch the riding itch during winter right here at HDForums!
5. Read a Book
It seems these days that everything is on the Internet, but there is something to be said for sitting in a comfortable chair with a pipe and a drink, flipping through the pages of an actual paperback. No matter if you are brushing up on the service procedures for a Panhead, reading about the most epic barn finds and resurrections, or getting deep into the philosophy of doing and making things yourself, the books are there for you. Reading a book, as opposed to reading a blog or even a Kindle, is more like seeing a film in the theater vs. on Netflix; you are more committed and drawn into the material without the distractions of the Internet or text messages.
>>Join the conversation about ways to scratch the riding itch during winter right here at HDForums!
6. Take a Bike Week Vacation
One of the big reasons that Bike Week in Daytona, FL has been popular for more than 75 years is because it happens when a lot of the country is too cold to ride. Bikers would suffer in the cold, headed due south for the sun and sand and party that is Florida in February and March. It seems a crime to go to bike week without a bike, but you can fly in if need be. Better yet, get together a couple of guys with a van or truck and a haul your hogs down to the Sunshine State to break the cabin fever of winter. Bike Week 2017 takes place March 10th to the 17th, so better start planning.
>>Join the conversation about ways to scratch the riding itch during winter right here at HDForums!
7. Snowmobile
Late in 1971, in the dark days of the AMF ownership, a Harley-Davidson snowmobile appeared at some dealerships. From 1972 until 1975, many dealers up north added the new lineup of Aermacchi powered machines to their showrooms in an attempt to boost winter sales. In a way it does make sense; riding a snow machine is similar to riding a motorcycle, and if you live somewhere with a lot of extreme winter weather it is a great way to have fun and get around. If you haven't tried it, you should. It isn't much like riding a Harley, but it is very similar to riding a quad off-road, or sliding down a hill on a sled, if the hill went on forever in all directions.
>>Join the conversation about ways to scratch the riding itch during winter right here at HDForums!
8. Ice Racing
If you have to suffer through a long, cold winter, chances are there is some form of ice racing in your area. If you are not familiar with it, ice racing is basically dirt track but on an oval drawn on a frozen lake or skating rink, and you have tires with big metal spikes in them. Watching an ice race is a great way to alleviate the winter doldrums when you can't ride, but even better to actually ride in one. Yes, some people do race Harleys in these events, but you are much better off with a small bore dirt bike on dedicated tires with the proper guard on the front over the spikes.
>>Join the conversation about ways to scratch the riding itch during winter right here at HDForums!
For help with the maintenance, improvements and customization, click over to the HDForums How-to section.
