Your own personal tank/motorcycle?

The heck with a 500-650cc bike with knobbie tires!

While surfing the net as I waited for the snow to melt enough for me to ride, I found this while perusing gizmodo.com, here's the link to the full article on popsci.com about this awesome vehicle....fun to think about tearing through the local snow-packed roads on this baby but once you're on the main roads? Not so much.

Side Wheels for heavy motorcycles

Now I imagine there'd be quite the chuckling and ribbing to be endured if one were to get this sidewheel setup for their BMW K1200LT motorcycle. This model of beemer is over 800lbs of machine and definitely much heavier than my 600lb+ 1150RT which can be quite the handful when on slick surfaces.

The site listed by the folks at Gizmag is in Japanese and while I did click around for a bit I could not find more photos than what Gizmag had on their website: LINK.

gizmag pictures

pic from response.jp

So, if I had the K1200LT, and during Colorado's Fall/Winter snows which cause seemingly everlasting snow-packed streets; would you not think having such a side-wheel rig would be great for helping keep your heavy motorcycle upright as you power your way through those pesky neighborhood streets covered with snow until you reach the main roads which are plowed and dry? Think about it.

I wonder if they make a kit for my model motorcycle? : )

Couple the above side wheels with these "snow claws" from this site: LINKand you've got options for escaping snow-packed neighborhoods!


From the gizmag.com site:

Doken came up with a solution: small side wheels that descend at the touch of a button, or when the motorcycle’s speed drops below 5km/h. As soon as speed exceeds 5 km/h, the casters retract. Apart from the obvious advantage of never having to put your feet on the ground at red lights, the wheels offer salvation for motorcyclists with physical handicaps who want to ride a two-wheeler, but would otherwise be unable to do so.

Not cheap at 4,500 €(US$5300), the Touch-Down enables you to do things you can’t do without it, and the quality is very BMW-like (i.e. top shelf).

I did some googling and there's this other "retractable side wheels" alternative made in the good old USA! LINK.


Interesting concepts, they apparently don't do Beemers though....oh well. Check out the videos on the site though, pretty cool.

Using the "Escape Path" to ride to work and back.

Temps from 29-34, overcast mostly and windy.

All my shoveling work paid off this morning. I waited till 0905hrs or so, having just finished putting down some sand and making one final check of the path for ice.

I geared up and rode out of the culdesac using the sidewalk:

First turn is near that street lamp

I then hung a left at the end of the culdesac, still riding on a sidewalk till I got to South Ireland Street, you'll note the street itself is still snow/ice-packed:

Looking West, you can see the street is unusable, at least by me

Once here at the corner of South Jericho Way and South Ireland Street, I paused for a bit then turned North or Right towards the neighborhood exit.

Corner of S. Ireland St. and S. Jericho Way, I make a right turn here

You can see the path I'd cleared to the other sidewalk along S. Ireland Street

The last two pictures are the approach to the neighborhood exit, still using the sidewalk as the streets were covered still with ice and packed snow and I was too chicken to try them. The last picture shows some of the ice that I'd melted to clear a path through the drainage way.

approaching the neighborhood exit, you can see Maria's track in the pic above

some mushy ice on the surface, no issues, note Maria's track

Once I was on the main road past the stop sign, I was in the clear! The roads to work were dry for the most part and I had no further issues until I got to work to find the work parking lot was still pretty much covered with snow and ice. I still went in though and parked Maria in the row nearest the fence. I noticed I rode over some sheets of ice on the way but kept her slow and steady and had no problems.

I stopped, got off the motorcycle and looked around on foot for a good spot to leave her but ended up leaving the parking lot and parking across the street where there's a shopping mall. The mall folks had done a MUCH better job of removing the snow and ice and I left Maria there while I was at work.

I left work at 1500hrs, main roads were dry all the way home still. I retraced the same path I'd used to get out of the neighborhood this morning with no incidents even though I spotted some ice where splashback from the cars had sprinkled the sidewalk! No big deal though, slow and steady won the day and I made it back to my garage safely.

It felt good to be able to ride today to work, it's a bit of an apprehensive riding time but still good to do. More snow expected starting tonight, 2-6 inches accumulation depending on which weather guesser you check with. Oh well.

The pictures in this posting were taken in the afternoon after I'd ridden the path in successfully.

Doing my version of King Canute

From Wikipedia:

Excerpt: Canute is legendary for his apparent attempt to "hold back the tide". Canute deliberately placed his throne on the beach and used his evident inability to order the tide to roll back to display to his courtiers the limitations of a king's power to command the seas.


The way I remembered old Canute was as a foolish king who tried to command the unhearing sea to hold back the tide.

Regardless, the remembered version is what I was imitating yesterday and part of today after work, my version of old King Canute's futile efforts against Mother Nature.

In my case, it was digging/shoveling a path through the snow starting yesterday morning, after I'd gone over it with the snow thrower to get rid of the soft stuff. Why you ask? Well to clear a path to the main roads which are plowed by the city and thereby suitable (once things melt a bit) for riding on with my motorcycle of course!

My neighborhood streets though, even though I'd cleared a path out of the cul-de-sac, remained snow-chocked/packed yesterday and this morning and so I rode the cage to work. Just as well since the parking lot at work was also a sea of frozen snow and ice!

I came home earlier than usual, hoping that the sun and temps in the 30s had cleared my neighborhood streets but that was a no go as I neared home. Still evident were wide patches of packed snow mixed with ice. The rest of the neighborhood street surfaces had lots of ice particles and such which would have made it "hazardous" to try and venture out on the motorcycle even for a short ride. The main roads, as expected, were dry enough but I could not get to them on the motorcycle!

So, I set about clearing the sidewalk of the remaining snow/ice since it led to a navigable main road called South Ireland Street. I spent the rest of the time clearing the drainage channels for the streets so that the melted snow would drain away faster.

Around 4PM, I could have gotten out but then it was close to sunset and the onset of freezing of the melted snow/ice of the day. Probably not a good idea.

We're expecting, according to the weather-guessers, 2-4 inches of snow in the metro area. So yes I cleared paths but snow will cover them by morning. At least the snow won't cover refrozen ice/snow and perhaps it'll melt faster and also allow me to clear it all away easier with the snow thrower tomorrow morning!

Here's hoping!

Global Warming my left buttock!