When is it too cold for you to ride?

[akbeemer]

Today it is in the 40s headed to the 50s; too cold to ride. Three weeks from now it maybe in the 30s and be acceptable to ride. Depends on how I feel as well as the temperature, and road conditions as well.

 

[richardak]

Last year I added a sidecar and my low temperature cutoff became -20F (heated liner, heated gloves, studded tires, 5W30 oil). Below that, the airhead was a hard to start. Since then, I've added a silicone heater on the oil pan and a group 24 battery in the sidecar. I'll see how things go this year.

 

[dwyandell]

How far/long? I'll take a shorter winter ride in the 20's (F) or even below this if it's sunny, the roads are dry and not covered with salt, ice, etc. All day ride? Anything below the high 30's is pretty tiring, even with good gear. . ..
In Vermont it's less about temperature than road conditions, and in winter months the road surface can be alot colder than the air.
And then there's the brine trucks. . . .here, we brine the roads before big storms. Salt spray ?.. no thanks.

 

[brewmeister]

I ride until salt appears and start up after a few rains also,tempurature is no problem cause I breakout the snowmobile gear for extreme cold and windchills,electric double lens helmit faceshields work great on motorcycles as well as snowmobiling, where they mostly started being used.

 

[pglaves]

How far/long? I'll take a shorter winter ride in the 20's (F) or even below this if it's sunny, the roads are dry and not covered with salt, ice, etc. All day ride? Anything below the high 30's is pretty tiring, even with good gear. . ..
In Vermont it's less about temperature than road conditions, and in winter months the road surface can be alot colder than the air.
And then there's the brine trucks. . . .here, we brine the roads before big storms. Salt spray ?.. no thanks.

And, the insidious this is, it can be a bright sunny day with clean roads, but if a storm is forecast for tonight or tomorrow, they may get out ahead of the storm putting down brine. And brine is a little slippery, so watch out.

 

[175781]

Below 35F, I start paying close attention. More because of icing than common sense.

 

[sedanman]

I've left the house when it was 26f.

 

[dieselyoda]

At my limit now.

It's below freezing every night and heavy frost in the mornings. Warm days are gone. There still might be a day or two left in the next two weeks but when the snow tires go on my truck, the thought of crapping my pants when I drive through a little water that might be hiding ice is out of my comfort zone.

You still see the big twin guys and the Squids trying to get every drop of riding in. Granted, if they dump, they have a ton of clothes to wear through before they hit meat.

For me, riding is fun and an adventure. I don't want it to be a challenge in calculating risk when diminishing returns tell me that cold increases the risk of an event.

 

[Badwolf1]

As someone mentioned earlier, it's the road conditions and not the temperature that dictates whether I'll ride on any given day or not.

In eastern Ontario, we generally get inconsistent flurries before the first sustained snowfall arrives.

Once the snow arrives in the Ottawa Valley (for the past few years it's been late Nov) then with few exceptional days, the road conditions remain dangerous for the remainder of the winter.

 

[dieselyoda]

The road conditions are more than just the pavement.

The actual air temperature and the actual conditions of the pavement are certainly dynamics to fully consider.

What I notice, windows are up, heaters on full tilt, toques pulled down over the eyes, big mitts on the wheel and attitude. There is a posting in Campfire about "fall has fell" or something like that and people in general go into "grumpy" mode.

I drive a 4WD Truck as my other vehicle. Little scares me driving that. In the last week or so, a lot is scaring me. My girlfriend was in tears the other day as she screamed at me that "people are stupid". It does seem worse when the temperatures drop.

These forums are here to express different opinions and hopefully, as we continue to express our unique opinions and think about them, we will reduce the content in "Crash Chronicles".

 

[kantuckid]

Yoda, I hear you on the "hands" comment as I'm a me too guy with worn out hands.Cold makes it worse as does extended use in any endeavor, esp vibration. Even after CTS release surgery which got me riding again I do things to help my hands endure cold weather & tedious vibration & throttle grip holds. One of these "things" that works great to both isolate vibration and deal with cold or hot sweaty weather as well, is to wear thin,black glove liners. My latest pair came from Dick's. Sold @ all outdoor stores and commonly used by skiers,etc., I wear them always under my leather gloves & they assist with cold well. I also use a thrtl control to allow "finger exercises" on both hands while enroute.
I have a pair of the "hand doc invented" gloves (with CTS specific palm pad) from a rally buy & OK but like old soft leather ebay version better with the liners inside best-I've sewn them up a couple times as comfy!

 

[Artiee]

For me, as others have said for themselves, it's the road conditions I look at versus the temperature. If the weather forecast is for 35F or below AND there is a chance of precipitation, I take the car. After any freezing precipitation, I drive the route (in my car) I take to work and once I've visually verified the roads are clear, I bring the motorcycle out again.

Yes, my co-workers look at me strange.

 

[danners]

I ride year around. Fortunately, here in NOVA (metro DC) the weather is fair a good part of the year. I've been caught in the snow a few times but not by choice. I'll ride in the cold weather as long as there isn't a threat of precipitation. The alternative commute for me is a bus ride to the metro followed by another bus to the office.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[ragtoplvr]

I used to ride on clear days with clear roads down to 20 or so without electric anything. Then, you know how car exhaust drip water? I slid on the slick patch from that. I recovered, no dump but it was a surprise, thanks ABS. I thought well, that can be avoided, they are small and mostly on the right side. Then there was the water main leak and large ice spot. Kept it up on that one too and my knee quit hurting after only a month or so. I have no idea how I made it thru that, just lucky I guess. So, 35 degrees became my lower limit.. Now I have a car with heated seats, I am thinking 40 is even better. The older you get, the more you value comfort. I rode in 50 degrees today, and that is OK but I have to admit, it was cool. Damn heated seats, ruining my riding.

Rod

 

[175781]

39 this morning. I never got cold, but I could see it from where I was sitting. Coldest I ever got wasn't in the twenties or thirties. It was in the upper 40's/lower 50's, on a 480 mile one-day ride. Got wet. Thought I'd rive myself dry before putting on warmer gear. Was hypothermic big time before I realized my folly.

 

[garthw]

You need a KLR. Watch this ride report

8000 km in a Canadian Winter

Part 1 http://youtu.be/ovwIx-tVV8A

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Part II http://youtu.be/k5I-b5vZzv4

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[dieselyoda]

That was fantastic Garthw.

I really enjoyed the show. As a veteran on all those roads, I laughed pretty loud when you needed to stitch yourself. Been there, done that, way too often.

I think the most dangerous part of the ride is past Granite Lake. I pucker up every time waiting for a commercial driver to get into the curve too hot.

 

[akbeemer]

We pushed our envelope a bit today...

 

[henzilla]

.
Kevin, we did the same thing a couple of weeks ago in northern NM...decided to leave before the snowfall got there...kinda! We left with flurries preceded by pea hail/sleet in 35 degree weather. I tried to snap a picture but decided getting on the Interstate and away from the incoming front was the saner idea.
I could hear the hail pinging in Helen's helmet when she hit the talk button to tell me to "haul a**"...I did

We tried to ride up to the Santa Fe ski area the day before with H on the back and her bike sitting at our friends house...after the second shady corner slip she decided we should head back down. Snow on the side of the road is one thing, slush and ice in the wheel tracks is my limit.

 

[Zygmund]

Back in the day when I was a motocross addict we would put sheet metal screws on the knobbies and hit our practice track no matter how much snow we had. Never got cold and had a blast in some pretty good snow storms. Ahhhh the good old days!