COLD RIDING! It's that time of year again...How do you stay warm?

[FIZZER6]

What cold weather gear are you pulling out this year?

So I rode to work this morning and the temp was 40 degrees F (4 C) with high humidity...My neck was numb and I was starting to get a headache from the brain freeze.

My cold weather gear consists of my armored textile jacket with thermal liner, jeans with wind breaker overpants, gortex/thinsulate gloves.

My fingers were started to get numb after 12 minutes but my neck was absolutely the weak link.

How do you keep your neck warm? It seems with the stock windscreen the air hits you in the chest and BLASTS straight up into your neck/chin.

I'm thinking of trying a turtle neck and a neck warmer

 

[ebster1085]

I rode in this morning as well and was pretty darn cold. All I had on was my Joe Rocket jacet with liner, a button down shirt and undershirt below (for work) my slacks, long socks, and my boots. For hands, all I had was my riding gloves with no liners.

My ride in is 35 miles and I leave at 6:15am, not to mention I am north of you in NY. Not sure what teh exact temp was this morning, but it was cold and my hands were numb by the time I got to the office.

This may be my last week of riding for the season..

 

[FIZZER6]

I rode in this morning as well and was pretty darn cold. All I had on was my Joe Rocket jacet with liner, a button down shirt and undershirt below (for work) my slacks, long socks, and my boots. For hands, all I had was my riding gloves with no liners.

My ride in is 35 miles and I leave at 6:15am, not to mention I am north of you in NY. Not sure what teh exact temp was this morning, but it was cold and my hands were numb by the time I got to the office.

This may be my last week of riding for the season..

yea I'm sure you froze! My commute is only 12 minutes but that's at 60-65 mph so the windchill was brutal. It's going to be 71 degrees today though so the ride home will be pleasant. I'm not about to pack the bike away as we only get a couple months in central Virginia of high temps that don't reach 40 but I think 40 degrees F is about my limit when it comes to cold weather riding. I weight 150 lbs in my gear and am around 5% body fat...I am not a cold weather person. Sucks because I love riding. I need to move to Arizona.

 

[ebster1085]

Yea man, my ride is all 35 miles all highway, doing between 75-85mph most of the way..it was brutal this morning.

I am 5'8" and weigh around 175 with like 8% body fat, so I too understand your aversion to the cold weather. In NY we are lucky if we hit 60* this time of year.

 

[MisterX]

I do ride year round. Even though there is a limit on temps where I'll say the heck with it and take my vehicle, I have been known to ride when temps have been as low as 18°F. In those cases, I just layer like crazy.

• Torso and arms - I'll put on an undershirt, a heavy sweater, and my heavier Frank Thomas leather jacket with the liner.
• Legs - I wear thermal bottoms and my Kevlar jeans that has the knee protection. Surprisingly, the knee protection deflects quite a bit of the wind.
• Hands - I wear some heavy winter gloves. Really need to invest in some heated gloves.
• Feet - couple pairs of socks and my cruiser boots.
• Neck - One of those neck warmer things. Works great, even in the really cold temps. Very highly suggest them. I also make sure I either wear the helmet that has the chin skirt, or put one on my Shoei.

That's about it.

 

[Chupacabra]

Get a balaclava from Arctiva or Klim.

They aren't cheap, but they use a compressed fleece that is about the same to pack as a neckguard and your face will stay much warmer. Most people here in MN that are still riding swear by them and when I snowmobile, I wear a motocross style helmet with a balaclava.

 

[FIZZER6]

^ That's awesome! I'll start searching for one of those. Looks like a good way to keep warm on bitter days even if you aren't riding!

 

[Hoshiko]

I have a heated jacket and heated gloves. They work perfect. The jacket has a high neck and the gloves are comfortable enough.

http://www.helmetcity.com/page/HC/PROD/heated-jackets/menheatedliner

http://www.helmetcity.com/page/HC/PROD/heated-gloves/fgcarbonglove

 

[Susan]

I've been wearing long johns under my Kevlar jeans, a T-shirt, a sweatshirt or turtleneck, a fleece jacket, my textile riding jacket, and my regular gloves. With rain gear over the whole thing. Even at a couple of degrees above freezing on a ninety-minute, 80–100kph ride, I only get a little chilly, and my fingers feel a little stiff.

I have no idea about my body fat percentage, but I'm not bony and I'm not that tall. So that may help with the wind chill.

My husband rides a CBF, and his hands freeze right away, but mine don't seem to on the FZ6.

 

[FIZZER6]

I've been wearing long johns under my Kevlar jeans, a T-shirt, a sweatshirt or turtleneck, a fleece jacket, my textile riding jacket, and my regular gloves. With rain gear over the whole thing. Even at a couple of degrees above freezing on a ninety-minute, 80–100kph ride, I only get a little chilly, and my fingers feel a little stiff.

I have no idea about my body fat percentage, but I'm not bony and I'm not that tall. So that may help with the wind chill.

My husband rides a CBF, and his hands freeze right away, but mine don't seem to on the FZ6.

I may try putting my 1 piece rain suit over my gear to break the wind. Good idea. :thumbup:

 

[Erci]

I did 45+ miles 2 days in a row at 40 degrees (leaving house at 5:30am... brrr) on the highway (so 75 to .. how fast would you go on a FZ1? )

Here's what works very well for me top to bottom:
- TALL touring screen + tucking way down so top of the screen is level with the bridge of my nose. Frankly I hate riding like this for more than few minutes, but it beats getting cold air forced into your helmet.
- Helmet skirt (keeps the chin/mouth/nose warm). Combined with tucking, this helps a lot.
- Rain jacket! Just wear that cheap layer over your regular jacket and you'll be amazed how well it keeps the heat in and blocks the wind. Mine has tall collar so it covers 95% of my neck very well too.
- Long johns + nylon shell pants (super thin layer.. blocks all wind) + regular Summer riding pants.
- Regular socks with my Sidi Strada Rain boots.

What doesn't work:
- My winter gloves. Even though they're warm.. going fast at 40 degrees.. after an hour my finger tips are frozen

 

[FIZZER6]

Yea not much I can do about my fingers except invest in heated gloves but for my 7 mile commute I can deal with it. If it's below 40 degrees when I leave for work I've decided I'll take the cage, come home for lunch, take the bike for the afternoon...

 

[ChevyFazer]

I wear my sidi verona? Jacket and pants with liners in and good winter gloves, into mid 40s, any colder then i put my baclava on, heated jacket (first gear), heated gloves (gerbings). It actually diped down to 38° friday and saturday around 6am when i left my house for work and got to run my electrics for the first time and wow. Its wonderful!

Sent from my R800x using Tapatalk

 

[Motohead]

Heated jacket liner from Rocky Mountain under any windproof shell, good gloves, and Inhouse RMtn brand mx pants over riding jeans. Jacket has H,M,L settings. Its funny to see my buddies freeze their arses off when I am toastie warm on the medium setting. That heated liner jacket is worth more than any 4 jackets combined. Stop being cold and get one now before they sell out. The one from Rcy Mtn includes all hook up wires and thermostat for very reasonable price.

 

[raydin]

My gear:

Wolf Outlast jacket

Buffalo jeans:

TCX Infinity GTX boots: + thick socks.

under layers:
top: + work t-shirt + underarmour heat gear t-shirt

bottom:

Hands:
RST gloves with silk under gloves (might break out my old Alpinestars with thermal layer)

Neck:

Bike:
Hot grips, Barkbusters Storm Handguards and Puig Fly screen.

Even after all that....its still cold! :BLAA:

 

[falcon6123]

I moved to Florida, Problem solved :thumbup:

 

[CHEMIKER]

I moved to Florida, Problem solved :thumbup:

Same here, only with California :thumbup::thumbup:

On those frigid mornings where it gets to 38F or so, I wear a sweatshirt under my jacket, a neck warmer called Turtle Fur (I think), and turn on my heated grips.

 

[FIZZER6]

I moved to Florida, Problem solved :thumbup:

My buddy lives in Tampa....it hit the high 30's quite a few nights last year. :thumbup:

I've seriously considered moving down there to ride year round but then I remember that one day in June riding the twisty Appalachian mountain roads is worth 10 days riding flat, straight (boring) Florida roads in January.

 

[Andz]

Okay I'll say it for the southern hemisphere riders.... 37C here today!

 

[FIZZER6]

Okay I'll say it for the southern hemisphere riders.... 37C here today!

Stay out of our thread then! :spank:

My brother lives out in Maui (Hawaii) and every winter I have to hear about how nice his weather is.