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Was surprised at a Japanese video where a Niken was operating in the snow with snow chains and was wondering if anyone has put winter tires on their Niken?
Saw a posting in Facebook owners forum referencing a Turkish winter tire:
 

Turkish manufacturer.

ANLAS SC-500 WINTERGRIP 2,  120/70 R15 56H


ANLAS WINTERGRIP PLUS,   190/55 ZR17 75W

https://www.anlas-tyres.co.uk/winter-grip-plus/ 

 

Are there others?

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2019 Niken GT
"Motorcycles - the brand is not important, the fact that you ride is."

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have Anlas Wintergrip Plus tires for my Tracer 900GT, and they work fantastically.  They're NOT good for deep snow, but handle slush, ice, light snow, and very cold pavement extremely well.  I can still pull wheelies down to around -15C easily with them, and kind of famously at the 2018 bike show here in January showcased how they can actually wheelie in a parking lot filled with packed icey snow that's been sanded.  

They can be hard to get ahold of now, however.  Generally speaking anyone who carries Anlas's dirt tires (the Capra-X line) can get them in, but often they won't know they're able to do so, so you need them to bust out catalogs and start making phone calls.  

20191208_113629.thumb.jpg.ce6fa5b5b00a1de83f1898e3c8790017.jpg20191214_143027_compress58.thumb.jpg.8da6ef50f40cf978aad4281d40dcdad5.jpg20191201_174403.thumb.jpg.f78030bbc7b7a4b5f3241cd072ebd88e.jpg

Riding in this ^^ basically feels like riding in dirt.  Totally doable, but you do need to take the same precautions you would riding a dual sport in dirt - stay off the front brake, accept that the rear is gonna move around particularly under throttle and let it do it's thing.  

Mine's seen around 12k in ice and snow over the last two winters without any trouble at all.  They're great tires. 

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15 hours ago, Wintersdark said:

I have Anlas Wintergrip Plus tires for my Tracer 900GT, and they work fantastically.  They're NOT good for deep snow, but handle slush, ice, light snow, and very cold pavement extremely well.  I can still pull wheelies down to around -15C easily with them, and kind of famously at the 2018 bike show here in January showcased how they can actually wheelie in a parking lot filled with packed icey snow that's been sanded.  

They can be hard to get ahold of now, however.  Generally speaking anyone who carries Anlas's dirt tires (the Capra-X line) can get them in, but often they won't know they're able to do so, so you need them to bust out catalogs and start making phone calls.  

20191208_113629.thumb.jpg.ce6fa5b5b00a1de83f1898e3c8790017.jpg20191214_143027_compress58.thumb.jpg.8da6ef50f40cf978aad4281d40dcdad5.jpg20191201_174403.thumb.jpg.f78030bbc7b7a4b5f3241cd072ebd88e.jpg

Riding in this ^^ basically feels like riding in dirt.  Totally doable, but you do need to take the same precautions you would riding a dual sport in dirt - stay off the front brake, accept that the rear is gonna move around particularly under throttle and let it do it's thing.  

Mine's seen around 12k in ice and snow over the last two winters without any trouble at all.  They're great tires. 

What kit are you wearing to stay warm in those kinds of riding conditions? I can't even imagine how cold it must be to ride in Canada in the winter...

2019 Niken GT
"Motorcycles - the brand is not important, the fact that you ride is."

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On 8/17/2021 at 6:57 AM, maximNikenGT said:

What kit are you wearing to stay warm in those kinds of riding conditions? I can't even imagine how cold it must be to ride in Canada in the winter...

Heated gloves and jacket liner, regular Olympia overpants over jeans, regular MC jacket.  Ultimately the heated liners are key - even with just my old summer Joe Rocket textile jacket without a thermal liner, the heated jacket liner will keep me warm down to around -25c, even at highway speeds with no windshield.  They produce really substantial heat, and what's really important is that the heat is instant and held directly against your body.  And of course the jacket liner is as thick as a windbreaker, so there's no puffy bulk.

Im actually much warmer riding in those temperatures than driving, as my Jeep will take ages to get warm - even with heat+heated seats, car heaters just heat the air - the car itself is a massive very cold chunk of mass.  Put gear on inside, so it's starting out warm, and the instant I turn my heated gear on its *hot*. 

I actually made a 12v socket adapter for my heated gear so I can wear it while driving.  It's just that awesome.

 

A danger, of course, is that I'm not dressed warmly enough for the temperature without the heat on, so I don't go riding out of town that way without additional layers just in case.  If I where to crash, I'd freeze without help. 

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32 minutes ago, Wintersdark said:

Heated gloves and jacket liner, regular Olympia overpants over jeans, regular MC jacket.  Ultimately the heated liners are key - even with just my old summer Joe Rocket textile jacket without a thermal liner, the heated jacket liner will keep me warm down to around -25c, even at highway speeds with no windshield.  They produce really substantial heat, and what's really important is that the heat is instant and held directly against your body.  And of course the jacket liner is as thick as a windbreaker, so there's no puffy bulk.

Im actually much warmer riding in those temperatures than driving, as my Jeep will take ages to get warm - even with heat+heated seats, car heaters just heat the air - the car itself is a massive very cold chunk of mass.  Put gear on inside, so it's starting out warm, and the instant I turn my heated gear on its *hot*.

Agreed, heated liners are awesome.  Our winters aren't nearly as severe as yours up in Canada so I don't use my vest as often as you do.  I only use it to about 10-15 degrees above freezing, otherwise it just gets too hot, mine has 5 heat settings and I have only ever used the first one, it gets REALLY HOT being snug to your torso.  On a cold morning, the 2"  tall heated collar is AWESOME!!!  👍

***2015 Candy Red FJ-09***

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8 hours ago, Wintersdark said:

I actually made a 12v socket adapter for my heated gear so I can wear it while driving.  It's just that awesome.

That is beyond brilliant, will have to do the same for my car. 

I have a Kanetsu heated vest  from Aerostich that is  wonderful .

https://www.aerostich.com/clothing/kanetsu-heated-gear/kanetsu-electrics/aerostich-kanetsu-airvantage-electric-vest.html 

Heated gear is something I should have bought years ago. Heated gloves makes sense, I've got grip warmers on the Niken GT as well as SW Motech Kobra handguards so I'm ok without heated gloves. 

So anything  stop you from getting heated pants / socks? 

2019 Niken GT
"Motorcycles - the brand is not important, the fact that you ride is."

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12 minutes ago, maximNikenGT said:

So anything  stop you from getting heated pants / socks? 

I suppose that would be entirely based on your tolerance to the cold.  For me personally, my winter riding pants have an effective thermal liner, even riding a few degrees below freezing, I have never had cold legs or ever considered a heated seat. 

I have found that using the vest and having a warm torso and neck (I also use a polypro neck gaiter to keep out the cold air) really helps in keeping the extremities warmer.

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***2015 Candy Red FJ-09***

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15 minutes ago, maximNikenGT said:

That is beyond brilliant, will have to do the same for my car. 

I have a Kanetsu heated vest  from Aerostich that is  wonderful .

https://www.aerostich.com/clothing/kanetsu-heated-gear/kanetsu-electrics/aerostich-kanetsu-airvantage-electric-vest.html 

Heated gear is something I should have bought years ago. Heated gloves makes sense, I've got grip warmers on the Niken GT as well as SW Motech Kobra handguards so I'm ok without heated gloves. 

So anything  stop you from getting heated pants / socks? 

Heated grips are stock on the Tracer, but even with the handguards heated grips are insufficient when it's very cold.  The outsides of your hands still freeze, particularly if you have to use the levers a lot.  It's made worse because every extra insulating layer you put on your hands also distances them from the heated grips.

Heated pants and socks are definitely a thing - you can get pant liners from the same companies that make the jacket liners, and they connect together (as do your gloves and jacket) so you just need a single plug for everything.  But my experience has been that it's just not needed.  My legs and feet stay warm when the rest of my body is warm, and I wear my overpants when riding in cold weather which keeps the wind off.  

Liners are best as they can be worn under anything and add no bulk - it's amazing how much you get used to having heat on your bike, so I find I'm wearing my heated liner until we get north of 20C.  

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3 minutes ago, betoney said:

I suppose that would be entirely based on your tolerance to the cold.  For me personally, my winter riding pants have an effective thermal liner, even riding a few degrees below freezing, I have never had cold legs or ever considered a heated seat. 

I have found that using the vest and having a warm torso and neck (I also use a polypro neck gaiter to keep out the cold air) really helps in keeping the extremities warmer.

Exactly this.  The neck is a really key spot, too - if you get a cold draft in there, you're going to feel cold no matter what else you're wearing.  But yeah, if your core is heated, with even moderate insulation your extremities tend to stay pretty warm.  Legs in particular are much less blast-chilled while riding thanks to the way the fairings work, and obviously engine heat when you slow down and stop.  

Fortunately, basically any full face helmet is going to keep pretty warm, and you can add electric face shields to many helmets (look in snowmobile/motorcycle crossover helmets in particular) to both literally heat your face but also prevent fogging and icing. 

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  • 5 months later...
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Saw this video of a Niken with snow chains in Japan. Looks like fun treating the Niken as a snowmobile. :)

 

 

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2019 Niken GT
"Motorcycles - the brand is not important, the fact that you ride is."

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