How's the Heat

Just too hot to ride any motorcycle here today (36km n/w of Melbourne). Neither 2 nor 3 wheels. 43C/109F today and several days of > 38C/101F in the last week. And Adelaide is even hotter. I rode in 44C/111F last summer bringing the Spyder home from a service (about 40km) and nearly passed out from de-hydration about 4km from home. Glad I was on 3 wheels. I'd have fallen off a 2-wheeler when I stopped. Lost all co-ordination. Said I'd never do it again then two days later ended up riding in 48C/118F. NEVER AGAIN. Like riding into a furnace. Going faster usually creates a breeze. At these high temperature it works the opposite. Gets hotter. Guess it's the same principal as pumping air into a furnace to get the fire hotter.

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Originally Posted by dicko

Just too hot to ride any motorcycle here today (36km n/w of Melbourne). Neither 2 nor 3 wheels. 43C/109F today and several days of > 38C/101F in the last week. .

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Not so bad on the Gold Coast at 30 odd degrees and humid but its been constant at that for weeks. However some weeks ago returning from a ride one very hot afternoon on the M1 I noticed the Spyders ambient air temp said 45 deg C. Once I got off the highway it dropped top 35.:chill:

On the 48C day, the Spyder was showing 50C before I started riding. Was camping in the Mallee and wanted to go into town (~ 10km) to get some fuel so I could head home early the following morning, before it got too hot, without going back via town. I was expecting the temp to drop when I started riding. It did drop, but just 2 degrees!

These temperatures remind me of seeing a billboard in an advertisement for Marble Bar once. It was a Kangaroo on his way out of town with the saying "I'm off to Hell for the Summer". The "hot" tempeatures below sort of throw a bit of a question on global warming. They all happenned long ago, not in recent years.

TEMPERATURES

• The lowest temperature recorded in the world is minus 89.6°C at the Vostok Scientific Station in Antarctica on 21 July 1983. The Australian record low is minus 23.0°C recorded at Charlotte Pass (NSW) on 29 June 1994. Only Perisher Valley and Kiandra have ever fallen below minus 20°C. Other Australian cold spots have been Gudgenby (ACT) minus 14.6°C, Shannon (TAS) minus 13.0°C and Mt Hotham (VIC) minus 12.8°C. Even Alice Springs (NT) has recorded a temperature of minus 7.5°C.
  
• The highest temperature recorded in the world is 58.0°C (136.4°F) at Al,Azizyah in Libya on 13 September 1922. The Australian record is 53.1°C (127.6°F) recorded at Cloncurry (QLD) on 16 January 1889. Bourke (NSW) with 52.8°C and Mildura (VIC) 50.8°C are not far behind.
  
• The worlds greatest temperature range at a single location is 105°C, from minus 68°C to 37°C recorded at Verkhoyansk, Siberia. The greatest recorded temperature range in Australia is 57.2°C, measured in White Cliffs (NSW) where the maximum has risen to over 50°C and the minimum has fallen to minus 7°C.
  
• Can heatwaves increase the murder rate? In New York in 1988 the temperature stayed above 32°C for 32 days and the murder rate soared by 75%. In Australia, Marble Bar (WA) recorded maximum temperatures equaling or exceeding 37.8°C (100°F) on 161 consecutive days (between 30 October 1923 and 7 April 1924) - This remains a word heat record. Also of note is the 333 consecutive days of temperatures above 32°C (90°F) recorded at Wyndham (again in WA) in 1946.
  
• On January 22 1943, the temperature at Spearfish, South Dakota (USA) rose from minus 20°C (minus 4°F) at 7.30am to 7°C (45°F) at 7.32 am (a 27°C rise in just 2 minutes!).

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43C/109F today

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WOW, that is hot! Here in Newfoundland we just don't see those temperatures. Summer here its between 15C-30C. Winters, as it is here now its usually between -5C and +5C. When it is above freeze at about 5C it's quite a nice change here in winter; the snow starts to melt away abit and the rain washes the salt off the streets and then its good for a quick ride or two! This recently was the case; the last 2 weeks it has been about 2-5C and the snow melted away. It was great for a Spyder test ride, which I did last week! :)


Wow, stay cool out there. It sounds to be like you need a jug of water stored in your Spyder trunk for days like that.


Cheers from Newfoundland.

Finally cooled down today. Decided to take each of my motorcycles for a ride. The Sypder coughed & splutterred for a few kms then burst into life. I had to eventually put a jumpstarter on the GSXR750 and the Yamaha XV1600 as I flattenned their batteries trying to get a spark. Assume heat had vapourized fuel and then left an air block. Haven't yet tried the XR250. It's a kick start and usually starts no matter what.
Anything stuck to my shed wall (galvanized iron) fell off in the heat. Any cleaning compounds melted but when they cooled down, seperated out. I have had to shake or stir all cleaners/polishier (REPO, Meguires). Even the CT18 truck wash went funny.

went for a ride to toodyay and back the other day, the thermometer under the back roof was 48 C and the spyder said 46 C. 4 to 5 bars there and back and never missed a beat.
certainly needed a drink when i got home...:chill: