it's too hot to ride

[qcbaker]

What I've noticed here is that it's extremely pleasant to ride between about 75 and 85F, all in my perf. leather jacket (which I will not be able to wear this fall..). Below about 75 and long rides get to feel pretty cool. Below 60 and it feels downright cold on a naked bike. Below 50 and this Texan is not going to ride a motorcycle outdoors. I'm close to adopting the same rule when it's >93. It's just hardly worth it.

Glove liners dude. Seriously, its such a night and day difference how I feel in the same temperature, but without my fingers feeling like they're gonna fall off. Makes riding in temps below 50 way more tolerable, especially when paired with something to protect my neck. Just a few cheap pieces of cold-weather kit have greatly extended my riding season here in PA.

Reminds me why I left in the first place.  Sweating in the shade, my shirt sticking to me, night-heat, "swamp ass..."

100% why summer is my least favorite season

I'd compare a 115° desert day to a 100° humid day, except in the desert you can sit in the shade and feel cooler and count on that temperature dropping 20° once the sun goes down.  When it's humid it's inescapable.
I'll stick to the desert.

I feel like I lived where you do, I'd have to become nocturnal. I'd melt at 115, I'm sure of it.

Yeah, I do the same thing.  In the hot months I wear CycleGear's CoolR shirts as undershirts almost daily (think UnderArmour but looser fit), and I pack my uniform shirt.  It's comfortable at work, so typically I can get a couple of days use per shirt before I rotate it out.  Unless it's a tire day.  I get filthy on tire days.

[Watcher]

{snip}

Off topic, but the last meme in that format that I absolutely loved was regarding Hotel California by The Eagles.

It went:

HC is about drugs.
HC is about the music industry
HC is a real place and The Eagles are still trapped there.
HC is a negative Yelp! review with a 2-minute guitar solo!

[ShowBizWolf]

I thrive in the heat, I absolutely love it!! I put in about 30 hours a couple weekends ago at my dad's garage, working on my van, and it was ~95F in the building the whole time.

On the flip side of that, I'm always cold when it's comfortable temperatures for most people... and it sucks. In the lab at work, it's all temperature monitored and stays right between 68F and 72F... and I'm always in layers just to keep comfortable.

The up side to that is when I'm riding to work in the winter, when it's ~20F outside, I can leave some of my layers on to stay comfortable in the building LOL!

[Bluesmudge]

Motorcycling is an inherently uncomfortable sport. I'm always surprised when the temperature/humidity lines up well enough with my gear to leave me comfortable.
I basically wear vented leather year round because its equally uncomfortable in all weather and temperature. Mesh doesnt seem worth the trouble and decrease in safety when it's only more comfortable in a 20 degree temperature zone.

[mr72]

I wrote a blog post on this topic. TL;DR, I think Texans can ignore most of what the moto press and reviewers say about "hot weather gear".
https://joshkarnes.blogspot.com/2019/08/august-sucks-or-why-there-is-no-way-to.html

In related news (and mentioned in my blog), I did buy a new jacket and a used one as well because my old ones were too big. The perforated leather one I got was stupidly cheap from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079G12J1X/

I say stupidly cheap because the quality is way above what you'd expect for that price point. I only have one complaint with it, and that's the pointy shoulders when in riding position, but besides that minor niggle that will probably go away once it's broken in, that jacket is legit. 100% perforated. I rode with it today (you can see it in the picture I posted on the picture game thread), and while I didn't exceed 85 degrees in it, it did prove that it flows a ton of air. It's not 100% like a mesh jacket, but it's maybe 75% as much airflow as my mesh jacket.

And speaking of which, I bought a used Bilt Techno mesh jacket. It's a tighter weave mesh than the Power Trip Gauge that I was using before, so it is not quite as breezy but it's cooler because it's white.

Anyway, I will probably ride the mesh jacket when it's >85F for the entirety of my ride. I actually think I'll be cold in the perf leather jacket if it under 70F, so I'll have to wear something under it (like the liner it came with!) in those conditions.

104F right now but the high tomorrow is only 98. Gonna feel like a cold front blew in.

[Watcher]

The Bilt Techno Mesh is 100% the most popular jacket we sell at my store.

It's light, it's cheap, it's breezy, and it seems to be made well for what you pay since I get few to no warranty claims on it.

Definitely a decent buy.

[mr72]

I got the Bilt Techno mesh for $40. It needed cleaning, so I took the armor out ( ) and threw it in the washer, came out looking 100% perfect and brand new.

It's got the same crummy foam rubber "back protector" as my Cafe jacket has, which I might upgrade to a D30 or something at some point. So far I've only ridden with it once, just a 4 mile round trip to the grocery store and back. Seems to work fine. Flows less air than the Power Trip but stays put much better and definitely fits better. Seems similar in quality besides that back protector. I'm sure it's a keeper. Glad to hear it's AZ-heat-certified 

One thing, though, just like my Cafe jacket, the frikin zipper is backwards. what's with Bilt and putting the wrong zipper? we all know men's clothing has zipper pull on the right in America. It's just a silly annoying oversight. I guess they are being European.

[Watcher]

One thing, though, just like my Cafe jacket, the frikin zipper is backwards. what's with Bilt and putting the wrong zipper? we all know men's clothing has zipper pull on the right in America. It's just a silly annoying oversight. I guess they are being European.

They're trying to be, lol!  When most of the industry is doing it "backwards" they are trying to follow suit.

Icon stuff is still "American", as are brands trying to cater to our market like Street and Steel (Speed and Strength) with their "cruiser" apparel.

I've got a good mix of both in my closet.  After a while you become ambidextrous, in a manner.


Are you wearing the Sedici Luca glove?  That's a pretty good choice.  Looks good with that jacket.