Yikes! You guys are tough! **** I went out tonight on my 4 wheeler hunting birds and damn near froze to death! Cant imagine going 60! Well it's something to talk about to be sure. Glad you all made it home safely! Talk to you soon.
Chris
60? Who the hell went 60?
I never got out of third gear, no WAY my candy ass was gonna get the wind chill going against me! :lol:
hahaha Well I didnt think the feej was capable of going less than 60. I thought of you guys several times today as I was sitting next to my fire!
**** that must have been a cold ride!
Well, although I didn't look for opportunities to "wick it up" I definitely went over 60 a few times yesterday. It was definitely a day to ride closer to the speed limit. A couple of times I got behind a car I would normally have just rolled around, but opted to just stay tucked in behind instead.
Good on you guys proving ************ in these cold temps.
I don't know about the other guys, but in those temps my "manhood" was hiding most of the day.
On a more serious note regarding, riding in low temps, I was reasonably warm and comfy all day. Here's how:
Your hands are the #1 concern as you need to maintain dexterity to operate the controls safely. I have heated grips and 'strom hand guards, which is generally good for temps down to the upper 30's or low 40's, but would definitely not have been enough yesterday. I also have a pair of Gerbings Snowmobile gloves, which they apparently no longer make but can still be found on line at a few places.
Here at Derby Cycle for example, (But do check google for best prices). I like these gloves a lot, especially for the reasnable cost. Be forewarned that they run significantly (about 2 sizes) larger than "normal". Their size chart does indicate that they run bigger than the rest of their line-up (if you can still find one) I wired the gloves cable socket up so the grip Heattroller also controls the power for the gloves. Having heated gloves makes all the difference. My hands were fine all day (until I took my gloves off).
Having the suzuki hand guards helps the heated gloves and grips do their jobs better. George also has the hand guards inside the hippo hands to help keep the hippos from hitting the levers. With his heated grips inside the hippos that may be a good (less expensive) alternative, but I'll definitely be sticking with heated gloves. Just too warm and cozy. Once you try them, you'll never go back.
I have no electric heated liners (yet) for jacket or pants and just layer up under my Fieldsheer gear (HiViz Quattro Jacket and Apollo pants). Under the jacket I use a polarfleece sweater/jacket rather than the quilted liner that it came with it, as that has more insulating loft, and a nice tall turtle neck when it's zipped all the way up for neck protection. I do keep the quilted liners in the Apollo pants, but also wear a pair of polyfleece (not cotton!) sweatpants under them rather than jeans. Much warmer. With the above get-up I'm good for about 2 to 3 hours of sub freezing temps between coffee stop warm-ups. Any longer than that and I'd need some electric liners to maintain body core temps.
The weakest point in my present gear is the feet. I bought some new wool blend socks last week in preparation for this ride. They were way better than cotton, but my feet were still cold after about a half hour. I've tried extra layers of socks before, and usually that is counterproductive as the tightness cuts off the already limited blood flow to the feet when sitting on the seat with legs bent into riding position.
I can see that to really, fully enjoy a longer ride in the temps that low you'd want to have either heated footbeds, heated socks, or some sort of heat packs to keep the tootsies warmer. The thing is, to get wiring down to your feet, you'd almost have to go full hog and get the jacket and pants liners and then plug the socks and gloves into those. For the number of times per year that I can ride at that low a temp (before there is snow, or worse salt, on the ground), I'll probably just continue to get by with my present system.
