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How Cold can I go

I'llbe riding home tonight and flirting with the 32 degree mark. According to the hour by hour forecast, when I leave work at 9, it will be hovering around 34 or 33 and by the time I get home an hour later, it will be very close to 32.

I do have the Harley heated gloves and they work great. I just hate getting off the bike and forgetting I am plugged into it. The rest of my clothing is just layers with almost all leather as the top layer....chaps, leather jacket and vest, still wear the brain bucket with a hooded sweatshirt underneath, a bandana and some sort of neoprene face cover over that and my riding glasses with foam inserts.

Most of the time for the 1 hour ride back and forth to work, I'm good to go. If I ride any longer, I will need to invest in more stuff....which reminds me, anyone interested in a pair of leather pants? I need to go post them in the buy, sell, trade section......
 
I was out riding today Just around town put on about 35 miles or so, Jeans, socks, Red wing work boots, t shirt and leather jacket, 3/4 helmet. Would of liked to ride tommorrow but were expecting rain sleet snow, Oh ya and they put down that liquid salt on the road so time to put her away for a few weeks anyway. Just shut up and let's ride
 
bobnpa said:
I was out riding today Just around town put on about 35 miles or so, Jeans, socks, Red wing work boots, t shirt and leather jacket, 3/4 helmet. Would of liked to ride tommorrow but were expecting rain sleet snow, Oh ya and they put down that liquid salt on the road so time to put her away for a few weeks anyway. Just shut up and let's ride
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You must be in the southern part because here in Erie it was below freezing.
It really stinks up here because I just bought a 09 FLHX and it only has 2 miles on it because there hasn't been any good weather to ride even alittle.
If it warms up it rains and the sun comes out when it's below 32
but that Erie for you
 
So far this winter the coldest riding day has been 13.

Down to about 25, my gear is:

Leather chaps over my work pants
A fleece vest with a high collar, so it protects my throat a little.
A leather jacket. Make sure the pockets are zipped up!
A full face helmet. The face shield goes up or down, depending on how the glasses are fogging.
Gloves. The hands get cold first. I have a pair of lined HD gauntlets that come over the wrist, and can add a 2nd liner--either silk or polartec.

When it gets below 25 I normally add:
A lightweight balaclava under the helmet
And sometimes, some silk :s long johns, tops and bottoms underneath it all.

My work ride is normally about 20 minutes,in town. I will sometimes stretch that to 30 or 40 minutes, just to get the bike warmed up enough to evaporate the moisture in the crankcase. She's a little hard to start some of these mornings.

I don't think I would want to go much longer than 40 minutes.

I'm thinking about getting a pair of leather jeans with a crotch in them. The chaps get a little breezy sometimes, if you get my drift.

So far this winter I haven't missed a day of riding to work, except when there was snow or ice on the streets.
 
I got up at 6:00 AM in Tatum, NM a couple of years ago around the first of Feb. it was 22 deg's with 72 miles of desert between me and Roswell. It was so damn cold I was afraid to stop when I got to Roswell. I was afraid I'd fall over because I couldn't feel my legs. Looking back it was one of my more memorable rides.
 
I ride year 'round here in the Baltimore, MD area. Hate it when I can't ride.... The coldest it's been for me was 19 degrees. That makes the wind chill about -4 when I hit 60 mph. Don't know what it is when I'm cruising at 75 mph..... It's much easier now with the '05 EG Classic with engine guard chaps than last year with the '04 Springer

I find that merino wool blends with polyester form a good base layer; the only electric I use are gloves; always a face mask, usually polypropylene because it's thin and breathable.

As long as there's no snow on the ground, I ride.

Regards,

Steve
 
Ok......I am WEAK! After the 2nd week in November I put it up. THEN, we had a warm day50+ on december 29th So I got it out for a short ride. Today it is 25 and later in the week it will be 28 for the high and 6 for the low. My goal is to try to ride in every month but Jan may be tough to find a semi warm day. Nothing like being NUMB going down the road looking like a puff-a-lump!!!

Steve
 
We can almost ride year round, with the exceptions of some cold days in December and January. This CHRISTMAS I gave my wife a heated jacket liner and heated gloves. She like them so well last week I went to the B.M.W. Motorcycle dealer and purchased the Gerbing jacket liner and G3 gloves for myself. (The Harley Dealer did not have any in my size). This Saturday we left out with the temperature around 38 and it was fantastic. Just to check them out took the interstate and upward 80 miles an hour NO PROBLEM. Do not know how low I would try but anything above 32 will not stop us from riding. On a beautiful Saturday with Carolina blue sky the lower temps will not keep our bikes in the garage. I started out with my liner turned all the way up and could not keep it there after it warmed up... the lowest setting was all it took to keep me warm !

P.S. All I had under the liner was a long sleeve t-shirt and leather jacket on top of liner.... much better than the multi layers and the Michlein tire man look.
 
Hi there,

I'm brand new to this group and am writing to you all from England. Have had my Sportster out at 2-3 Celcius (that's around 36F I think) but I wear my skiing thermal gear underneath my leathers. I take it easy speed-wise as roads can be a bit icy so I guess that keeps down the wind chill and I only have a couple of miles there and back to work. Layers is the way to go and the best temperature protection starts with good thermals next to skin and then a breathable layer like goretex so condensation doesn't make you wet. I also wear a full-face helmet which makes a big differnence. Of course, there's always the car in the garage.......
By the way, do any of you guys get rust problems on your bikes from winter weather?
 
On my earlier post, we ride at 32 and up but only when the roads are dry and the sun is out. Not worth risk if the roads will be icy and slick. I have almost decided with the heated gear it's more comfortable than the 90+ and high humidity that we have in July and August.
 
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