AJS & Matchless Owners Club

I remember that winter well Rob, I was an apprentice plumber and had a Norton model 7 twin and an Avon sports chair on the side to carry my tools around. Not sure that it was the safest thing but it sure was a heck of a lot of fun to get around on. I remember in Sussex it snowed hard on boxing day, about 12 inches. So in anticipation of getting to work the next day I fitted a motocross tyre on the back and run with low pressures and a bag of sand over back of the dual seat I got around quite well. Managed to learn a few tricks along the way like being able to do 360s, left and right broadsides, which looked quite spectacular until I hit some frozen snow and ripped the silencer off. So I took the other one off and ran it like that for the few weeks, sounded pretty good . I was quite sorry to see the snow go but then I was only 18 but you where allowed to daft things at that age back then .

We Brits cannot handle snow. Living in Germany with the Army in the 80s we had daily 5 min driving info programmes on British Forces Broadcasting Service dubbed from German tv telling us how to drive in snow. Clear roads by 07:00 hrs despite 3 ft drifts either side. They even had mini snowploughs to do pavements. I have followed many cars here uphill, they change down too soon and lose traction so everyone has to go back down and start again. Loads of drivers go straight into 1st to start, lots of revs and no movement! A few winters ago I and some other drivers helped one of these 1st gear revvers get going on a slight incline - once he got onto the level he just drove off without so much as a thank you! I hope we don't have another ice age or our roads will grind to a complete halt or we will all drive up each other's fundamental orifices. Andy

" I have driven a Reliant in Scandinavia with snow over 2 meters deep"....... Come on Rob !!!.......
When I was in the Army in the seventies on exercise in Northern Norway in the winter for three months, even the Volvo Snow cats couldnt cope with 2 metres of snow ....let alone a Reliant Robin

Denmark is has mild winters compaired to the rest of Scandiniavia and I know because I have lived here for almost forty years

242017 wrote:" I have driven a Reliant in Scandinavia with snow over 2 meters deep".

I used to drive a Reliant too - the problem driving on snowy roads was keeping the front wheel balanced on top of the ridge left by "normal" traffic!

242017 wrote:" I have driven a Reliant in Scandinavia with snow over 2 meters deep"....... Come on Rob !!!.......
When I was in the Army in the seventies on exercise in Northern Norway in the winter for three months, even the Volvo Snow cats couldnt cope with 2 metres of snow ....let alone a Reliant Robin

Denmark is has mild winters compaired to the rest of Scandiniavia and I know because I have lived here for almost forty years

I think you may have missed the "None on roads" part of Rob's post Greg.

One of the best vehicles I had in snowy conditions was a my Morris Eight, in the early sixties. It had lots of ground clearance narrow wheels but hardly any power. It almost certainly had bald tyres(didn't they all then)with a few bits of rope tied round the tyres and through the spokes. With gentle use of the throttle I was able to get on nearly as well as I could in the company Land Rover.