When to stable the horses

How cold will you ride?

Any cold gear tricks of the trade?

 

I don't ride below freezing because I don't want to hit an ice patch where someone dumped his coffee out the window.

Above that an insulated leather jacket, chaps, leather boots, full helmet and warm gloves do the trick (Venture has lots of fairing to keep the wind off).

 

I can't afford heated gear ATM and there are way to many random ice patches in my subdivision and local town and country roads. (The highway MIGHT be ok).

What exactly are the advantages/reason for chaps? (Excluding looks and "play time" LOL).

 

In this context they block wind.

Generally they keep road grime off the pants. Do offer some leg protection in a slide.

 

Thanks for the info. I never thought about road grime. And the leg protection is a good reason as well!

 

They do keep your legs warm. Though mine gets put to bed when the skis come out. Which was this past weekend. Cold enough to ski cold enough for ice.

I saw a couple people riding in the surprise snow showers we got on friday. GUess it wasn't a good day for them to ride to work.

 

I saw a guy riding here a couple years ago when it was 17 degrees. Roads were dry, but still...... I'd have to want to get somewhere pretty bad.

 

I agree with Carl 110% anything below 39* means there could be a spot where it's only 32 and some yahoo dumped a cup of coffee out the window (or where I live, watered down the road with pickup bed runoff when he pulled out of his driveway.)

Street bikes+ice=disaster.

Years ago, I HAD to ride my Triumph in January when it was like 13* because I was moving and had no immediate alternative. It had external oil lines to the head. They never got warm. The 20W50 didn't move. I ruined the upper valve train and ended up needing rockers, rocker shafts and pushrods.

Lesson learned.

High yesterday was 14*F and we have about 11" of new snow. Roads glaciatic.

My horses are stabled.

 

Well, it never gets cold enough long enough to worry about ice in my neck of the woods. Where i live, about an hour drive south of new orleans, my bike is a year round primary mode of transport for me. The only time i drive my truck is when i wake up and its raining. As far as gear.... fleace face mask, thick gloves, leather jacket and fleace pajama pants under my jeans.

 

The weather here is so random -- it drives me nuts. 50 degrees one day, 10 the next. Sunny one day, sleet the next.

I had to ride to work a couple times in the past week where it was between 16-20 degrees. Nice and warm for the first 20 minutes, then it's nothing short of miserable loll

 

The other problem riding in the cold... be careful out there.

If you're cold and/or uncomfortable your mind is on that which means it's not on the road ahead and what's around you.

 

out of necessity i had to go 15 miles on my bike in 17*F coldness. it was a very slow ride, and i was dodging any sort of dark pavement just to be safe (CT is so heavily salted ice is rarely an issue unless it has precipitated enough to wash the salt away).

i was in my snowmobiling gear, and it was still WAY TOO COLD. i really was miserable.

i am waiting for a day above 35*f and sunny to bring my bike the 35 miles from work to my barn for storage. other than that i normally dont ride any colder than 40*f.

 

i sure hope you dont have to ride it tomorrow morning its raining and freezing all the highways in atlanta area are freezing over

 

I've ridden mine daily, and I seem to be the "idiot going against the crowd" as I ride regardless of the weather. Its also the only means of transportation I have.

Honestly underarmor (or at least the knock off stuff from wal-mart) works wonders with a sweater/hoodie and leather jacket. I've ridden in sub 20f weather and was relatively comfortable. Also make sure that you've got boots and glove liners.

To be honest, I enjoy riding in the rougher weather. Raining, cold, cold and raining, its all about how you prepare. Make sure you only ride on well traveled roads, make sure you keep your distance from the idiots in the metal boxes, and make sure that you've got a good first aid kit as part of your everyday riding equipment. First and foremost though, make sure that people know where you are going and coming from and when you left. That way, if anything happens then at least someone knows where you might be.

 

Yea man, the roads were already frozen over when I left work this afternoon. I pulled the bike inside the office (lol) and bummed a ride home. Tomorrow is just going to be plain nasty.

Me too! It's always an adventure. In my rear luggage, I always carry a first aid kit and some select tools.

I also wear dogtags I had made that have important info on them in case of an accident (hopefully they'll never be utilized). An EMT rider was telling me that they are more likely to spot your dogtags than a wallet, which usually goes with the clothes they strip off anyways.

 

What is this ice you all talk about? It had gotten into the 20s this week, but we never get ICE?? So even below freezing we can ride here.

 

I have rode my Goldwing at -20 in Kamloops,B.C. once, had on a well insillated rain suit,full-face helmet,good gloves & boots. With the Fairing it was not too bad. But I would not like to do it too many times. I was a lot younger & braver back then. Also had too ride it home after dinner with friends one night went outside and it had snowed about 3" and was still snowing. It was only about 5 miles to my house with no hills so I went for it. The Goldwing did better than I expected.just took it nice & easy to not break tire loose. Make it home fine but that was definely the last ride of the year for me.

 

I hope they didn't ride today. I work in Alexandria Va and live in Pasadena and it's snowing hard here this morning.

I ride year round and have tried just about everything on the market at one time or another. For me, generally speaking, the wind does me more harm then temperature does. The electrics only seem to really hold their own till the mercury drops below 28 or so. Then, they don't help much. I've found that a windbreaker over a wool sweater followed by my winter leather riding jacket along with a wool or other warm scarf wrapped around my neck under my full-faced, good gaunleted gloves and insulated pants and boots does as well as any other combo. My Vstrom has hand guards to block the wind from my hands but I modded them so my thumb wouldn't freeze off!

Stay away from ANY metal once the surface has got cold, and stay away from anything shiny, including asphalt. If the ground froze yeaterday, it could still be frozen for days so you have to be extra careful. I probably only ride 4-5K during the winter and have been very fortunate. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who didn't have to ride but I love my early morning Sunday rides as the sun comes up in the winter.

Good luck and keep the black sides down......
jeff