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At what temperature do you stop riding because of the cold?

xcaret

New member
I have 2 bikes . the one with no windshield I like riding if the temperature is +20 C or warmer . My other bike a K75 RT has no heated grips , but has a full fairing and windshield .
I was riding the other day at +10 C, and as long as there was no side wind , I found it comfortable.. I'm in Canada ,it's + 3 C here today ,and both bikes are parked ..
What temperatures do you call it quits at ?
 
I have heated gear. Virginia Beach averages 6" of snow a year. Year round for me. I've been in single digits (F) and been fine. As long as there is no snow or ice. It doesn't get too cold the coldest month is January where 50F is the average high and 32F is the average low. It does get colder than that but not for long.

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I stop joy riding at about 40F (4C) but if I need to get some place or I am traveling then I can stretch colder a little bit. I have ridden 80 or so miles at 8F (-13C) to get to an important event but I was a whole lot younger when that happened.
 
I can do the extremes ......but really don't want to.

This is what I feel like when I get ready for a cold weather ride-


and when i'm all ready to go and just finished hooking into the heater gear.....i drop a glove! :banghead

OM
 
I don't own heated gear and usually ride down to 20F. I did an 11 degree ride once for 30 minutes and that was miserable and my fingers were solid blue....rookie mistake. I use Hippo Hands now which means 20F even with summer gloves is fine so long as they're not perforated.

20F 30 minutes...that's fine. 60 minutes at 25F..also fine, then 32 for a few hours is also fine I just do a thicker base layer + mid layer + Klim badlands suit and the Hippo hands.


BUT, more than cold, salt brine. Once our roads are salted, I'm less likely to ride again unless it rains.
 
I'm glad I live where I do. I grew up in NE Iowa by MN and WI and never again will I live there!

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Heated gear is nice. I have a Gerbings heated jacket liner and heated gloves. Don't need heated stuff on legs, just base layer (what we used to call long johns), jeans, and my one-piece 'Stich. Other than the K75S, my bikes have foot warmers (aka cylinders just ahead of my boots).

I won't ride if there is a potential for icy conditions on the road.
 
I owned a Yamaha R1. One day a friend was looking it over and noticed the connector for my heated jacket and asked what it was for, so I told him. Then with kind of an insulting tone in his voice has asked me what the coldest temperature I had ridden it? -20F I told him. He looked at me for a second, realized I was telling him the truth and said I guess you need it then!

I have ridden a few times in -20F maybe 30-40 miles tops. Riding around 30F is no issue, I do that often is the roads are clear. I had a evening dinner with some riding friends. The high for the day was 34F. One of the guys asked jokingly if anyone had ridden earlier that day, I said I had. He looked at me and sarcastically said, "How far, out the to the dealer and back? "Nope! I went for a long ride and just wandered about he countryside and put on about 350 miles."

I figure living in North Dakota you ride when you can!

I have a heated jacket liner, and heated grips, but on the cold days I slip on some long johns, a pair of flannel lined jeans, and ski bibs for the lower end. I have a pair of 1200 gram insulated Rocky boots, but they don't work on the BMW so I pick up some of those chemical heat packs you can put in you gloves and boots. Two in each boot when I wear my light weight boots and I am good for a few hours and I carry extras. For the top end a long sleeved t-shirt and then my heated jacket, over that a hoodie and my mesh riding jacket with the wind liner. I also have a Shampa neck gator. Add a pair of heavy cold weather gloves and perhaps a chemical pack on the back sides of my hands, the heated grips cover the palm side an a full face helmet and I an good to go. The -20F I ditch the mesh jacket and wear a North Face parka and a XL Carhart parka over that!

We rode 300 miles headed home from a run down south in October. In the morning when we were packing up it was pouring rain and 35F. We took off and rode in that crap for a few hours. Hit some snow too. The last hour we finally broke out of it and it warmed up to a balmy 40F.

I got more, like the trip from Sioux Falls to Sturgis and then to Fargo. High was around 40F and rain all morning, and me with not enough gear because I wasn't planning on the trip, I just went. That trip is when I bought the ski bibs at Scheels in Rapid City. On the last couple hours of the tip the temps had dropped to 30F and I rode in many miles of sleet. Luckily the roads were cold so it just blew off.
 
I prefer to stop riding at 5C (40F?) to avoid black ice, despite having a heated jacket, heated gloves, heated grips and heated boot liners.

In the spring I learned the hard way to postpone riding until several downpours and 10C arrives to clean the roads of the winter chemicals have been washed away.

My coldest weather ride was to the Branson Blitz in very early April back in 2007. The trip began with a two hour snow storm ride as I entered the US. It was a wet snow that melted when it hit the road. For that trip, the majority of that ride was between 28-32 F, with no heated gear. Fortunately my gear was waterproof as it then rained for most of the ride.

After that ride I bought heated gear.
 
Roads

As long as the roads may be free of ice and dry so as not to muck things up too badly with the salt applied, I ride despite the temperature. Heated clothing and layers make a big difference. Sort of like snowmobiles except I don't have to trailer the bike to a riding point. Just pull out of the garage. Of course, some rides are shorter than others and I have been caught in a few snow squalls. I have ridden through a few snow drifts across the road. Knock on wood, I have never hit ice. St.
 
I have ridden as cold as 20F but usually stop at around 40F. I bought heated gloves this spring and it is a game changer so I may do some cold rides this fall.
 
In central ID, I ride my hacks year around and solo bikes until the ice starts showing up. I use sheet metal screws on my hack tires for traction. I also ride with the original Hippo Hands, bought new in the mid seventies. I use heated grips, vest and chaps, and my passenger in the boat besides a heated vest uses an electric car blanket.

In the early nineties I worked 120 miles from home, over several mountain passes in a place called Red River. We had one car that my wife used for her commute so I used my dirt hack to commute. Traveling in snow in the winter wasn’t uncommon but there was a period when I made that trip at -38F. That old airhead never missed a beat. It really did good in the deep snow too.

Another time I was visiting family in the Detroit area for Christmas. I left the next morning in a blizzard and traveled down to a brother’s place near Charlottesville, VA. At no point during the day was the temp above freezing. That was on my solo R100/7. The good thing is I don’t have to make those trips anymore. We still do a New Years Day ride here along the Salmon River to White Bird.

Three elements to consider: road surface traction; deicing spray on your bike; and your comfort. Good luck.
 
I generally choose not to take a bike out when it's much below 50F (8-9c). As soon as the first real ice or snow comes and they start spraying brine I put the bikes up for Winter but leaving one available to ride around on the occasional nice day. Probably the XT250.
 
All four of our bikes have shields and heated grips. My R1100RSL also has a heated seat. We have good cold weather gear. Here in New Jersey, I ride year-round.

I'd much rather ride in 48 degrees than 88 degrees.

I've ridden in the 20s. But that was while on rides to get somewhere. From home, I probably wouldn't choose to ride that cold.
 
We ride our 2WD Urals year around. Generally avoid real cold days but do go out in the teens and 20s looking for fun in the snow. Our rides never take us far from home in those temperatures. We run the large Ural fairings in the winter, as well as heated gear.

Riding in extreme cold was a regular part of riding snogos in the interior of Alaska. -20/25 seemed to be the point at which the fun became an ordeal. Coldest we ever saw on a ride was in the -50s for a couple of hours. We were spending the New Year holidays in the White Mountains north of Fairbanks.
 
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