Too Cold to Ride?

[Tijeras505]

I know it is still Summer and maybe too soon to talk about cold weather but I live in the mountains east of Albuquerque at 7350 ft. The weather is nice now but drops quickly throughout September. We sometimes get snow in early October.

The lowest temperature I have ridden in is 38 degrees. I don't have heated gloves and it was pretty painful on the hands. I probably won't do that ever again. I think anything over 45 or 50 degrees is about the limit at my age.

For the colder weather, I have an Olympia Motorsports one-piece suit that works very well (with the liner installed) and a neck gaitor <sp?>.

I was curious, what is coldest temperature you have ever ridden a motorcycle in and, for you, how cold is too cold to ride?

Also, if you ride in the cold, what gear has really worked to keep you comfortable?

 

[99vengeur]

The coldest I have ridden in was 42 F. I plan to ride all through the winter this season, as long as it is dry on the roads. I will try it out with my regular gear, but I may think about getting some new gloves that will be warmer.

 

[cbzdel]

The coldest I have ever rode was 24* and there was snow and ice on the ground!! I would not do that on a sport bike though, I did it on a honda ruckus and rode 14 miles!!

I wore all of my snowboarding clothes

 

[unleased1287]

i live in NY so it gets pretty cold here so im use to the cold. i ride all the way till the first snow flake lands. i ride sled so it dont really bother me that much i just dress in layers. the only problem with riding in the cold is that u should always remember to warm ur tires before getting on the throttle. i wont ride during the winter at all cause we use salt on the roads and every one knows how that tears down everything on a bike.

nate

 

[JSP]

My general rule is 40 or higher and I will ride. I have a 55 mile drive to work so it can get REALLY cold after a little bit. The coldest I rode was 36 and it was horrible. I froze for a solid hour.

 

[Allan]

Living in Cape Town, I fortunately don't have that problem

 

[fz6rwolf]

Even in winter at least 1 day a month it's warm enough with no ice or wet on the roads to ride (don't care much about temp) I go out for a good 10 miles to get things flowing. Bike is an outside bike like my last 2 cruisers, winter good cleaning, coat of wax and cover it up. Had the VTX 4 winter seasons and even with all the chrome (yes I was a chrome whore to an extent) never any rust issues. If I had a garage or shed I'd use it though.

 

[WenMark]

Don't laugh but I bought a all black Walls Artic one piece suit at Walmart for $50. and some $5 ski gloves last year. I tried it out at 30 degrees and it was no problem (actually kept me really warm and I had shorts on underneath it. I usually don't ride that much in the really cold weather but I take it day to day if I want to commute to work or not. Some days I will bundle up and other days because I get lazy and also leave at 6:30am and it's dark I may take the cage with the heater blazing of course

 

[Tijeras505]

Capetown weather

Allan -

I was interested in your weather in Cape Town so I looked it up on Wiki. It is fairly similar to Los Angeles, where you could pretty much ride year-round.

How I miss those days. Now I get to shovel snow and watch my bike sitting in the garage all Winter.

Have you been to any motorcycle road racing at Assen?

 

[Tijeras505]

Don't laugh but I bought a all black Walls Artic one piece suit at Walmart for $50. and some $5 ski gloves last year. I tried it out at 30 degrees and it was no problem (actually kept me really warm and I had shorts on underneath it. I usually don't ride that much in the really cold weather but I take it day to day if I want to commute to work or not. Some days I will bundle up and other days because I get lazy and also leave at 6:30am and it's dark I may take the cage with the heater blazing of course

Hmmm. A Walls one-piece... All I can picture is the little brother in the movie a "Christmas Story." But heck, if it works and the price is right who am I to laugh at that.

Thanks for the information. I may have to look into that.

 

[WenMark]

This is what they look like I don't think they look too bad in Black

 

[Tijeras505]

The color in the picture is the only color I thought they came in. I think black would look way better. Next time I am at Walmart I will check them out. Thanks.

 

[99vengeur]

And if they are anything like the material that Carhart uses, they would actually provide decent protection in the case of a fall as well.