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General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Crankymotors on October 08, 2023, 11:58:43 PM
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Who rides in freezing conditions?
How do you protect yourself??
Freeeeezing cold in Cleveland today about 45F!!! ( was 75!)
Brrrrr!
Cranky
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What temperature range are we talking about? 0-10 degrees celsius? -10 to 0 degrees?
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I've been known to ride in -25°f, blizzards, freezing rain, all it takes is right tires, right gear, slow n' steady
my annual StupidBowl Sunday Kanc Ride
(https://i.imgur.com/jKtdsR6.jpg)
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45F may be colder than many prefer but hardly freezing.
Freezing temps are freezing temps. ZeroC or 32F is freezing temp.
I ride in such conditions. I ride in temps below zeroF... down to at least -10F (-23.3C). I used to ride in temps down below -15F but I'm getting older and my body doesn't circulate heat as well as it used to. I also ride in temps just over 100F (37.8C). Of course I dress differently for the temps I ride in. But I ALWAYS wear all the gear.
For warmer temps I take out any wind or thermal liners and as it warms up I open the vents on my jacket. I have mesh armored riding pants as well as air boots and gloves. I found a long time ago that it is far more comfortable riding with all the gear on when the sun is out on a very hot day vs those jokers who think they're cool riding in muscle shirts. The air at the skin layer is 93F. If the ambient air is warmer than that it will warm up your body real quick if the air is blowing over your skin. Restrict the air somewhat (not totally) and block the sun and you'll manage much better.
For colder temps I put in wind and thermal liners. As it gets colder I add thermal long johns and maybe wear 2 pair of socks (thin inner layer with thicker outer layer). I also add the wind and thermal liner in the pants and wear different gloves that are for colder temps. I add a set of Kemimoto handlebar muffs on the bike to use with the heated grips and my hands and forearms are toasty down well below zeroF.
In all temps I have my one full face helmet. Vents open in warm to hot temps and vents closed in cold.
As in everything being aware of the environment is paramount as is knowing how to cope with the temp and special conditions of riding in the cold. I always ensure the path I ride is clear and clean and has nothing slick on it. Same in hot as well as cold temps. I actually almost lost it on my bike (not the current one) at a stop light on a hot day where some brain dead driver didn't take care of his vehicle and left a slick of transmission fluid right in the middle of the lane at the stop line! I've also been forced to ride home from work just as a surprise snow storm hit and rode through 2 inches of wet slippery slush for 13 miles. Was supposed to be a warm 45F and sunny all day but was near freezing and snowing instead. I stayed in the tracks of the car in front almost the entire way. Going slow and having good balance was key for that.
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winter tires for my V-strom. Big block knobby tread with stud pockets drilled and carbide automotive studs inserted with a pneumatic gun
(https://i.imgur.com/r6IEUt0.jpg)
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Thanks!
Guess I sounded a bit wimpy moaning about 45F !
😩
I think its the transition from jeans and t-shirt (I know its not right) to coats/gear etc!
My goal is to eliminate/ minimize wind chill….if its 32F then the wind chill might be another 15 below that.😬
So i will use everything i have to make a screen hit the cold air instead of me.
I use multiple wind screen extenders to push the air around in every direction….it will not look nice, but it will work!
(I’m an engineer….function beats fashion!)
Any good sites for super tall/wide screens for a 2023 x-town 300??
Thx!
Cranky
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You might look into what Givi has available. I don't know if they have anything for the XTown but they do have a nice big screen for the AK 550 with good hand wind deflection.
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Thanks!
Guess I sounded a bit wimpy moaning about 45F !
😩
Cranky
Nah mate, not wimpy just realistic. The change fro Summer to Autumn / Winter is a hard one and I can't pretend I enjoy winter temperatures! It may be character-forming, but it's not what I ride for. On a contra note, here in the UK today it was 22C and after a 100 mile ride out on my Triumph, I'd got bug splat all over my visor and screen. In October!! If this is climate change then there's at least one up side to it.
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Balaclava under helmet (sometimes 2)
Scarf
Battery heated gauntlet gloves
Boots
FroggTogg rain pants over Bullet armored jeans
As many thermal-type chest/arm layers as you like under an armored jacket
Most important piece is the 100% windproof overjacket (something like an Oxford Rain Seal over-jacket)
I never skip the armored jacket, leather gloves and armored pants. (with good D30 orange pads; 5 in the jacket; 4 in the pants)
Been riding year around here in Ohio since 2013. Never on ice or snow.
Rinse the scooter after a ride if any hint of salt on the road.
(https://i.postimg.cc/7LrGKvnq/Libertysnow.jpg)
Stig
**I once commuted to work on my LIKE200i when the temp was 5°F - but I'd never head out before sunrise into the boonies in that temp. A break-down or crash would be dangerous. It's sketchy enough at 20°F~!
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one thing I always do before a winter ride, is get my bike to the roadside before I put my gear on, one time I didn't, and I was so hot & sweaty from shoveling snow, I only got a half mile before the sweat started to freeze me. sometimes I have to sand a path, sometimes I have to shovel
(https://i.imgur.com/FrFNbcW.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/yX4qDah.jpg)
either way, the Sunday morning ride is relaxing
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Thanks for the supportive info!
Stig - it sounds like it must take about an hour for you to get dressed on a cold morning!
And Neil in cheshire….appreciate the defense! I used to ride my KH 125 ex in Southport, Merseyside to and from college (King George V) all year round, even with frost on the roads…was very silly i think when i look back!
Anyway….I have some additional plastic deflectors i am going to add to my x-town before i buy a whole new screen…or i will take the screen off my chinese scooter and make a extended hybrid version with both!
If it works…i might post a picture….!😄
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I rode year round except for dangerous road surfaces. I was only 23 that year. It was a 14 mile commute to work. I wore a snowmobile suit and found that snowmobile mittens were far superior to gloves. Times change, so I haven't kept up with cold weather gear.
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I can't seem to find any info on the AK550's alternator output, I can add up what is used to run the bike, fuel pump probably uses the most. What ever is left over, I can use for heated gear. The AK has decent heated grips, and with the additional wind protection my Givi windshield gives, don't think I will need to ever use my heated gloves (Gerbings) so really 90 watts for my FG jacket liner should be sufficient. As long as I can keep my core warm, the rest is easy
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I can't seem to find any info on the AK550's alternator output, I can add up what is used to run the bike, fuel pump probably uses the most. What ever is left over, I can use for heated gear. The AK has decent heated grips, and with the additional wind protection my Givi windshield gives, don't think I will need to ever use my heated gloves (Gerbings) so really 90 watts for my FG jacket liner should be sufficient. As long as I can keep my core warm, the rest is easy
Can't help with the alternator output info...
Until my AK 550 I had Gerbing heated gloves. Used them from 2006 until I sorted out the better heat management on the AK. Because the heated grips only keep the palms of my hands warm and left the back side and knuckles of my hands cold I decided on the heated gloves and never added heated grips to any bike prior to the AK. Because the AK comes with heated grips I decided I didn't want to be connected with a cable to the bike any longer and also wanted something a bit more reliable than the gloves controller and cable. The cable was really the weak point and I replaced a few of those over the years from broken wires and bad connectors. I know a few riders on the ST forum who still use handlebar muffs so decided to go that route. I found most of the lower priced muffs are too floppy and I cannot get my hands into them on the fly without a third hand to hold them open. Hippo Hands were too pricey for my budget. I was pointed to Kemimoto by another rider who uses them and they've been great. With the heated grips inside the muffs it's like putting my hands into heated caves. They hold their shape really well and I can take a hand out and put it back in on the fly with no issue. The rest of my body is kept warm with the thermal layers I wear so I'm all set for some really cold temps.
These are the muffs that I have. Sometimes they go on sale but the normal price is at least half what Hippo Hands cheapest item is. These fit on the AK perfectly and do not press on the brake levers.
https://www.kemimoto.com/products/warm-winter-gloves?variant=31526822576225 (https://www.kemimoto.com/products/warm-winter-gloves?variant=31526822576225)
This is what they look like on my AK.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/F3WirmhiHbFHiAjW8 (https://photos.app.goo.gl/F3WirmhiHbFHiAjW8)
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I've done a LOT of cold weather riding, and I can't say there is any one specific way I dress, I like my WindStopper Balaclava
When the temps get down to the teens or colder, stay off highways, and if yer on a highway, limit speeds to 60mph or less, faster, the wind chill will turn your helmet into an ice cube with your head in it
Boots.... I wear my old Canadian Sorels, the new Sorels are made in Vietnam, and just aren't as warm, I have a pair of new ones as well, that ain't really any warmer than my Wolverine work boots that I wear down to 20°
I layer sometimes with or without a layer of heat, my outer layer could be my FG Kilimanjaro Jacket & FG Kathmandu pants, of my Carhartt extreme arctic bibs & jacket, I have Kinco gloves and my Gerbings gloves,
different choices for different days and oh!! disposable pocket warmer heat packs packed away for emergency
I've been out at -25 once but just up to the corner and back, a mile total, not really a ride, coldest real ride, a 100 mile loop around Lake Winnipesaukee, @ -12° (started out @ -15°)
I have gone to the darkside on my V-strom in winter only, an unstudded winter car tire in back, an experiment successful beyond my wildest imagination.
COLD AIR = FREE HJORSEPOWER
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I have noticed over the last 20 years of riding in winter weather that mpg drops a lot in very cold air. Maybe more HP, but you'll burn more gas for the same miles. Still way better than the cage. All gas engines burn more gas in cold air vs warm or hot air for the same speeds and miles. Some of that has to do with the "winter blend" of fuel that is brought out just for that season.
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Significant Bob? Or just a handful of mpg?
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I remember my old VW bus being significant, :o from high 20s to sometimes single digits, but it had a gas heater.
typically between 5%-10% is what I tracked in my company vehicles, colder temps are worse, more warmup times, maybe engines don't need it, but seats/cabin air does, more idle time at jobsites, etc, mighta had a tank or two going to 15% in freekin cold sub zero, more rolling resistance, 4wd use....... hard to say what part the fuel formulation plays
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Significant Bob? Or just a handful of mpg?
Both my Burgman 650 and now my AK 550 will drop from between 55-60 mpg summer time riding to 47-50 mpg winter time riding with temps going from 75F-95F in summer and from below zeroF to around 25F in winter. I've seen a similar difference with all the bikes I've owned over the last 20 years.
The biggest surprise to me was my 2017 Subaru Legacy. That car is claimed to get around 30 mpg. In warm to hot summer it does just that. But during all of last winter in cold weather it was a struggle to get it better than 16-17 mpg!!! My Rav4 did a lot better and almost stayed the same regardless of the temps running in the low to mid 20s mpg but still a little higher when warm and a little lower when cold.
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Thanks Randy / Bob, that's more than I'd have thought!
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one thing I noticed, the smaller engines lost more mpg, for instance, the cast iron 325 V8 in my Silverado still gets 20mpg, but not quite 21 in the summer, My 4.0 V6 Tacoma drops from 19 to 17.5, I remember an old 1.9L I4 Isuzu I had went from near 30 to the teens all rough figures
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MPG's are the last thing on my mind when riding in the cold.
Agree~! - keeping my core warm is critical to my comfort - cold face and legs - no problem - but I ain't going far if my hands are cold!
Stig