Winter Riding

[tbulens]

I just did 2 hours yesterday at 32 degrees. Just beautiful. Snow on the trees and the farm land.

8200 miles in 8 months on wife's 2011 RTS. I am having a blast.

See ya in Cuba.

[Idaspud]

keep up the good work

[Bob Denman]

[Smokinspyder]

Now I feel like a wuss ... I should be out riding my Spyder not letting it collect dust

[ARtraveler]

Good for you.

Any ride is a good ride. I'm still waiting for the snow and ice to melt off of my access road to the highway.

[bruisersbaby]

No snow for us yesterday, but wind gusts up to about 25-30 mph on our ryde. Bruiser and I rode with some of our riding club for a few hours. Nice to be with Bruiser, but happy to get home out of the cold and wind!!

[JJW SpyderRider]

I too ride all winter as long as the road is dry and temperture is above 15 deg. Will be riding to work this week.

[tbulens]

I am curios, what is the coldest temperature some one has ridden a motorcycle in?

Mine so far was 10 degrees with a 10 below with windshield.

Been a warm winter so far.

[tbulens]

I forgot to mention, what gear do you have when riding in cold temperatures?

[boborgera]

I am curios, what is the coldest temperature some one has ridden a motorcycle in?

Mine so far was 10 degrees with a 10 below with windshield.

Been a warm winter so far.

80 mile trip at 5/6 degrees.

[boborgera]

I forgot to mention, what gear do you have when riding in cold temperatures?

Lined jeans, boots, A real motorcycle jacket [leather], and a first gear heated jacket underneath.

[Questions]

I really feel for you folks over there, over here in Oz we are fortunate we can ride all year round although in summer in the outback, it can get above 50deg celcius, nowhere near that temp around the coastal areas. No snow except in the Snowy Mountains (southern New South Wales/northern Victoria) and that's a very short season.
Regards
Paul...Radar

[SPYDERGUY1]

wish I was there with my baby girl,( ozzy land ) still waiting for a pic of a road train, here in the frozen north, just got a record snowfall and the roads not good, temps ok tho. I envy those that are able to ride most of the year. Perhaps in my next life...

[Bob Denman]

When the weather gets "interesting" , I pull out the snowmobile suit...

[tbulens]

5/6 degrees 80 miles. That is cool.... I have a gerbing heated jacket, gloves, and pants. I wouldn't trade it for the world.
I'm looking for the zero degrees to come. May not be this year. But, I'm ready when it comes.

Need to figure out the head gear. Just order some snowmobile masks, hopefully, keep the ears and face warm.

[Bob Denman]

Turtle Fur makes some real nice balaclavas...

[boborgera]

.

Need to figure out the head gear. Just order some snowmobile masks, hopefully, keep the ears and face warm.

Full face helmet, is all i need to keep face, ears warm. Heated Jacket does the rest.

Besides riding in extreme cold is, All mind over matter;
If you don't have a mind it doesn't matter.

[Bob Denman]

A double-lens faceshield will also help... It reduces fogging issues significantly!

[joet82]

Turtle Fur makes some real nice balaclavas...

Turtles have FUR????? HAHAHA

[joet82]

wish I was there with my baby girl,( ozzy land ) still waiting for a pic of a road train, here in the frozen north, just got a record snowfall and the roads not good, temps ok tho. I envy those that are able to ride most of the year. Perhaps in my next life...

The only reason I have taken time off of my spyder is 6 weeks after I broke my collarbone, and 2.5 weeks after the navy installed Titanium to repair it. Other than that, when it gets chilly, I just wear my Gerbing Glove Liners and maybe their heated socks, and I ride year round in comfort. :-D

[Bob Denman]

Turtles have FUR????? HAHAHA

Why yes; They do! They are very comfortable and warm!

[Raptor]

Yeah, you guys in the frozen parts of the earth have it kinda tough for sure. We are pretty spoiled out here on the west coast. This morning was 44 and rain, which is nothing compared to what you have to deal with. Spyder does well in the rain; I've only lost traction and spun once, and that was in extreme conditions last Winter. Did almost a complete 360 and recovered it! No lie, man. It was wild. I think I may have even written about it last year! Anyway, This Winter has been a breeze by comparison.

[Questions]

Hi Guys and Girls...
In my previous post I said that over here in OZ we ride all year round, winter and summer. Well forget that for the time being because it's rain, rain and more rain with most of the eastern states getting a months rain in a day and causing flooding, so the Spyder is tucked away in the garage under it's cover not wanting to show it's face until the rain stops. The weather predictions are that it's going to rain everyday in March so might have to convert the Spyder into a Seadoo or something, or buy a lot of timber and start building an Ark...

Regards
Paul...Radar

[SPYDERGUY1]

Radar, I would take rain anyday over snow and dreaded cold, live a little , get a good rainsuit and go , spyder handles well in the rain, just stay away from the flood areas. ( ps , a pain in the A** to clean all the time tho ) good luck, and stay dry.

[bikeguy]

You folks up north are lots tougher than I am but I have ridden a few times in fairly cold weather. Last year I rode the RT for about an hour at 22 degrees wearing a FirstGear Thermo suit from BajaRon. My feet got cold but all of me that was in the suit stayed nice and warm. Those suits are just amazing. I've ridden into the 30's with Joe Rocket and TourMaster jackets and even an old military surplus leather flight jacket.

The coldest ride I ever took, though, was a trip to the Big Bend in February some time in the mid 1970's. I was wearing a quilted suit which was the warmest thing I could find at the time and it wasn't warm enough. I don't know what the temperature was but I believe I came as close to freezing to death on that ride as I've ever been. We left San Angelo, Texas about 7:00 PM and within 70 miles I had gone through being cold, shivering uncontrollably, and finally I stopped shivering and started to feel warm. It was kind of scary. We stopped about 100 miles into the trip at Rankin for coffee and sitting in what seemed to be an uncomfortably hot cafe, began shivering again so hard that I had to use both hands to hold the coffee cup. Finally warmed up and quit shivering but when we left there I went through the whole shivering thing again and, once again, finally quit shivering and started to feel warm. We stopped at a roadside park about 30 miles south of Ft Stockton, Texas and spent the night in a sleeping bag with my 2 man tent thrown under it for a ground cloth. It was too dark and I was too cold to put the tent up.

Everything but my feet warmed up in the sleeping bag and they were still cold the next morning. I was glad I could stick my feet in behind the cylinders of the R75/5 BMW I was riding. Once I got the BMW started, and they could be real bears to start in the cold, my feet warmed up nicely and the rest of the trip was just fine as the changable west Texas weather warmed up and turned out to be very nice.

Cotton