Well I came home to pick up my bike and drive it from Hamilton to Kingston... a three hour drive on a good day....and it decided to snow about 5cm this evening so I'm hoping that the road is clean and dry tomorrow afternoon if not I guess I'll have to extend my stay.... either way I will be going on a fun and freezing cold road trip with in the next few days, any tips? I have a camel pack, full leathers, long underwear, planned breaks ever 20 to 30 minutes, snack bars, tools, tape, brand new battery ...anything I'm missing? (aside from maybe a little bit of brains...?)
A balaclava for under your helmet...keeps your neck warm...makes all the difference in cold weather...
(http://www.zegifts.com/Design/Assets/images/Balaclava.jpg)
Long wool or fleece socks...sometimes the wind comes whipping up the pant legs and the long underwear just doesn't cut it.
An Ipod or some kind of music or radio source with some of the dinky ear bud earphones makes the time go faster...Watch out for the heavy metal or the heavy techno/house music...tends to make you drive faster than you would usually.
All I can think of for now.
Almost forgot...a flask of some Wild Turkey for after the ride and maybe some condoms. :dunno:
:mrgreen:
I wear a balalclava under my helmet during cold weather and it does make a HUGE difference. I also wear a windproof, breathable parka under my leather jacket to help with any wind that penetrates the zipper.
I would also recommend that if you ride with the balalclava frequently you might want to get a second, beater helmet for winter-time. I found that my balaclava compressed the lining in my helmet a bit and now it does not fit snugly unless I have the balaclava on. So now I have two helmets, one that fits with the extra winter gear and one that I only use when it is warm enough to go without.
yea the balalclavas really work, I also recommend some good warm gloves, or use some latex gloves under your gloves. That is the only thing I hate about riding in the cold, trying to keep my fingers from going numb.
i don't know about an ipod with dinky earbuds, but i would definitely recommend some sort of ear plug, those are worth their weight in gold.
if you have the in-your-ear-foam kind of earbud, that may work, but if you just use regular ones, all you'll do is get a headache in 30 minutes.
also, if you don't have a big widnshield, be careful passing semis -- they'll knock you around a bit, other than that, the wind's not too bad.
and like everyone says, dress warm :)
Quote from: dyranWell I came home to pick up my bike and drive it from Hamilton to Kingston... a three hour drive on a good day....and it decided to snow about 5cm this evening so I'm hoping that the road is clean and dry tomorrow afternoon if not I guess I'll have to extend my stay.... either way I will be going on a fun and freezing cold road trip with in the next few days, any tips? I have a camel pack, full leathers, long underwear, planned breaks ever 20 to 30 minutes, snack bars, tools, tape, brand new battery ...anything I'm missing? (aside from maybe a little bit of brains...?)
Your actually going to ride this soon? I live in winnipeg, the roads are all clean and dry, still snow lots of snow on the sides of the roads though. I wanna take out my bike so bad, but i dont know if the roads would be good enough
Too late to run out and buy an electric vest? I think I read that people have used them on a GS without trouble.
Otherwise...layers and lots of them. Frequent stops at places you can warm up might be a good idea. My real concern is your hands. They could numb up on you and you might not even realize they are freezing :o
I echo John's comment on keeping your hands warm. Agree with layers, but if at all possible, deflect the wind away from you. Wind Chill is your #1 problem at current daily temperatures.
I've ridden for about an hour on a nice, sunny spring day, at 60-90 kpm with ambient around 3-5 Deg.C. Bundled up like a snowman. PolarTec gloves with Wintersilk glove liners. My bike has a flyscreen to hide behind. Torso, legs and arms were fine. Nose was a bit cold, but the hands -- gosh almighty, they were nasty cold. (I admit only average circulation to the digits. :) )
I doubt you'll get much beyond the end of the QEW before needing to warm up. Makes for a long ride to Kingston if you have to stop every 40 minutes for 20 to warm up. It's too late to mail order a set of wind deflectors, but perhaps some electrical wire and thick cardboard could work to keep the wind off your grips.
Maybe they'd let you take your bike on VIA Rail? Hamilton to Union Station should be no problem.
Leathers are not worth anything in the winter. You need a rain suit to keep the wind out and layers undereneath.
Last weekend I went out with another guy and his hands were freezing.
I had some chemical toe warmers. They are smaller and generate less heat than the hand warmers. I stuck on the top of his hand and one on the palm of his hand. He was toasty warm for the next 2 hours home.
I never used them on my hands but they sure work in the boots. I have knuckle guards on my DL650 and good gloves so I'm fine for hours in anything above freezing.
Quote from: mp183Leathers are not worth anything in the winter. You need a rain suit to keep the wind out and layers undereneath.
leathers suck even more in the summer
they're not there for the weather, they're there to protect you against trauma in case of a wreck.
I'm new to the board but have been riding for lots of years. (Just ask Kerry , I'm his oldest brother) I agree with mp183 that you need to cut the wind. Even here in Ark. it does get cold. Years ago when all I had was a Volare' wagon, a Suzuki GN 400, A wife and four kids guess how I got to work. The bike was it for me. 45 miles one way. All kinds of weather. 21,000 miles in 16 months. Only missed two days and that was because of ice on the bridges. I wore long underwear, work uniform, sweater or sweatshirt, Wall's insulated coveralls, two piece military rain suit, military arctic boots, ski mask w/ turtle neck dickey pulled up over my ears under it (open face helmet w/ flat shield). Balaclavas now replace those last two. My hands were always the worst. I even had a Nat'l Cycle plexifairing which you probably don't. Sorry this is so long but the short of it is that you need to layer up with a wind break on the outside. Any water proof layer will do. Kerry has even used his Frogg Toggs for this purpose, I was there.
Thanks for all your advice, and those of you who said it's to early to ride...you're right! The trip took me 4 and a bit hours and my toes and fingers were defrosted often and other than them I remained rather warm (though I kinda wished I had a balaclava). I also wish I had a goldwing in weather like this today it was 3-5degC but it was sunny for the most part. The trafiic was good up till oakville and then it was stop and go, I had a few truckers honk and give me the thumbs up and I had a lot of honks from the ladies...who knew the gs was such a chick magnet? Anywho it is time for a cold shower that gradualy gets warmers. Thanks for all the tips and have a great easter weekend!
Here's an AMA link I have on winter riding:
Keeping Warm: How to do Winter Riding Right (http://www.amadirectlink.com/features/Cold/index.asp)
All of us above the 40th Parallel are aching to ride, especially when it feels sunny and warm compared to recent winter weather.
This thread should remind all of us to think about the effects of a 60-80 KPH wind at 5 Deg.C versus standing stationary in bright sunshine at that temperature. There's a big difference in thermal transfer. Be prepared.
Roy...