Winter is a-coming

Some big guys generate so much heat that you can see the vapors rising from them. The same guys don't want to ride when the temps are over 90 degrees.
I hate sharing hotel rooms with these guys, they're the ones who want the A/C in the hotel room so cold that you can see your breath...but I digress.

For me, heated gloves work much better when it's really cold. The downside to heated gloves is dealing with extra cords. BTW, they (Gerbings, at least) don't give my hands a warm toasty feeling, but my hands don't get cold either.

Gerbings are also heavy enough that if they quit working, you still have some insulation going for you. This happened when I blew a fuse once.

Winter got here last week,

Over 6" of snow on the ground, it is melting a bit but 20*f at night.

I could get off the hill on my street bike, it's getting back up that would be tricky

http://www.bohncycleshop.com/

Here's a link to help you get ready. Note the yellow text, bottom left. No, I'm not that crazy:eek1

I didn't move to western WA so I could ride all year around, that's just how it worked out.

Yep, had solid ice on the car windshield last 2 days. I drive 40 miles one way, leaving home at 530am and getting home at 830pm. I gave up on riding, between the cold, dark both ways, and the deer its not worth it.

Yep, winter is on the way. IT was 52 this morning

I tried every pair of gloves known to man...electric, gortex, unobtanium, etc. Nothing helped. Then I zip tied a pair of roost deflectors to my Ducati 996 and my fingers were happy.

I just did the opposite on my 990A. I changed my barkbusters and didn't have time to attach the deflectors. Today I rode to work (8 miles) without the deflectors, just the metal bars and my fingers were freezing at 45* even with heated grips and good gloves.

On the plus side, my new Klim gear is the shiznit!

Wired up my jacket liner last week and had a chance to try it out in 33F temps this week, works like a charm.



Picked these up at Rockymountain ATV for $15 also. Wore my summer gloves on the same morning and was quite comfortable...no heated grips on this bike.



Total invested around $70.
Wire was free
$15 - mitts
$35 - Tourmaster heat controller (bonus, ordered the single controller and they send a dual)
$14 - battery harness
$6 - Tourmaster extension cable used as plug on the liner.

you guys are tellin me!

It was a nipply 73 degrees this morning.

I've had a couple low 30's mornings and one nasty snowy/rainy ride Saturday and found that my gear is AWESOME.

I've got the Olympia Xmoto, Klim Dakar, Sidi Discovery Rain boots and picked up a set of Olympia Cold Throttle gloves on Saturday.

Between that, some base layer, heated grips and hand guards... I was pretty comfy.

I just need to get a warmer helmet as my Suomy isn't the greatest for cold weather. Lookin at the Arai XD4.

If you are not running electrics a large windsceen helps immensely. I primarily ride a scooter in the winter for this reason, full body wind protection. It's night and day when compared to my motorcycle which has a small windscreen.

As long as you're not running pure sport/DOT race tires, which are designed to run best with a lot of heat, I don't think you have worry about it... just run your tire about 3-4 psi lower in winter, and start out gradually for a couple of miles. The greater worry will be morning frost, sanded roads, shadowed moisture, melt and freeze cycles from snowbanks, etc. Best temp range for me is 35-40 degrees since ice will melt on road surfaces but its still too cold for the snowbanks to leave the nasty salty cocktail all over the place.

I actually do my hardest riding during winter months - with the foliage down, I feel much safer without the blind corners and I have half a chance at seeing the dumb forest rats charging. Here's one of my winter tires, on in Nov - off in March.... I can't wear a tire like this during the summer.

CLICKY

Hmmmm... something wrong there... I've ridden my snowmobiles in -15 F (yes, minus 15) for hours at a time and never had a problem with the heated grips not being enough.

Tomorrow morning will be my last rain-free commute in the forseeable future for the wet-side of Oregon. I am ready with a good selection of gear to keep me warm, dry and comfortable.

I am starting a new group called PA (Poseurs Anonymous)

Bill: "Hi, I'm Bill and I didn't ride today because it was too cold"

Corus: "HI BILL"

Spokesperson: "Bill, have you seen these new ALL-season Jackets with matching pants?"

Bill: "Do you mean I can ride all year?... What's the first step?"

I hope I find myself in your part of the States one day so I can buy you a Beer. It'd be a THANK YOU! for all the times you've made me laugh my ass off!

Some of us wussies get cold hands no matter how well the heated grips work. I have riding buddies who ride in the 40s and don't even need heated grips--just heavy gloves. I'm not so fortunate.

It's been raining the last couple days here in Minneapolis. The rain started turning to snow mid morning and I rode my bike in today. Luckily the snow isn't sticking, but this afternoon commute with all the snow falling will be interesting....I love getting the crazy looks from the cagers when I'm out in inclement weather. Looks like it might be time to winterize the bike and put it away soon though, so I better enjoy it while it lasts!

Looks like youse bastids on the east coast are in for one heckuva storm right soon.

On the last few ride's, the temperature has been 2 celsius- 35 fahr. or there abouts, my hands just get frozen, the leather mits i was testing, were just too cumbersome, gore-tex cloves feel cold afer 1/2 hour, other than my hands, no worrie's. Ice is starting to appear regularly, especially bad on the minor roads that i use, and they dont use salt on them like they do on major routes. So it was time to store the orange beast for the next five month's, i usually start riding again end of march, depending on the snow situation.

Sadly I might be storing mine this weekend. I must admit it's becoming a pain in the ass putting on all my gear, layer after layer after layer, but I love riding, so I suppose it's worth it, but my commute to work is only about 30 minutes but it takes me 10 minutes to put all my gear on and load up the bike and then I have to unload when I get to work.

I'll see what the forecast is for the next 2 weeks. It's supposed to be 20 degrees F to 40 degrees F (-6 degrees C to 4 degrees C) during the upcoming couple weeks. I don't mind the cold but with freezing rain or snow at those temps it's a different story.