It was 33F when I left to ride to work this morning here.  No wind, clear clean roads -- no frost except on the roofs of houses.  A brisk ride but little risk so long as you remember grip is not optimal on cold tires.

I've ridden to work down to 24F.  My hands are always the first affected, even with my PolarTec gloves and Wintersilk liners.  But I'll ride in the city 'til solid precipitation.  Below 45F I find it's not pleasant going highway speeds without heaters or wind protection I don't own, so I avoid it.

I respect GSjack and others that ride in the cold, year round, in adverse conditions.  But for me it's not worth the risk.  All I need is to take evasive action that forces me onto a patch of ice, sand or road salt and I'm down.  I like what I have too much to risk loosing it.

Unless the GS is your only transportation, I'd say that it's too cold when you quit enjoying it.  If you're not having fun, you can either change what you're doing (get a big windscreen and insulated gloves, and/or go electric); or else don't ride.

Last year I was riding to work in the mornings when it was in the 20's - 22F, 28F, etc. It was very cold and obviously below freezing. It is only a 10 mile ride, and afternoons were warmer. I didn't stop riding until road conditions (read: snow) started to threaten my riding  

It was 50 this morning and that seemed cold. I can't imagine riding in sub-40s weather. But I am a huge naughty place, so whatever.

Dave  

Don't get me wrong, riding in the 20's was not what I would call enjoyable! I wore long johns under my street clothes, full gear, and a bandanna around my neck bank robber style. And I was still pretty cold!

Funny thing is, when Spring finally "sprung" and I got the bike out in the high 40's and low 50's, my first few rides felt cold too. I guess our bodies do a LOT of temperature adjustments based on time of year, etc.

Plus, I'm a fat guy so I have a lot of insulation  :lol:

Quote from: flyingbeagle71

Quote from: billyblackoutHow cold is too cold to ride. In Michigan, it got to about 33 this morning. It'd be just a quick jaunt to campus, no highway. I just wanted to get tips from you guys on what temperature it's too low to ride in. Thanks a lot!

It was freezing out there this morning, I've got a 55 mile commute to Detroit and turned back after 5 minutes.   Drove the truck over instead...to bad too, they are forcasting nice weather for the ride home...  

I have a 20 mile commute everyday, but still I've noticed that the first 5 minutes on the interstate is the coldest. The faster I go and the longer I ride it out, the less it bothers me. I do need to invest in a scarf or something to put around my neck because that's really the only thing that gets cold. I think what happens is during the first 5 minutes I'm not used to it, but after that my neck just goes numb and I don't feel it anymore. :lol: I wear 3M Thinsulated gloves which work okay but could be better. An A-shirt (tagless, lol), then a nice long sleeve shirt over it then my leather jacket. No leather chaps yet but if I had those, I don't think I'd even really know how cold it was outside.

Quote from: Rema1000it's too cold when you quit enjoying it

That's the best quote on riding in the cold that I've heard.  However, there are a few factors in "not enjoying it" - insufficient gear or the wrong type; the decreased traction of cold tarmac and made-for-warm tires; and the possibility of interesting cold-related weather.

Too cold for me is when the bike can't start.  Other than that i've ridden with the temp in the 20's.  This morning when i rode to work it was 46 deg.  Which to me is perfect.  I do have an unusual tolerance to cold.  Hot weather riding is another matter.  To wear gear in hot weather to me is no fun at all. But as the weather gets colder there are so many options to keeping warm.  

Quote from: juggernaughtToo cold for me is when the bike can't start.  Other than that i've ridden with the temp in the 20's.  This morning when i rode to work it was 46 deg.  Which to me is perfect.  I do have an unusual tolerance to cold.  Hot weather riding is another matter.  To wear gear in hot weather to me is no fun at all. But as the weather gets colder there are so many options to keeping warm.  

Agreed, 110F 90% humidity and wearing full gear is NOT fun at all! You can always add more clothes and more insulation from the cold so...

Quote from: Badger

Quote from: NarcissusI road this morning, and it was like 2-3* C, not sure what that is in F.

Right around 35-38F.

right around too cold to ride temp

we'll this is my first winter on a bike, at this point 45+ is OK (40 minutes city traffic), below that i think i would have to upgrade my gloves and get something for the neck

I rode into work this morning and it was 41 degrees F when I left. I've got about a 30 mile ride into work. I stop halfway at a gas station for a pack of smokes so that gives me a couple minutes to warm back up a little bit. For my torso, I wore a "wife beater", t-shirt,long sleeve long john shirt, hooded sweater ("hoodie"), and a big ass starter jacket. For my lower end, tighty whities,long johns, sweatpants, jeans, wool socks and my tennis shoes (don't have any boots yet, need some though). Then for my hands, I wore my Cortech riding gloves with a thin pair of cotton gloves underneath.

I plan on riding to work no matter what the temp is (well, if it's below 20 or so I probably won't) and this apparrel is perfect for me, other than the gloves part. I've got that covered though, my dad gave me some thick ass snowgloves, gauntlet style. We'll see how those work tomorrow.  

Last year I did not have my bike, but I did have my ATV and I rode it to work a couple times it went below ZERO.  Carharts, ski mask, full face helmet, and ice fishing gloves and it was not that bad.  One night about 10 of us went riding in the snow after we got of work at midnight.  wind chill was about 15 below and we would ride for about 45 minutes then get warm by a fire and drink a few then go back out.

But when your snot freezes your mustache to your ski mask then I consider it to cold to ride.