I live in central Michigan so winter a thing. The worst of it is over, so I guess I made it. A 30 mile round trip commute to work with snow and ice, with little incident. I did fall once going like 5mph lol, it was pretty silly.
Admittedly, I had alot of factors going for me that many other would be winter commuters likely wouldnt.
I work at a school, so for those real bad days, school would likely be closed. Also, about 22 out of the 30 mile trip is dirt roads, and of those paved miles, about 6 are 55mph speed limit. The whole trip is super low traffic.
I seem to have the perfect bike for it, a Yamaha XT225, and put the fattest Tusk Adventure tires I could find, and finally, put about 50 studs per tire. They were igrip brand (St 11-f). I think Ive only lost 1/100 studs so I'm happy with them, although they were a PITA to install since the bit warped throughout the process, making the 2nd 50 take 2-3x to stud than the 1st 50. Igrip did sent me a free replacment bit though.They seem to give me a good balance of grip between snow, ice, mud and pavement.
Lens fog/freeze was a challenge. Pinlock helped but it will be an electric lens next year.
Bummer about the fall; hopefully you and your bike are unscathed. Massive thumbs up for winter motorcycling! I did it on my FJR, and it was always a tense occasion. And where I live (PacNW) doesn't have real winters like yours.
Thanks! Yeah, no harm except ego lol. That sounds like a great place to ride!