To Richmond was around 34F. Coming HOME from Richmond.... 80% between 25F and 32F.... now that is pretty cold. Was generally OK, but vest/seat/grips maxed out around 28F. I forgot to wear acrylic socks, so my toes were too cold.
Thankfully it is only a 2.5 hour trip, so I can tolerate the extreme drops for short periods as long as the vest can keep my core temperature up. The dips to 25F were few, the 80% average was probably around 30F, and that would have been fine had I brought the acrylic socks and perhaps winter gloves (which I hate, because I feel out of control). If I had heated pants (don't bother recommending, apparently nothing will fit me) instead of thermal longs + jeans + heavy leather chaps, I could probably manage 25F continuously without much issue.
Surprisingly, the worst problem I have with riding in very cold temps is my nose sometimes starting to run
Ah, Max: I have the fix for a runny nose!
Take a Kleenex (brand name.... a facial tissue), tear it in half, roll both halves into a tube and stuff them up your nostrils. Works like a charm! At some point, they get heavy and start to displace but that is no problem for one with 1) another Kleenex and 2) a modular helmet: raise the face plate of the helmet, face side of road and sneeze. Then roll up next Kleenex, ripped into halves, and re- insert. Repeat as needed. Works fantastic!
The far bigger problem is to keep all the body parts up to temp. for the whole ride. My wife and I use the following with great success: a Gerbing heated jacket liner under a winter, armored riding coat (not a jacket, you will need the longer waist length). Gerbing outer heated pants over jeans (I understand these are no longer available). Gerbing heated socks or heated boot insoles: the socks provide more heat but the insoles work well enough and are both more comfortable and much easier to put on. My wife wears the socks, I wear the insoles. (I also have the heated socks but find them problematic because the wires bunch up and require 're- stringing' throughout the weave of the sock). Heavy heated Gerbing gloves: do NOT get sucked into any type of 'light weight' or 'flexible' gloves. Winter, heated gloves need to be heavy and unfortunately cumbersome. I also have Gerbing heated glove liners, which are great under Aerostich triple digit glove covers but only down to about 30F. After that, go over to full Gerbing heated gloves (the 'Classic' models rather than the newer, thinner, 'Mary Jane Tinklepants' versions which basically suck).
To be truly comfortable, not tolerable, in cold weather, one must really prepare and make modifications as needed. Snowmobile equipment is ideal but it is so heavy and bulky that it hinders my riding a motorcycle. Heated gear is the way to go IMO, although I have zero experience with the 'new' Gerbing in the southeast US: all of my equipment came from the original Gerbing in WA, and was guaranteed for life. Unfortunately, that turned out to be the life of the original company, not the equipment.
Carefully outfit yourself and you can ride not only in tolerance but in true comfort down into the 20's F.
Brian
Sounds too much like a lot of effort and work..
Might be easier (but not cheaper) to move to California.
Sounds too much like a lot of effort and work.. Might be easier (but not cheaper) to move to California.
It *is* a lot of work. Takes forever to get dressed properly with all the layers and crap. When done, I feel like I can barely move. And now with no Garmin Zumo, I have to muck around with mounting a phone every time, plugging it in, getting into Auto, connecting to the Sena, etc. But hey, gotta ride!
The weather might be nice there, but I would not be able to tolerate the political climate. And no amount of clothing and gear will change THAT
I am fortunate enough to have ridden in almost every state with my company picking up the tab. This year has been very eventful in that I was in Houston for Hurricane Harvey and October back in NorCal Sonoma/Napa for the wine country fires- disasters everywhere I go it seems. But I will say that I know why 40 million documented (and who knows how many are really here) put up with the fires, mud slides, earthquakes, taxes, Nancy Pelosi, LBGTQIA and sometimes Y, drought, Arnold, Hollywood jerks, Justin Beiber, sanctuary cities, homeless people, Los Angeles, illegal aliens, unreal traffic, air pollution, Berkely University- it's the freakin' best place in the world to ride once you head 30-40 miles in from the coastal cities. You can ride all year, split lanes, Yosemite, redwoods, Shasta trinity forest, Sierra Nevadas, Ojai, Alice's Restaurant, Santa Cruz mountains, San Diego, car and bike people everywhere you go, best sushi ever in San Fran, wine, surf in the morning and ski in the afternoon, 'nuff said- did I mention you can ride all year? I rode for 40 years on the East coast and nothing compares to ripping thru the Redwoods and canyons all year long on a C-14.
I am fortunate enough to have ridden in almost every state with my company picking up the tab. This year has been very eventful in that I was in Houston for Hurricane Harvey and October back in NorCal Sonoma/Napa for the wine country fires- disasters everywhere I go it seems. But I will say that I know why 40 million documented (and who knows how many are really here) put up with the fires, mud slides, earthquakes, taxes, Nancy Pelosi, LBGTQIA and sometimes Y, drought, Arnold, Hollywood jerks, Justin Beiber, sanctuary cities, homeless people, Los Angeles, illegal aliens, unreal traffic, air pollution, Berkely University- it's the freakin' best place in the world to ride once you head 30-40 miles in from the coastal cities. You can ride all year, split lanes, Yosemite, redwoods, Shasta trinity forest, Sierra Nevadas, Ojai, Alice's Restaurant, Santa Cruz mountains, San Diego, car and bike people everywhere you go, best sushi ever in San Fran, wine, surf in the morning and ski in the afternoon, 'nuff said- did I mention you can ride all year? I rode for 40 years on the East coast and nothing compares to ripping thru the Redwoods and canyons all year long on a C-14.
"car and bike people everywhere you go"
This is a positive?
Justin Bieber is the deal breaker for me
Well, sadly I cleaned the bike up and put it to bed for the winter. This marks the 50th year I have, in one way or another, put a motorcycle away for the winter. In that time I have gone from a tarp thrown over the bike to a heated garage as my motorcycle habits kept of with my advancing economic status. Not to fret though as I can now ski in some of the best skiing on the planet as well as flying in cold, clear, see-for-ever blue skies when the clouds are not replenishing the slopes.
Jeez, does my life suck!!!
Denver?
Replaced the front rotors. Then noticed the left fork seal is leaking. I'm just going to take off both forks and then take them to the dealer to get fixed.