Hot weather gear.

I need recommendations for hot weather riding. It gets to 35 - 40 °C in the summer heat.

I know you should dress for the slide not the ride....but it's so hot I can only do a t-shirt or I'll sweat and over heat.

Commuting 40 kms one way, city and highway.

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Moshe Levy (on this Forum) did a test of a Long Distance Comfort wicking shirt. He posted a video about how to handle this issue. The main points were to close all vents for your outer jacket, open the cuffs wide (to allow air entry), and then pour about a pint or 1/2 liter (in your case) of water down each sleeve.

The principle of the the thing is to have the evaporation of the water in the sleeves cool the interior of the jacket, and your body. Closing the vents keeps all the cool air inside. I had not tried this, but it seems to be based on sound reasoning. If I can find the video, I'll drop a link in here.

BMW Airflow suit.

Control evaporation!

ExGMan said:

Moshe Levy (on this Forum) did a test of a Long Distance Comfort wicking shirt. He posted a video about how to handle this issue. The main points were to close all vents for your outer jacket, open the cuffs wide (to allow air entry), and then pour about a pint or 1/2 liter (in your case) of water down each sleeve.

The principle of the the thing is to have the evaporation of the water in the sleeves cool the interior of the jacket, and your body. Closing the vents keeps all the cool air inside. I had not tried this, but it seems to be based on sound reasoning. If I can find the video, I'll drop a link in here.

Click to expand...

Don't buy an airflow type suit, it doesn't work nearly as well. I have an Areostich Roadmaster suit and ride in very hot weather and it works great doing what Moshe recommends.

Here is the YouTube demonstration by Moshe Levy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j43kyKyGBV8

The BMW Airflow Suit works for me.

I have years and hundreds of thousands of miles in an Aerostich Darian. In hot (and VERY hot) conditions, I simply open all the vents and drench my torso and arms in water, just as the above video indicates. I have never overheated.
Good luck.

The main thing is to keep the sun from direct contact with your skin. The use of non-mesh gear seems counter-intuitive, but when the air is dry and above normal skin temperature, you need to regular how much air flows over it so that you maximize evaporative cooling. The wet wicking shirt method described in Moshe's video works, except if you are stuck in traffic with no air flow. At that point, you need to get off the road and consume a cool drink of water or electrolyte fluid such as Powerade.

I basically do the essentials you have mentioned. Except for pouring water down my sleeves. Since I have a short ride (under 1 hr) I think I'll try some new under garments that are wetted and get a mesh jacket.

If it was a long ride, I'd try the regular jacket wetted, but since I'm going to and from work.... And less than 40 km... I'm not worried about drying out.

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royce said:

I have years and hundreds of thousands of miles in an Aerostich Darian. In hot (and VERY hot) conditions, I simply open all the vents and drench my torso and arms in water, just as the above video indicates. I have never overheated.
Good luck.

Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll try that next ride.

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azgman said:

The main thing is to keep the sun from direct contact with your skin. The use of non-mesh gear seems counter-intuitive, but when the air is dry and above normal skin temperature, you need to regular how much air flows over it so that you maximize evaporative cooling. The wet wicking shirt method described in Moshe's video works, except if you are stuck in traffic with no air flow. At that point, you need to get off the road and consume a cool drink of water or electrolyte fluid such as Powerade.

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Good words. It's counter-intuitive like you said, but above 34C/93F, you really need to cut down on the airflow. I live in the Seattle area, so for me, temps in the 26C range are hot. I was planning on two trips in June and July that would put the temps up in the 34-40C (93F-105F) range, so I wanted to be prepared and did a lot of research.

At 34C/93F, your body's thyroid gland can't keep up with the heat. Sweat is evaporated before you can get any cooling effect from it. You need to cut down on airflow, or the body actually heats up from having that air flowing over it. Heat stroke is a definite concern.

I went to Cycle Gear and bought their long sleeved "Heat Out" t-shirts. They worked well to cool me down in the lower temperatures. And when the temps climbed into that 34C range, they kept the air off the skin so it wasn't hitting me directly. They don't cost much either at $13 on sale right now. I found I could rinse mine out in the motel sink at night, wring the water out a couple times and hang it up in the shower to be worn the next morning.

I also used a cooling vest from Cycle Gear. They have it on sale right now for $40. Mine was still providing cooling at the 3 hour point. I stopped at a restaurant in the middle of nowhere for lunch. It was boiling hot outside. Before leaving, I went out to the bike and got the cooling vest from the bag I had it in. I put it on and the water dripped off onto the carpeted floor. (It was just water, so it didn't hurt anything.) This teenage girl looked at me like I was crazy. I just smiled. I had put on my air-conditioning and it felt glorious.

I actually switched from my mesh gloves to a leather perforated glove. My thumb in particular was getting so chapped from the hot air that it was painful to touch. And that's after using lotion on the hands. The lotion just wasn't enough.

I wore a mesh jacket (Olympia Dakar). The airflow was cut down a lot with my Hit Air airbag vest. The only place the air could flow over unimpeded was on the arms and there the Heat Out shirt helped. My pants are Olympia with an area on the thigh that unzips to leave a mesh panel. Some air...but not too much. If I hadn't had the airbag vest, I was seriously leaning toward using my Olympia AST2 so I could limit the airflow on those really hot days.

Chris

ExGMan said:

Moshe Levy (on this Forum) did a test of a Long Distance Comfort wicking shirt. He posted a video about how to handle this issue. The main points were to close all vents for your outer jacket, open the cuffs wide (to allow air entry), and then pour about a pint or 1/2 liter (in your case) of water down each sleeve.

The principle of the the thing is to have the evaporation of the water in the sleeves cool the interior of the jacket, and your body. Closing the vents keeps all the cool air inside. I had not tried this, but it seems to be based on sound reasoning. If I can find the video, I'll drop a link in here.

Click to expand...

And hope a bee doesn't find it's way up your sleeve.

Here's some resources from David Hough on Sound Rider that you might find useful.

12 tips for keeping your cool on a hot ride
http://www.soundrider.com/archive/tips/12_ways_to_ride_cool.aspx

This is my favorite. When You're Hot, You're HOT!
http://www.soundrider.com/archive/safety-skills/when_youre_hot.aspx

Here's the first couple paragraphs...

The ride south over the Siskiyou Mountains from Oregon to California started out cool enough. Up at 4,000 feet, it was chilly enough that I was glad I had added the jacket liner and neck warmer. But a hundred miles later, as I descend down into the Sacramento Valley, the temperature begins to soar. By the time I reach Oroville, the temperature signs are flashing 118 F. It's another hundred and fifty miles to the rally site at Mariposa in triple-digit temperatures.

A rider passes by in the opposite lane, jacket bungeed on the back, bare chest exposed to the hot blast. I wave, but there is no response. His exposed skin is red, and he doesn't even appear to have noticed me, a bad sign that he's on the fringe of heat exhaustion. I don't wish any problems on a fellow motorcyclist, but there are lots of riders who have to contribute to the statistics before they crack the code.

To continue the ride, I go into hot weather survival mode. Full riding gear, including riding pants, leather boots, and gloves, and a knit neck "cooler" saturated with water. As quickly as the fabric dries out in the blast-furnace wind, I flip the faceshield open, squeeze a gusher of water down my chin, and slam the faceshield shut again. The water dribbles down to wet the neck cooler and my shirt inside the jacket. About 10 seconds after the water penetrates the neck cooler, it cools from evaporation in the hot air, and sucks some heat out of my neck.

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A few years ago I did a ride out to California from Colorado via Nevada. It was a specially hot Summer, with temperature easily going over 100F and at times over 110F (in Nevada and Eastern CA). I wore a leather jacket, with vents, a long sleeve t-shirt, and blue jeans. Every morning I would fill my camelback with cold water and ice (emphasis on cold and ice). Lots of ice. During the course of the day, I would sip water from it. The water would stay cold up until between 2pm and 4pm. When the water would start to warm up, I would stop at a fast food service, buy something (usually a cold soft drink), and then repack the camelback with cold water and ice. For me the process worked like a charm.

My $0.02 worth. YMMV.

Good luck. Let us know what works for you.

I've never had an evaporative cooling vest, but decided to purchase one while I was at the MOA Rally in Salt Lake City. I knew I was going to have a very hot trip back to Bend, OR, so decided what the heck.

WOW...I'm sure I've just discovered what riders in warm climates have known for years, but those things work incredibly well. I soaked mine before leaving Salt Late City on Saturday morning, then put it in a large Zip Lock bag until needed. Once the temps hit the 90's, I pulled it out and put it on. I will normally ride for a couple of hours, then take a break. The vest was still damp after two hours of riding and the inside of my jacket felt like it was about 70 degrees (outside temp started hitting 100 degrees).

While I purchased mine from a vendor at the Rally, they are readily available from stores such as Home Depot as they're popular for construction workers in the summer:

http://www.homedepot.com/s/evaporative%20vest?NCNI-5


This has totally changed my opinion of hot weather riding.