It was 12C or 53F this morning for my morning ride to work.

I have come to the conclusion, as a new rider...when it is 53F, it's approaching the kind of conditions whereby your gentleman parts, freeze to the seat.

Full leathers! They help a lot. Also does a layer underneath 'em. Or more, if there's enough space available.
Some people around here stuff newspapers between their clothes and the front of the jacket, it provides a bit of heat insulation.
Heated clothes would be nice, otherwise you could try something like these in your pockets if your commute doesn't take forever:

Was 5 degrees in montreal this am. Technic jacket with the inner liner and standard trousers and I was fine.  Was not on the highway though. Would add the inner liner to my trousers and an extra fleece jacket in that case. Oh and a neck warmer.

I love fall riding.

Bmf

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

I really enjoyed it, I wasnt that cold, just my pants area.  My torso was fine, leather jacket.  I could have had warmer gloves.

And my neck was cold.  I will wear a scarf tomorrow and mitts.

M

Don't wear a scarf! At least not the standard type.... people have had them come loose and get caught in the real wheel / chain. A balaclava works wonders.

Hippo Hand, heated grips, a neck warmer or balaclava, and a rain suit over your riding gear will make for a fairly comfortable ride. Also a pinlock capable helmet so you don't have to open the visor.
I don't like riding below 35 degrees F, I'm scared of hitting black ice.

Leather overpants (w/ full length zipper on legs) a neck gator, gauntlet gloves and a decent jacket get me comforably into the 40's where I then quit riding.

This all makes great sense to me.

Off to the store to buy some more gear.  To complete my superhero persona.

M

Duofold Thermal Underwear. Available at a sporting goods retailer near you. Or Amazon. Amazon has robots.

I typically will ride as long as it's above freezing, unless it's raining, then it needs to be above 50 for me.

I've definitely found that my hands are the coldest part for me. I will wear a neck buff if needed (instead of scarf like Big Rich mentioned). I'll be trying out heated grips for the the first time this upcoming fall.

Quote from: EdChen on October 01, 2015, 06:03:29 PM
I typically will ride as long as it's above freezing, unless it's raining, then it needs to be above 50 for me.

I've definitely found that my hands are the coldest part for me. I will wear a neck buff if needed (instead of scarf like Big Rich mentioned). I'll be trying out heated grips for the the first time this upcoming fall.

Hippo Hands work much better. Just sayin.
Also, heated grips work much better with Hippo Hands.

Ed: for clarification I recommend against a scarf. But that's not the point.

I found some plastic hand guards on ebay (brush guards for dirt bikes actually) and had them on my GS450 for a while. The plastic guards blocked a small amount of wind but I also had some Moose Racing foam guards that could attach to the brush guards with velcro. Between the two, I could ride in near freezing weather and my hands didn't get cold.

Quote from: cWj on October 01, 2015, 11:45:18 AM
Duofold Thermal Underwear. Available at a sporting goods retailer near you. Or Amazon. Amazon has robots.

If your commuting to work, thermal underwear is the SUCK, yeah...lets all go somewhere private and strip down to our undies at work and then do the same when we go home, if your going out for a ride in the cold....yes, then thermal underwear is fine.

For commuting to work, Leather overpants (w/ full length zipper on legs) you can step out of them in the parking lot without taking off your shoes, and leave them at your bike if you have luggage

The only reason I say leather over thermal textile is....leather overpants will roll up to about the size of a loaf of bread, so they take up very little room in your saddle bags, thermal textiles on the other hand easily take up twice the space.

Long sleeve T's work well with thier layering aspect, and the take up very little space when you stow them, I always have 2  long sleeve T's in my saddle bags.

Saddle Bags..cause you need a place to put your gear, I can start a ride in the morning with all my gear on, by the afternoon most of my gear is in my saddle bags.

 

50 degrees is pretty much my low riding temperature, and 100 degrees is my high. 
Both have a little fudge room in them, and there have been numerous exceptions... and I've regretted a few of those exceptions.

I wear a scarf and never had it come loose.  It's all about how you tie it.  Don't go for fashion, just do a simple square knot in front.

I usually use a shemagh, hold it out in front of you, center to your neck, toss the ends over your shoulder.  The ends criss cross in back and hang in front now covering your neck.
Now I'll either wrap it to itself with two coils on either side coiling in opposite directions, or I'll just do a simple square knot and tuck it depending on how much bulk I want and what's easier with the state of my hands...

I ride until the snow comes down.  Usually the 30s.
Ill wear ski pants over my riding gear, underarmour long sleeve shirt over my t-shirt, Columbia liner, my textile, scarf, balaclava, usually some eye protection within the helmet for wind in case I need to Crack the shield for fogging, glove liners, and gloves.  If it's really cold I'll wear boot liners too.

I rode year around here in NE Ohio for most of my 30 years of riding.  Had a big plexi 2 type shield on my 4 old Hondas year around but went to a smaller Spitfire shield on the GSs putting the Plexi 2 on for the winter months, switched them twice a year.



Rode in temps down to 20F when streets were clear of ice and snow but rode thru a trillion gallons of salt water.  My old Hondas cleaned up nicely in the spring, parked the 97 GS I bought new and rode an old CM400 for the 3 winter months, and I rode the 02 GS year around for 11 years and it got quite rusty.  Bikes are made to ride not to polish.  LOL

Quote from: Atesz792 on October 01, 2015, 09:45:34 AM
Full leathers! They help a lot. Also does a layer underneath 'em. Or more, if there's enough space available.
Some people around here stuff newspapers between their clothes and the front of the jacket, it provides a bit of heat insulation.
Heated clothes would be nice, otherwise you could try something like these in your pockets if your commute doesn't take forever:

stuffing trashbags works too.  ( rode my hd in january around 30f 8 miles each way to work. ya it was cold lol but it worked.
Aaron

I'll have to look into hippo hands. I never knew what they were called, but always thought that they would be restrictive on the hands, and a little bit goofy looking, I like to hold the bars in weird positions sometimes.


Oh, bigRich, sorry, that was poor punctuation on my part. I meant it as agreeing with you that scarves have a potential for getting stuff. I think I meant for a comma somewhere in there

It was colder today but I was prepared for it.  7C, which is what...44F

I traded my nice perforated leather riding gloves for mitts, wore an extra layer on top.  Bought a balaclava, my wife asked if I was going to rob a bank on the way to work.  I told her no...on the way to the airport.

And since the last post raised ever-so-much ire, I'll keep going...

A couple winters ago I was working a Christmas job in Short Hills New Jersey. It's about a 30 mile ride one way. The temps were about 40F ambient at the time. In addition to the DuoFold mid-weight (breathable, not scratchy - I didn't take them off...but if I needed to, hey, look at the restroom stall over there....), I also have a set of extra large sweatpants that I wore on the outside (these don't have elastic at the end, maybe big enough to remove with out taking off shoes, but I was changing footwear for the job anyway).

Depending on how much more warm you need and can leave on during the day, there's also flannel-lined jeans you could wear under your gear.

I've gotten all of the above at a local sporting goods retailer.