I ride about 70 miles a day to/from work, and I haven't given up motorcycle commuting yet ... though it was pretty darn cold this morning, and frosty. The upside is it's been an unusually dry fall so far. Anybody else bonkers enough to try year-round riding?
Yea, that Stitch map reflects 2 things -
1. Jealousy that here in Zonie land you can easily ride 365.
2. That Stitch doesn't have a suit for warm weather riding. Quit riding if the temp is over 95? Only if you're wearing a canvas overall.
Guess Motoport mesh wouldn't be good in the frozen tundra of Minnesota either, but there you go.
And for those who say it's just too darn hot to ride when nearing 120 degrees, 4 words. Phase Change Cooling Vests.
I did for years on my ST1300, 125 to 130 miles a day. Pretty easy to do in Northern California though. Did have a couple winters when the temps were low 20's. Thanks to the gear I only got cold when I shut off the heated jacket liner after parking the bike. The HD riders at work were amazed and thought I was crazy. Only thing I didn't like is when my face shield would leak rain on the inside. For some weird reason I actually like riding in the rain. Waterproof gear is priceless in the rain.
That's sadly THE only thing I miss from my old job. Now I work less then 10 minutes from home. Not worth gearing up for, and I'd probably wave as I rode by the shop.
Finally, a fellow rider that admits he likes riding in the rain! I thoroughly enjoy it! And to this thread, while not a long commute at 60 miles round trip, I ride every day here in Florida unless the wife needs me to pick up 10 bags of groceries at the commissary. some things we gotta do to keep the peace...0
Did it in Romania, for years (except snow days), on RTs and GSAs, now I’m a daily rider in the South of the UK, on my 2017 k1600 GT - no snow here, only wind, rain, and low temperatures. I love the GT, even for commuting.
I try to ride year round but between December and March there are often chunks of weeks it's not safe. Once the salt hits the roads and there is a risk of black ice I'll not ride until we get rain and temps are above 32 and I'm confident the roads are dry for my 430 am commute.
I'd say I ride 7 days a month in December, January and February.
@Marc11, a good one piece (Aerostitch, Olympia) would solve that problem, especially in the cooler or wetter months. I have an Aerostitch and It does wonders in the rain too. I just got back from a 500 mile sprint through three horrid rain storms (south Florida) and came out on each side bone dry. On and off in less than 30 seconds..:wink:
I have two and are my daily use gear most of the time. But when it's pouring rain, standing in a parking lot removing and packing gear just isn't an option sadly.
Question though...anybody doing this in Colorado Springs? My wife is pushing for retirement there in a few years. But I'm seeing some cold temps. I don't mind the cold (heated gear). But really, how is it for ice, etc. It looks like it warms up well above freezing most days.
Colorado Springs is at about 6,000 feet and on the front range so snow and road conditions are erratic. I am from Denver, but lived in the Springs a couple years, my brother has lived there most of his life. January and February would be the worst of it, but they have periods during the winter where getting out for a ride would be very enjoyable. They get some real doozies of blizzards between Colorado Springs and Monument. They have closure gates on I-25 there at Monument Hill. If it were me, I would never put the bike up for storage, but realize it may only be rideable once or twice a month. They don't use salt on the roads, just sand (gravel) so that's good and bad. You will need to clean the bike well, after every ride. I would definitely be temped to buy a snow machine.
I lived in Olympia for 30+ years, if you live in W. WA and let the rain influence your riding, why bother riding? I had good rain gear, heated jacket and all the rest of the stuff needed to stay dry and warm. I now live in AZ and have a more difficult time trying to ride year round due to the heat. It was easy to stay warm in the winter in WA but trying to deal with extreme heat in summer has its challenges.
That is my riding philosophy more or less, though I've given myself permission to bail on riding if it's super stormy. Our usual November windstorms never materialized. We did have one blustery day when there was a 3-inch diameter branch on the state highway I usually traverse. I'm glad I waited an extra hour to leave home, so there was daylight by the time I got there.
They have gotten pretty good at applying deicer in advance of sub-freezing temperatures here. It's rarely salt, but something made of beet juice which is supposed to be relatively harmless for metal components. So that makes a day like today a lot more secure -- it was under 24 degrees at my neighbor's weather station, until after sunrise.
By the way I know Olympia well. Did you know it's twice as rainy there as in Seattle?
I do like riding in the rain, as long as I can stay away from getting stuck behind a truck throwing up a bunch of dirty water. Fortunately I'm retired and can choose when and where I ride, so that's usually pretty easy.
Yes!! I hate trucks on the freeway. And not just an appearance problem after the ride, but a visibility problem in the wall-o-mist that comes off their tires.
The HOT lanes here help, because there's never semis in that lane and motorcycles are allowed to use them for free (see my September post about transponders).
Yep, all year round, but it's only for pleasure, so typically only in the better weather, which in the UK at this time of year is perhaps once a week/fortnight, and even then only for 100 miles or so. We are seldom out of the 30s to 40s until April time, and most days are wet as the roads need a couple of days to dry due to it being so cold.
New to this forum but I'm a veteran rider. Has anyone ever ridden 400+ miles in 35 degree weather with a 25 mph tailwind? If so, any tips? I've ridden that far in a day before but not when it was that cold. I have a 2011 r1200gs. Thanks for any feedback! -Jeff
I rode this past spring (April) up through the Yukon Territory to Alaska. Several days riding in temps from the mid-20s F to the high 30s. Electric mid-layer and gloves made the thousands of miles in those temps roll by like a non-event on the temperature.
4,200 miles in 11 days. We were delayed once due to a road closed for avalanche bombing. Everywhere we went in the Yukon Territory we heard the same thing, "We don't usually see motorcycles here for another month or so. You're the first this year."
All year. I work at home most days, so no commuting. There is a nearby office, and I'll either ride or drive.
I also sometimes ride to customer visits if I know I'll get stuck in traffic, like when I go to San Francisco. I'll wear nice jeans and shirt, along with boots and m/c jacket. Then change into nice shoes and coat when I park. Nobody even knows I rode, not that most would care.
I did get my November ride in a couple weeks ago and was gonna get my December ride in today but the snow storm beat me home and iced up the road between here and the highway.
Paris, France. All-year rider, except if it snows.
Tried that once with a brand new RT and it turns out that bikes, much like house cats, prefer to lie down and wait it out when there's snow. Although in my defence, it wasn't snowing when I left the house, my experience still cost me a pretty penny.
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