Advice for cold weather

[Old Guy]

I use Gerbing heated liner and gloves and get along well down into the high teens (fahrenheit). Heated grips are very nice, and I use them in cool spring weather with light gloves, but when it really gets cold I gotta have heated gear.

For pants, I get along OK with jeans and insulated overpants.

An old Naj scarf works well for the chin.

 

[Walter]

GOD i love living in the south lol ....You northern riders enjoy lookin at your bike in the garage this winter.

 

[JRF]

Thanks for all the input, looks like heated gear is the way to go. Whats a gen 1 going to support with the charging systems limitation, a jacket & maybe gloves? Anybody go the battery route?

 

[Niehart]

Can you get the guards without the stickers? Do they do a difinitive job of keeping anythjng from pressing the levers except yiur hands?

Those are Watershed MotorMitts that the motorcycle cops use. I have Cycra Rebound hand guards underneath the MotorMitts for a internal frame.

https://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/72833/i/cycra-rebound-hand-guard?suggest=1

https://advrider.com/index.php?threads/bestrest-motormitts.530877/

I just use the mitts in extreme conditions but leave the hand guards on most of the time.

They come with the sticker but they are easy to remove. They do a great job of keeping the motormitts off of the levers. The mm have enough zippers so you can use them on almost any bike.

 

[TomInPA]

I use WarmNsafe heated gear (90 watt jacket) under my Olympia Air-Glide, with the insulating and wind/rain layer in temperatures down to 12 F (-11 C). At that temperature I also use the WarmnSafe glove liners under winder Olympia gloves. I don't need anything else other than the waterproof boots and insulation layer under the airglide pants.

That is pretty cold for my latitude, so I only miss out on riding when the weather is wet and icy. You don't have to spend a fortune, but you need at least an electric jacket, and probably gloves to be comfortable. Install a volt-meter so you can monitor when your power drops under 13-13.2 VDC steady. At that point, you need to roll back the temperature on the electrics, or turn off aux lights.

 

[Pterodactyl]

There is a fellow in Fairbanks, AK, one of the Binkley brothers, who was the first person known to have ridden the haul road. He did it shortly after the road was opened on a BMW R90S. He made the ride in February and continued on to Ushuaia, Argentina, thus becoming the first person to make the ride from Deadhorse to Tierra del Fuego. He had no heated gear, but he did carry a pillowcase full of rags. He said that whenever he felt a spot on his body becoming cold he would stuff a rag into that area. He considered the many modern versions of the"adventure" rider that passed thru Fairbanks with bemusement.

 

[Old Guy]

GOD i love living in the south lol ....You northern riders enjoy lookin at your bike in the garage this winter.

Doesn't it get cold in SC? We see temps in the teens in Arkansas, just not for long periods of time.

 

[wheatonFJR]

GOD i love living in the south lol ....You northern riders enjoy lookin at your bike in the garage this winter.

[img=[URL="https://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p311/econes/lol_zpsfd3ahpbp.gif%5D"]https://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p311/econes/lol_zpsfd3ahpbp.gif][/URL]

Doesn't it get cold in SC? We see temps in the teens in Arkansas, just not for long periods of time.

Nope. I think there was a record cold snap last February, got down to 19 degrees...for one night... and maybe an inch of measurable snow, that melted the next day.
I rode every month of last "winter".

 

[Old Guy]

We don't get much snow. Maybe a flurry here and there and a few inches every few years. But we get freezing rain that'll be so slick you can hardly stand on, much less ride on. We'll get single digits a few nights a year but not a lot during the day. Temps in the teens a few days a year.

Now that I think of it, I'm not sure why I'm bothering to offer cold weather gear tips to a guy from Canada.

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Carry on.

 

[s.ga.rider]

Gerbing heated gloves and a first gear thermogear suit. I sold my heated vest after getting the suit. On really cold days I will wear a sweatshirt under it,

 

[Old Guy]

Gerbing heated gloves and a first gear thermogear suit. I sold my heated vest after getting the suit. On really cold days I will wear a sweatshirt under it,

Now that thermogear suit looks like it should work great and the price is surprisingly low. How do you get into it? I know that sounds like a dumb question, but I've got bad shoulders that make it hard to get into one-piece suits sometimes.

 

[lonerider]

Gerbing heated gloves and a first gear thermogear suit. I sold my heated vest after getting the suit. On really cold days I will wear a sweatshirt under it,

Now that thermogear suit looks like it should work great and the price is surprisingly low. How do you get into it? I know that sounds like a dumb question, but I've got bad shoulders that make it hard to get into one-piece suits sometimes.

I have the Thermogear suit; it's well insulated and the warmest non heated cold weather gear I've used. I believe one of the reasons it's so inexpensive is - unless they've changed it since I bought mine years ago - it has no armor. I haven't found it any more difficult to get into than the Olympia one piece suits (except that the front zipper doesn't open as far as the Olympia) and I've had rotator cuff surgery on both my shoulders.

 

[jblanken64]

GOD i love living in the south lol ....You northern riders enjoy lookin at your bike in the garage this winter.

[img=[URL="https://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p311/econes/lol_zpsfd3ahpbp.gif%5D"]https://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p311/econes/lol_zpsfd3ahpbp.gif][/URL]

Doesn't it get cold in SC? We see temps in the teens in Arkansas, just not for long periods of time.

Nope. I think there was a record cold snap last February, got down to 19 degrees...for one night... and maybe an inch of measurable snow, that melted the next day.
I rode every month of last "winter".

There were several mornings when I left the house pre-dawn at 16 degrees on the way to work. But it does seem to be a little colder out in the country than in the big city.

 

[gixxerjasen]

First, keep your core warm. Doesn't matter if that's from layers or added heat, this is the first step. Riding a bike is like any other cold weather activity and keeping your core warm is critical.

Electric gear changed riding for me as well. I've only ridden down to 22F because here in Dallas when it gets that cold or colder, it means we are in the middle of an ice storm. Rarely do we get snow, but we get that nasty ice crap. It feels strange for it to be over 100F and shopping for heated gear but I just got done replacing my aging Widder vest (No longer in business) with a full set of Gerbings. I'm actually looking forward to some cold weather riding.

Oh yea, and what was previously stated about the neck is true. You can gear up and darned if that isn't usually the only part of the body not covered, and if it's cold enough it'll feel like someone is stabbing you in the neck with an icecycle. I find a nice fleece gator will bunch up nicely to keep the neck area protected from cold, keep the area warm, still be very comfortable and not limit movement. Plus, the gator is nice when you have to get off the bike and walk around, and is handy on those icy days for walking to and from your car at work.

 

[Old Guy]

There were several mornings when I left the house pre-dawn at 16 degrees on the way to work. But it does seem to be a little colder out in the country than in the big city.

For sure. Back when I earned an honest living I'd leave my home out in the sticks, and the outside temp reading in my truck would climb 5 degrees in the 12 miles to my office.

 

[Geezer]

I rarely ride when the temperature is below freezing because I am concerned about ice on the road. I do ride in the higher 30's F.

I find that the Gen 1 FJR gives off enough heat to keep my bottom half warm. I do not wear heated gear, though there have been a few times that I would have been a lot happier with a heated jacket liner.

For my hands, I find that the V-Strom handguards help a lot in keeping the cold wind off of my hands. When they get uncomfortably cold I take one hand and hold it at the top of the fairing near the tank and catch some warm air from the engine. With some sort of throttle lock or cruise control you can take turns warming your hands one at a time while holding the bars with the other hand.

Also, I wear hoodie under my jacket with the hood folded back between the bottom of my helmet and the collar of my jacket. It keeps the wind from getting down my back.

 

[El Toro Joe]

No heated gear here either...and I've ridden in as low as 16 degrees f indicated, but since the FJR temp sensor only goes down to 16 degrees f...who knows how cold it actually was. Layers & good gear work well for me.

 

[Spud]

Heated Gear. I used to ride in really cold weather with layers. I can't tell you how much more comfortable you are to not dress like the michelin man to ride. A single tight long-sleeve shirt, followed by the heated liner, followed by a good long outer shell. That with my heated grips and some decent gloves, I can ride in any weather until the ice is on the road. For really long cold blasts on the slab I'll add a neck gaitor. While you CAN ride in the cold w/o heated gear, it's just way more pleasant with it. I use the Tourmaster Synergy heated liner and couldn't be more happy with it. Same price as a set of tires.

Another benefit--you save a LOT of space packing by leaving all of those layers behind. If my liner ever fails on the road, my plan would be to stop at the first place that sells clothes and buy the layers to get me home without hypothermia....

https://www.motorcyclegear.com/street/heated_gear/upper_body/tour_master/synergy_2_0_heated_jacket_liner.html?gclid=COfK7LjS08cCFUWRfgodQZUGkQ

 

[Niehart]

https://www.warmnsafe.com/remote-control-heat-trollers/

The advantage of warm & safe is the remote control. With this setup you don't have to have the controls strapped to your leg. But you do have to remember to shut the remote off and/or carry an extra watch size battery.

They also have a hard wired remote that I think is the way to go if you have only one bike.

 

[gixxerjasen]

When they get uncomfortably cold I take one hand and hold it at the top of the fairing near the tank and catch some warm air from the engine.

Commuting through the winter with my FZ1 that had no heated grips, I longed for red lights so I could stop the flow of the wind and let go of the bars and hang onto the engine for a bit. Warmed my fingers right up.