"What are we supposed to do, ride around with frickin' snow chains on our Harleys?" asked Sid "The Spider" Arachion. "Studded winter bike tires? Yah, that may give us some traction, but it doesn't help when Old Man Winter is blowing a 35 degree wind-chill factor into my crotch."

Canadian bikers are resigned to spending most of their spare time working on their hawgs in garages, as realistically, there are only two or three weeks of decent biking weather available to them in mid-July.

"It sucks snowballs, for sure," said Barney "Icepick" Pickner. "It's hard to fully appreciate your custom chopper when you're forced to deal with black ice, freezing rain, and the endless caravan of salt trucks. I might has well have joined a snowmobiling gang, because I'm more likely to be out and about."

Barney and others are frustrated that their favourite leisure activity is being thwarted by Mother Nature.

"Maybe if I had a side-car for balance, and heated seats, it would make the ride a little more tolerable," considered Barney, the president of the Yukon rider's club. "But unfortunately, no amount of rubber is going to prevent me from sliding off a highway curve into a ditch--especially on a cold winter June morning."

Frostbite is a very real concern for bikers in Whitehorse, where winter starts in September and sticks around until June. Deerskin gloves help a little, but a skullcap doesn't provide much protection against the cold, and it doesn't cover your ears. Yes, you can wear a toque and a scarf, but your nostril hairs are still going to freeze. And your leather chaps aren't exactly a viable winter alternative. And because it makes them look like "prissy little snow bunnies" they refuse to wear parkas or ski jackets when they ride.

"I'm not taking my chopper out in this weather," said one frustrated biker, whose custom low-rider has been stored in his shed since last August. "I've spent too much timing restoring my bike to drop it on the first corner outside my house. But who knows? Maybe global warming will pick up, and make weather conditions are little more tolerable for Northern bikers next year. If not, I'm moving to frickin' Calgary."

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