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Riding In The Snow - Does It Hurt The Engine?


tirolean
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no different to riding in stream sections for the cooling down aspect.

Running in very cold conditions makes engines run leaner, if possible you should richen the mixture and/or jetting for cold conditions, or stay inside where its nice and warm and forget about silly Trials bikes until the temperature outside gets to at least 14 degrees.

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I hope you mean 14°F and not °C.

And what kind of High tuned sensitive machine do you ride? Adjusting your fuel mixture because it's a bit chilly?

Warm up the engine sufficient before you start making donuts in the snow. When you ride and treat your bike sensible in the cold snow, there's nothing silly about it.

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I had a new (weeks old) 03 290 with slightly advanced timing, when the weather got cold (0c-ish) it was snappy and sharp as hell making it a bit more difficult to ride, especially in the icy environment...trials riding excuse no. 355 :beer:

As for riding in the snowy conditions? I wouldn't be too concerned about the effect of the cold on the engine although carb' icing is a bugger (a cardboard shield helps)...just look out for your brittle plastics, I've seen a few breakages resulting from minimal contact !!

Edited by ham2
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And what kind of High tuned sensitive machine do you ride? Adjusting your fuel mixture because it's a bit chilly?

Its a two stroke EVO not a Diesel Montesa, you obviously know bugger all about engine performance so i would shut up, and I do mean Celsius.

Ham2, carb icing is great isn't it? I remember having a 300 KTM that carb iced in winter, what a pig to ride and it got through loads of fuel, not fun trail riding in he dales!

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I'll be honest, I don't know all the magic tunings and performance greatness of motors. If it is set right then just Put gas in it and ride, I personally have not seen enough of a difference in performance for me to go through the trouble of changing fuel mixture due to changes in ambient temperature. Just make sure it is warmed up and go have fun. If it runs like ***** than maybe need to play with mixture.

Like the others on here I would not be concerned about some snow hitting the motor/exhaust while riding, seems it would be similar to riding in a stream/puddle and getting splashed.

Biggest problem of riding in 14F conditions is still being able to move after putting on all those cold weather clothes. (I found my fingers to freeze very quickly)

randy_card-christmas-story.jpg

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Its a two stroke EVO not a Diesel Montesa, you obviously know bugger all about engine performance so i would shut up, and I do mean Celsius.

Ham2, carb icing is great isn't it? I remember having a 300 KTM that carb iced in winter, what a pig to ride and it got through loads of fuel, not fun trail riding in he dales!

Sorry, I didn't know you and your Beta where so sensitive.

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I don´t think iceing in carb should be a problem when riding in below -5C as the air is dry when cold. Snow is low density so it is probably more harmful (if any) when riding in water. Use 95 octan fuel as it is 5-10% ethanol and it will mix with any content of water in fuel.

/Carl

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I suffered carb icing on my bike once in the snow (96' Techno 250), was probably round about freezing or just above, snow just starting to thaw a bit, was quite a close/damp day, a lot of moisture in the air. It iced and stuck open at full throttle, not nice at all, thought it was going to kill itself.

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The answer is .......Snowmobiles

Sleds have got snow on the pipe and ingested powder for almost 100 years now

Not an issue, and they are not designed to tolerate snow other than double wall pipes but that is as much for noise emissions as anything

Carb icing has always been an issue and it happens most at or near freezing as there is still enough moisture in the air, a carb is very similar to an air conditioner, evaporation drops temp substantially

I find my low speed gets more sensitive and I need to play with my air screw when it's cold

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Even if a carb does not ice up, in conditions of high Relative Humidity, the water that condenses out of the air as it goes through the venturi can cause havoc. Have even seen problems with this in the balmy climes here when riding in just after a summer thunderstorm.

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