What is your definition of "warm enough to ride"?

[canamjhb]

Like most of you, I have been known to ride in temperatures well below freezing. But, as I approach middle age (72) I am prone to ride in temperatures above 50. Not because I need to, but because I don't need to. And, almost any day here qualifies as a good riding day. Just like today..... Did a lunch run of 180 miles..... Jim

 

[ozarkryder]

Gloria won't ride in less than 50°, not less than 65° or so without her heated jacket liner. I'm good, with my heated jacket liner, into the 30's, and comfortable to about 50° or so with the heavy riding jacket. No riding if this happens:

 

[bikerbillone]

Hey Old, welcome to the 80s, ain't it great?

 

[Zip]

I ryde at any temp, just avoid the heavy snow

 

[dondje]

We hit a record low of -17F this morning here in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

I am guessing that that is just the record for the date. Not the season.

My issue is more with heat than with cold. When I lived in Seattle, I road year round. If I can snowmobile here, then I can ride motorcycles. So -10 to -30F is not out of the question. I used to have a motocross track on my property that I used year round. Turned it into an x-country horse jumping course several years ago for my daughter. When she heads off to grad school, I am thinking about getting a couple of old Honda Pilots and changing the track again. As far as the Spyder is concerned, I have had my one and only deliberate ride in the snow with her. She is NOT a snow machine.

As for heat, anything over 80 starts getting very uncomfortable for me. Even in a tanktop and shorts. Perfect is about 50F with a long sleeve shirt or a light jacket. Visiting daughter the other day. Stood outside talking with her neighbor for over a half hour. Just about 0F and wearing nothing but a bathrobe and slippers. Didn’t even get a slight shiver.

Regards,

Don

 

[lstayner]

I have ridden in the teens but am not a fan even with heated gear. Several issues come to mind. 1. Water freezes at 32 degrees. All it takes is some guy to toss the cold coffee out the window at a stop sign and you have black ice. Even though you are on 3 wheels, you can still do the curly shuffle on the road. 2. Hypothermia. I experienced this once riding before I bought heated gear. You never feel it coming and all of a sudden you are so lethargic that you cannot react to a traffic situation. Just missed a turning car by inches that day. 3. Salt/brine. It gets into every nook and cranny of the bike. You will need to do a thorough wash to get it clean or plan on dealing with electrical and metal corrosion.

 

[asp125]

I would not Spyder much below freezing, but I would snowmobile, it's just a matter of having the right gear and preferences. If I had full heated gear and good snow tires on a Spyder, sure why not.

 

[bhern]

Today pretty much defined my lower limits for commuting -- it was 30 degrees (but no wind) here in central Texas, and because there was no rain in the forecast, I decided to go ahead and ryde it. No disaster to report, but one of the reasons I ride my commute is to have those (thankfully, from a traffic standpoint) few minutes of me time before the day gets crazy, and after the day got crazy so I can leave it out there where it belongs. Once the temperature gets this low, it's just intruding on my thoughts too much.

Of course, as others have noted, a lot of it has to do with where you are. It's easy for us down here to reject a cold day, because we've got 364 other days where we could be ryding. And I don't want to accumulate all the gear I'd probably need to be able to do longer rides in the cold.

Snowbirding keeps looking smarter and smarter to me.

 

[3 Wheel Rider]

I've ridden in the snow and in 20° temps. Sometimes it was by choice, other times it was out of necessity. I'm finding out now that as my age increases, so does my desired riding temperature. I'll consider riding in the upper 40s, but I'm not excited for the opportunity. I pretty much draw the line at the mid 50s.

 

[Wildass]

Well I live on the central coast of Texas. I think we have had 3 and tonight will make 4 freezes this year. I have rode in cold weather 2 years ago on a trip to the Grand Canyon and Utah in March. We got up one morning 18°. We had to ride only so many days to ride. With the right gear it wasn't to bad and we were headed south. The cold is not bad when the sun is out. But 33°heavy rain and wind nope I'll stay in.

 

[Raknid]

35 or 37 degrees with sun - and roads must be dry and free of salt. Shaded areas can still have ice so need to be careful.

 

[grumpyoldretiredcop]

Gotta be above freezing and no ice/snow on my street (it's never plowed) or driveway.

 

[donhy]

50 and above to be enjoyable and not spend half an hour layering-up and covering every bit of exposed skin.

 

[Big F]

I'm one State below you (Nebraska) and can't ride also. we would appreciate it very much if you would quit sending us your cold weather and the snows!!!!! we have had enough snow (about butt deep to a baby giraffe??) and are ready for spring and ready to ride..
BIG F

 

[Motorcycledave]

I think 70 and above is just fine

I do NOT like to ride in the cold winter but some times you get stuck
the picture of Julie and I was in August going over Mt. Lassen in California
I always travel prepared.

 

[WisconsinDavid]

I have heated gear, so ride above zero. Like someone said, the bigger issue is salt which will chew up a bike. I usually wait until a heavy spring rain has washed the salt/gravel aside and put the bike/spyder away at winter's first salted roads.

 

[BryanSD]

I am guessing that that is just the record for the date. Not the season.

Yep, I think for this season we hit a low of -28F. I agree with the rest of the your post regarding the heat can be just as bad. However, after this winter...I don't think I'll ever complain about the heat this summer!

 

[BryanSD]

I'm one State below you (Nebraska) and can't ride also. we would appreciate it very much if you would quit sending us your cold weather and the snows!!!!! we have had enough snow (about butt deep to a baby giraffe??) and are ready for spring and ready to ride..
BIG F

Don't blame South Dakota...it's all North Dakota's fault! :doorag:

 

[jdmartin]

North east Tx here. 75 yrs has taught me it don't feel good don't do it. We will go from 38 to 70 in three days. I like 60 or above but will do mid 50's if needed or I know it will warm up in the afternoon.

 

[Peter Aawen]

Isn't it amazing how varied this sorta stuff can be?!? Here I am bemoaning the fact that it's such a great day here for ryding because it's actually COOL for a change & I'm stuck doing other stuff; while you all over there are just waiting for the warmer weather to arrive so you can ryde?!?

I reckon my 'warm enough' temps are anything over about 5° & under 38°-40°....... that's degrees C of course, we're a civilised country here in Aust! For those who still use degrees F, those temps convert to about 40°F on the cold end, & 100°/104°F on the hot end - and we've been getting quite a bit of weather with temps well over that hot level lately; mingled in with a few days of devastating floods & some feet not inches of rain! :shocked: (yeah, I can use feet & inches if I really hafta! )

Dorothea Mackellar really got it right when she wrote 'My Country' back in about 1908 - the bit about My Country goes like this:

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains
Of ragged mountain ranges
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror –
The wide brown land for me!

Still, down here where I am, we're pretty much all waiting for the cooler weather, and over there where you lot are, you're waiting for some heat... wonder if we could do a mail exchange for a little of the extremities?! :dontknow: