Norway calling,

as the winter is close i wonder how the 250cc quads work in the winter season? It gets about -15 degrees celsius where i live, and its at sea-level.

Will it be hard to start? Anything other i should know before the winter hits us?

Any opinions on how to keep the quad on the road on icy/snowy roads? I guess the road tires won't work very well under these conditions. I thought about chains for the rear tires. But will it be safe to run it at winter at all?

 

Id think it would be hard to start and warm up...I had to look up -15ºC....Mine have only been ridden in -7ºC about 20ºF...At those temps Id worry about the rider more than the machine.

Id get some decent knobbies and maybe screw sheet metal screws into them...Or maybe screw some into your street tires.

 

The rider is nothing to worry about, in the weekends i ride my snowmobile in Swedish mountains, and there its - 35 degrees celcius at the worst.

I wondered about screws in my tires, but i have not found screws short enough to use on these tires, as they are road tires.

 

Maybe not for you but i live in California....And didnt think of having snowmobile gear...How cold can it get before your starting to feel the cold when riding?

Maybe look for some used knobbies/rims...Or maybe modify a set of auto cables instead of chains...

 

Even with the proper gear, it feels cold when it gets below -20 degrees celsius. When its 30-35 its horrible. But hey, its worth it. As long as i can ride my sled in the weekends I don't care

Auto cables you say? What do you mean? Chains for car tires?

 

I ride my atv's lots in the winter. -15c is about the limit for me for any lenght of time. We'v road them at -25 but not very far or very long! Some guys run sythentic oil in them in the winter. You can store them in a warm shop and they will start fine with summer oil etc. However if you have to trailer them for an hr or two they cool off and something like 20-w50 gets real stiff at -20c!!

On snowmobiles you seem to be able to go much colder as they have a windshield and your feet are protected from the wind too. They make jackets, helmets, seat warmers etc. warmers you can plug in to you machine. For ATV's most have hand and thumb warmers which are quite nice in the winter months. Thats what alwasy gets cold on me is my darn thumb! A good soft knobby tire works fine for winter riding.

 

I thought about using a heater- fan to warm up the engine before i start it at Winter. (usually its not colder than - 10 celsius around my home. But i don't have a warm place to store the ATV when not using it.

I guess the heater will warm the engine a little bit, but im not sure if it will warm it up enough to make a difference.

Guess i'll have to test it when the winter comes. Its a good thing thats only a month or two away.

 

They sell them for cars for people who dont like chains..Smoother ride and less noise, and easier to mount....Sort of like a cable that wraps aopund the tire instead of chains...I will look around and see if I can find some..

 

I had chains for my old quad, they do help in certain condtions.

 

Too bad. I had a set around and could not give them away on craigslist. Several months ago, I finally just chucked them into the garbage bin.

They have motorcycle twist grip conversions from the thumb throttles. That might keep your hand more warm.

I'm like MWQ in that when it gets below 50 F. our teeth start chattering like a bunch of babies. At least for me, I see freezing at most a handful of evenings all winter. :-)

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