Coldest weather you have ridden your scoot or motorcycle in? By Kaveman (Read 1,417 times)

[Kaveman]

What's the coldest weather you have ever ridden your scoot or motorcycle in ? Personally , I have done so on the scoot and on an older Suzuki GS-250 well below the freezing mark. My personal experience : First your fingers hurt like hell , then bit by bit they slowly go numb , then finally you can't feel a d@%* thing from the hand down ! At that point I then ask myself why did I ( the idiot that I am) chose to scoot than drive in a nice warm toasty  car that has the heater up high ! It figures as much !

willc.

[Guitarman]

Had no choice. Had to go about 20 miles in a blizzard. It was almost a white out. About 20-25 below. Had heated gloves though...  At least I think I had heated gloves... Hmmm... That was in my stupid dayze....  You know from 16 to 30?

[richardv]

In the winter of '73-'74, just out of the army, my Volks Wagon Bug's engine blew up and I was left with my Honda CL360 to get to work. About 7 miles each way. Fortunately it wasn't a very cold winter but there was plenty wet snow in Milwaukee, WI and I did have a snowmobiling suit. It was a real pain to operate the control with those big boots and mittens.
The only motorcycle that ever got winter storage was my custom (chopper)'75 Honda 750.

[cyborg]

i got caught out in high 20's a couple times,,,,i didn't like it ,,,i rode home and that was that,,,the general cut off for me is mid to high thirties,,,after that i puss out,,,,

[steelblade]

THIS MORNING! BRRRRR.....

wunderground claimed 30° but I wanted to see if I could prepare enough to keep up. I actually did, for the most part. Fingers and face got cold, but everything else was fine. Base layer, pants/shirt, vest, overall and jacket. Base layer gloves and riding gloves on top. 'Scarf' tube thingy over the neck. I couldn't cover my face because then my faceplate gets foggy. A good facemask would help that.

[cyborg]

I've been talking to Rich about cold weather riding on and off for a week or so,,, I dumped traditional long underwear many years ago,,, not that they don't work they do,,, but some here may want to look into silk longjohn top and bottoms,,, they work great less bulky and anything that goes on over them slides on easily ,,, and they last forever,,, the set I have on as I type are 10 years old easy and they still look and work great,,, I have 3 sets and all are in great shape,,, I got them from landsend,,,

[jct842]

I rode 365 days in a row some 50 years ago in Iowa. I am sure there were a few days it was well below zero, That's the norm for Iowa in the winter. Short trip less than 3 miles but I still froze. A Honda 50 that never failed to start. Traded it for a Bridgestone.

[Bashan]

17 degrees is my record. That was on a Vulcan 1500fi and I was running a full heated Tourmaster suit. The jacket has the controller and you plug in the gloves, pants, and socks to the jacket. I was warm but not toasty. I had to charge the battery when I got to work and then I rode in similar temps the 42 miles home, in the dark. This year I rode in 34 temps to work but it was like 60 when I came home. I haven't used any heated clothes yet but I may tomorrow, it's supposed to be 25. I use two pairs of long Johns, and two thermal under tops. Then I have a ski jacket that is just killer and I also have ski pants that are really warm. The SYM has wind gaurds for the hands that keep the air off of my hands. The SYM just doesn't have the stator that the Vulcan did so I have to be more judicious in using heated clothes. Jack and Pete have suggested going to LEDs and that should give me more usable amps. I was thinking of starting a cold weather log where folks that ride in the cold can tell how cold it was when they left the house and a little bit about the ride. What do y'all think of that? Rich

[cookees]

I THINK YOU'RE NUTS !!!!!

[tvnacman]

I like the idea Rich , I ride all year long as long as the roads have no ice . The stator you put in Sues scooter will handle some heated gear watch your running voltage . I found the bigger problem is getting the engine running in the very cold . The battery gets weak in the 30's so getting a good cranking in the 20's is a real challenge . My garage is attached so starting it inside is a problem the fumes seep . I now have a booster pack lets see if that helps .

I will be off the scooter for a few weeks lets see what happens .

John

[steelblade]

I ride as often as I can cos it's RIDING! That, and the Buick is a gas hungry boat.

[cyborg]

A BUICK!!!!!!??,,, 10 demerits for that one,,,,,,what is this world comming too???

[steelblade]

Got it free from my parents, so I can't really complain. Though it DOES have 4 wheels instead of 2.

[cyborg]

OH FREE?!!!,,,,you are absolved of all sin,,,,for a minute i thought you lost your mind and paid for the damned thing,,,,,you got off easy,,,it was going to be 15000 hail mary's and 19000 our fathers for that transgression,,,,it was givin me the willy's just thinkin about drivin it,,,,

[Bashan]

If you did a hail mary you'd burst into flame.

OK, I'll start the log tomorrow if I can still move after riding to work. In the meantime, let us continue to regale each other with tales of winter peril. We had a winter storm a couple years ago but characteristically it got above freezing the next day and I thought it had melted off by the next work day. The shaded parts of the roads were still treacherous but I didn't discover that until I was halfway to work on the Fashion. It was colder than a witch's bean bag and I was slipping and sliding all over the place. A dude got in behind me and blocked the jerks from running up on me since I could only go about 25. He followed me 20 miles all the way to Talladega and I waved and pulled over to thank him but he just beeped and kept going. There's still nice people out there...both of them. Rich